Food and longevity:Growing old healthily with the right diet
by Christina-Maria Pfersdorf
More and more people could live to 100 – nutritional doctor Andreas Michalsen is convinced of this and reveals what can contribute to being able to grow old healthily.
A healthy diet and sufficient exercise can have a positive impact on life in old age. What you should pay attention to if you want to live a long, healthy life.
Source: imago/Elmar Gubisch
“About 15 additional healthy years of life are possible today.” Andreas Michalsen, Germany’s well-known nutritional doctor and fasting expert, is convinced of this. Many people today live to be 90 years old, but for most, the last years of their lives are marked by illness and pain.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Michalsen provides information on the topics of longevity, nutrition and fasting. The nutritional doctor also explains how you can live a long and healthy life through the right diet.20.06.2024 | 31:31 min
Scientists like him speak of the “lost decade”. “After 80, it’s no longer fun because the only thing that keeps growing is the number of pills and the number of doctor’s visits,” says Michalsen. But that doesn’t have to be the case, says the doctor, given what we know today.
Theoretically, we have the possibility to reduce the phase of life that is characterized by illness to a minimum.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Michalsen, nutritional physician and fasting expert
Counteracting diseases with nutrition
Source: Immanuel Albertinen Diakonie/Brigitta Brandt
… is an internist and researches, teaches and practices at the Charité and the Immanuel Hospital in Berlin. His main areas of focus are nutritional medicine, therapeutic fasting and so-called mind-body medicine, which focuses on stress reduction and helping people to help themselves. Andreas Michalsen is also the author of bestsellers and guides on the subject of naturopathy, in which fasting is an important aspect.
While proteins promote muscle growth, vitality and fertility, they also accelerate cell aging. As we age, however, muscle maintenance is clearly the most important thing: “What use are healthy cells if the body’s framework no longer functions?”
“Overall, proteins are an important part of our diet,” says general practitioner and diabetologist Malik Böttcher. However, he warns against excessive consumption.09.08.2023 | 5:16 min
Focus on “life-extending” foods
- Whole grains
- Legumes such as beans, lentils, peas
- Apples and berries
- Yoghurt (also vegan)
- olive oil
- Onions and garlic
- Cabbage such as broccoli or kale
- Wheat germ
- Plenty of spices
- coffee and tea
- Mushrooms and Tempeh
- nuts
Less “eats” more
Not only what we eat, but also how much we eat has an enormous impact on our health. “Fewer calories are the strongest factor for healthy longevity,” says the nutritionist. Our body’s biology is not set up to have food available around the clock. This is why Michalsen also recommends fasting. Either in the form of daily intermittent fasting or a therapeutic fast lasting several days.
What to look out for
:Five tips for successful fasting
It’s Lent again. A good way to start is with a fasting cure lasting several days, where you fast on vegetable broth and juices. Andreas Michalsen explains what you should pay attention to.
by Christina-Maria Pfersdorf
Different fasting methods
Regardless of whether you use the methods of Otto Buchinger, Franz Xaver Mayr or mucus fasting: you consume very small amounts of calories, drink enough and spend the fasting days relaxing and exercising.
This form of fasting, also known as intermittent fasting, involves integrating breaks from eating of varying lengths into your daily routine. There is the 5:2 method, where you eat normally for five days and fast for two days. The most popular is the 16:8 or 14:10 method, where a longer break from eating is followed by a few hours in which you can eat. Many people skip breakfast or dinner for this.
Here, 500 to 800 kilocalories are provided daily in the form of a vegan, low-sugar, high-fiber diet. This method was developed by the Italian-American researcher Valter Longo. He assumes that this makes fasting easier to maintain, but that the fasting metabolism is still maintained.
Exercise keeps you young
4,000 steps a day are already ‘bronze’, 10,000 are ‘gold’!
Prof. Dr. Andreas Michalsen, nutritional physician and fasting expert
Exercise for the heart and circulation
:Three tips for growing old healthily
Staying healthy and fit doesn’t always require intensive exercise. Regular exercise also helps young people minimize their risk of cardiovascular disease.
by Thorsten Siegmund
Nutrition and cancer
More prevention required
:Experts: Obesity increases cancer risk
The figures are clear, but few people know that being overweight can increase the risk of developing cancer. German professional associations are therefore calling for more prevention.
