Vitamins and Supplements That Help With Anti Aging Care

A common question asked by many health conscious people is whether it is necessary to take a multi-vitamin or dietary supplement each day. The real simple answer depends on the quality of your diet. The human body has a certain requirement for all known vitamins and minerals which have been conveniently categorized as 'Recommended Daily Allowances' (RDA by the FDA). These minimal requirements for vitamins and minerals were developed half a century ago to make public the smallest amount of each substance required to prevent diseases which were associated with an RDA deficiency. Current research is continually proving that the RDA specifications are not always the optimal dose necessary to prevent vibrant health into old age.

To supplement or not supplement, that is the question. Most natural health specialists believe that supplementation is required for optimal health, under the correct circumstances. To begin, there is no substitute for a good quality diet composed of raw vegetables (organic where possible), minimal fruits, lean protein, seeds, nuts and legumes. This should be the core of your diet, with foods eaten raw being 85% of total calories, and lean animal protein composing a maximum of 10%. This leaves no room for the empty calories derived from sweets, candies, refined wheat products or processed foods of any type. The types of food contain virtually no nutrients and lead to the epidemic growth of obesity and many lifestyle diseases (heart disease, cancer, stroke and dementia). This type of healthy diet will provide your body with virtually all of the known RDA nutrients. Even more important, there are other as yet unknown micro-nutrients in whole foods when eaten raw (cooking can damage or destroy many of the essential enzymes contained in many food items) which have yet to be discovered. It is clear that there is a synergy between all of the nutrients contained in these unprocessed foods which are essential to our body.

The human body has an amazing capacity to process the nutrition from the foods we eat, and an even higher capacity to protect us when we routinely take in lower than necessary amounts of the vitamins and minerals required to enable all the chemical and electrical reactions which we call life. The body has many backup mechanisms which it uses to allow us to survive a nutrient deficiency, but eventually over the course of years and decades it is no longer able to compensate. We are sent signals that there is a pending problem. We see them as life's little aches and pains, indigestion and headaches. We ignore the problem, and then finally go to see a medical professional for a quick fix. We are given a pill, and go away thinking all will be well. But the problem has only been masked and continues to develop, as we have done nothing to correct the root cause.

We know that, regardless of the type of diet we eat, it is necessary to compliment our nutrient intake with some degree of dietary aid. Many people know this, which the reason nearly 70% of adults indicate they are taking a one a day vitamin supplement each day. While the thought is admirable, the effect on nutrition is negligible from this type of supplement. The problem is that the typical multi-vitamin is of very low quality and is made of synthetic components which the body has difficulty using. Stay away from any vitamin which is solid and made from compressed ingredients. These pills are of little use to the body, and due to the poor quality of the raw chemicals used will have no positive effect, and may actually cause harm. A much better choice is a natural vitamin supplement which will always come in a vegetarian capsule. And quality vitamins take up space, so you will probably need to take 6 - 12 of them spaced out through the day. You will notice that the RDA amounts will be well over 100%... this is a sign that the maker has done research which indicates they are including the optimal dose, and not the meager RDA amount. Read the label, and look for naturally sourced ingredients and be sure the manufacturer has a good reputation. A little research in this area will go a long way in something as important as your health.

Recently we have been provided solid science to back up the theory that dietary supplementation through our lives can yield powerful results in disease prevention as we age. Researchers have published the results of feeding an 'anti-aging cocktail' to mice (mice are perfect test subjects as they have genetically similar pathways to humans), and made the observation: "complex dietary cocktails can powerfully ameliorate biomarkers of aging and modulate mechanisms considered ultimate goals for aging interventions." The cocktail consisted of essential vitamins and minerals and a handful of recognized extracts (carnitine, carnosine, resveratrol, COQ10, ginko, Omega-3's and green tea extracts). All components were provided in optimal doses. By comparing a group of supplemented mice to a set who received no intervention, the researchers were able to determine that the mice who consumed the cocktail showed a 50% reduction in the critical biomarkers which scientists use to gauge cellular aging. Although the mice did not live longer than the non-supplemented mice (only Calorie restriction has been documented to extend life), the supplemented mice suffered much less from disease, and had more energy for an extended period.

