You can slow down your aging process and help stave off heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. U.S. News & World Report offers some tips on how to do it:

1. Free radicals. Free radicals are chemically unstable molecules that attack your cells and damage your DNA. You can limit your exposure to them by avoiding cigarettes, trans fats, charred meats, and other sources.

Organic fruits and vegetables will also limit your exposure to pesticides and herbicides, which contain the harmful molecules.

1. Inflammation. Inflammation is a major player in many diseases of aging, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. One way to avoid it is to follow a Mediterranean-style diet.

Other great anti-inflammatory foods include turmeric, dark chocolate, and the anti-aging chemical resveratrol. Exercise is another great way to lower inflammation.

1. Glycation. Glycation is what happens when sugar mixes with proteins and fats to form molecules that promote aging. Advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, are thought to accelerate your aging process by churning out free radicals and promoting inflammation. One way to avoid ingesting AGEs is to turn down the heat when you cook. The browning effect of high-heat cooking causes these molecules to form. Limiting your intake of sugar-filled foods in general will also help.
2. Stress. Stress initiates the release of a variety of hormones that make your pulse race and cause your blood pressure to rise. The hormone cortisol, released to lessen these effects, also creates problems when it remains chronically elevated. Try practicing relaxation techniques to help manage stress, and get enough sleep every night.

Sources:

U.S. News & World Report July 29, 2010

The Guardian August 1, 2010

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Death is surely inevitable, but I do believe you can live far longer than the average life expectancy, which, in the US, is around 78. Genetics may play a role, but is NOT the final determining factor for whether you’ll live a long healthy life.

Barring an accident, your lifestyle has everything to do with your longevity. It’s already been established that diet can override genetic predispositions for disease, for example, so don’t fall into the trap of believing your health and longevity is somehow the inevitable result of what’s in your gene pool.

Please understand that the list in the summary above is from US News and World Report and it is THEIR concept of what contributes to aging. Of course you don’t get the newsletter for their views so I am going to use their list as a springboard to provide you with my thoughts on the topic.

The Leading Cause of Premature Ageing and Premature Death

Increased insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity has clearly become the leading candidate for premature death. This results from two primary conditions: too much sugar and processed foods, combined with insufficient exercise.

Interestingly, controlling these two factors could likely eliminate more than 90 percent of:

• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High cholesterol

Of all the molecules capable of inflicting damage in your body, probably the most damaging of all are sugar molecules. Fructose in particular is an extremely potent pro-inflammatory agent that speeds up the aging process.

This is mostly an artefact of the post-industrial agricultural revolution that we live in as over thirty years ago scientists learned how to cheaply produce sugar from corn and now it is loaded in nearly all processed foods and has become the number one source of calories in most all developed countries.

Fructose is a major contributor to:

• Insulin resistance and obesity
• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL
• Cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis and even gout

How does it do all this?

Fructose adversely affects your body in a number of ways, but one of the mechanisms that causes significant damage is glycation; a process in which the sugar bonds with proteins and form so-called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. It’s a fitting acronym because – along with oxidation – it’s one of the major molecular mechanisms whereby damage accrues in your body, which leads to disease, aging, and eventually, death.

When sugar glycates it creates inflammation, which activates your immune system in a defensive manoeuvre. Macrophages are scavenger cells that are part of your immune defence system, and as such they have special receptors for AGEs, aptly called RAGEs (think: raging inflammation). These RAGEs bind to the AGEs and get rid of them.

Unfortunately, this process can leave its fair share of battle scars. Inside your arteries, for example, the scar tissue created from this process is called plaque. This also explains why there’s such a strong connection between diabetes and heart disease.

As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.

However, most people would be wise to limit their fructose to 15 grams or less, particularly if you have elevated uric acid levels, which can be used as a predictor for fructose toxicity. (For more information on this, please see this recent article.)

This includes keeping track of your fructose intake from whole fruits. For a helpful chart showing the fructose content of many common fruits, please see this link.

I recommend this lower level simply because if you consume processed foods or sweet beverages at all, you’re virtually guaranteed to consume “hidden” sources of fructose.

How to Prevent Free-Radical Damage

The most widely accepted idea for life extension is the free-radical theory, which says that as you age, you begin to “self destruct,” courtesy of free radicals – aggressive chemical compounds created as a by-product of your natural metabolism that damage your DNA.

Lifestyle choices such as smoking, consuming processed foods laden with trans fats and other harmful chemical additives, along with pesticide- and other chemical exposures further add to your body’s free radical burden.

With time, your DNA eventually becomes damaged beyond your body’s ability to repair, and once your biological processed fail, you die.

