Longevity

Healthy nutrition and longevity are intimately connected. However, there is more to longevity than mere nutrition. Other factors include stress, personal relationships, the external environment (water, air and land) and exercise. 

The author Dan Buettner identified the following common denominators in longevity: 

• A plant-based diet -- beans, whole grains, veggies
• Opportunities for natural movement, like walking, herding, and gardening
• Having a sense of purpose
• Belonging to a faith-based community
• Taking a daily nap or finding some other way to “downshift” daily
• Not overeating and not eating after sunset

If you want to learn about these other factors, then you can visit sites like Blue Zones. 

When it comes to nutrition, what matters is not only WHAT you eat, but also WHEN you eat. Longevity experts agree that there are two main habits that we should take up in order to increase our health span and life span:

1) Calorie restriction: eat slightly less calories than what your body needs. Your body will then look for ageing cells inside the body as sources of protein and energy.

2) Intermittent fasting (IF) or time-restricted feeding (TRF): when doing IF, you have 1-2 days in the week when you do not consume any calories at all; whereas with TRF you limit the time period during which you eat to 6-8 hours during a given day.

The following links will give you a lot of information about this topic.

- Time-restricted eating - a comprehensive guide by Found My Fitness
- Dr. Satchin Panda on time-restricted feeding - interview with Dr. Satchin Panda
- Difference between intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding: article on Spartan
- Scientific study on time-restricted feeding - published on NCBI
- Time-restricted eating - article on Healthline
- Time-restricted eating is gaining popularity - article by the American Heart Association
- Intermittent fasting - mainstream article on CNN