So, last week we talked about aging from the genetic standpoint and the new availability to look at your “life book” when you get a genetic testing panel done. I received quite a few comments on that and many of you are excited about getting that done!
Here is a reminder of where we are going with this series of why we age, get sick and get diseases.
- Genetics – we can now look into your “book of life” and see how uniquely you were created. We recently did this for my husband and discovered he has some gene mutations that make him an “inflammation machine”, from birth!
- Inflammation – science believes this is at the root of most age related diseases
- Free Radical Damage – or “oxidative stress” as it’s sometimes called. Think “rusting from the inside out” and you get a good visual of what’s going on inside your body.
- Toxins – this is tied to both inflammation and oxidative stress. As our bodies age we lose the ability to detoxify as effectively as we did when we were younger thus we have increased inflammation and oxidation. We are also exposed to more toxins than any other generation!
- Stress – this can be physical stress from one of the above or emotional stress, just look at how our presidents age!
#2 Why Do We Become Inflamed?
- Bad fats in the diet – fried foods, fast foods, packaged or frozen foods with trans-fats and vegetable oils.
- Inflammation makes you gain weight, fat makes you inflamed and the circle continues.
- Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio off – we should be two to one. In other words, for every two Omega 6’s we should have one Omega 3 in the diet. The average American has a ratio of 20 to 1!!!!
- Stress – increased physical or emotional stress creates massive amounts of inflammation!
- Poor digestion – belching, burping, bloating and gas all indicate that something is off down there. If you take an over-the-counter or prescription heart-burn medication this also causes inflammation.
- Bad bacteria over-growth – because of our food choices, pesticides, food additives, pharmaceutical medications and toxins coming in through the air, water, food and skin, we can have a “bad” bacterial over-growth that makes us very acidic and inflamed.
Tips to Reduce Inflammation
- Ditch the bad fat for the good ones – Use Extra virgin olive oil, unrefined Coconut oil, grass-fed butter and Avocado oil for cooking at home. Avoid fried foods when eating out and avoid “sweets” that have added oils (read your labels!)
- Lose that extra weight – fat creates inflammation! Set a REALISTIC goal for weight-loss, be accountable to someone or a group of people for this goal and don’t quit until you reach it!!
- Do #1 then add in a pure Omega 3 fish oil supplement – take 2,000mg daily. Here’s the cool thing…..the other health benefits for this are astounding!
- Lower stress – exercise is the #1 stress reducer so if you’re not doing some, start now! Yoga is a double bonus for stress relief, flexibility, strength, balance and quiet, peaceful workout. “Minimize” your busyness, learn to say “NO”!
- As you clean up your diet, digestion usually improves in a huge way. If you take over-the-counter or prescription heart-burn medication get some help coming off it. There are numerous studies coming out that show these medications increase your risk for Alzheimer’s!
- Include a good “Pro-biotic” into your daily supplement program. Don’t be fooled by the claims that are on food labels that state they have “added probiotic”. These good bugs are sensitive to heat and light and rarely hold up under all the processing of our foods.
Ok, that’s a BIG list! This is a crucial area to address because we know that almost all age-related diseases are correlated with inflammation. It is possible to do all those suggested things and still be inflamed if you’re a genetic “inflammation machine” like my husband is. The great thing in getting tested is there are natural solutions available to get those genes working properly!
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