Antioxidants continually combat these free radicals – which is why a diet high in natural antioxidants is so important for your health and longevity. Antioxidants are abundant in a number of foods, and your BEST bet to get high quality antioxidants is to consume raw fresh organic vegetables and fruits.

Supplementation can also be useful and resveratrol appears to be particularly potent and is often referred to as a “fountain of youth” that can extend lifespan. It is unique among antioxidants because it can cross the blood-brain barrier to help protect your brain and nervous system.

Another important but often overlooked antioxidant is coenzyme Q-10, but more specifically the reduced version, called ubiquinol..

Your liver produces CoQ10 and it is actually an essential nutrient for health and longevity because it provides energy to every single cell in your body. Unfortunately, after age 25, your natural levels of this critical compound begin to decline, which is why I personally take the reduced form, ubiquinol, every day.

CoQ10 is also an absolute necessity if you’re on statin drugs as they can quickly deplete your body of coQ10. This is in part why statins are so harmful to your heart.

Glutathione (GSH) is another important and underutilized antioxidant. This is one antioxidant though I believe you can optimize with proper diet and if you are leading a healthy lifestyle it is probably unnecessary to supplement. However if you are sick and disabled and recovering, you certainly could consider supplementation.

Interestingly, increased glutathione levels may actually play a role in stopping telomere shortening, which is one of the most exciting anti-aging discoveries in recent years.

Now, I’m not a fan of taking fistfuls of supplements in lieu of altering your diet to get the nutrients you need, and I have reservations against using glutathione supplements in particular. When it comes to glutathione, one of your best sources is high quality whey protein. Other food sources include free range animal foods and eggs.

Just remember that there are vast differences between whey products. You’ll want to make sure your whey protein is derived from grass-fed cows and very carefully processed to preserve the fragile amino acid precursors. Many whey proteins on the market are highly processed and may also contain undesirable additives.

I am so convinced by the research on telomeres and glutathione that I take Miracle Whey protein every morning, and a second dose before my twice weekly strength training days.

Learning from Those Who’ve Lived the Longest

Longevity researchers have long searched for the magic common denominators that might explain the extended life spans of centenarians. What they found is that the people who’ve lived the longest tend to eat a natural, plant-based diet and live in areas that promote regular physical activity, such as daily walking.

They also tend to have effective strategies for coping with the inevitable stresses of life, such as prayer, meditation, and having strong social networks. In fact, being able to effectively cope with stress, it turns out, is one of the MAJOR common denominators for those who live long, healthy lives.

One of the proposed reasons for this strong link is that stress, just like fructose, promotes inflammation in your body.

Indeed, most of the research indicates that longevity hinges on preventing chronic inflammation, and avoiding sugar/fructose while consuming an antioxidant-rich diet of whole, fresh foods, along with physical exercise and effective stress reduction methods work hand-in-hand to do just that.

The Anti-Aging Lifestyle

Going back to where I started, of all the healthy lifestyle strategies I know of that can have a significant impact on your longevity, normalizing your insulin and leptin levels is probably the most important.

There is no question that optimizing your insulin levels is an absolute necessity if you want to slow down your aging process, and that means modifying your diet to avoid excessive amounts of fructose, grains, and other pro-inflammatory ingredients like trans fats.

Here are the rest of my top “anti-aging” recommendations:

• Learn how to effectively cope with stress – As discussed earlier, stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day, so developing effective coping mechanisms is a major longevity-promoting factor.

Meditation, prayer, physical activity and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium. I also strongly believe in using energy psychology tools such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to address deeper, oftentimes hidden emotional problems.

• Eat a healthy diet based on your nutritional type – The Metabolic Typing nutrition plan, based on natural whole foods, is your first step toward increasing your chances of living a longer, healthier life. This is so important; Fit for You now offer the full nutritional typing program for only £100.
• Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels. This is another very powerful and inexpensive intervention that can have profound benefits on your health. In the summer you can do this for free by careful and safe sun exposure but even in the winter a therapeutic level of oral vitamin D (typically 5-10,000 units of vitamin D3 for most adults)
• Animal based omega-3 fats – Correcting the ratio of omega-3 to healthful omega-6 fats is a strong factor in helping people live longer. This typically means increasing your intake of animal based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil, while decreasing your intake of damaged omega-6 fats (think trans fats).

I do not, however, recommend the new prescription strength fish oil medication, sold under the name Lovaza. Don’t be fooled by their “all-natural” PR campaign. This is actually a drug to treat very high triglyceride levels.