While there is no substitute for a good healthy diet of raw unprocessed foods, we know that most people require additional support to live a disease-free life. Proper selection of a dietary supplement is essential. Additionally, some people may need further specific dietary aids, depending on health conditions. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer all require a special regimen of supplementation which is beyond the daily multi-vitamin. It is important to research your needs based on health concerns, and avoid the barrage of 'lifestyle' pharmaceuticals which do little to create vibrant health on a long term basis.

Heart Disease is Reversible

Evidence has been mounting over recent years indicating that Coronary Artery Disease is not only preventable, but actually reversible. You could possibly slow it down by eating a 'low-fat' diet and taking a variety of drugs (statins, ACE Inhibitors and Beta-Blockers), but sooner or later those little blobs of foamy plaque would invade the inner lining of your coronary arteries and cause a heart attack.

Linus Pauling documented 30 or so years ago that Vitamin C was essential for the vascular system to avoid the 'cracks' which occur in the heart vessels. Lack of Vitamin C caused a 'scurvy' of the arteries which permitted the tiny vascular abrasions (caused by high blood pressure, poor diet and too much fast food!) which then needed to be patched up by the body, leading to the genesis of coronary plaque. But there was more than just Vitamin C. The C was very helpful in preventing the arterial 'cracking', but once the process had begun there needed to be a secondary element which would remove the existing plaque. The key were the amino acids Lysine and Proline. These two key amino acids possessed the ability to bind with existing plaque in the endothelium (the inner membrane of an artery) and harmlessly usher out of the circulation. Not only was this information public knowledge (but somehow most physicians never heard about it), but Linus Pauling had received a Nobel Prize for his work. Not only that, he also has a patent for the process of cleaning the arteries of transplanted hearts using a solution based on this science.

Heath conscious people now add the amino acids Lysine and Proline into their supplemental regime in the quantities recommended by Pauling, as well as Vitamin C (about 3 grams per day for the average adult). Also, later work has suggested that EGCG from green tea may also enhance the plaque removal process.

A required read for those attempting to correct or prevent heart disease if the extensive work of Dr. William Davis, a conventional cardiologist with an unconventional view on the nature of heart disease (http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/). He has seen the light, and understands that pharmaceutical interventions are typically not necessary and can many times be dangerous. Instead he relies on natural interventions for his patients such as fish oil, Vitamin D supplemented to the proper levels (blood levels of 50 - 70 ng/ml), niacin, elimination of all wheat/sugar/refined foods, to name just a few. The bottom line is that the plaque in your coronary arteries is composed to a large extent of calcium, and that calcium can be viewed and monitored by use of a scanner which takes about five minutes and is non-invasive. By tracking at yearly intervals, he has demonstrated that the arterial plaque can be halted and reversed by a significant percentage. The most important thing is that as long as the plaque level has been halted and is not increasing, the condition is stable and the chances of a significant heart event are virtually eliminated... again, no drugs or silly low-fat diets required. Just a very healthy, nutritionally balanced dietary lifestyle along with the appropriate supplements. Sounds like a good deal to me to avoid that trip to the Emergency Room.

The Diabetes Epidemic - Don't Be a Statistic!

Health professionals are perplexed by the sudden explosion of diabetes cases. Teen and pre-teen children are developing the disease in record numbers, predisposing them to a lifetime of increased risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, blindness and dialysis. What has changed to cause this alarming uptick in diabetes over the last 40 years, and how can we protect ourselves from this insidious malady?

Statistics show that diabetes and pre-diabetes has increased by 33% over the last 40 years. By some estimates, nearly 1 in 10 Americans is either diabetic or showing metabolic signs which will quickly become a full blown case of the disease, although many people are unaware they have the condition. The question is, what has changed over this time to have caused this epidemic? While there are a number of factors which have contributed to the dilemma, many health researchers are narrowing in on two key suspects: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and Systemic Inflammation.

