7 Eating Habits That Make You Live Longer

When it comes to living longer–and healthier, happier and slimmer in the meantime–your fate has never been more firmly in your hands. 

Research indicates that no matter your genetic predispositions, you can take real steps toward reducing your risk of dying early (even down to turning off your fat genes) by tweaking your lifestyle and diet. What’s more: Many of those things are super-easy—daresay even fun; chocolate is involved—and you probably don’t realize you’re doing some of them already. So prepare to be surprised, and then sock away a little more in that 401k plan.

1. Stop eating alone

Whatever you do on this list, get some company while you do it. Prolonged loneliness can be as life-shortening as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to researchers from Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Data from 148 studies involving 300,000 people showed that those with stronger social connections lived 7.5 years longer on average than those who were more isolated. A 2015 follow-up study by the same team, published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, found that loneliness shortens lifespan as much as being obese. And researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracked almost 3,000 people over the age of 65 for more than 13 years and found that socializing might add as many years to your life as lowering your cholesterol or blood pressure!

2. Embrace your coffee habit

There’s been a groundswell of research over the past few years about how coffee, once an infamous vice, is actually excellent for health in a number of ways. Scientists at Brooklyn College discovered that men who drank four cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of fatal heart disease by 53 percent. In a separate analysis of 34 global studies, the World Cancer Research Fund found that people who regularly drank coffee had a 14 percent lower risk of liver cancer. Scientists hypothesize the benefits are due to coffee’s high level of antioxidants and ability to reduce inflammation throughout the body, which is particularly carcinogenic in the liver.

3. Have one drink a day

Happy hour can be guilt-free again, assuming you keep the lamp shade off your head. A 25-year study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that consuming seven alcoholic drinks per week—the equivalent of one glass of wine or beer each night—reduces the risk of heart failure by 20 percent for men and 16 percent for women. And research conducted by the American Cancer Society, which looked at half a million people, found that overall death rates were lowest among men and women reporting about one drink daily. So enjoy, with a big caveat: If you have trouble limiting yourself to one or two drinks a day, don’t keep imbibing under the guise of health; you’re actually shortening your life. The Brigham study found that people who had 21 or more drinks each week had an 89 percent increased risk of death—from any cause.

4. Eat dark chocolate

Now this is why science exists: Harvard School of Public Health researchers tracked the chocolate-consumption habits of almost 8,000 male graduates. Their findings? Those who ate dark chocolate lived a year longer than those who didn’t, and men who ate one to three bars a month had a 36% lower chance of death—of any cause! In a different 15-year study, Dutch scientists determined that men who ate just 4 grams of cocoa a day had half the risk of dying from heart disease than those who ate less. Likely responsible: The antioxidants in dark chocolate, which are heart-healthy.

5. Sip some cherry juice

You already know about the weight-loss benefits of eating berries, but did you know that drinking cherry juice can help you sleep? It’s high in melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. Scientists at Northumbria University found that people who drank cherry juice twice a day slept an average of 39 minutes longer and had up to 6% fewer “non-sleep behaviors” while in bed. Getting enough shut-eye is essential to longevity: Harvard Medical School researchers say that life expectancy significantly decreases in people who average less than five hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep is connected to heart problems, weight gain and certain cancers; the regular use of sleeping pills has also been linked to premature death. Just make sure you cut it with some water; like any other fruit juice, cherry juice is high in sugar.

6. Get your daily seven servings

You knew this one was coming, but the numbers are shockingly impressive. A study of 65,000 people by the University College of London found that those who ate seven helpings of fruits and vegetables had a 42% lower risk of dying early than those who ate less than one—including a 33% reduction in death from heart disease and a 25% reduction in cancer death. Five to seven servings cut overall death risk by 36%.

7. Snack on nuts

A 2013 Harvard School of Public Health study of 118,000 people determined that those who ate one ounce of nuts every day were 20% less likely to die over three decades—the equivalent of adding three years to your life. Why? Nuts lower bad LDL cholesterol, raise good HDL cholesterol, sweep plaque from arteries and contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that have cancer-killing and anti-inflammatory properties.