Secrets of Longevity: Living a Longer, Fuller Life

Diets claiming to ward off aging are highly popular, yet the nutrition scene is waist high in confusing, sometimes conflicting information.

The good news is I have sorted through it for you and the front runner with the most scientific evidence to support anti-aging is the Anti-Inflammatory diet.

Not a "Hollywood" diet, the anti-inflammatory diet is more of an approach to living. It prevents aging by preventing inflammatory processes in the body that cause chronic disease. But how do you know if you have too much inflammation in your body?

You could benefit from an anti-inflammatory lifestyle if you:

• Have heart disease
• Are overweight (being overweight means you have excessive adipose (fat) tissue. Adipose tissue has been proven to harbor inflammatory chemicals which cause inflammation)
• Have arthritis (osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis)
• Are sedentary (being inactive is now one of the greatest predictors of chronic disease because resting chemical levels which cause pro-inflammatory responses in the body are higher)
• Suffer from allergies (seasonal or food)
• Have difficulty losing weight
• Have diabetes or at risk
• Have respiratory or breathing problems
• See the full list of conditions caused by inflammation 

It doesn't take long to see that everyone can benefit from this method.  The nutrition portion is similar to a typical Mediterranean diet.  The main benefits of adopting an anti-inflammatory diet/lifestyle are:

• Decrease your risk for heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and certain cancers
• Lose weight
• Improve lung health 
• Decrease allergies
• Stabilize blood sugar 

Dr. Andrew Weil, Harvard trained MD says, It is becoming increasingly clear that chronic inflammation is the root cause of many serious illnesses - including heart disease, many cancers, and Alzheimer's disease.

Getting on the Anti-Inflammatory Train
There are a few stops to be made on the road to healing yourself. I recommend you make changes incrementally and slowly. In other words, get on the train and make a single change at each stop - rather than trying to make them all at once.

• 1st Stop: Change Your diet. To reap the full benefits you will have to add anti-inflammatory foods AND get rid of foods that are inflammatory agents. However:
• If you have a tough time with change, start by ADDING anti-inflammatory foods to your diet. 
• If you are ready for change, the quickest way to see results is to ELIMINATE foods known to cause inflammation in the body.
  
  
• 2nd Stop: Exercise. Regularly. There is enormous evidence supporting the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise.  In fact, not exercising is one of the single greatest factors which causes the inflammatory process to begin. In other words, you don't suffer from inflammation randomly - it is caused in large part from living being inactive.  Just 30 minutes daily has been proven  effective for weight loss and anti-inflammatory effects.
  
  
• 3rd stop: Green Your Environment. Exposure to environmental toxins, such as second hand smoke and other pollution like household chemical cleaners or living in larger cities, can also contribute to chronic inflammation in the body - causing you to age prematurely.  Leaving your shoes at the front door (instituting a "no shoes in the house" policy), which my family started doing in 2004, is a great way to instantly reduce your exposure and green your house.

My Story
I personally started following an anti-inflammatory diet, in the Ayurvedic tradition, in 2004.  There were immediate seismic changes in my health.  My seasonal allergies vanished, I lost 20 pounds, I had more energy, and my osteoarthritis symptoms vanished along with my nagging chronic tendonitis and other problems.  However the biggest life change was welcoming my son Michael - and ridding my body of the life long low-grade inflammatory state it had been in - played a role in his arrival.  Science was just starting to connect the dots, at that time, between inflammation and infertility. Now, there is overwhelming evidence supporting the many health benefits of the anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

It's Easy.  There are no gimmicks, supplements, drugs, or expensive "programs" you need to be successful at following the Anti-Inflammatory Diet. All you need are organic whole foods, 30 minutes of daily exercise, and a positive attitude. 

