Do you remember growing up and learning that each cigarette steals precious minutes of your life? I remember learning it was around seven to 10 minutes. Apparently, that number has changed for the worse.
According to The Guardian website, research shows that number has doubled since that 2000 statistic, which actually goes back as far as the 1980s. That literally means that smoking just one pack means losing seven hours of your life.
People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate just how much. On average, smokers who don’t quit lose around a decade of life. That’s 10 years of precious time, life moments, and milestones with loved ones.
So what about soda with high fructose corn syrup? Well, up until this most recent cigarette study from 2024, soda was right on par with smoking.
According to the Newsweek website, a University of Michigan study discovered that every can of soda you drink means losing 12 minutes of your life. I mean, you know soda is bad for us, but this is a first of its kind for the beloved carbonated sweet stuff.
However, get this. You can eat certain foods that add minutes to your life, like fish and nuts.
Eating a 30g (1oz) serving of nuts and seeds provides a gain of 25 minutes of healthy life—which in this case refers to good quality and disease-free life expectancy.
Processed foods? Bad. Vegetables? Good.
None of this is news to you; however, when put in terms of life expectancy and how healthy food can counteract unhealthy food, these findings are helpful in understanding that they go for that sugary dessert or that refreshing soda because when you hit the gym the next day and enjoy that salmon for dinner, you’re taking those minutes back.
Our findings demonstrate that small targeted substitutions offer a feasible and powerful strategy to achieve significant health and environmental benefits without requiring dramatic dietary shifts.
If you’re like me, you want to eat healthily, but you also want to enjoy that big tub of butter popcorn with an icy cold soda and other comfort foods on a rainy Saturday while binge-watching movies.
Basically, it’s a drink this but then eat that situation.
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Gallery Credit: Ryan Reichard
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Gallery Credit: Kayla Thomas