The main circumference of the study showed a heavy diet surrounded by red meat can reduce your life expectancy. Simply not consuming a significant increase of red meat and surrounding your diet with more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts can significantly increase life expectancy.  

The study further showed that women especially could increase their life span by 10 years if they started this healthy death around 20 years of age. Men could add up to 13 years as well if they start around 20 years of age. Both of these numbers are astounding in the age of technology and everyone always looking to live longer.

“This finding not only can help teenagers develop better but significantly increase their athletic abilities and mental health,” Dr. Carol Noall said. “College students typically have horrendous diets and consume what they can. When you now can provide evidence that you could add a decade to your life it changes the way people look at their diets.”

Furthermore, the study showed that older adults above the age of 60 can also increase their life span and avoid serious health issues.

“If you had the power to keep your older family members around an extra 5-10 years wouldn’t you”, Dr. Noall said. “The study not only can impact your generation but the older generations could have that same benefit if not more.”

The impact of a changed diet can also give extra years to senior citizens if they start having a good diet.

“A plant-based eating style could even benefit 80-year-olds, the study said: Men and women could gain about 3.5 years of extra life from dietary changes,” The article posted by CNN stated.

Red meat has been long known that it isn’t great for long-term health. However, we never knew how big of an impact it could have on someone’s life span until now.

“This is a game-changer in the sports medicine field and for the average person,” Dr. Tim Ziegenfuss said. “Improving your diet quality and what you consume on a daily basis can erase chronic illnesses and prevent them from developing in your body later in life.”

Everyone is always so focused on the protein aspect of eating good meats. However, the best longevity comes from sides and daily snacks you can easily consume.

“The largest gains in longevity were found from eating more legumes, which include beans, peas, and lentils; whole grains, which are the entire seed of a plant; and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans and pistachios, the study found,” The article posted by CNN stated.

The average American severely under consumes vegetables and fruits. While it seems easy to have a fruit or vegetable with each meal, most people go days without eating either.

“It’s so much easier to stop at a fast-food place or make a 10-minute meal with zero nutritional gain,” Dr. Ziegenfuss said. “The daily American rarely hits their requirement for vegetable and fruit intake. We see multiple injuries from athletes and chronic illnesses develop in people due to this.”

Only 10% of Americans eat the recommended dosage of vegetables and fruits daily, The CDC website shows. 95% of Americans fail to reach the daily nutritional level they should be at as well.

Nuts, seeds, and whole grains contain more than just protein. They also include healthy fats, vitamins, minerals that have been in direct correlation with a lower risk of chronic diseases.

“Playing college sports forces you to eat better and want to develop a good and healthy diet,” Maximus Vujaklija (a college football player ) said. “Schools almost force feed you to gain weight and a good amount of the time it’s not good food.”

Athletes often are on strict diets to cut body fat and increase athletic mobility and play.

“Wrestlers have it the worst for this new diet.” Dr. Ziegenfuss said. “They are constantly weighted watching and trying to cut body weight or gain it. It’s very unhealthy but even this study could show amazing benefits to them. The cut in red meats and consumption of fruits and vegetables would help them cut weight and stay very healthy.”

Researchers from Norway used existing meta-analyses and data from the Global Burden of Disease study, to show the results of this study. Further proving how effective changing your diet can be and the impact it can have. 

Eating less red meats such as American favorites bacon and sausage and deli meats can add to life expectancy and health benefits. Processed meats, especially red processed meats have been linked to significant health risks.

There’s substantial evidence that processed meat can cause bowel cancer — so much so that the World Health Organization has classified it as carcinogenic since 2015.

“Eliminating red and processed meats and adding fish can quickly improve your weekly diet and help your daily health and mental state significantly,” Dr. Noall said.

If your looking for yourself a consistent and good diet to start tomorrow look no further than the Mediterranean diet, “which has won best diet five years in a row, according to U.S. News & World Report.”

“If changing your diet is something you are passionate about or thinking about it’s as easy as meal prepping each week and finding the correct measurements for your age and health,” Dr. Ziegenfuss said. “Try and cook meals based on nutritional value, especially beans, grains, and vegetables.”

With the research now available and technology eating healthy isn’t an issue. If you are trying to cut weight or gain weight you can adjust your diet accordingly. 

“There are countless diets out there you can find with the click of a button,” Dr. Logan Fall said. “Countless apps and verified research that can back up these claims of longevity and add almost a decade to your life. People are so quick to question and call out others who workout or eat healthy religiously but if you would just devote an hour of your time to meal prepping and eating healthy daily it could truly be life-changing and life-extending.”

Changing your diet is not the easiest thing to do. However, there are countless ones and a diet for everyone. Eliminating red meats and processed food is the only answer to extending your life on this planet.