However, as with most other drugs, Lovaza comes with potentially dangerous side effects that you would not experience with a natural fish oil or krill oil supplement. Side effects include flu-like symptoms, infections, back pain, skin rashes, upset stomach, taste changes, digestive issues, chest pain, migraines and respiratory problems!

Additionally, new research strongly suggests that 500 mg of krill oil is more potent and far less expensive.

• Get your antioxidants from foods –Good sources include blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, beans, and artichokes.
• Use coconut oil – Another excellent anti-aging food is coconut oil, known to reduce your risk of heart disease and lower your cholesterol, among other things. In fact, it’s doubly beneficial because it can be both eaten and applied directly to your skin. Coconut oil can be used in place of other oils, margarine, butter, or shortening, and can be used for all your cooking needs.
• Get your resveratrol naturally – Resveratrol is one of the forerunners in the anti-aging pill race, but more than likely, by the time they’ve manipulated it into a synthetic pill (like the fish oil discussed above), it won’t be healthy for you.

Although resveratrol is the antioxidant found in red wine, I can’t recommend drinking wine in the hopes of extending your life because alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain and harm your body’s delicate hormonal balance. Instead, get your resveratrol from natural sources, such as whole grape skins and seeds, raspberries, mulberries, and peanuts.

• Exercise regularly, and correctly– Studies repeatedly show that regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise can help prevent or delay your onset of hypertension, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and the falls that lead to hip fracture. Although a lifetime of regular exercise is ideal, it’s never too late to start. It’s been shown that even individuals in their 70′s can substantially increase both strength and endurance with exercise.

I’m also excited about the research showing how high-intensity, interval training can increase longevity as this specific style of training promotes human growth hormone production – yet another aspect of the longevity puzzle.

• Avoid as many chemicals, toxins, and pollutants as possible – This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
• Avoid pharmaceutical drugs – Pharmaceutical drugs kill thousands of people prematurely every year – as an expected side effect of the action of the drug. And, if you adhere to a healthy lifestyle, you most likely will never need any of them in the first place.

Incorporating these healthy lifestyle guidelines will help set you squarely on the path to optimal health and give you the best shot at living a much longer life. For even more anti-ageing information, please feel free to browse our articles.

9 Causes of Fat Gain (Not One Being Food …) by www.SixWise.com

Have you heard people say they just can’t lose weight even when they nearly starve themselves? Ever felt that way yourself?

A large number of Americans struggle to lose weight every day, despite adhering to healthy diets and regular exercise programs.

So what is really going on? While diet and exercise are certainly the two biggest factors, and eating healthy and exercising will result in weight loss for the majority of people who try them, for some it’s just not enough.

In fact, there are several causes of weight or fat gain that have nothing to do with diet or even exercise … so if you’ve been stuck in a weight-loss plateau, keep reading to find out if one of these explanations may be to blame …

1. Lack of Sleep

Too little sleep can have a big impact on your waistline, and not in a good way. How? By altering levels of hormones that regulate hunger. According to one study by University of Chicago researchers, people who slept only four hours a night for two nights had an 18 percent decrease in leptin, a hormone that signals your brain you’ve had enough food, and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin, the “hunger” hormone.

Not surprisingly, after getting such little sleep, the participants noted a 24 percent increase in appetite, with a particular desire for sugary, salty and starchy foods, like candy, chips and pasta.

A separate study also found that people who sleep less than four hours a night are 73 percent more likely to be obese than people who sleep more, while a new study in the International Journal of Obesity found that middle-aged women who have trouble sleeping may gain more weight than well-rested women.

In short, once your sleep patterns have been disrupted, your body will be prone to weight gain and overeating. Meanwhile, overeating may further throw off your circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake cycle, leading to a vicious cycle that can be hard to overcome.

Creating a relaxing bedtime routine, which can include a warm bath, a foot massage,stretching, or listening to the wonderful Sleep Easy CD, can help you to fall asleep and stay asleep.

2. Sitting Too Much – “Sittosis”

Americans spend an excess of time sitting — leading to a variety of “sittosis” conditions, not the least of which is weight gain. Even independent of how much time you spend exercising, if you spend the bulk of your day sitting you could be inadvertently packing on the pounds.

Part of the problem is sitting stops the circulation of lipase, an enzyme that absorbs fats. So instead of being absorbed by your muscles, when you’re sitting fat recirculates in your bloodstream where it may end up stored as body fat, clogging arteries or contributing to disease and weight gain.

A recent study even found sitting time was a predictor of weight gain in Australian women, even after adjustments were made for diet and exercise.

According to Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, numerous studies show rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity are doubled and even tripled in people who sit a lot.

