AGING IS A MISTAKE

[Guest guest]

Date published: August 23, 2004

 

Aging is a Mistake

by Raymond Francis, M.Sc.

(Email: mail)

 

" Aging is a mistake, " said Dr. Deepak Chopra. Actually, aging is

worse than a mistake, it is a catastrophe. Aging reduces quality of

life and causes so-called " diseases of aging " such as cancer,

Alzheimer's, and arthritis. Making yourself old and sick is not a

sensible choice--it is a mistake. Each disease, even a cold,

accelerates aging, makes you sicker, and causes more disease. Then

our physicians manage these diseases with treatments that create

still more aging and disease. It's a vicious cycle, and we have to

learn how to break that cycle.

 

To live a long disease-free life, it is essential to learn how to

prevent and reverse aging and disease. Fortunately, this is not

difficult to learn. With just a little bit of effort, any of us can

become healthier and biologically younger. While we cannot control

our chronological age, we do have control over our biological age.

Recently, I had my arteries measured. I have the arteries of a thirty

year-old; I am sixty-six. The biological age of my arteries is less

than half my chronological age--anyone can do this. Aging is a

mistake you don't have to make.

 

Historically, people such as the Hunzas lived well into their

hundreds in robust, vigorous health without suffering as much as a

cold, so we know this is possible. For you to accomplish something

similar you must learn how to prevent aging and disease, and to do

this, you must learn how to prevent and reverse inflammation. There

is only one disease, malfunctioning cells, and a malfunction common

to all chronic disease is a process called inflammation. No matter

what so-called disease you have, inflammation is a major part of your

problem. By learning how to prevent and reverse inflammation, you are

learning how to stay young and never be sick again.

 

Inflammation is a natural and healthy process. If you cut your

finger, the body begins an inflammatory process immediately. This

process neutralizes harmful microorganisms, helps to repair the

wound, and cleans up the debris resulting from the injury.

Inflammation is beneficial when needed, but it is disastrous when

chronic. Chronic inflammation generates a constant supply of free

radicals that overwhelm our anti-oxidant defenses and damage DNA,

aging us and causing disease of every description, including heart

disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, allergies,

Alzheimer's, auto-immune disease, and infections.

 

Unfortunately, more than three out of four Americans suffer from

chronic inflammation. This is why we are aging so rapidly and why

more than three out of four of us have a diagnosable chronic disease.

Even our children are increasingly suffering from " diseases of aging "

in epidemic numbers. To put an end to this tragedy, as a society and

as individuals, we must learn how to prevent and reverse chronic

inflammation.

 

What causes inflammation? The standard American diet causes

inflammation! Most of us suffer from chronic inflammation and disease

because the American diet is pro-inflammatory. Our diet lacks

nutrients that help to prevent and control inflammation, while being

rich in pro-inflammatory compounds.

 

How do you reverse inflammation? In my book Never Be Sick Again, I

advise people to avoid the Big Four: sugar, white flour, milk

products, and processed oils. These so-called " foods " are pro-

inflammatory--they cause rapid aging and disease. Indeed, I have had

numerous calls from people who have read my book, got off the Big

Four, and were cured of terrible, chronic diseases. All it took was

to stop promoting the inflammation in the first place. I have been

off the Big Four for 17 years and I have been taking lots of

antioxidant supplements, thus controlling inflammation and allowing

my arteries and other tissues to repair and become those of a much

younger person.

 

Sugar and white flour are deadly poisons. They have an inflammatory

effect on the body. Unaware of this hazard, the average American

consumes more than 160 pounds of sugar and 200 pounds of white flour

per year. Tragically, we expose children to these deadly poisons,

accelerating aging and causing lifelong health problems. Both of

these poisons in-crease blood sugar levels. Even a modest increase in

blood sugar generates free radicals that cause inflammation, thereby

causing disease of every description. Because most people eat these

poisons every day (in the form of bread, pasta, breakfast cereal,

cookies, cakes, soft drinks, candy, etc.), disease is a growth

industry.

 

Milk products also cause inflammation. Modern dairy cows eat grain-

containing diets that change the proportions of fatty acids in the

milk, leaving very little omega-3 fats and creating a pro-

inflammatory imbalance. In addition, a substantial percentage of our

population (some estimate fifty percent) is allergic to dairy, often

unknowingly. Daily consumption causes chronic allergic reactions,

creating chronic inflammation.

 

The fats and oils in the American diet contain excessive omega-6

fatty acids, causing chronic inflammation. Omega-6 fatty acids

promote inflammation, while omega-3s are anti-inflammatory.

Historically, humans consumed roughly equal amounts of these oils,

achieving a balance. Today, we consume 20 to 30 times as much omega-6

as omega-3. The modern processed-food industry fills our stores with

pro-inflammatory oils, including safflower, sunflower, peanut, and

even most commercially available olive oils; all of these contain

excessive amounts of omega-6 and insufficient omega-3 fatty acids.

