Many people associate pain and illness with aging. But aging doesn’t mean you have to become sickly, or shouldn’t. In this article, we’ll talk about aging and health as well as how lifestyle and diet contribute to living a long and healthy life.
Health over 40 and keto
Aging does include some diminishment in our body’s functions, but it doesn’t need to be debilitating or create isolation for us. Unfortunately, for many of us aging is debilitating to various degrees. The processed, high-carb, food of the standard American diet doesn’t help either.
Instead of viewing aging as an unfortunate reality, we can live our best life in terms of physical and mental health and any age with a good diet. There are a lot of advantages to eating the keto diet over 40.
Ketogenic diet benefits
For many people, aging includes becoming overweight and having to deal with insulin-related conditions such as diabetes. Diabetes can lead to other serious conditions like kidney disease, loss of vision, etc. A benefit of the keto diet is how it improves our insulin resistance.
When we’re over forty we need to start thinking about osteoporosis which affects our bone density making them more fragile and brittle. Increasing our intake of calcium through consuming more milk products isn’t the right answer. Curiously, the countries with the highest levels of dairy consumption are also the countries with the greatest occurrence of osteoporosis. It’s better to follow the keto diet which is inherently low in toxins that hinder the absorption of nutrients, it’s also rich in micronutrients instead of overloading on a specific nutrient (i.e., calcium in this case).
Aging brings with it more pain from injuries compared to injuries when we were younger and sometimes problems with our joints like arthritis. When we are in the state of ketosis production of cytokines is reduced reducing the effects of inflammation.
Aging adults often have deficiencies in important nutrients like B complex vitamins, vitamin D, iron, and fats. The more highly nutritious foods included in a keto diet provide an excellent source for these nutrients.
Blood sugar control
Doctors know there is a relationship between poor blood sugar and brain-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, etc. Some of the contributing factors may be:
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- Excess carbohydrate consumption
- Insufficient dietary fats and cholesterol
- Oxidative stress
Following a keto diet will help to control your blood sugar and improve your nutritional intake. This in turn improves your insulin response and helps to protect you from the memory problems that come with aging.
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Keto and aging
The standard American diet, which most people choose and are also what is provided by hospitals and retirement/nursing homes, is a high-carb diet loaded with grains and sugar.
A diet that is low-carb and rich in fats and protein is much better at controlling insulin sensitivity, reduces cognitive decline, and promotes overall health and wellness.
Longevity and ketosis
Improving our chances of feeling good and functioning well for the remainder of our life is never a bad idea. We can start doing better at any time, although the sooner we start the better, it’s never too late to start. Even people who have neglected their health for many years can begin a keto diet and repair or reverse some of the damage done to their bodies.
Having said that, the earlier we start making changes to improve our health and longevity, the better.
In summary
Every one of us knows we’re getting older and death is inevitable. However, we now have the knowledge to control our quality of life to some degree. Even though we are living longer than ever now, we are also getting sicker by following the standard American diet. The keto diet helps to improve our health as we age beyond 40 allowing us to flourish instead of getting sick and enduring pain in our later years.
