Healthy Aging

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
~ H.D. Thoreau

This is the third in a series of articles on healthy aging. It is the most requested topic for our Weekly Wellness Reports and to me, it is one of the most important topics. You see, health is not about waiting for disease to strike and then battling it. As the World Health Organization said back in 1948, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Healthy aging
My seventh-grade teacher was an ancient fossil of man – much older than even my parents! I think he was 50. He told me a truth about aging that I have never forgotten: The only way to avoid getting old is to die young. With that in mind I found great wisdom in the words of Benjamin Franklin who said, “All would live long but none would be old.”

So, healthy aging is about living long without being old! To reach that goal we need to take a brief look at the process called “biological aging.”

Biological aging does not happen with the tick of the clock or the pages turning on your calendar; it happens in your cells. During its life cycle a cell may be damaged by exposure to:

• Toxins
• Direct trauma
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Stress

Each of these circumstances causes inflammation and free radical production. Intense nutrition is needed to battle these causes of premature cell death.

Premature biological aging occurs when more cells die than you can replace.

Fighting inflammation
The human body is designed to fight premature aging and remain young. A powerful force called homeostasis mobilizes your immune system, hormones, nerves and other important systems to ignite the healing process. Homeostasis uses focused inflammation to remodel your cells following injury, illness or even the extreme challenges of emotional stress. Once the healing process is complete, homeostasis extinguishes the fire of inflammation and returns your body to a state of dynamic and vital balance – free from the effects of runaway inflammation.

Homeostasis orchestrates the cells in your body to maintain balance under even severe conditions.

However, there are times when your body cannot heal itself. If inflammation overwhelms a cell it may be damaged beyond repair. Damaged, dead cells must be removed or they will become the focus of infection and illness. Betalains, a unique class of nutrient that is both an antioxidant and a protein, assist a special cell called a macrophage (literally “big eater”) to engulf the dead cell and eliminate it from your body. This makes room for a brand-new replacement cell and the cycle of wellness continues.

Intense nutrition
The supplements of healthy aging include four critical components:

1. A balanced multiple vitamin/mineral supplement to establish a solid foundation for healthy aging
2. An essential fatty acid supplement to nourish the arteries and rehydrate the brain
3. A Vitamin C supplement to serve as an antioxidant reserve and keep the immune system active
4. A B-12 supplement to keep the energy level up and the mind bright.

Premature aging is about losing more cells than we replace. Healthy aging is about closing the gap between loss of cells and repair or replacement of our cells as directed by homeostasis and fueled by nutrients.

Learn More…

• Living to 100
• Activity for your body and mind
• Volunteering

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports…

• Toxins: A Major Source of Inflammation
• Hormone Health

Strengthen Your Immunity

What determines if you get sick or not?
Louis Pasteur and Antoine Bechamp – physicians 150 years ago – were keenly aware of the same things you and I experience every year: during the cold and flu season, some people get sick and some people don’t. Pasteur spent his life looking for what makes sick people sick. Bechamp spent his career looking for what keeps healthy people healthy – and how we can be like them! They settled their argument with the discovery that illness visits people with poor habits much more frequently than those who care for their health.

It turns out that microbes prefer to wreak their havoc on people with compromised immune systems. Simple things can compromise our immune system, including:

• An imbalanced diet
• Alcohol and caffeine consumption
• An argument with someone you love

Just as Pasteur and Bechamp discovered more than a century ago, our health revolves around a healthy lifestyle more than the virulence of a microbe.

Help protect against illness
The phrase that describes our vulnerability or resistance to disease is “biological terrain.” The terrain or landscape of our health is made up of our genetics, our environment and, most importantly, our lifestyle. Vigorous application of the 10 Essentials yields the healthiest, most disease-resistant terrain. Skipping even one of these principles will change your terrain and leave you vulnerable to infection.