Helpful Resources
Books

• The Inflammation Cure - the first book I bought about the diet, written by a North Carolina MD, PhD
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Anti-Inflammation Diet - I have not read this book, but it is written by Harvard MD Christopher Cannon

Websites & Shopping

• Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet Tips
• Anti-Inflammatory Herbs & Spices - I cook with these on a daily basis, and especially go to them when I have fallen off the proverbial anti-inflammatory diet wagon - such as at Christmas or a birthday. 
• VitaCost.com - Living on a remote island can make it hard to find whole foods, so I shop online to find gluten free (kid friendly!) products such as pizza crust, pancake, and even birthday cake mixes. (Yes, I make gluten free birthday cakes for my kids. They love them and it tastes great, especially the chocolate.) The best part - $5 flat rate shipping. 
• Items to shop for: Search for Organic, Gluten Free, or Wheat Free products. Stay away from "gluten-free or organic junk food" (readily available, highly processed foods that claim to be healthy just because they are organic or gluten or wheat free). Stick with whole foods.

Sources

• Pederson 2006. The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Exercise...
• Peterson and Pederson 2006. The Role of IL-6 in Mediating the Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Exercise...
• Pederson and Saltin 2006. Evidence for Prescribing Exercise as Therapy for Chronic Disease...

Photo Credit: The photograph originally appeared in this article on Turmeric - which is also a spice my husband and I use frequently in our kitchen for its anti-inflammatory powers.

Eating To Improve Heredity

Organic fruits of labor
A shot from the harvest of Ginger's family's 2010 organic garden

This week's guest post is from Certified Nurse Midwife & Yale graduate, Beth Genly, CNM, MSN.

Nutrition Can Create Better Heredity 

We’ve always thought our genes were a given, not subject to any control.  At the time you conceive a baby, the family genetic dice are thrown, and the baby inherits a smorgasbord of family traits, good and bad, perhaps including an increased risk of a degenerative disease such as diabetes or heart disease. We understood this was the fixed, “nature” side of the nature/nurture health cocktail.

Now we are beginning to understand the “nature” side is, in many cases, not fixed.  Instead, it is very susceptible to nurture and your own self-care during pregnancy is a wonderful opportunity to influence your baby’s heredity.  Let me explain.

In the larger world of nutrition, research has established very clearly that you create and support optimal health through lifestyle choices. A most important part of this healthy lifestyle is a eating widely varied, plant-based diet.   Certainly, in the non-pregnancy arena, we now know that optimal plant-based nutrition prevents, and diminishes the severity of:

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Many cancers
• Autoimmune illnesses
• Infertility

Yet, in the pregnancy world, it seems that most pregnancy advice has not quite caught up with the times, as such advice is often still largely focused around single nutrients.  In my view, this is an outmoded and inadequate model.   

In just the last 15 years or so, a new study has taken the biological sciences by storm: epigenetics.   

I like to call it your reset button, because it shows that the genetic component of inherited health and illness is under our control.  Our diet and lifestyle determines whether those genes will be switched on or switched off, and our diet and lifestyle, while our baby is developing in the womb, has the most influence of all on their lifelong health.  


The Simple Solution

This is wonderful news, because the solution is so simple. Thankfully, we do not have to consciously design our diets to be sure that we get enough riboflavin or zinc, or even iron, or any other isolated nutrients.  Instead, if we go for sufficient variety, we’ll get all we and the baby need, along with a great deal of enjoyment.  In fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds there are, quite literally, tens of thousands of nutrients -- in each food.  And the plant-based diet that has been so phenomenally successful in creating and maintaining non-pregnant health is the same that creates pregnancy health – just a little more. 

Most critical, in my view, are the nutrient systems that most Americans do not get enough of: fresh fruits and vegetables.  So, my central advice to you: eat the rainbow!  A great guideline: eat 4 green, 1 red, 1 orange/yellow, 1 blue/purple, and 1 white – every day.  

A great way to eat the rainbow is to make a rule that no meal is complete without 2 servings of produce.   Leave out the processed sauces and dressings that can typically drown them.  The water and fiber content in fruits and vegetables will fill you up fast, which will help naturally self-regulate your diet.

Of course, in early pregnancy you may not be able to stomach all of this.  As soon as you are able to eat a wide variety of foods again, this is what you are aiming for.

Personal Support

Let me hasten to admit that this can be a tall order, especially at the start.  I am steeped in all of this information through my education and experience, and I still find myself sometimes eating a far less than optimal diet.  

