Archive for the Anti-Aging

You do have one don’t you? At the very least you have good intentions right? Well, not to be a drag, a pill, or a party-pooper, but if you want to enjoy the privilege of good health, you got to plan on it.

In Daniel Pink’s book called A Whole New Mind–excellent read by the way on how the world has changed from left brain thinking to a right brain driven, whole brained approach–there is a chapter on design. What I read got me thinking about how we design our lives–or leave the design to habit, chance, others. Pink quotes the renown architect Frank Nuovo as saying “Design in its simplest form is the activity of creating solutions, Design is something that everyone does every day.”

True enough. We design schedules to get in all of the most important “to dos” like work, shopping for food, personal hygiene, time with family etc. If we are following some sort of plan for our lives the design should support us getting where we want to go.

In the case of living young into an old age–I’m hoping we share that goal–without designing or including some specific lifestyle habits known to increase the chances of doing that, we leave ourselves open to a mess. Think lime green walls, orange shag carpet, deco lamps and marble top tables. I’m feeling a little sick right now, you?

Even the most outrageous interior design contrarians among you would be rearranging in no time. Liken this room to aging with no plans, no design in mind for the rooms you want to inhabit.

Sure you know the food and exercise regs, you’ve heard me and others drone on about knowing your numbers, getting your annual physical done–by a doctor you can talk to please–getting a good night’s sleep etc. So, are you? When was the last time you had your fasting blood sugar levels checked? When you get your blood work done and the doc says, “Everything is fine” but you wake up tired each day, toss and turn at night, can’t lose weight, and don’t have a bm every day, are you fine?

My answer is, “No.” You might reply that “it’s normal for me.” Guess what, none of those symptoms are things you should live with. They are not normal, they mean something is out of whack and more than likely within your control.

The sooner a problem is discovered the better off you are in terms of getting over it.

You’ll need a physician you can talk to who specializes in working with the whole body. You must educate yourself about how good it’s possible to feel, not what’s “normal.”

In order to confidently design a plan that will keep you upright, intact, able to put words together to form sentences, you’ve got to know where you are right now and that requires getting the facts that only testing can give you. “Test don’t guess” says famed nutritionist to the stars, JJ Virgin and I agree.

Then you can create a bold design of a healthy life. You can add outrageous activities, splashes of decadent delicious culinary treats, and enjoy the living rooms of your creation. Until you’re sure your foundation is firm, confidence feels risky and live is random movement towards a blurry end point.

Get help for direction, accountability, and support. Another of the designers that Daniel Pink mentioned is Paola Antonelli. To paraphrase her, “Design is giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing.” Can you design a healthy life and give yourself a few things–wonderful things–you didn’t know you were missing?

A while back the associate producer sent me an invite to watch this all-things-boomer show. I’ve never had the change as it plays locally way past my bedtime. But I continue to get the emails and the topics were fascinating enough that I had to click through to their blog site for a preview now and again.

Good news, I don’t have to stay up late–and miss my literal beauty and health sleep–you can watch all the episodes that have played, right on their site!

Last week’s was about how it feels to age–literally. A professor up in Nova Scotia created something called The Empathy Suit to give his students an experience of how it feels to move about your day in an elderly person’s body. Made me want to go to the gym. Check it out.

The half hour also covered whether or not replacement surgery should be the default for pain and quality of life and, you won’t believe this, Martha Stewart. What’s she got to do with aging? Come on, she’s as adept at extending her brand as anyone out there and she’s opened The Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. As the host, Robert Lipsyte says,”From the cradle to the grave with Martha.” She smiled that “It’s good to be Martha” smile of hers.

I had to laugh when she said about her book in progress, “I’ve written the book on how to take care of your home I should be the person to write a book on caring for yourself and your loved ones.” Really.

The show has covered topics like, plastic surgery, dating at midlife, spirituality and aging, Alzheimer’s, and lots more. It’s never the same old stuff and the guests are a mix of experts, medical people, authors, actors and so on.

I’ll leave you with a clip from the show when Robert Interviews Faye Wattleton, former president of Planned Parenthood turned actress, speaker, news commentator, on their plastic surgery episode.

Click this link to watch the video

What the heck does that mean you may be asking and what has it got to do with midlife? 