How can we place blame for the diabetes rise on an all-natural sweetener such as HFCS? Beginning in the early 1970's, the use of this sweetener was increasing as an inexpensive additive, subsidized by the government to allow farmers to plant massive amounts of the crop. It began showing up in every soft drink, fast foods and baked goods. Today you would be hard pressed to find any processed food which does not contain HFCS or a derivitive. Recent studies are now demonstrating that HFCS is not processed by the liver, and therefore does not trigger the natural mechanism used by our body to detect and process calories. Our brain does not register the sweetener as caloric intake, causing us to continue eating. We never get the 'full' signal. Further evidence is now emerging that HFCS causes insulin to become resistant to the proper metabolism of glucose in the blood, meaning that sugars are not efficiently ushered into our cells for energy. The sad truth about this corn-based product is that it really is not a natural food element. it has been processed by man and is not viewed a digestible food by our body. It is actually seen as an invading enemy which causes our body to mount an offensive through the immune response. While this is a normal response to an infection, it is not good for the body to engage the HFCS enemy every time we eat. This leads to low-grade inflammation which is known to be the root cause of many diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many cancers.

We don't have to look far today to see the exponentially increasing population of overweight and obese individuals. Upwards of 70% of adults in most Western countries fall into one of these two classifications. And new studies now confirm that excess body fat (especially around the mid section) is a direct cause of inflammation throughout the body. The common belief for many years was that fat was an inert cellular matrix within the body which was simply unsightly. We now understand that our fat is a living organ which sends cellular signals to our organs when in distress. We hear that signal loud and clear. Body fat has an amazing capacity to expand, and evolutionary design which has allowed our species to flourish for many generations. But, this same mechanism of survival may also be our downfall. Once our fat tissues (adipocytes) have multiplied and expanded to maximum capacity, they release chemical messengers into the blood stream which cause systemic inflammation. Levels of homocysteine and C-reactive protein rise in the blood, which in turn causes excessive levels of inflammation in our tissues, as our immune system attempts to fight the never ending surge of inflammation-mediated byproducts. All of this was necessary from an evolutionary perspective, as our bodies adapted to stress factors related to everyday living. But today, these deep rooted survival mechanisms are the root of our diabetic and cardiovascular problems. This metabolic disturbance is directly related to the initiation of diabetes, as it upsets the intricate hormonal balance within our body.

How then to avoid a lifetime of misery from diabetic complications? To begin, it is essential to eliminate high fructose corm syrup products from the diet. This is much easier said than done for most. It means the elimination of all refined and packaged foods including breads, pasta, cereals and any wheat or corn based items. Switch from soft drinks to natural drinks such as tea and water. Monitor your blood sugar by picking up an inexpensive meter at the local drug store. Your target goal is a fasting reading of 70 - 85 (72 is optimal), and never higher than 90. An even more important test is after meals. Test 1 and 2 hours after eating, and target a 1 hour reading of no more than 140, and a 2 hour reading no higher than 120. Adjust your food choices accordingly, as different people have different carbohydrate tolerance levels. New studies indicate that pancreatic beta cells begin to die off at blood glucose levels above 140. Once the beta cell population is depleted, you are an insulin-dependent diabetic, and have doubled your chance of developing cardiovascular disease. By following some simple dietary guidelines, we can dramatically reduce our chances of being afflicted with diabetes, and must work hard to protect our children from the ravages of this horrible disease.

You Are What You Eat - Dietary Modification Principles

Everybody has heard that eating too much without sufficient exercise causes weight gain, and cutting back on the calories and more exercise will result in weight loss. If only it were that simple. There are many other considerations to factor into the overall 'calories in - calories out' equation.

First, you must understand the three building blocks of nutrition: carbohydrates, protein and fat. While it is not the intention of this blog to delve deeply into the biochemical properties these macronutrients, it is important to understand that each has a profoundly different effect on your body and is used differently around the body. For example, the much maligned fat is preferentially used for the creation of cholesterol and is incorporated into the cell membranes of all tissues, especially the brain. Strong evidence suggests that it is not fat which makes you overweight, but the improper metabolism of carbohydrates, specifically the highly refined carbs and sugars (yes, even fruit to an extent) which are such a large component of most Western diets.

