Stay healthy longer and live longer....

Today's Post: Tuesday, 5-25-2010

There are many, many ways to do this. The more of them you know and use and the sooner you begin, the better it works.

1. Regular moderate exercise works. Many people who live into their 90’s in good health have been walkers all their lives. Even three to five miles of walking, or 60 to 100 minutes total each week helps.

2. Regular, vigorous, exercise works extremely well. Strength training and interval cardio work well and can even be time efficient and done at home. Three alternating sessions of each for even 15 minutes each for a total of 6 sessions a week is doable and effective.

Such exercise has dramatic health benefits and protections. People who do such exercise look younger and live longer – as much as 20 years longer. They also avoid many diseases or get them only decades later if at all. So they have an even bigger edge in HEALTHY years lived.

3. Some supplements may help.

There is some evidence that taking 100 mg a day or more of resveratrol in its trans form may slow aging. And, it has been tested to help your heart stay healthier in particular.

Taking over 500 mg a day of vitamin C was shown in one study to result in longer telomeres. Since in large part, having your telomeres shorten CAUSES aging. That’s impressive.

Taking at least 2,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 and one capsule a day of curcumin or turmeric that it comes from in combination helps prevent most cancers and also protects your heart and tends to prevent Alzheimer’s disease! The D3 also helps keep your bones healthy, intact, and strong. They sharply increase your years of healthy life.

Lastly, taking the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 has been shown to be effective even in older people in increasing the health of your mitochondria. When your mitochondria begin to stop working, your cells have less and less internal energy. You feel less energetic and may begin to lose interest in life. And, your heart stops working as well. Taking 50 to 200 mg a day of ubiquinol helps to prevent or reverse this.

One animal study quoted by Dr Al Sears found that animals fed CoQ10 aged more slowly than those who did not get any. And, those fed ubiquinol aged so much more slowly, they did not seem to age at all.

4. Avoid tobacco smoke. If you smoke, quit. Your life, health, and freedom from future medical bills depend on it. You can’t quit too soon. But many have quit too late. Also avoid all second hand smoke. Even a few minutes exposure is bad for you. And we also now know that exposure to tobacco smoke not only causes heart disease, it triggers heart attacks in people who otherwise would have escaped them. Many smokers don’t know this. But every one they smoke causes some heart disease!

Smoking’s little problem is that it causes about 30 % of all cancers too.

Last but far from least, smoking speeds up aging and helps cause early wrinkling of your skin.

The bottom line is that smokers die 10 to 20 years younger, look older, and have 10 to 30 years fewer healthy years than nonsmokers.

They also pay for this out of pocket in cash every week. This is craziness. Don’t go there or stay there!

5. Don’t get fat or stay fat.

Being fat, eating and drinking the junk that causes it, and the NOT exercising that helps cause it, together cause type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease and attacks, and acid reflux.

In addition to exercise, and NOT eating or drinking fattening junk, knowing how to cut back calories without reversing the process or creating excessive hunger can get this done.

The one thing most people need most today is to NOT eat snacks or treats made with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, salt, and refined grains and to drink NO soft drinks of any kind. The average American would be more than 30 pounds less fat from doing this one single thing!

6. Eat foods that are good for you that don’t fatten you instead.

Today NewsMax had a story on 8 of these it titled,

“8 Potent Foods for Healthy Aging”

They listed these 8. (I’ve added my comments. Some of these foods are even better for you than their info suggests!)

a) Berries.

Blueberries, raspberries, black berries, strawberries and related fruits such as cranberries and grapes contain phytochemicals known as flavonoids. Eating blueberries has been shown to improve brain function. Strawberries and I think raspberries contain ellagic acid, which slows tumor growth. They are also low in calories and high in good taste while containing natural vitamin C and massive amounts of antioxidants.

You can also take bilberry supplements that have fewer calories and added eye benefits.

b) Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables.

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, including cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts are all nonstarchy vegetables which fill you up and help turn off hunger with almost no calories. Newsmax also said that these cruciferous vegetables “…according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of The Blaylock Wellness Report, can help neutralize the cancer-causing effects of pesticides and herbicides.”

Eating them raw has been shown to help prevent cancer and may work even better at preventing the most dangerous and deadly kinds of it.

Dr Al Sears also states that eating these foods helps men to be sexier and have less prostate enlargement by removing excess estrogen and estrogen like chemicals and normalizing your body’s testosterone.

Last but far from least, broccoli also has carotenoids despite its green color. And those keep you healthy and may also fight some cancers.