Grain-fed beef, poultry, and farmed fish also contain excessive omega-

6. These imbalances create a huge excess of pro-inflammatory

compounds. Unable to turn the inflammation off, chronic inflammation

and disease are the result. It is extremely important that only

healthy fats and oils be consumed.

 

Hydrogenated oils are also pro-inflammatory. These oils find their

way into a myriad of products including candy, baked goods,

margarine, breakfast cereal, and peanut butter. These deadly oils

disrupt body chemistry, causing many abnormalities-including

inflammation. The trans fatty acids contained in hydrogenated oils

inhibit the activity of enzymes that make anti-inflammatory

compounds, but not those that create pro-inflammatory ones, chronic

inflammation is the result.

 

In addition to diet, infections also contribute to inflammation.

Avoiding infections by keeping your immune system strong pays off in

many ways. It is important to minimize the number of infections you

suffer. Infections are inflammatory, triggering powerful inflammatory

processes to destroy invading microorganisms. Unfortunately, the

inflammation dam-ages you as well as the invaders. Having one cold

after an-other will do lasting damage, shortening your life and

leaving you susceptible to every imaginable disease. Repeated

infections, as well as chronic infections, lead to chronic

inflammation that damages and ages the entire body. One way to help

keep your immunity strong is to avoid eating sugar, which is known to

damage immunity as well as causing inflammation.

 

Physical injuries also create inflammation. Nature intended

inflammation to subside once an injury is repaired. However, by

consuming a pro-inflammatory diet, injuries are seldom fully healed

and often result in chronic low-grade inflammation in the injured

tissue. This is why athletes have problems with old injuries as they

age. These incompletely healed tissues, by producing pro-inflammatory

compounds, become sources of chronic inflammation for the entire

body.

 

Allergies and food sensitivities also create inflammatory responses.

Chronic allergic reactions create chronic inflammation. This is why

allergic reactions must be minimized by strengthening the immune

system and avoiding allergens. Unfortunately, allergies have become

epidemic. Contributing to this epidemic has been the irrational

misuse of antibiotics, NSAIDS, and hormones by our obsolete disease-

care system. These dangerous drugs disrupt gut tissue, causing

leakage of undigested food molecules into the blood, thereby

promoting food allergies. A good idea for almost anyone is to stay

away from the most common allergens such as dairy and gluten (half

the population may be allergic to gluten, found in wheat, rye, and

barley).

 

Yet another promoter of chronic, systemic inflammation is fat cells.

Given that two out of three Americans are overweight this is a huge

source of inflammation. Pure and simple, if you are more than five

pounds overweight, you have a serious chronic disease. The

inflammatory process unleashed by being overweight accelerates the

aging process and leads to every conceivable disease. Fat cells,

especially those that form around the abdomen, produce large amounts

of inflammatory compounds that affect the entire body.

 

If you want to prevent disease, or if you are diseased and want to

get well, what should you do? First and foremost, stop promoting

inflammation. Get the Big Four out of your life--now! Eat a diet low

in pro-inflammatory foods and high in anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Get rid of those excess pounds (exercise and get off the Big Four to

lose weight). Take high quality anti-inflammatory supplements. If you

take these principles to heart, you will be well on your way to a

longer, higher quality, disease-free life.

 

Consume a diet low in refined carbohydrates and high in a variety of

fresh, organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Eat high quality

organic animal protein, such as eggs, fish, chicken, turkey, and

grass-fed beef plus olive, coconut and flaxseed oil. Supplementing

with antioxidant nutrients is critical to preventing and reversing

inflammation. Supplement with omega-3 fish oil, vitamins A, B complex

(including folic acid, B6 and B12), C, D, and E, plus quercitin,

glucosamine, chrondroitin, beta-carotene, selenium, CoQ10, N-

acetylcysteine, and alpha-lipoic acid. (Call Beyond Health to get the

supplements I use.)

 

The health of the American people is in a catastrophic, long-term

downtrend. The result is pain, suffering, unnecessary loss of loved

ones and an economic threat that is projected within a few decades to

bankrupt our country and plunge it into third-world status. This is

happening because, in a relatively short period of time, we have

completely changed our diet. We now consume insufficient anti-

inflammatory vitamins and minerals and an enormous surplus of pro-

inflammatory " foods " in the form of the Big Four: sugar, white flour,

dairy and processed oils (remember the oils we consume are 20 to 30

times more pro-inflammatory than our ancestor's).

 

Inflammation is a common element in virtually all disease. By

consuming the Big Four, the cumulative effect of the inflammation we

are creating is aging us prematurely, causing us to look old, feel

tired, and suffer every imaginable disease. By learning how to

prevent and reverse inflammation, we can achieve power over aging and

disease. What a wonderful goal-and so easy to do.

 

Raymond Francis is an M.I.T.-trained scientist, a registered

nutrition consultant, author of Never Be Sick Again, host of the

Beyond Health Show and an internationally recognized leader in the

emerging field of optimal health maintenance.

 

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