The short answer is no. I am a strong believer in the importance of following a healthy diet. In my opinion the majority of the chronic illnesses that we see in our patients are driven by years of eating a poor diet. I encourage my patients to follow a low carbohydrate, moderate protein, high-fat diet (healthy fats). A Paleo-style diet is the easiest way to do so and a Mediterranean diet comes in a close second. For more information, I suggest reading Loren Cordain’s book “The Paleo Answer” or Robb Wolf’s book “The Paleo Solution”.
A Dietary Legend is Gone
Jimmy Moore–the popular low-carb blogger, recently posted a tribute to Barry Groves on his web site. Barry was a true pioneer in this dietary approach. He recently passed away at the age of 77. Although we don’t know the cause of death, his age at death is close the average for males living in the United States. I sent an email to Jimmy suggesting that we should avoid telling people they will live longer if they follow our dietary recommendations. My own father passed away several years ago at the age of 92. He had a long list of medical problems and ate a fairly healthy diet, but he certainly didn’t follow a Paleo-style diet. My mother is going strong at 95 and because she lives in an assisted living center, her diet is far from perfect.
When you look at populations and diet, eating a healthy diet does seem to increase average lifespan. A Swedish study published in 2011 suggests that elderly people who follow a Mediterranean diet can expect to live on average 20% longer than those who don’t follow such a diet. Remember that we are talking about average life expectancy for a group of people and you are not a group. When it comes to looking at any given individual, there are simply too many variables at play to accurately predict how long someone will live. Accidents, unexpected health problems, lightening strikes or standing in the wrong place at the end of the Boston Marathon can result in sudden and unexpected death.
Jumpin’ Jack LaLanne
Sometimes those individual who seem to live a perfect lifestyle die unexpectedly. Jack LaLanne was one of my heroes. I still remember watching Jack work out on TV when I was a kid growing up in Minnesota. Jack also ate a very healthy diet throughout most of his life. He never ate sweets or junk food and his ability to exercise at a high level as he grew older was legendary. I expected Jack to live to at least 105 or so. Jack apparently had a condition called aortic stenosis and he underwent an aortic valve replacement at 95. Within a year he died of pneumonia.
It’s ironic that my father went through even more complex aortic valve surgery in his 60s, and although he rarely exercised and his diet was far from perfect, he lived nearly as long as Jack.
So if eating healthy doesn’t guarantee a long life, why bother going through all the hassle of following a Paleo-style diet? After all, depriving yourself of sweets, starchy foods like bread and pizza, dairy and legumes seems like a lot to go through when there’s no guarantee you will live longer. I certainly enjoy eating some of these foods but I choose not to do so. Am I nuts or just plain masochistic?
Quality of Life Trumps Length of Life Every Time
To answer this question we need to look at something other than length of life. I work in an inpatient hospital setting and most of the patients who end up in the hospital have a long list of chronic medical problems that are directly related to their poor eating habits. The Standard American Diet is loaded with sugar, HFCS, high glycemic carbohydrates from grains and omega 6 fatty acids from vegetable oils. This triad of dietary elements seems to be driving many common chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease and strokes. The high carbohydrate, low-fat diet promoted by our government and the medical profession over the past few decades has led to an unmitigated health disaster.
Bad Food Can Also Fry Your Brain
As readers of this web site already know, these dietary elements can also trigger a form of food-induced brain dysfunction called Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. People with CARB syndrome can develop up to 22 brain dysfunction symptoms that interfere with their ability to function. You end up with bad metabolism and a broken brain—not a pretty picture.
Many of the patients I see in the hospital are a metabolic mess and their brains aren’t working very well. Many people end up living in this state of affairs for decades before finally taking their last breath. They lack both physical health and optimal brain function. For those of us entering our “later years”, there is nothing more important than maintaining good general health and optimal brain function. When you have both, it’s possible to do two things that define quality of life—you can be physically active and you can have an active intellectual life. Of course this forms the core of quality of life at any age.
The Golden Years Become Tarnished
This problem is compounded by our modern healthcare system. Modern medicine has become very proficient at tacking the wheels back on after they fall off due to decades of poor lifestyle choices. If you develop diabetes, we have high tech insulin pumps and dozens of drugs to effectively treat the disease. If your arteries clog up we can balloon them open and place stents to keep the blood flowing. If your hips or knees wear out, we can simply give you new ones. Our modern healthcare system is very efficient at keeping you limping along regardless of how many chronic health problems you develop along the way.
Patients with advanced brain disorders like dementia often live for decades because of these modern medical “miracles”. Despite all these advances, we have made little progress in preventing or reversing many of these diseases. That’s because popping pills or performing complex surgery will have no affect on preventing or reversing chronic diseases that are caused by decades of poor eating habits.
Most people would never voluntarily choose to live their later decades with poor physical health and brain dysfunction, but that’s exactly what they are signing up for when they eat a poor diet in their younger years. Excessive fructose mainly from sugar and HFCS, grain-based high glycemic carbohydrates and excessive omega 6 fatty acids are chronic toxins akin to cigarette smoking. You can get away with consuming them for decades—that is until the wheels suddenly fall off.
Dr. Groves and his wife started following a low carbohydrate, high fat diet in 1962. He noticed an immediate improvement in his health and ability to function and ever since he has been a strong advocate for this type of diet. He remained healthy and active until the day he died, maintaining a web site called “Second-Opinions”. The site is loaded with great information about what truly constitutes a healthy diet, and trust me—his recommendations are much better than the nutritional information foisted on us by the medical profession and our government for the past few decades.
Let’s Honor the Legends
Length of life seems to be the Holy Grail everyone is looking for, but unfortunately we don’t get to choose how many days we have on this earth. My advice to you is when you wake up in the morning, thank God you are still here and then go out and do something positive in the world. The only way you will be able to do so–especially if you have the good fortune to grow old, is to have good physical health and brain function. To achieve both, you need to focus on consistently eating a healthy diet. By doing so you certainly won’t live forever, but every day of your life until your last breath, you will leave a meaningful mark on this world. Barry and Jack, you will be missed. Those of us left behind can honor your memory by following in your footsteps.