For instance, a Canadian study showed that screen time is linked to obesity in adults. After surveying 42,600 men and women, researchers found:

• Those who watched more than 21 hours of TV a week were 80 percent more likely to be obese than those who watched 5 hours or less.
• Men who spent a lot of leisure time in front of a computer were 20 percent more likely to be obese, and women 30 percent more, than those who did not.
• 
  

Research by Hamilton and others found sitting not only has a negative effect on fat and cholesterol metabolism, but also stimulates disease-promoting processes. What’s more, exercising, even for an hour a day, does not reverse this effect

“The enzymes in blood vessels of muscles responsible for ‘fat burning’ are shut off within hours of not standing,” Hamilton told ScienceDaily.com. “Standing and moving lightly will re-engage the enzymes, but since people are awake 16 hours a day, it stands to reason that when people sit much of that time they are losing the opportunity for optimal metabolism throughout the day.”

So take the opportunity to stand rather than sit as often as you can. Stand while watching your kids play at the park, stand while you talk on the phone or watch TV, and any other time you can “get up off your butt” … do!

One simple tip is every morning when you first awake make a routine of stretching for 10 to 15 minutes (we recommend Jacques Gauthier’s Stretching Toward a Healthier Life DVD). Once you watch it and get into a routine it will quickly become a good habit!

Then, every evening set a time for a 30-minute focused exercise routine. This doesn’t have to require an expensive health club membership.

We have found and now highly recommend a unique progressive combination of top proven fitness principles from MySheanetics.com.

It’s a relaxing easy-to-do program you can do at home, eliminating excuses that you can’t make time to get into the club or can’t afford $40 to $100 a month for a health club membership, or personal trainer at $100 an hour.

The MySheanetics.com program is used by finicky Movie Stars to Pro Athletes and will help you quickly gain incredible increased endurance and improved health in both mind and body.

3. Intrauterine and Childhood Programming

Depression and obesity have a reciprocal relationship in that people who are depressed are more likely to become obese, while those who are obese are more likely to become depressed. Among initially normal-weight individuals, depression increases the risk of obesity by 58 percent, according to a new study by Dutch researchers.

For starters, it’s common for people with depression to overeat — particularly foods high in sugar and fat, i.e. “comfort foods” — as well as reduce their physical activity levels.

“Activation of the endocannabinoid system, which increases appetite and may simultaneously alleviate depression, is likely to reinforce this eating behavior. Socioeconomic disadvantage may further exacerbate the over-consumption of comfort foods because of their low cost,” Dr. Evan Atlantis from the University of Adelaide’s School of Medicine told Medical News Today.

If you’re currently depressed, you should seek help from a knowledgeable natural health care practitioner. You can also try adding regular exercise to your routine, as it’s effective at both relieving depressive symptoms and helping to maintain a healthy weight.

Ideally, try to avoid taking antidepressants, as they’re actually associated with obesity (see below).

5. Certain Medications

Certain prescription drugs cause weight gain as a side effect. According to Consumer Reports, these include:

• Corticosteroids: These drugs increase your hunger levels and make you bloated.
• Neuroleptics: Used to treat schizophrenia, these drugs cause you to feel lethargic, zapping your energy to exercise and making weight gain virtually inevitable.
• Antidepressants: Certain antidepressants can make you crave high-calorie, sugary foods, leading to weight gain.
• Epilepsy drugs: Depakote, Carbatrol, Epitol, Tegretol and Tegretol-XR for epilepsy are known to cause weight gain.

Other drugs, including contraceptives (the birth control pill), diabetes drugs and blood pressure drugs, are also known to cause weight gain. Considering that the use of prescription drugs in general is rising rapidly, this is a serious consideration in the battle of the bulge.

The average American aged 19-64 takes over 11 prescriptions per year!

6. Portion Sizes

If your portion sizes are too large, you can quickly gain weight – even if you’re eating primarily healthy foods. And if your foods aren’t always healthy, the weight gain from over-sized servings will be even quicker.

Portion sizes over the decades have doubled and it is showing in the growing waistlines of Americans. Studies have consistently shown that larger portion sizes tend to make people eat more food.

The portion boom, then and now:

• In 1970, an average bagel weighed approximately three ounces and contained 230 calories
• Today it is double that size and a whopping 550 calories
• A serving of fries in the 1970s consisted of about 30 fries and 450 calories
• Today, a serving will get you 50 fries and a heaping 790 calories

There are several tricks and techniques to eating the portion size that’s right for you. You can start by going through your kitchen cabinets and assessing your dinnerware and serving sets for sizes and even changing the ambiance of your dining room.

