Fructose-Glycation-Inflammation – A Disease-Promoting Triangle
Fructose adversely affects your body and can lead to the health problems listed last week. However, one of the mechanisms that causes significant damage is glycation; a process in which the sugar bonds with proteins and forms 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 maneuver. Macrophages are scavenger cells that are part of your immune defense 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.
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.
Fructose Recommendation
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.
This includes keeping track of your fructose intake from whole fruits. 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.
Limiting Carbs and Exercising are the Cornerstones of "the Fountain of Youth"
I'm glad the Daily News included exercise as a complementary way to reduce your insulin levels. Physical exercise does indeed help you regain insulin sensitivity.
In fact, exercise may in and of itself have the effect of "relative calorie restriction" as it produces many of the same benefits you get when cutting calories from your diet.
These benefits include:
1. Improved insulin sensitivity
2. Decreased fat mass
3. Reduced risk of cancer
Studies repeatedly show that regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise can help prevent or delay your onset of hypertension, obesity and heart disease, just to name a few of the diseases that significantly contribute to premature death.
I'm also excited about the research showing how high-intensity, interval training can increase longevity by promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is yet another important aspect of the longevity puzzle.
But What Will Actually REVERSE Aging?
Clearly, limiting carbs and avoiding fructose will be very useful in prolonging your healthy lifespan, but it will NOT reverse aging. Fortunately there are other strategies that involve lengthening your telomeres that can do that.
Last week Harvard researchers actually successfully implemented such strategies in rats. It is likely that these strategies will be available for humans in the not too distant future, so it will be KEY to stay healthy now and limit carbs so you can use these tools to actually REVERSE aging.
I list other strategies below that will help slow down the aging process so you can maximally benefit from the telomere lengthening strategies when they become available.
The Anti-Aging Lifestyle
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 this 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.
That said, longevity is the result of an overall healthy lifestyle, so in addition to curbing your carb intake and exercising, which I already discussed above, these additional strategies can further help you stay young and vibrant, longer:
1. Learn how to effectively cope with stress – 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.
2. 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 and also undergo the EON therapy at Carib Wellness (Emotional Organizational Neurology).
3. Eat a healthy diet based on your nutritional type or dosha –based on natural whole foods, is your first step toward increasing your chances of living a longer, healthier life. This is so important
4. Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels to between 60 and 70 ng/ml.
5. 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 cod liver oil, while decreasing your intake of damaged omega-6 fats (think trans fats).
6. Get your antioxidants from foods –Good sources include blueberries,cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, beans, and artichokes.
7. Get your resveratrol naturally – Because resveratrol appears to be so effective at warding off many diseases associated with aging, it is often referred to as a “fountain of youth” that can extend lifespan. Good sources of naturally-occurring resveratrol include whole grape skins and seeds, raspberries and mulberries.
8. Use coconut oil – Another excellent anti-aging food is coconut oil, known to reduce your risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and lower your cholesterol, among other things.
9. Naturally increase your glutathione levels with high quality whey protein – Another exciting anti-aging discovery is related to the process of slowing down telomere shortening, as discussed in more detail in this previous article. There’s some evidence that this can be done nutritionally, by consuming high quality whey protein such as Complete Whey or Total Greens from Carib Wellness.
10. 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 available at Myrtles Health Food Store.
11. 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 and looking younger! As always Carib Wellness is here at your service to enable you to achieve a better you in 2011! Call 469 2147 or 466 9355 for your appointment today. |