I have been following Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition (CRON) for four years now. CRON involves reducing calories consumed by 20 - 40% below the normal level. It also requires eating the proper combination of macronutrients (non-refined carbs, lean protein and healthy fats) so that you also get the 'optimal' micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). In order to accomplish this, I use a free software program called CRON-O-METER which can be found here. This simple software allows you to enter the precise foods you eat each day, and then breaks down the macro and micro nutrients to your pre-set goals. For me, I consume 1800 calories a day, and find that I do need to supplement to hit some of the micronutrient requirements, but the key is to achieve the RDA levels through your food intake. Not an easy task, and you quickly find that if you follow closely, there are no calories left for any food items except healthy vegetables, lean protein and non-adulterated fats. If you find you need help hitting your nutritional goals this is an excellent source for all-natural support.

While it is an ongoing science, likely to be debated for many years into the future, it is quite apparent to me that the level of calories consumed, and more specifically the quality of calories consumed has a large effect on the genetic makeup of our body. Emerging evidence is demonstrating that our genes are continually evolving on a daily basis based on the quantity and types of foods eaten and the many factors which are our environment. Studies have shown that gene expression can be positively or negatively altered by one meal. With that in mind, it is easy to understand that altering our food and controlling as many environmental factors as possible, we can change our genetic constitution toward factors which control most diseases, and our predisposition toward developing many of the common Western maladies such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

So it is true that you are what you eat, as well as what you come in contact with in your environment (pollutants, chemicals and common cosmetics as a starter). All of these factors directly impact the voyage our genes follow... and the best part is we are in control of the ship to a large extent.

Calorie Restriction With Optimal Nutrition (CRON) - Life Extension?

It has been know for nearly 80 years that restricting calorie intake leads to an extension of life among most animal species. Many have speculated that the same principles may apply to humans as well, although it is a difficult theory to prove scientifically due to the extreme time frame required to conduct the experiment (in excess of 120 years!) Nevertheless, it is an intriguing theory which could provide many additional, healthy years to one's lifespan.

Calorie Restriction requires that 20% - 30% less calories are consumed below the normal level eaten. For example if 2500 calories are required to maintain a healthy weight, then around 1800 calories would constitute a restricted dietary lifestyle. The other component is to ensure that sufficient required vitamins and mineral nutrients are also included in the daily diet. Naturally this requires the elimination of all junk food in favor of healthful vegetables (mostly raw), minimal lean protein sources, nuts, seeds and oils.

To begin this type of diet, one must proceed slowly. Although weight loss is not the goal here, typically the pounds will come off... be sure to limit to no more than 1 - 2 pounds per week. This is because the body releases stored toxins in the body fat as it is reduced, and losing too rapidly can provide a toxic overload to the body. Once you have followed a health eating pattern for a minimum of two weeks, you will no longer crave the sugars, fried foods and fast foods which make up the typical Standard American Diet (SAD). The most important part of this eating style are the biochemical alterations which immediately occur in the body. Lipid profiles alter toward lower cholesterol ratios (HDL-C to Total Cholesterol and Triglycerides to HDL-C), which are the real indicators of cardiovascular health.

Blood pressure will decline to normal levels and your basal body temperature will typically fall to a level 1 - 2.5 degrees below the 'normal' of 98.6. It is of note that the normal temperature reading is an average established over many years which is an example of the inflammation levels of the average person. Excess inflammation in the body results in higher body temperature. After several weeks of restriction, you will find your morning basal body temperature drop. This is a good indicator that you have already reduced your core temperature and that restriction is having a positive effect.

It is essential to monitor everything that you eat. You cannot follow this lifestyle without knowing the calorie and nutritional content of every item you consume. The best tool to use for monitoring is the free CRON-O-METER (spaz.ca/cronometer/). Enter all foods (and it is important to weigh the foods at first) in this handy tool as you eat. It will provide you with the calorie content as well as the nutritional breakdown. Mix your food choices to get the proper mix of nutrients. You will quickly find that there is no room for any food types which provide little or no nutritional value.