However, going to nutrition conferences, reading excerpts from books like Ginger’s, and being an active educator on these topics through my own blog and public talks, all provide me the needed support that gets me to return to the excellent diet I enjoy and that makes me and my family feel good.  
In my sometimes-rushed world, with a lot of meals and coffee meetings away from home, it is so easy to slip into the SAD  (Standard American Diet) once again.  I recommend you return to the well of great information and supportive people  -- such as Ginger’s blog -- as often as possible. 

Behavioral and lifestyle change is not just about knowledge.  It is about creating and discovering our own support structures and supportive people -- and, of course -- supportive self talk.  

In pregnancy we are perhaps more motivated than at any other time in our lives to embark on this life-long journey for optimal health.  I wish you – and your baby -- good eating and great health!

Beth Genly, CNM, MSN is a retired nurse-midwife.  She got her midwifery education at Yale University, and for 20+ years provided provided women’s health care in a variety of settings, from small birth center to university hospital.  At Oregon Health and Science University she was on the nurse-midwifery faculty for many years, where she enjoyed the opportunity to offer water birth to laboring women.  Now she influences the health of generations through evidence-based nutrition seminars and products, including Juice Plus+, with which she is extremely proud to be affiliated.  She also has a blog called “Wholly Nutritious,” where she pursues her passion for plant-based nutrition.  She and her husband will celebrate their 30^th wedding anniversary in 2011, and they have two grown children.

Sources

1. TIME Magazine has featured two cover stories this year about the science of epigenetics and nutrition in the womb: TIME Magazine, October 4, 2010: "How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life," by Anne Murphy Paul.  Read it at: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html 
2. Earlier, January 6, 2010, TIME published :"Why Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny," by John Cloud. Read it at: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1951968,00.html 
3. For information from Dr. David Barker, MD, the founder of the science of epigenetics, including some of the latest research articles: www.thebarkertheory.org 
4. Here’s a somewhat technical tutorial site to help you understand more about epigenetics: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/nutrition/ 
5. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2007/Jul07/cancerinhibition.html 
6. For  information on how Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (like many other doctors who use similar protocols) have very successfully helped people with severe heart disease create optimal health:  http://www.heartattackproof.com/orlando_2000.htm   (Note:  be warned about a link in the sidebar on this site:  while the text of the Dr. Esselstyn’s article is excellent, the editors of the journal where it was published chose to illustrate it with a very explicit 19^th-Century drawing of a radical mastectomy, which you may find disturbing.) 
7. Similarly, for  information on how Dr. Neal Barnard has very successfully helped people with diabetes create optimal health, explore: http://www.nealbarnard.org/.

Is Your Kid A Food Snob? (maybe she/he should be)

A few weeks ago I was researching preschools and childcare in the area.  During my search, I had a wonderful conversation with the director of a preschool about giving your child a (um) "golden palate."  In other words, how do we raise up our children to seek out and enjoy healthy, whole foods?

Here is the answer I gave the preschool director. I hope it helps you in your journey as a mother or woman who cares for, works with, or just loves children.

Hi Joan (not her real name),

I commend you for attempting to feed the children healthy food. However, it is tough to offer (and have them actually eat) healthy food if they aren't any at home.  

As a physical therapist and health coach, I am also a long time teacher. If I could make a suggestion for your lesson plans - you might consider including nutrition as part of what you teach the children. Teaching healthy choices as part of your lesson plan may actually turn out to be what helps a child most in life...we need to help prevent chronic disease and debility in our future generations.  Adults behavior easily imprints children at this age - and leading by example, which includes serving healthy meals and snacks - would go a long way toward ensuring the future health of our nation's children.

Epidemic Unhealthy Eating Is Creating Premature & Preventable Chronic Disease In America's Children 

Childhood obesity, diabetes, and inactivity is now considered epidemic in America's children today.  Our crops in America are laden with pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and harmful antibiotics and insecticides.  These chemicals have been found in the bloodstreams of our children and in pregnant women, not to mention in cancerous tumors of the breast. Now the USDA is even considering including "organic" food as part of the food pyramid, because of all the serious health risks associated with non-organic foods.

My Story

On a personal note, it was not until the late 90's that I realized how toxic my daily diet was.  I was consuming high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavorings, pesticides, and many unidentified artificial ingredients, now dubbed as "food technology," without even knowing it. Low-fat was all the rage, and I was a naive consumer of all those chemically laden, high sugar, high sodium products.  (And yes all of those poisons are in many, or I daresay most, conventional high sugar cereals and snacks.)

