January is a popular month for dieting. Losing weight and eating better are consistently at the top of the list of popular New Year’s resolutions. For many people, this means writing down New Year’s Resolutions or goals. Business Insider surveyed 1,102 people about their New Year’s Resolutions, and more than half had goals about starting a new diet or ‘eating healthier’.
One of the issues with New Year’s resolutions is that they often involve sudden, drastic lifestyle changes. It’s not easy to turn these changes into healthy behaviors and fully adopt them as a regular part of your daily routine. In fact, I would agree that the best time to take action to make a positive change in your life is always the present moment.
Whatever your New Year’s Resolution, a healthy and balanced diet will provide many benefits into 2021 and beyond. In this blog I want to focus on the LONGEVITY benefits of a proper diet and healthy life choices and how it will affect your well-being a couple years down the road.
It’s true everyone wishes to live a longer life. The goal of longevity is also to live a better life, with improved mental and physical wellness, and the ability to be active and independent. In recent years, the demand spike for natural and organic products has been very evident as consumers have become more aware of what goes into the products they use. Transparency of the ingredients and the attempt to include only ingredients found in nature, created without the use of pesticides, chemicals, artificial ingredients or preservatives is a remarkable characteristic of every company that brands itself “natural” or “organic”.
Consumers are increasingly demanding more of products, from all-natural toothpastes and make-up to various household products, foods and drinks. The recent obsession for these natural/organic products has surpassed demand and has opened up new opportunities in the general foods and drinks market that are focused on providing a better well-being and more longevity of life. While the natural and organic industry has roots in niche markets, mass marketplaces are beginning to increase availability for these items due to rising demand.
As we age, we tend to eat less food and fall into eating patterns that may minimize variety. I believe this is due to many factors, including loss of appetite, taste changes, side effects from medication, eating on a budget, and/or dependence on institutional meals. So it is especially important to maximize nutrient-dense foods in the later years.
Choosing minimally processed, real foods that provide maximal nutritional benefits is the main idea behind the switch to clean eating lifestyle focused on longevity. My biggest advice is to start slow and small, with one or two products you heavily consume already and then see how that goes and start implementing it with other product categories. The main goal is to consume foods that are as close to their natural state as possible.
With the increase in demand, the availability for natural and organic products of all types has also increased so it shouldn’t be hard to find substitute foods and drinks for what you already have been consuming.
Things such as “Low-sugar”, “No Artificial”, and “zero calories” should do the work in getting your attention, but make sure you read the labels and be aware if the packages are lying or not.
One of my favorite parts of the whole process is to search and get to know more about products that fit into my fit lifestyle and are on the same page as me in terms of longevity in what I do. I might be a professional swimmer now and somehow be ‘forced’ into watching my diet and what goes into my body, but I know for a fact that one day when I don’t swim anymore I will still be very worried and concerned about my health.
Luckily the availability for low-sugar natural products has been on the rise and I have been able to refuel and replenish my body with the right amount of calories, vitamins and electrolytes while staying on track of my lifestyle goals. Products such as Hydra Guard Sports Drink are available on the market and online and they help me on a daily basis with my training routine.
Paul Millsap, 4x NBA All-Star and Hydra-Guard Partner has always made his nutrition and health a priority, which reflects his elite performance and extremely successful career in the NBA. Paul’s ability to maintain playing at the highest level has been nothing short of amazing. It's a professional career that every athlete strives for.
The key for longevity in any athlete’s career is to take care of their bodies first and that's something that Paul has obviously done very well. Hydra-Guard Sports Drink caught Paul’s attention in early 2019, when he officially partnered with them in efforts to bring the brands healthy benefits more readily available to more households across the country.
"Being a professional athlete naturally encourages me and my family to live a healthy lifestyle. Hydra-Guard Sports Drink raises the bar to unprecedented heights with its beverage innovation. It’s packed with electrolytes, and being an all natural sports drink with low sugars is a game changer, this product is changing the industry," says Paul.