"The Top 3 Misconceptions About Life Extension"

by Frederic Patenaude

According to new studies, baby boomers are less healthy than the previous generation. Their rates of obesity is higher, they are less active, and they experience more health issues, which will eventually become a big problem to society as baby-boomers come into old age, in bad shape and poor health.

Yet, with all that we've learned in the last 30 years about health, we'd expect the new generations to live longer and healthier!

Unfortunately, it's getting worse.

In this issue, I'd like to address some of the top misconceptions people make about life extension. In the next issue, we'll talk about some of the secrets to live longer.

Misconception #1 - “We're now living longer”

Thanks to some advances in medicine, some diseases can now be treated and this can extend the life of patients that would have otherwise died. So because of it, we'd like to think that we've increased our lifespan.

Hardly so! We're getting sicker and sicker with each generation, and although we're able to ward off an early death, most people now die of disease rather than old age.

Misconception #2 - “It's all genetic”

This is where I have some good news for you. Although genetics might come into play to determine your “maximum longevity potential,” that is how long you can live based on your genetics, most of game is based on what you'll do in your life to take advantage of that potential.

Sure, some people can eat just about anything and live to be 90. But what if they had taken better care of themselves? Can you imagine how long they could have lived?

Maybe you don't have the constitution to reach 100. I probably don't either. But if you can manage to harness your “longevity potential”, you could add 5, 10, 20 years to your life.

Misconception #3: “Certain foods will make you live longer”

People would like to get the magic pill. “Just tell me what to eat to live longer,” they'll say. In fact, it's really easy to cash in on that by selling the latest “supplement” or “superfood.”

My friend, Wayne Gendel, the Life Extension Specialist, gets asked that question all the time. Here are a few things I learned from him:

Eating Less- The most common factor of long-lived people is calorie-restriction. That means, most people who live longer eat a little less than average. Now, I know you've heard me say that when we eat mostly fruits and vegetables, it's important to eat enough!

However, you'll realize that when the bulk of your diet is composed of fruits and vegetables, and even when you learn to consume enough food to meet your needs, you'll still take in less calories than what would be recommended for you by daily averages.

-Thin is best. We no there are no obese centenarians. But we also know that being even slightly overweight gives you no health advantage whatsoever.

It's been found by an insurance company that:

Over average weight = very short life
Average weight = short life
Below average weight = long life
Very underweight = short life

So thin is best! If you can have a body fat level that is below average, but still within healthy ranges, then you're dramatically increasing your chances of living longer.

Stress levels - High stress levels are not conducive to a long life, no matter how good your diet is! We often have to get at the root of emotional issues if we want to achieve the kind of stress-free life that is required for living longer.

On a scale of 1 to 10, evaluate your stress levels, and then find one thing you could do to reduce your stress.

Other issues - Of course, there are other important issues, such as the release of natural growth hormones, and how you can make that happen without taking artificial supplements.

Just to give you an example, short bursts of intense activity, such as jumping ropes, sprinting, and so on, will help release that natural growth hormone to make you younger.

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Life is precious, so I really want to encourage you to study what you can about living younger, avoiding degenerative diseases, and harnessing your maximum longevity potential.

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