Science has discovered that the genes we are born with are not a static bunch of cells that doom or bless us with our height, health, disease, and jean size. Far from it. And that includes the idea that at the very least genes determine height, frame, eye color. Science cannot explain from a genetic point of view why tall kids are born to short parents. The assumption that it’s better diet has been ruled only one possibility as the younger generation of Phillipinos is growing shorter despite better economic conditions.

In truth there are at least 20 genes that determine height. And science now can’t even decide whether height is 90% gene directed or only 20%!

These facts and so many interesting others come from Deepak Chopra’s newest book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul.How to Invent a New You. I’ve long been excited by the science of epi-genetic control–the science of genes and how they turn on and off–and Dr. Chopra’s book is full of wonderful examples of how this works in real people’s lives and the science behind it all. 

So what’s this got to do with you and midlife? Right around the middle, for many women, our bodies really start to change. Hormone production is erratic, systems that allowed us to beat them up with no consequences are speaking up, and the diseases associated with our lifestyle choices start to show their symptoms. Add to this that many of us have stories that include reasons for our weight, our illnesses, and our levels of happiness or discontent as being “genetic.” Here’s where it gets really good. You don’t have to tell that story–or have results you don’t want–anymore.

When you were born your genes began adapting to how you thought, felt, and acted. The genes of 70 year old twins looked wildly different than they did when they were born–no longer even close to identical. Life–how we think and feel as well as the environment we choose for ourselves–turns genes on and off. 

Translation, you don’t have to have diabetes because it “runs in your family.” You don’t have to gain weight at midlife because it happens to all the women in your family. 

“Genes are the most complicated thing about the body. Yes there is simple truth behind them, which is this: you can change your genes, and therefore you can improve them. You are talking to your genes when you do simple things like eating and moving” so says Dr. Chopra in chapter 4. Could there be more of an incentive to eat foods that heal and support healthy aging and get some exercise? Not to mention that you feel better when you do but come on people. We have the power to create our second half with a vengeance. We are not victims to the familial gene pool.

If you want an easy to follow version of this science–with some exercises to help– I recommend Deepak’s book. If you want to hear Dr. Bruce Lipton on the subject, he’s sort of the designated voice of epi-genetic control, use this link to see a 6 minute video. It’s just fascinating.

Ok girls, if you haven’t heard me say this yet hear it now: Fat is not the enemy!

Healthy fats, monounsaturated and some polyunsaturated, even saturated fats all have beneficial effects on every system in the body. Fat actually powers our metabolism. It causes no blood sugar spikes which lead to inflammation which puts us at increased risk of the diseases of aging. It is critical for preservation of bone, immunity, and energy throughout the day.

Adding fat to a carb will slow down the blood sugar response and it will help you feel full–one key way to prevent overeating. But this post is about Alzheimer’s and related kinds of disease processes and how you can help someone you love and yourself.

Today I read in Dr. Whitaker’s newsletter a story about a new Alzheimer’s drug which is actually fat in a pill. A man who at 59 was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, put on Aracept and a few other drugs, but declined over the years following his diagnosis.  His wife, a doctor, (Dr. Newport) was made aware of a clinical trial evaluating a new Alzheimer’s drug. When her husband was not approved for the trial she did some research to find out what the active ingredient in this new drug was. To her surprise, the active ingredient was medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). These are natural fatty acids abundant in coconut oil.

She started giving her husband coconut oil and with the first dose, “a light switch came on” said the patient. Maybe I should tell you that at this point he was unable to use a calculator, work, type or remember to eat.

One dose! Why it worked is too long to go into here but it has to do with ketones which are the body’s alternative energy source. These are the very things produced and burned as fuel when you do an Atkins type eating program.

It’s a remarkable story and just one example of how a food we’ve been told for years is a “bad, saturated fat” is being rightfully shown as an important part of a healthy diet. Even Big Pharma found something to love in this healthy fat.

The drug they based on MCTs is called Axona and is available as a “medical food.” That phrase makes me laugh just thinking about it. Now the medical world wants to claim natural foods as their own? If you were to take enough of this “food” to help brain function throughout the day you’d have to take it three times per day at a cost of $300/month. According to Dr. Whitaker, insurance companies are not reimbursing for it at this time.

Dr. Newport has a website with more information. 

Food for thought and for those who want to keep on thinking clearly.