In every neighborhood there are families where everyone seems to pass at young age where other families have much longer life spans. This points to a genetic link to longevity. But more and more it is being realized that lifestyle choices can help most of us to live longer, healthier lives.

This new understaning of how human life works suggests that most of us would do well to eat less food than we normally do.

This is known as calorie restriction and means that someone is eating not more than fifteen hundred calories a day. Animal research into restricted calorie diets found that animals on a restricted calorie diet enjoyed as much as 50% longer life spans than the animals that didn't.

Should you want to try this calorie restricted diet yourself you need to know about the side effects. For example, you have to be willing to feel cold and constantly slightly hungry due to the intake of too few calories to satisfy the hunger pangs and be available to generate body heat.

The good news is that there are other effective strategies to eat better and enjoy a longer life.

Include more raw food in your meal choices

Raw food is more nutritious as the cooking process itself destroys important nutrients. There is also the benefit of chewing harder which sends the message you are satisfied to the hunger centers of the brain that much more quickly.

Science now knows that some foods carry enzymes that are crucial to digestion but they are quickly destroyed when food is cooked.

There are many pluses from eating food from plants raw. Eating food from plants raw allows them to retain all their natural nutrients which, in turn, helps us think better, have less stress and anxiety, and have more energy.

In fact, raw foods are so nutritious some chronic conditions may start to improve or even disappear completely and our bodies become more resistant to virus borne diseases like influenza.

Be certain that our bodies waste removal systems are functioning as they should. This means that our bowels need to be kept healthy - no constipation or diarrhea.

• Maintain a healthy intestinal flora.

The importance of getting rid of waste regularly is self-evident, but our understanding of the importance to our health of our intestinal flora is only now being more fully understood. Among other vital functions healthy intestines not only eliminate waste but they boost our ability to fight diseases as well.

Intestinal flora are microorganisms that are present in the digestive tracts of all animals and must be replenished frequently. These microorganisms are at risk because of the many non natural stuff we consume, like chlorine in water, that can easily kill them. In addition, antibiotics, taken knowingly or not (in our meat and poultry, for example), kill off our healthy flora. Stress, too, is not helpful. To correct this problem I suggest taking any one of a number of probiotic supplements that are available.

The question we need to ask ourselves is whether the price we need to pay (small, in my opinion) is worth the very many advantages we gain, especially as far as a healthy, active old age is concerned!

Simple nutrition choices can have a big effect on how long and healthy a life you have. The information found at http://century21fitness.com can help add years to your life and health to those years.