High fructose corn syrup is being linked to childhood obesity, diabetes, and attention deficit disorder, to name a few. Many of those foods also contain parabens and propylene glycol - the later of which is a cancer causing petroleum (yes, oil) derivative.  In addition, serving ware and storage containers made of plastic often contain BPA, a chemical known to alter hormonal function - especially in women, children, and pregnant women. read more on harmful effects of BPA

Raising Up A Food (and serving ware) Snob

It was through reading the following texts below, that I began to recalibrate my own palate. I eliminated all processed food - which meant basically anything that came in a box ready to eat. Today, if my children eat snacks or "treats," I make sure they have no high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring or preservatives.  In addition, when possible and where necessary, all of their food is organic.  I rid our home of dangerous plastic containers, and use food containers to pack snacks and lunches such as Lunch Bots and Klean Canteen.

I have studied western nutrition and holistic nutrition through Chinese medicine and Ayurveda (Indian medicine).  Now, I counsel all of my patients and students across the United States about the dangers of consuming a typical "American" diet.  Americans suffer from more chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, obesity and many cancers that are preventable with diet and exercise, than any other nation in the world. Our children do not need to inherit these diseases or our current nutritional (or lack thereof) habits.

Resource List

Below I have a list of resources you might want to send home to parents, in addition to teaching the children about nutrition. It can also be a way to reintroduce a new food program that is holistically balanced.  All of these changes can help parents create a clean (and discerning) palate for their children.  Once children are accustomed to eating whole foods, the taste of artificially flavored and high sugar foods will become unpalatable.  For example, my children used to eat sugar on their cereal (a well meaning family member started this trend).  So last fall I took cereal out of their diet altogether and made a cooked breakfast each morning.  This summer, when the weather lent itself more easily to cold cereal - I reintroduced the cereal (the organic version of Cheerios, of course).  I did not offer them any sugar.  The result? They have been happily eating non-sugared cereal all summer long, never once having asked for sugar.

Seasonal Eating

As summer now gives way to fall, I also recommend eliminating cereal from your children's diet in keeping with Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine recommendations. I rely on making "warm breakfasts," rather than cold.  I make whole grain (or gluten free for those with allergies) pancakes from scratch with maple syrup (grocery store syrup is one of the worst "food technology, high fructose corn syrup offenders. Just say no!), oatmeal, eggs, soy based breakfast foods, and the occasional meat. My children aren't vegetarian, but neither does our family rely on meat. I serve it only 1-2 times a week.  The rest of the week they eat vegetarian protein(s) and are thriving wonderfully. And as a side note - it does not take that much time to prepare a healthy, whole food meal.  Opening a box may seem convenient, but the health of our children is more important than convenience. In addition, I also get to teach my children about the joys of Slow Food and it is a wonderful way to create quality family time together (not to mention great memories and great food!).

Treats & Desserts

When I do bake desserts, we make organic versions. Cupcakes (yes, actually!), cobblers, pies, cakes - nothing is off menu for my children.  I don't even restrict them from eating candy - but I have educated them as to what is in it and what it does to their body (not to mention their teeth!).  I want them to be able to make  informed decision(s), rather than me playing the eternal (and not very effective) role of the rigid maternal nutritional food police.

The result?

I use my own family as an example.  My 4 year old declared he is eating no more candy or junk food - including his favorite - lollipops. (we'll see how long this lasts) However, to my surprise, he's kept this trend up all summer - and he shows no signs of dropping his new habit.

Instead of junk food, he eats fruit and the desserts that we make together; and, when offered what he labels "junk," which generally includes chips, snack foods, and all candy - he declines 99% of the time.  I can recall 2 instances where he accepted a lollipop - and both times he declared to everyone in the car (we were at the bank where the teller, the world's sartorial lollipop dispenser, always tailors the treats in favorite colors), "I am only eating 1 lollipop today, because they don't make me big or smart and I don't want holes in my teeth." Of course, I smiled inwardly and outwardly ~ a mother's greatest dream (or at least partly) - I have created a food snob, or at least a foodie who can discriminate between high quality and low quality (or no quality) food. 

