U.Va. expert says avoiding this type of drink could lead to a longer and healthier life

There may not be a magic diet that guarantees a long and healthy life but a multitude of geriatricians believe avoiding sugary beverages can help make that goal realistic Dr Laurie Archbald-Pannone associate professor of internal medicine and geriatrics at the University of Virginia s School of Medicine revealed people are generally living longer As they get older she commented it s essential to focus not only on how to live longer but also how to live healthy longer A key part of that is generally avoiding sugary drinks and various of their alternatives High sugary beverages example sodas have a lot of calories a lot of sugar and often one serving can have more sugar than really the daily allowance Archbald-Pannone revealed It s really easy to get a lot of sugar a lot of calories through those sugary drinks that aren t beneficial to our bodies That can apply to any liquid that has a major amount of sugar she stated including sodas fruit punches or juices Diet beverages that have artificial sweeteners aren t an ideal option either Archbald-Pannone noted because they can cause inflammation and lead to different healthcare conditions They can lead to increased inflammation in our body as well as disruption of our gut floor our good bacteria our microbiome Archbald-Pannone mentioned The best choice for our body is water To help achieve a healthy lifestyle Archbald-Pannone declared it s key to get nutritional necessities from a balanced diet instead of from supplements Particular things such as diet exercise relationships and social engagements can be changed and controlled but others such as genetics can t be she disclosed There s really no magic behind it Archbald-Pannone revealed There s no one particular type of diet or one particular food that is guaranteed to lead to healthy aging It s really about balance having a good balanced nutritional diet Ideally Archbald-Pannone declared a diet will include fruits vegetables protein and calcium from foods that people eat Understanding what s in food and drinks is similarly helpful she commented Sometimes when eating out it s easy to lose track of drink consumption if a server is periodically refilling a cup Archbald-Pannone stated That s a lot of soda that we d be ingesting at that one meal Archbald-Pannone disclosed So really thinking about how can we cut back on the amount of soda that we re drinking One approach is to do so gradually that way it s not an extreme step she mentioned Generally Archbald-Pannone commented the common theme she hears from patients is considering moderation Not too much of any one thing but really trying to lead balanced healthy lifestyles throughout life And not just waiting until we re older to put a few of those things into place but really starting throughout our life to get into those healthy habits Source