Healthy Living Tips, Nutrition And Healthy Living Guide

Health News

By Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN

Aging occurs because our bodies break down due to wear and tear. Over time, our bodies become like an old car that has driven hundreds of thousands of miles. Like all mechanical things, it is only a matter of time before our bodies break down for good due to the aging process.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t delay our biological clock and look (and stay) younger for longer than most.

The most important thing for you to understand is that no anti-aging skin cream will ever make you look younger. You see the cosmetic industry has it all backwards! They think by applying a “mask” of creams over your skin you’ll be able to regain that youthful glow. However, they have overlooked the simple fact that how we look and feel is a direct reflection of how we eat.

Pure and simple…we are what we eat, digest , and absorb. Our skin, then, becomes a reflection of the quality of our nutrition. Want healthier looking skin? Then, eat healthier foods – don’t use expensive creams!

The ultimate anti-aging solution is to make healthy eating a part of your daily regime. But what does eating healthy have to do with anti-aging, you might ask?

Well, everything!

Free Radical Damage Accelerates the Aging Process

Certain foods produce free radicals in the body. For instance, sugars, rancid fats, alcohol, and most acid-forming foods produce a cascade of free radicals that multiply throughout the body, and along the way destroy and mutate our cells and their DNA. This is known as the “free radical theory of aging” whereby our body simply ages more and more with years of excess bodily damage caused by free radicals.

Free radicals play a big role in heart disease, eye degeneration, cancer, and most every other disease you think of. That’s why it’s important to consume plenty of antioxidants.

Antioxidants Disarm Free Radicals

Antioxidants are compounds that fight free radicals and render them useless in the body. Examples of antioxidants include vitamins A, C, E, selenium, and zinc. However, whole foods contain a plethora of tiny phytonutrients that also act as powerful antioxidants. Examples include the most popular group of antioxidants known as polyphenols (ie. flavonoids), which include flavonols, flavones, catechins, flavanones, anthocyanidins, and isoflavonoids.

The most abundant polyphenols are the condensed tannins, found in the “skin” and leaves virtually all families of plants, and comprising up to 50% of the dry weight of leaves. That’s why the skin of fruits and vegetables are the best sources of antioxidants. Notable sources of polyphenol antioxidants include berries, tea, grapes, olive oil, chocolate/cacao, walnuts, peanuts, pomegranates, yerba mate, and other fruits and vegetables. But remember that you want eat the whole food so that you benefit from the antioxidant-rich skin!

The more antioxidants you bring into your body, the less free radical damage you will incur. Over time, this may have a profound effect on your ability to delay the aging process. And put the supplements aside. Research consistently shows that whole foods are a much better and more bioavailable source of antioxidants than supplements.

Enzymes Determine How Long You Will Live

Enzymes are the spark plugs of life. They are tiny protein molecules that are needed for any and all metabolic reactions to occur within the body. But because they are proteins, enzymes can be destroyed if heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit. For this reason, it is essential that you eat more of your foods in their living state – that is, their raw state. Raw foods are immensely rich in enzymes. This means that an apple contains all the enzymes it needs to digest itself once inside the body. However, if this apple is heated or cooked, its inherent enzymes become denatured and no longer useful. As a result, your body is forced to waste its own enzymes on digesting “dead foods” which cannot be digested otherwise.

In time, if dead foods are chronically consumed, your body will be robbed of its limited supply of digestive enzymes. If this happens, your health suffers and your body ages rapidly. Some experts believe that life ends when you run out of enzymes.

So wouldn’t it make sense to eat more live foods that actually “deposit” enzymes into your body rather eating dead foods that deplete your enzyme reserves?

Alkalinity Will Give You the Glow

Consume more alkaline-forming foods and watch your skin look 10 years younger in the matter of a few weeks, guaranteed!

How does this happen?

Well, when your blood is alkaline (as it should be) it flows smoothly and freely, delivering all the oxygen and nutrients to your body’s cells. However, in most people, this does not occur because their bodies are far too acidic. Their blood moves slowly and is sluggish. It looks unhealthy and therefore so too does their body and skin!

But if you can eat more alkaline-forming raw foods, you will give life and energy back to your skin and body. Every cell of your body will thrive and as a result, your skin will regain a youthful glow that will make you look and feel much younger than you really are.

To help you out, the most alkaline-forming foods are green vegetables, followed by all other vegetables and fruit. Be sure to stay away from the highly acid-forming dairy and animal products!

Putting it All Together

Antioxidants, food enzymes, and alkalinity – these are the healthy eating secrets to anti-aging that no skin care company will ever tell you about. You need to heal your skin (and your health) from the inside out, not the other way around.

Here are 3 action steps to help you put this anti-aging information into practice:

1. Drink at least ONE green juice and/or green salad each day
   This will give you tons of antioxidants, alkalinity, and food enzymes. Try one of my favourite juicing recipes:
   4-6 stalks of kale
   1 handful of spinach
   1 handful of parsley
   1 carrot
   1 apple
   1/2 lemon
   * Juice all ingredients in a juicer and enjoy the ride!
2. Start your day with a glass of lemon water
   Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into 500 ml of water first thing in the morning. Not only will this rehydrate your body but the lemon will alkalize your system and get your digestive system into gear.
3. Get your 5-10 fruits and vegetables in the raw
   Snack on raw vegetables and fruit throughout the day to ensure you get the nutrition that your body requires. Prepare some carrot and celery sticks, apple and pear wedges, a fruit salad sprinkled with cinnamon, or anything else that you help you get your need nutrient fix! But remember, keep them raw to get the most benefit.

To help you get started, here is a list of some my favourite energizing foods:

• Wheat Grass – if you haven’t tried wheat grass then you’re missing out on some big time energy and nutrition. Growing it and juicing yourself can be a bit of a pain but you can easily get a “shot” at most health food stores or juice bars. 1 oz of wheat grass juice packs more nutrition than 2.5 lbs of green leafy veggies!
• Raw Cacao (nibs or powder) – incredible source of magnesium, antioxidants, and life force. These give me a natural high that can last for hours without the subsequent like you would get from coffee and caffeinated beverages.
• Goji Berries – another incredible source of antioxidants and polysaccharides that improve cell-to-cell communication. I actually combine these with my raw cacao nibs and complementary tastes work really well together. Remember that although these foods provide incredible nutrition they are the like the healthier version of coffee and other quick fixes. The key still remains to follow a raw foods diet, as much as possible, that will provide you with tons of life force, alkalinity, and nutrients to help your body thrive.

Related Articles:

• Obesity Rarely Exist In Animal Lives in Nature
• Acid-Alkalinity Balance in the Body – Depending on Your Diet
  
• What You Can Learn From Your Pets
• Our Blood’s Balancing Acts
• Himalayan Goji – A Miraculous Wonder Goji Berry?