By eating off of smaller plates, such as 6-inch in diameter saucer-sized plates, you will trick yourself into thinking you’re eating more than you actually are. Also, start by taking small amounts of food on your plate and remind yourself that if you are still hungry after you’re finished, you can always go back to get more.

It is also useful to cut your portion sizes in half. If your daily lunch is a huge sandwich, try cutting it in half, eating one half and waiting a few minutes. This will give your body time to receive a full sensation. You may even decide you’re not hungry enough to eat the other half.

7. Obesity as a Symptom

If you’re inexplicably gaining weight, it could be a signal of another health problem. The following conditions, for instance, can cause weight gain as a symptom of a larger underlying problem:

• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Thyroid disorders
• Cancer
• Congestive heart failure
• Cushing’s syndrome
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Eclampsia
• Lupus
• Metabolic Syndrome

If you’ve had unexplained weight gain, make an appointment to see your doctor to rule out an underlying disorder.

8. Pollution

Pollutants are all around us, many of which have an influence on your delicate hormonal and metabolic systems. Among them, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as bisphenol-A (BPA), pesticides, PBDEs, and others can predispose you to being fat.

Frederick vom Saal, professor of biological sciences in MU’s College of Arts and Science, told Science Daily:

“Certain environmental substances called endocrine-disrupting chemicals can change the functioning of a fetus’s genes, altering a baby’s metabolic system and predisposing him or her to obesity.

This individual could eat the same thing and exercise the same amount as someone with a normal metabolic system, but he or she would become obese, while the other person remained thin. This is a serious problem because obesity puts people at risk for other problems, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.”

Vom Saal pointed out that out of the approximately 55,000 manmade chemicals in use in the world, 1,000 may be endocrine disrupters.

To cut down on your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, avoid Polycarbonate, Lexan and Polysulfone plastics, which contain BPA, and instead use your own Wellness H2.0, a personal reusable water bottle made of HDPE (high density polyethylene) plastic, which is BPA-free! The Wellness H2.0 features a unique filtration system that not only purifies ordinary tap water, but also enhances the water for better absorption and hydration.

Because household items like cleaning products, toiletries (fragrances, hairspray, deodorants, shampoos, etc.), air fresheners, paint, bug sprays and many others are major contributors to the toxins in your home, seeking out natural varieties of these items is essential.

Also, because indoor air can be two to 100 times MORE polluted than outdoor air, according to the EPA, having a high-quality air purifier is now as essential as having locks on your doors. A simple way to keep your home’s air clean and safe is by using the PIONAIR Smart Pointe Air Treatment System, which uses photocatalysis designed to oxidize organic odors, germs, and fungi to create clean, pure air in your home.

9. A Virus?

Studies suggest that an adenovirus called AD-36 may be involved in some cases of obesity. There are more than 50 types of adenoviruses that cause illnesses such as the common cold and gastroenteritis. Typically, the illnesses are not serious and resolve on their own.

However, research shows that 33 percent of obese adults have contracted AD-36 at some point in their lives, compared to just 11 percent of lean people. Further, in 2007 it was found that AD-36 could turn adult stem cells from fat tissue into fat cells.

According to Nikhil Dhurandhar, of Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, the virus likely triggers obesity when it spreads to other parts of your body.

A person exposed to the virus may recover from the related cough, cold or sore throat relatively quickly, but could reportedly gain weight for a period of three months, until their body has built up resistance to the virus. People with the virus could also remain contagious for three months.

SixWise Says … “When we lose twenty pounds … we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.” ~Woody Allen

Red Meat, is it such a danger?

The Sun published this article Tues March 24th.
‘PERILS’ OF RED MEAT

Eating red meats increases the risk of dying from heart disease and cancer – but chicken reduces the danger, a huge study has found.
Half-a-million Americans had their diet logged over ten years by the US National Cancer Institute.
Risk of early death rose by 13 per cent in those who ate 160g a day of red and processed meat.

Fit for You comment

It seems that every article is telling you something is good or bad, without actually defiining the reasons why. In the western society we tend to overcook meat, red or white. When we over cook protein it is less easily digested by our system and can sit for longer in the bodys process, this could be one of the main reasons why our society has been prone more illness. Both Francis Pottenger & Weston A Price, have produced evidence from extensive studies in the early 1900′s on the effect of processed foods, and the relation to human illness, these studies are part of the foundation of Metabolic Typing, which is; a nutritional assessment and program, for people to eat to to their specific requirements, and is available today.

It can be frustrating to hear a comment in the paper being taken as read, when there are so many basic things we can do to prevent illness, and greatly improve our health and longevity.

If you’d like to know more about how you can have the Metabolic Typing test, please contact Fit for You