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Healthy longevity: 5 rules to adopt at the table
What is the secret to longevity? What does healthy longevity mean? These are questions that increasingly pique curiosity. After all, who wouldn’t want to live long and in perfect health? In addition to genetic and environmental factors, longevity depends on lifestyles, including those that are adopted every day at the table. «There are some eating habits that have been shown to reduce the risk of disease and increase healthy life expectancy, as they are even able to influence all those biological processes that become dysfunctional with age» explains the nutritionist Maria Rosaria Baldito whom we asked, speaking of longevity, the 5 rules to adopt every day at the table.
Longevity: the 5 rules to respect at the table
1. Alternate the consumption of meat with legumes
Several in recent years research suggest that replacing red meat, especially processed meat (cured meats, sausages, canned meats) with healthy alternative choices can help promote longevity. A study recently published on Nature notes that if its consumption were halved, replacing it with vegetable proteins, such as legumes, a couple of times a week, healthy life expectancy could increase. Beans, chickpeas, peas and lentils are, moreover, one of the foods that characterize the diet of the longest-lived people in the world, including those in the so-called Blue Zones. «From a nutritional point of view, legumes boast an excellent profile given their richness of minerals such as magnesium, antioxidants and above all fibre” explains nutritionist Maria Rosaria Baldi. «The latter are able to produce short chain fatty acids, also called SCFA (acronym for Short Chain Fatty Acid), which enhance the immune response and have anti-inflammatory properties. Fibers also have beneficial effects on the health of even the enteric nervous system which is able to influence the state of health of the brain and its functions, protecting it from dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, but also from depression.”
2. Put more polyphenols on the table
Speaking of longevity, another rule to adopt every day at the table is not to skimp on foods such as vegetables and fruit. A growing number of research on longevity shows that predominantly plant-based diets are those that best combat aging and in particular the onset of chronic diseases, which represent the main cause of mortality especially as age advances. A study recent evidence has highlighted in particular that polyphenols, of which the main food sources are vegetables and fruit, are real anti-senescence nutrients. «The consumption of these organic compounds in the daily diet can play a vital role in health through the regulation of metabolism, weight and lower risks of chronic and age-related degenerative syndromes due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities. A good reason to also introduce cereals, olive oil and dried nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and other foods that contain them in good quantities into menus.”
3. Choose soft cooking
To gain healthy years and contribute to healthy longevity it is not just enough to choose the right foods, but also the most suitable preparation methods. In the kitchen, “soft” cooking should be preferred, such as steaming, which preserves vitamins and minerals present for example in greens and greens. «Particularly high temperatures such as grilling and frying are particularly harmful also for foods such as meat and fish as they favor the formation of AGE glycotoxins (advanced glycation end-products), substances which accelerate the aging of cells, shortening healthy life expectancy.”
4. Have an early and light dinner
Meal timing could also influence longevity. “The ideal would be to avoid consuming the last meal of the day before going to bed and choose frugal dishes and dishes for dinner, avoiding sauces or overly elaborate recipes.” Confirmation also comes from one study conducted byUniversity of Teramo on a group of 68 ninety-year-olds and centenarians from Abruzzo. Experts have shown that an early dinner (7.13pm) and a calorie restriction interval of 17.5 hours between dinner and the following lunch can hinder night-time postprandial stress and optimize the metabolic response, associated with high food consumption plant-based and physical activity.
5. Chew slowly
Longevity is influenced not only by lifestyles, but also by those linked to the quality of life such as stress which can influence behavior at the table, for example by pushing one to consume meals hastily and to chew food quickly with short-term and long-lasting effects. long term also on health. «Having the bad habit of consuming food on the fly not only opens the way to digestive disorders, but delays the sense of satiety, pushing us to consume greater quantities of food which fuel overweight and obesity, two risk factors for longevity and healthy aging”.

As a stewed second course, peas and cuttlefish are enjoyed as a first course in a risotto. Find out how to prepare it with our recipe and our advice
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