He has learned about organic gardening, picking fresh fruit right out of the trees and off vines.  He has aso learned about cooking from scratch with whole foods.  As a result, he has a rather refined and sensitive palate for a 4 year old. (It took me almost 30 years before I started to develop one.) For example, before he could even speak he could taste the difference between jarred spaghetti sauce and our homemade organic version. (he wouldn't eat a second bite of the processed/jarred kind).

Expanded Resource List

I say all of this to encourage you, and to applaud you for your efforts to feed children healthy cereals and snacks.  I am going to bet that if you institute a new nutrition program as part of your lesson plans - about balanced nutrition and the importance of eating whole foods as close to their original source as possible (i.e. eating locally, seasonally, and organic)- you will help change a nation's nutritional habits, one child at a time.

Here are the resources I give to patients, which you can share with parents:

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal - a well researched book about the underbelly of American fast food

Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Disease Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right

Food You Should Always Buy Organic

Seven Reasons Why Kids Should Drink Organic Milk

The Green Guide - a guide to living healthy, responsibly, and preventing disease

Lastly, for those parents already organically saavy in the healthy eating department - the next level to improve health even more is consuming an Anti-Inflammatory diet, endorsed by physicians, nutritionists, and holistic nutritionists globally. You can find an example of The Anti-Inflammatory Diet here.

The list of resources is certainly not exhaustive, but it is a good start toward empowering parents to help their children live a long and healthy life.
I hope this helps you in your teaching and passion for children's education and  many blessings to you in the new school year.

*photo is of Michael baking his first organic apple cobbler with oatmeal topping, in a NC pottery crock gifted to him by his great grandmother. He insisted on wearing his bicycle helmet for the event.

Your Child's Best: Choosing Vitamins

I received this question via email today, and responded right away with the following answer.

Q: Ginger, I wanted to let you know I have been enjoying your blog. It is wonderful that you are sharing all of your wisdom. I read your article on nutrition and taking a high quality multi-vitamin. As for my 4 year old son, I have been having a hard time finding a chewable multi-vitamin for him that does not contain all the nasty dye's etc. What do you give your kids?

A: Great question! You are absolutely right – children’s vitamins are usually horrendously toxic – containing saccharin, loads of artificial dyes, and preservatives. I searched for some time before I found an honorable vitamin which seemed to meet my strict requirements: vegetable derived, no dyes, no artificial flavoring, no preservatives, and no saccharin! For children with allergies, these vitamins are also soy, dairy, yeast, and corn free!

I give my children "Animal Parade" vitamins – they come in liquid or chewable form. Both my children are on the chewables now and they absolutely love them.

In addition, my eldest son has developmental delays, so I supplemented his diet with fish oil to assist in his neurological development. The change was remarkable, and with no other apparent variables to influence his improvement, his speech improve markedly within a week of beginning the fish oil supplement.

In fact, the fish oil is so good that my husband and I started taking them as well. For those of you who are fish oil connoisseurs or those who cannot bear the thought of stomaching fish oil, Omega Fish Oil is mild and easy to digest and is proven to be beneficial for brain function and heart health.

Lastly, they both get extra vitamin C during the nasty winter flu months. They have been getting it year round since the swine flu outbreak, however. Studies disagree on the benefits of vitamin C, however, it is not expensive, is safe, and my children are sick less often than their peers.

My children take the following vitamins on a daily basis:*

• NATURE'S PLUS: ANIMAL PARADE CHEWABLE MULTI-VITAMIN: Click here to see the vitamin and the full list of ingredients.

• NORDIC NATURALS: KIDS DHA: Click here to see the supplement and a full list of ingredients.
  

• NATURE'S PLUS: ANIMAL PARADE CHEWABLE VITAMIN C: Click here for a full description.

Should your child take fish oil?
More information on fish oil for children
Does your child need a multi-vitamin?

*the information given is only a suggestion and not a recommendation. the suggestions contained here are only given as a "Good Samaritan" gesture to assist fellow moms who struggle to find as close to an "organic" vitamin as possible for their children and is not intended as health care or physical therapy advice in any way. All parents should consult their child's (hopefully holistic!) pediatrician to determine what vitamin, if any, is best for your child.