8 Eating Habits That Make You Live Longer

Your food choices matter. The foods you eat can impact your moods, increase or decrease your risk of getting certain diseases, and even affect how long you'll live. If you want to live as many years as possible (and who doesn't?), these eating tips will help you stay healthy for the long haul. 

1. Choose unprocessed foods. 
If it's time to overhaul your diet, you can't go wrong by ditching the processed foods and replacing them with fresh, healthy options instead. Unprocessed foods -- such as fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes, and whole grains -- are more nutrient-dense than refined foods, and they're often lower in calories, too. Eating a minimally-processed diet can also help reduce inflammation in your body, which cuts down on your risk of developing many different diseases. 

2. Fill up on vegetables. 
For most people it's hard to go wrong by eating more vegetables. Veggies have their healthy reputation for a reason: they're filling, packed with vitamins and minerals, and low in calories. Eating five servings of vegetables every day will help you maintain a healthy weight, get all your daily nutrients, and keep your digestive tract healthy, all of which will help you live a longer life. 

3. Focus on antioxidants. 
Antioxidants aren't fully understood yet, but researchers believe that they can prevent harmful molecules called free radicals from causing oxidative damage in your body. This, in turn, cuts down on your risk of developing some diseases. If you're a coffee drinker, good news: coffee is the single best source of antioxidants in most people's diets. Other good sources of antioxidants include berries, dark chocolate, pecans, walnuts, and leafy greens. 

4. Watch your sugar intake. 
Remember how an unprocessed diet reduces inflammation? Well, a sugar-filled diet does the opposite. Sugar is one of the most inflammatory things you can consume, and it doesn't matter what form it comes in. Honey and agave nectar, for instance, are just as unhealthy as table sugar, despite sometimes being considered better for you. If you love sweets, you don't have to give them up entirely, but get into the habit of monitoring your sugar intake so that a treat is really a treat -- not an everyday occurrence. 

5. Include fish in your diet. 
If you want to live a long and healthy life, taking care of your heart should be a top priority. Eating fish is a great way to keep your heart in good shape. Fatty fish -- such as sardines, salmon, and mackerel -- contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which can improve cardiovascular health and reduce inflammation. Fish is also a good source of protein and vitamin D. 

6. Count your calories. 
Maintaining a trim figure can boost longevity. Even if you are overweight now, dropping as little as ten pounds can make a noticeable difference in your health and help you live longer. The simplest and most effective way to control your weight is to count calories. You can find plenty of apps that make calorie counting easy and even fun. And if you're following the other tips in this list, you probably won't have a difficult time meeting your calorie target every day! 

7. Drink green tea. 
Tea drinkers tend to be healthier than people who never drink tea. In particular, green tea consumption is associated with all kinds of health benefits, from lower levels of abdominal obesity to less risk for having a stroke. Drinking green tea even appears to reduce your risk of developing depression. 

8. Snack smarter. 
A healthy diet has room for snacks. However, if you like to eat between meals, make sure to do it mindfully and choose the right foods. Go for snacks that are low in calories and contain some protein or fat, both of which are more filling than carbohydrates alone. A few healthy snack ideas include: 

• Whole-wheat toast with peanut butter or almond butter
• Fruit with a piece of string cheese
• Raw vegetable sticks with hummus
• A small handful of almonds or cashews
• Yogurt with no sugar added

The Takeaway 
If you want to live a longer life (and enjoy your years more), start by taking a look at your diet. The food you eat on a daily basis has a big impact on your overall wellbeing, and making just a few simple changes can put you on the road to a healthier old age.