• A base of healthy nutrients
  Establishing a base of healthy nutrients can provide us with a very resilient terrain. The more dense the base is, the more disease-resistant our terrain will be. Taking a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement every day is an excellent start. Almost all physicians recommend an Omega-3 supplement as well. If your terrain is being remodeled by stress, you may need adaptogens to help you cope while remaining disease-resistant. Indeed, the long-term studies of adaptogens in Russia clearly demonstrated that these plants help you resist infections and speed healing.
• Vitamin C
  Vitamin C is a favorite for protecting against and even treating virus infections. Russell Jaffe, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health, recommends a loading dose of Vitamin C: one teaspoon of Vitamin C crystals every 15 minutes until you “flush.” By this, he means a complete bowel evacuation. After the flush, he recommends a daily serving of Vitamin C (for one month) that is equivalent to 75% of the amount it took you to flush. This should really improve your terrain!
• Echinacea
  Echinacea is used in a similar way. Significant medical research from Germany suggests that an hourly dose of Echinacea will help reduce symptoms and may help shorten the duration of a virus infection. Taking a gram of Echinacea every hour for three days may even “abort” an infection that has already begun. Continue taking Echinacea three times daily for up to two weeks afterward to protect against a relapse.

Reduce your exposure
Here are some great recommendations for reducing your exposure to infection:

• Wash your hands
  First, the largest contributor to infection is unwashed hands. Washing your hands with soap every few hours will reduce the chance for pathogens to gain access to your system. You should also make sure they are completely dry. Then, use the disposable towel to open the door out of the washroom. Many ugly microbes lurk on door handles – usually from people who have not properly washed and dried their hands.
• Clean surfaces
  Next, disinfect surfaces that are shared by many people. For instance, public telephones bring you within kissing distance of hundreds or even thousands of people. Who knows what their hygiene habits were? In a typical day we may be exposed to germs from as many as 150 countries or more!
• Reduce stress
  Reduce stress. Stress decreases the effectiveness of your immune system. Your immune system may begin to overreact or not react in time to stop an infection when you are under stress. The source of the stress really does not matter. For instance, job stress and an injury may seem like entirely different stresses to your mind but they are treated exactly the same way by your body.

Remember, building up your terrain and reducing your exposure are keys to a great offense… which will help improve your defense!

Learn More…

• The proper way to wash your hands
  A quick rinse isn’t enough to avoid infection – find out the best technique for washing

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports…

• Tremor Triggers
• Healthy Aging

What to Look for on Food Labels

As it turns out, calories are the key. Whether they are from fat or carbohydrate is not as important as the total number of them. To lose weight and keep it off, we simply must adhere to the simple rule of “calories in, calories out.”

Be cautious about cravings
Our bodies were designed to communicate nutrient needs through cravings. Our bodies need protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber and water to be healthy. These are called macro-nutrients because they are large categories of food that contain smaller categories called micronutrients. A micronutrient is something we need in a very small quantity, like salt (sodium). We crave what we need.

Food manufacturers create products to tempt these cravings the way a fisherman uses a lure to catch a fish. We can be induced to buy one food over the other because of added ingredients. Three common additives that tempt our taste buds:

• Sugar
• Fat
• Salt

Salt has its own issues (see link below) but sugar and fat are often hidden sources of calories.

Hidden calories
Are you watching your calorie intake? Use these tips when looking at labels:

Watch out for added-sugar foods. Recommendations for carbohydrate intake range from 60 to 250 grams daily for the average adult. These carbohydrates should come from whole foods to avoid the “empty calories” of added sugar. If the label lists “sugar” as an ingredient, select another food without the added sugar.

Watch out for added-fat and high-fat foods. Fat contains very few nutrients. While it is a good source of energy, a little goes a long way. Protein and carbs contain four calories per gram, yet fat contains a whopping nine calories per gram. Fat is often added to improve the “mouth-feel” of foods. If a label lists the daily value (DV) at 20% or higher, it is a high-fat food. The DV should be between 2% and 10% for a single serving. Never eat trans-fats.

Conclusion
As with most elements of life, selecting your diet is both a science and an art. Take a little time to learn the science behind food selections and then you can enjoy the endless, artistic variety of foods. Remember, moderation is the key!

Learn More…

• Deciphering the Nutrition Facts Label
• Decreasing Your Salt Intake
• Limiting Your Intake of Sugar
• Eat Nutritiously – Priority Action Plan

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports…

• Diabetes/Glycemic Index
• Antibiotic Recovery