Living longer ! Is it just about food?

Everyone wants to live longer and enjoy a life full of happiness. However, all are not lucky enough to get that. Longevity is a result of many factors described below:

Eating natural form of food: Due to market based economy, food is processed and manufactured in larger scale through supply chains in groceries and supermarkets. To make food tasty grilling with oil or frying is done in the kitchen. However, the nutritional value is lost during the process. Eating food in naturally derived form is more suitable for the human body. Therefore it is always better to eat fresh fruits, boiled vegetables and whole grain food.

Eating smaller portions: There is a saying in Japanese- Hara hachi bun me (腹八分目 ) . It means eat until you are 80% full in stomach. This practice is likely to prolong healthy life because eating smaller portions minimizes the risk posed by metabolic diseases related to food eg blood sugar, cholesterol which are the major risk factors for damage of all the systems and organs in the body.

Minimize exposure to toxins: It is very important to minimize exposure to toxins in the form of smoke, alcohol and contaminated water. This can be addressed to some extent by living a little bit far from crowded towns.

Active lifestyle: Physical activty is very important to activate our body engineering at cellular level. It doesn't necessarily mean lifting heavy weights in the gym. (good if someone can do it regularly). But at least walking level of physical actvity for at least an hour a day is mandatory. If we look at human beings from different geography people performing regular physical activities (sheperds, farmers) tend to be free from metbolic disease until later part of thier life.

Enough sleep: Our body functions well if it is in natural rhythm. Day time is for activity and night time is for rest. Physiologically our body can not process well if we eat late at night. It is very important to finish dinner before eight and go to bed  by nine o clock. Eight or nine hours of sleep can bring so many postive changes in our body, one can feel and see it in a month. Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.