How old would you be, if you didn’t know how old you were? Most of us ‘feel’ atleast 10 years younger than we look. But the mirror seems to reflect a different picture. Being in the field of alternative medicine, I have a particular interest in foods and herbs that can hold back the ageing process. And what’s more, these foods are all around us.
By choosing to eat correctly, you can recapture many of your faculties that traditionally slip away with age. The way food and herbs fight disease, is by strengthening the immune system and combating free radical activity. Free radicals are the terrorists within the body that cause cellular damage and precipitate the ageing process. Antioxidants found in fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and vitamins douse free radical activity and prevent needless ageing. Here are some basic strategies to keep you young:
Take C0Q—10: As you age, your heart grows steadily weaker. Its pumping action becomes laboured as its machinery gets damaged by free radicals. Consequently, this leads to heart failure. Whilst we cannot stop the ageing process, we can control the rate at which we age. Much research documents that C0Q-10 restores energy production by heart muscle and improves heart function.
It has antioxidant properties that protect fat molecules from becoming oxidised. It protects arteries by preventing the oxidation of blood cholesterol. It strengthens the heart muscles thus preventing heart failure. Unfortunately, your body’s production of C0Q-10 begins to decline around the age of 30.
A prolonged deficiency affects heart function. Therefore, if you want your heart ticking, it is wise to take C0Q-10 supplements for its heart strengthening properties.
Lose weight if you are overweight: The heavier you are, the older you will feel and look. Being overweight also predisposes you to type II diabetes and a whole lot of other diseases like heart disease, osteoarthritis, cancer which are manifestations of premature ageing. Being 20 per cent above ideal body weight can make you more susceptible to type II dabetes. But the silver lining is that by just losing 7 per cent of your body weight you can reduce diabetes by 50 per cent and bring about better blood sugar control. Losing excess body weight has an amazing effect on insulin resistance. In other words, if you are an overweight, Type II diabetic and on antidiabetic medications, then by just losing a few pounds you can reduce medication and lower blood sugar effectively.
Take an antioxidant supplement everyday: Antioxidants are substances that neutralise free radicals, which play a significant role in the ageing process. Raw fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants. Therefore, it is wise to begin your day with a glass of freshly squeezed vegetable juice or fruit juice.
Control stress: As it causes needless ageing. While stress is all around us and is not necessarily bad, it is in the way we handle stress that causes ageing. Stress related medical and emotional problems have dramatically increased over the last few decades.
Stress, if handled incorrectly, can produce undesirable results. A student coming down with flu during the exams, an executive losing his job and suffering a recurrence of herpes. A person experiencing palpitations and difficulty in breathing when under fear are examples of stress affecting the body.
Under such stressful situations the inherent equilibrium in our body gets disturbed. When this disturbance persists over a period of time, we begin to age.
There are more antiageing strategies in this universe than one can think of. But the secret to the fountain of youth lies within each one of you rather than in global remedies. It is your commitment to your body that decides your state of health. It takes more than a New Year resolution to improve your health. Nevertheless, it is a beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment