Health and wellness expert Jennifer Campbell shares how diet is the secret to aging and longevity on this week’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast.
Army veteran and health and wellness expert Jennifer Campbell says nutrition is complicated but also simple. In her new book, “Aging and Longevity: How to Live Longer While Aging Gracefully,” Campbell addresses the 12 hallmarks of aging and breaks them down from a scientific perspective into a practical one that people can incorporate into their daily lives.
“There’s no medication, supplement, one pill that’s ever going to replace the benefits of diet and exercise. It doesn’t exist,” said Campbell on this week’s Tango Alpha Lima episode.
What’s one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity?
“It’s not running, it’s walking,” Campbell said, adding that when it comes to creating a sustainable habit you must decide how important it is to you. If you don’t have time to walk for a full one hour a day, do 30 minutes twice a day or break it down into four 15-minute sessions. “You have to make it something that’s going to be sustainable. And enjoyable.”
Another hallmark to aging is community. In her book, Campbell talks about blue zones which are communities that have the largest centenarians, or people who live over 100 years old. A commonality is social connections. To create a sustainable habit, Campbell encourages people to partner with a workout buddy, sign up for a fitness class, or join a recreational league. “That becomes empowering because you’re doing something good for yourself and having fun with it, and it just leads to better decisions. You make better decisions when you’re doing good things for your body.”
While Campbell also addresses hormones, whole food diets, Mediterranean diets, cognitive health, supplements, blood work levels and more in her book, she named the top three things that are disruptive with communities, especially the veteran community, when it comes to struggling with health: gut health, inflammation and sleep.
“Your gut is tied to everything,” she said. And while she is supportive of supplements, they are not the be all end all as for her, nutrition is the foundation if you look at health and wellness like a food pyramid.
“Your diet is foundational. Then it goes up the chain and the very top is supplementation. (Supplementation) is there to supplement your health; it’s an adjunct. Supplement can’t be your foundation. It’s got to be whole body health and looking at lifestyle, and I know that’s not the answer that most people want to hear but it’s the truth.”
As a past commander of American Legion Department of California’s 24th District and Hollywood Post 43, Campbell writes a monthly health and fitness column for The American Legion Magazine. She said from seeing her columns, people will reach out saying they followed her tips on walking, and it changed their life; or they implemented changes into their diet, and it improved their life drastically.
Also, co-hosts Joe Worley and Stacy Pearsall:
• Celebrate the Fourth of July by going down a Reddit rabbit hole on stories of ER visits from fireworks.
• Chat about why more than 20 Army museums will close in the next three years.
You can also check out the more than 300 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.
- Tango Alpha Lima