It limits dairy, meat, processed foods, alcohol (though a little red wine is okay) and, importantly, sugar. These diets include copious amounts of vegetables and fresh fruits (although the MIND diet excludes fruits, because of their relatively high sugar content), whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish and healthy fats like olive oil. The star of diets in recent years has been the Mediterranean diet, or a derivative of it, like the MIND diet. Other research has shown that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of heart disease, dementia, cancer, metabolic disease, overweight and obesity, and diabetes. A study a couple of years ago even showed that switching diets (from a typical meaty American diet to a plant-based rural South African diet and vice-versa) altered the microbiome and the inflammatory markers involved in colon cancer risk in a relatively short amount of time. Large-scale epidemiological studies have shown that people who eat a largely plant-based diet are less prone to disease and live longer than people who eat other types-you don’t have to be vegetarian or vegan, but a diet that's based largely on plants does seem necessary.

This one has been illustrated again and again in various ways. Both observational studies-in people who get regular exercise and in people who don’t-and lab studies that illuminate the cellular and molecular mechanisms show that exercise is one of the central things we can do for our health. On the flip side, being sedentary is linked to a host of ill effects, from Alzheimer’s disease to heart disease to cancer to premature death. Importantly, exercise is also linked to a reduced risk of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. And it’s excellent for the brain: It helps treat mental health disorders like depression, boosts the production new neurons in the hippocampus and regulates the endocrine system, including stress response and the cascade of hormones that underlie it. Exercise is also well known to reduce cancer risk, for multiple types of cancer. Regular exercise also benefits the immune system, reducing inflammatory markers like CRP, IL-6 and TNF, which are known to be associated with chronic disease. Exercise has been shown to contribute to heart health in a number of ways, from helping reduce blood pressure to affecting the vasculature in our bodies to helping maintain our cholesterol balance (the “good”-to-“bad” ratio), and increasing insulin sensitivity. It’s not just a method of staying thin or getting fit-where exercise is really powerful is in its effects on the risk of chronic disease.

Most people are generally aware that exercise is good for them, but may not be clear on exactly why this is.

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