Archived News of the Week

January Newsletter 2023

"Aging is malleable": If you recall, in my December newsletter I mentioned a sign I saw in my audiologists office that said: "Aging is a privilege." These 4 words were instantly meaningful for me and I think of those 4 words every single day as I am struggling with this or that annoyance in the aging process. "Aging is malleable" is a bit harder to grok, but what it means to me is that by our daily actions and choices, we are totally in charge of how we age. I believe that statement to be true and so do a lot of other people because entire books have been written about this and I have read most of them.

I will make it easy for you and give you the Basic Nine Rules of Malleability. See how many of these you can incorporate into your life in 2023 and if one or two "rules" are glaringly lacking, then do something proactive about that. Each of the items 1 through 9 can be a book all on its own, so consider this a broad brush list for you. 1) Eat less 2) Move more 3) Eat more plant food. 4). Think more positive thoughts. 5) Avoid processed anything, even so-called health foods. 6) Sleep like your life depended on it. 7) Have Community. 8) Don't forget Vitamin F, FUN! And lastly, 9) Explore senolytics. You can do number nine with me, as I have studied senolytics for years now. I take a selected few on a regular basis and I could suggest the same for you.

How do I know my supplements and lifestyle are working? Very good question! In brief, I don't know FOR SURE. I have done all the research and know what senolytics are and do and here is what I do know: SO FAR I am alive to write this newsletter. I am aging pretty well, take only one prescription (thyroid), have lots of energy and not much pain. C'mon - Jump on the healthy aging bandwagon. No? Think long and hard about the alternative and then make your decision.

The Power of Food: Since it's always nice for me to have reminders about how to eat well after the Holiday Eatathons and at the beginning of a fresh, new year when everything seems possible, here goes: In my September, 2019 newsletter I discussed a book by Dr. William Li, MD entitled Eat to Beat Disease. It is a wonderful book and if you feel like slogging through 468 pages of interesting and, at times, technical material, please buy it, but I will be synopsizing what is most important in the book right here. Dr. Li addresses what he calls the 5 Defense Systems of the body, and they are Angiogenesis, Regeneration, Microbiome, DNA Protection and lastly Immunity and how each system can be supported. I have looked at all his lists of foods that powerfully support these 5 Defense Systems.

And I found this: The following 4 foods appear in all 5 of the Defense System categories: Black tea, carrots, dark chocolate and olive oil. The following 4 foods appear in 4 out of the 5 Defense System categories: Arugula, blueberries, broccoli and cranberries. The following 12 foods appear in 3 out of the 5 Defense System categories: Apples, cauliflower, chia, halibut, raspberries, sauerkraut, turmeric, radicchio, Jarlsberg and Gouda cheeses then garlic and onions.

Just write down all of these 20 foods, take the list with you shopping and eat as many of the 20 as you can every week, especially of the 8 foods appearing in the first two categories mentioned above.

What Do Longevity Experts do Everyday? I found this in an e-newsletter called Livestrong. It's good and has all sorts of yummy information to live better and live longer.

First thing is this: Mix up your foods: And don't eat the same foods everyday. That caught me by surprise. You mean, don't eat my sliced hard boiled egg on GF toast with avocado Vegenaise every morning for breakfast? And don't eat my small bowl of frozen blueberries topped with coconut yogurt and my homemade sugar-free granola for dessert every night after dinner? Yes, I love both of those but will find some way to mix up the daily repeat of my treasured breakfast and dinner dessert. Yes, it may be difficult to change things up, but "The Experts" say to do this, so I will.

Secondly, Get some sort of movement every day: Get out of your Barca-lounger and move your body. This is simple. Do it any way you want to; just move. Research has shown that 21 minutes of movement every day - walking, running, hiking, doing steps - has been shown to make an amazing difference in all health markers. And you can do it in increments, like 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there. I'm lucky and have a tenth of a mile path around my property and I routinely do that 10 times before work. It's up and down hills and on uneven ground, so there you have aerobics and balance exercise all in one. I am also fortunate to have a bike-hike path just steps from my office. It's exactly one mile and I do that quite often, too.

Thirdly, Commit to sleep: I won't belabor this because so many books have been written about this and I think you already know how important sleep is. But you must do everything you can to improve your sleep habits if you aren't sleeping as well as you would like. A day is just not as enjoyable if you are yawning, fuzzy-brained and exhausted. Strive for 7-8 hours per night. Watch your habits regarding caffeine (no caffeine after noon), blue light (no IPad after 7PM) and TV. Let your evenings be a calm and unhurried couch-potato kind of evening. We can discuss all of this if you like.

Fourth, Have your exercise include the Three Pillars: The first Pillar is cardio which you can do by walking fast on that walk you will take every day. The second pillar is strength training for bone health and flexibility and that includes weights and stretching. I was not very good about this second pillar and have made the intention to do better in the new year and so far I have. I can feel the difference, too, esp with the stretching. I have a handout for that if you would like a copy. The third pillar is the all important balance exercises. See if you can stand on one leg for 10 seconds. That's a start and just keep doing at least that one every day as it will entrain your brain with the repetition. You can also google things like balance training, strength training, stretching and get your own program going.

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