Eating more vegetables also has been shown to turn down or prevent high blood pressure.

So eating cruciferous vegetables keeps you young, trim, and healthy all in one pass.

c) Fish.

Oily fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids that fight inflammation. Newsmax added: “People who eat fish regularly have lower rates of Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, found that omega-3 fatty acids keep the DNA of heart patients from unraveling. The American Heart Association recommends two servings of fish each week.”

Water packed sardines are a very cheap way to do this. Wild caught salmon tastes better but costs more. Lastly, do NOT eat farmed fish. They have far less omega 3’s and DO have enough contaminants they should never be eaten!

Note that you can and likely should also take one or two capsules a day of omega 3 supplements from purified fish oil or algae.

Lastly, the reduction in inflammation and lowering of triglycerides from omega 3’s protects you from heart disease. And, getting enough omega 3’s makes you less irritable and reduces or prevents depression!

d) Garlic.

Newsmax had this: “A study found that women who ate a clove of garlic at least once a week lowered their risk of developing colon cancer by 50 percent, and a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that people who eat garlic have half the risk of stomach cancer and two-thirds the risk of colorectal cancer when compared to people who avoid it.”

Raw, crushed garlic or deodorized garlic supplements can help thin your blood like aspirin but without harming your stomach lining or causing bleeding there.

Getting garlic this way also tends to make your blood vessels more responsive and may prevent or reverse plaque build up despite not lowering LDL cholesterol that much. In some people it lowers high blood pressure by doing this.

Lastly, garlic in soups, vegetable dishes, and salads along with extra virgin olive oil and other spices makes them taste good and has other health benefits.

e) Grapes.

Newsmax had this: “Rich in an antioxidant called resveratrol that is an anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant, red grapes have been shown to extend the life span of test animals. Grapes also contain the bioflavanoid quercetin, which works with vitamin C (also found in grapes) to fight cancer, including cancers of the breast and colon.”

Drinking grape juice has been shown to make your blood vessels more responsive and to lower high blood pressure a bit.

Lastly, you can also take grape seed extract and drink red wine.

Just be moderate, restrained, and careful to avoid overdoing too much grape juice and red wine. If you do, you’ll add fat you could have avoided. And with red wine, more than 14 glasses a week begins to cause health and safety problems where half that much causes health benefits.

f) Nuts.

Unfortunately, some people are allergic to nuts.

But people who can and do eat nuts daily add as many years to their lives as smoking subtracts according to one source I read!

Newsmax had this: “Nuts contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids that lower inflammation and are great for your heart as well as your brain. They also contain B vitamins and minerals, including selenium and magnesium.”
The minerals help keep you healthy in many ways. And, eating nuts increases HDL cholesterol which is heart protective.

Nuts also make a great snack that is both good for you and tastes good. Even better, studies show they are not fattening! Apparently they turn off hunger so well, you automatically eat less of other foods.

Note that these great benefits come ONLY from raw or dry roasted nuts. Nuts that have been coated with salt or cooked in junky oils are NOT good for you, unfortunately.

g) Tomatoes.

Newsmax had this: “The generous amounts of the antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes help skin maintain its youthfulness, and may reduce the risk of developing heart disease, as well as several cancers, including breast, lung, and colon. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that men who ate 10 servings of tomato-based foods each week lowered their risk of developing prostate cancer by 45 percent.”

Note that cooked tomatoes when eaten with extra virgin olive oil deliver far more lycopene to your body than raw tomatoes.

However, raw cherry tomatoes and sliced tomatoes that are raw have another heart protecting compound and natural vitamin C. Plus they are a nonstarchy vegetable that helps keep you trim and taste good!

Lastly, you can take lycopene supplements.

h) Tea.

Newsmax had this: “Green and white teas contain large amounts of EGCG, a powerful antioxidant linked to a lower risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and numerous types of cancer. In addition, tissues in the eye absorb antioxidants from tea called catachins that may protect aging eyes from glaucoma.”

Even better, green tea and black teas have some caffeine but are milder and less sleep disruptive than coffee. And, when you drink them without milk, they increase your circulation.

Best of all, taking a couple capsules of green tea extract supplement on an empty stomach each morning can remove something like 5 pounds of excess fat by increasing your metabolism and also is a great way to get the other health protections from green tea.

To increase your odds for a long and healthy life, do as many of these methods as you can!

In this case, more IS better and ALL of the above is the best answer!