Healthy Aging
This health topic is the most encompassing. The most simplest and most comprehensive single strategy to healthy aging is to get healthy and stay that way until we die. With these simple words that formulate this strategy comes the niggling details that demand to be cowed by science, reason,and an insurmountable battery of screaming facts and details that we all have. Let me assure you they will only delay the execution of a very simple and foundational truth. I have no desire to prove or disprove what is said but to only ask to have your attention to the end.
This is not a topic that I can isolate myself from and only spew ideas and techniques. I am currently coming to terms with the idea of healthy aging. I am now 52 years old and I am starting to comprehend what the “older people” in my past and present were saying and concerned about. With that said, I want to run some ideas by you.
Eating and Drinking
Eating and drinking are foundations and have the largest impact on your health. Therefore, eating and drinking is the best and most solid start to getting healthy and staying that way. The key to this is what to eat and what do you need to drink.
Eat real whole foods mostly and drink water by itself.
Eating whole foods at this point does not exclude anything. What I mean by this is whole foods are everything we need. I also want to say that at this point we are not talking about elimination of anything. It is about getting these whole foods in your diet first and regularly than to put you on any restriction.
“Good whole foods in first -worry about the details later.”
Let’s talk about real whole foods. I define whole foods or real whole foods as meats, eggs, vegetables and fruit, anything that could be created by the earth itself. The reason for this is that whole unadulterated foods have a vast amount of nutrients that our bodies can easily digest and assimilate. There is still vast amounts of nutrients that our bodies need that we have yet to isolate in a lab and study. I can tell you without any doubt that our bodies know fully and completely and science has yet to discover the vast knowledge that lies inside us. Why wait on science when nature has it all here.
Here is what I suggest you do to start:
- Eat protein (meats or eggs) with any vegetable for your meals.
- Drink water only (not juice, tea, sports drinks, soft drinks etc) between meals. You can still drink things other than water, but drink water by itself as well.
- That’s it!
I will admit it is simple and lacks some detail. However, starting to change what you eat is not easy. You have to learn to shop, cook, prepare, and store in new ways. We must acknowledge that making any change is hard and simplicity is our guide.
Most processed foods such as cereals, breads, pastas, drinks (other than water), sugar, chips, cookies, cakes, brownies, soda pop, donuts etc…accelerate aging and has a hand in chronic diseases such as heart and lung disease, asthma, diabetes, high cholesterol, low cholesterol, and arthritis, just to name a few. I have witnessed in my clinic a reversal and/or betterment of Type II diabetes, eczema, brittle nails, thinning hair, acid reflux, chronic allergies, asthma, brain fog, fatigue, arthritis, stubborn weight loss and IBS, with a change in eating whole foods.
Of course there was an elimination of cereal grains (wheat, rye, spelt) in some form, sugar and diary; however, elimination is not as important as getting the whole foods in the diet on a regular basis.
Working with nature is what allows grace to aging and can add years to your life and life to your years. It can be hard to trust this advice because we live in a culture that puts the faint and non-encompassing knowledge of man (science) before the guidance of nature. Nature still holds its mysteries from us and science is the medium we discover and understand her, however, you my good friend, have the means within to listen, feel and do. Get the good food in for a month and see how you feel. Do not let what others have to say sway you from the knowing of how you feel. Remember that Mother Nature is the master of all sciences and she is within you.
I hope you enjoyed the article. I will continue to write about healthy aging. If you need more detail on eating healthy, look at my website for “Eating Well’ and “Recommended Reading”.
