If you are seeking graceful aging you won’t find it in any specific bottle, jar, food, formula, or pill. Graceful aging requires developing a variety of lifestyle changes starting as early as you can and making them a part of your normal everyday living routine. This is especially important as more people are living longer with advances in medical treatments today. Consider too that by 2029 over 70 million Baby Boomers will be over the age of 65 and accessing services for seniors and graceful aging takes on a financial aspect. Just delaying onset of Alzheimer’s by 5 years could save as much as fifty million dollars annually in public health costs. Since none of us can hold off aging indefinitely, it only makes sense to approach our golden years being as healthy and productive as possible.
A healthy diet and exercise are certainly a part of what will help you to maintain good health, cognitive function, and a youthful look, but there are certain attitudes and behaviors that many centenarians have in common according to research such as that in the book Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being by Andrew Weil, M.D. While it is impossible to completely stop the aging process, you can take steps to insure a longer, more vigorous life that is not plagued by disease associated with aging such as cancers, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, osteoporosis, and heart disease.
What to Do for Graceful Aging
Many studies have been done to find common links between centenarians and their diet or lifestyle habits. One such study done by Evercare found amazingly enough that those over the age of 99 engaged in the latest in technology and pop culture such as reality TV, music videos, video games, surfing the internet, and using an iPod. This shows that having an open-minded approach to trying new things may be an important factor in longevity. Other research offers findings that people who are happy, positive, and find purpose in life live at least 14 percent longer, so keep laughing, smiling, and staying socially engaged with others. Additional important links found include having a strong faith, eating healthy, not smoking, keeping the brain active by learning new things, doing aerobic exercise regularly, and controlling high blood pressure. None of these things are difficult; they just take some motivation and determination to make changes in lifestyle that will stick and become part of everyday living for you.
What and How to Eat for Graceful Aging
Tips on what and how to eat for graceful aging start with eating less while still getting maximum nutrition. Reduction by 30% to 50% of calories in the diet while eating foods high in nutritional value can reduce inflammation, stabilize blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, help in maintaining a healthy weight, and generally delay the effects aging has on the body. This is one reason adding foods with monounsaturated fats such as in olives, olive oil, avocados, and nuts like almonds are a good addition to an anti-aging diet. Not only do monounsaturated fats help stabilize cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation, but they also provide antioxidants to help repair cellular damage caused by free radicals. Foods with polyphenols also give you this type of antioxidant protection and are particularly good for protecting the brain from age related diseases. Blueberries, cherries, cranberries, blackberries and goji berries are all good foods for polyphenols. Additionally, you can get lots of good antioxidant protection without a lot of calories by eating a variety of bright colored fruits and veggies. Foods with curcumin, quercetin, bromelain, omega-3 fatty acids, and alpha lipoic acid are another good anti-aging diet addition as they fight inflammation that has particularly been linked to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Mushrooms are another low calorie food that studies have found contain nutrients that boost the immune system, give you antioxidant protection, and have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties. Cordyceps mushrooms especially have been found helpful in maintaining cognitive functions such as for memory and learning. For an anti-aging diet, don’t forget the vitamin D as it has been found to have a link to longevity as well as helps in keeping your bones strong and offers protection against osteoporosis. If you spend time outside in the sun, you may be getting the vitamin D you need and that certainly doesn’t add extra calories to your diet. But if you are not able to get out much you may need to check with your healthcare provider to see if a vitamin D supplement is in order.
Graceful Aging with Algae
A great way to get a lot of nutrition without a lot of calories is with AFA bluegreen algae supplements. AFA bluegreen algae provides all the amino acids our bodies need including phenylalanine that is able to cross the blood brain barrier faster than any other amino acid. Its nutrients also provide a perfect ratio of essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, helps maintain normal, healthy blood chemistry that feeds the brain, and provides an ideal balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, complex sugars, and fiber. In addition to the great nutritional balance offered by AFA, you can add in the antioxidant power of sprouts, the extra minerals and phytonutrients of nine colorful algae varieties, and the superfood nutrition of reishi, maitake, cordyceps, wild black trumpet, and Poria cocos mushrooms with this algae based supplement program. Then there is this algae and antioxidant supplement containing wild blueberry, green tea, carnosine, and organic wild bluegreen algae giving you the powerful antioxidants that have been reported to protect your natural adult stem cells that repair damage to tissues and cells as well as give you protection from free radical damage. Adding in the polyphenols we talked about earlier to your diet can be easy with this ubiquinol algae supplementthat provides not only organic flaxseed oil and olive biophenols, but also the nutrition of ubiquinol, the active and bioavailable form of Coenzyme Q10, needed to produce cellular energy, and organic reishi and oyster mushrooms.
Get started on your retirement plan now, not just with putting aside financially, but with stocking up on health. The sooner you start making real changes to your diet, exercise and lifestyle routines, the better chance you have of entering your senior years being healthy, productive, active and being able to enjoy life.
Sources:
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02792/senior-health
http://www.betternutrition.com/aging-gracefully/
http://archive.boston.com/business/specials/livinglonger/healthyaging/
https://www.afar.org/docs/migrated/AFARScienceofAgingGracefully.pdf
