Preventive Health Report For most people diet is the major inflammatory source of accelerated aging. Animal based foods such as beef, pork, cheeses and diary contain large amounts of saturated fats. Certain vegetable oils such as coconut oil, cottonseed oil and palm kernel oil products also have greater amounts of saturated fats. These oils are often found in deserts which also contain processed sugars. Saturated fats can directly stimulate the genes for fat storage cells called adipocytes to make the inflammatory molecules called cytokines that have been linked to the onset and severity of diabetes and vascular disease. These diseases age us faster and reduce overall longevity. Omega-6 fats are another type of polyunsaturated fat we get from our diet and are found in grains such as corn, safflower, cottonseed oils. This type of fat is essential for our good health but because these oils are used as part of almost every processed food we eat they have become a detriment and contribute to excessive bodywide inflammation. By either reducing the amount of omega-6 oils we consume or consuming more polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 essential fats found in fish, seafood, and many fresh vegetables and we can actually counter this source of inflammation.
Alzheimer’s disease and even type 2 diabetes are all chronic inflammatory diseases and are now the most common diseases of the Western world. Although eating the wrong fats is a major contributor to chronic inflammatory diseases, other dietary causes, excessive weight and lack of physical activity, environmental toxins and even emotional stress can all play major roles in the development and continuation of these diseases and thus accelerate the aging process. Adopting a diet low in saturated fats and higher in unsaturated (mono- or omega-3 polyunsaturated) fats can reduce inflammation related diseases and allow our bodies to age healthier. In fact modified diets such as the heart healthy diet first promoted by Dr Dean Ornish using fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nonfat dairy, and egg whites, and avoidance of saturated fats, refined sugars, and processed carbs has been proven by actual heart catheterization to reduce vascular blockages. In addition to better dietary choices here is a list of some of the best and most researched tips to help reduce inflammation and promote healthy aging to remain younger on the inside and out.
Stay in Motion throughout your Life Omega-3 and omega-6 fats molecules make up every cell membrane in the body and ideally are present in a ratio to keep cellular inflammation in check. Excessive dietary levels of omega-6 can overwhelm the O3/O6 balance and lead to an inflammatory state. Over the last 150 years with industrial farming of grains like corn and sun flowers manufacture of omega-6 oils has exploded and is now the dominant polyunsaturated oil in our diet. This shift has meant much more omega-6 is used by our cell membranes compared to omega-3. The result is not only a change in the physical properties of our cells but it has contributed to what many consider the major health epidemic of the 21st century – chronic inflammatory disease.
The human body is designed to be in motion. Unfortunately too often it seems we do everything to avoid it. We have cars, escalators, elevators, moving sidewalks and now the internet where we only need to move a mouse to order food, clothing and even our healthcare delivered to our front door. All this sitting actually reduces our lifespan.
I found early on the benefit of routine exercising when I suffered a bout of depression early in my career. Exercising not only burns excess calories to help control weight and improve cardiovascular health, it can also release an antidepressant-like hormone in the brain. A hormone called BDNF and certain neurotransmitters Atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries”, naturally increase when exercising to improve mood, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, certain cancers, sleep and perhaps most importantly cause new brain cells to grow. Although exercising at least 30 minutes “By either reducing the amount of omega-6 per day can have tremendous health benefits, if you are oils we consume or consuming more really focused on anti-aging consider a more intense polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 essential program. I am a triathlete and have enjoyed both the fats found in fish, seafood, and many fresh excitement of competing and the benefits of training vegetables and we can actually counter this at a very high level. I have found it helps me focus my source of inflammation.” thoughts as a surgeon and has in many ways allowed me to live a mostly disease-free life.
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