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.

Yoga for Fertility - Part 2

I want to welcome again, Lisa B. Minn, a fellow physical therapist, medical therapeutic yoga practitioner, and fertility patient, completing her series on fertility and yoga.

In last week's guest post I wrote about the general benefits of yoga for women who are struggling to conceive. This week I want to address the topic of yoga for those undergoing fertility treatments.

Dealing with diminished fertility is difficult under any circumstances. For those who choose to pursue the medical path to parenthood, the extremes of emotion can be even greater. There are weeks of multiple injections, pills, patches and suppositories. You are pricked and probed, often on a daily basis. You go to the doctor with anticipation, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Sometimes you have more follicles, eggs fertilized, or embryos growing than you expected, sometimes fewer.

The daily swings of ups and downs, highs and lows are unlike anything most of us ever experience in normal life. Another element that may be an issue, especially for those who believe in a holistic approach to health is the guilt and disappointment one can experience from having failed the ‘natural’ approach. Add to this the cost of tens of thousands of dollars and it’s no wonder the stress of medically-assisted reproduction can skyrocket.

I encourage all women, but especially those in the midst of fertility treatments, to consider practicing the most gentle forms of yoga. For example, Yoga Nidra is a deeply relaxing meditative practice that has been shown to help overcome symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD and insomnia.3 Yoga Nidra does not involve instruction in any specific postures but relaxing in a restorative posture such as supported Bound Angle Pose (baddha konasana) is a nice way to provide gentle opening in the pelvic region while being guided through the meditation. 

Download a FREE EXCERPT from Ginger's book on proper mechanical alignment of supported reclined bound angle pose.

Another resource I highly recommend are Sue Dumais’ podcasts on Yoga for Fertility.4 These are approximately one hour long and consist of a series of restorative postures combined with language that is both comforting and empowering.  There are no promises of improved blood flow to the reproductive organs.  There are no claims of optimization of hormone levels. Instead there is permission to feel exactly what you feel. There is encouragement to accept the journey to parenthood however difficult it may be.

Yoga for fertility is not a magic bullet.  Maybe it will help you to conceive a child, maybe it won’t.  But it will help you to sort through all the layers of your pain.  It will help you accept where you are on your path.  It will help you to make peace with your body.  It will help to calm your nerves and to get through the most difficult of days.  Not everyone who struggles with infertility goes on to have a child.  Some have children in ways they didn’t expect, through adoption, surrogacy or egg donation.

But practicing authentic yoga during the struggle, no matter what the outcome, is sure to help us evolve in one way or another.  I hope you find the practice that best suits your journey, the practice that allows you to be calm, confident and kind to yourself during your quest to give birth to a wonderful reality.

 Lisa B. Minn is a licensed physical therapist and yoga enthusiast.  She has been incorporating aspects of Yoga and Pilates into her physical therapy practice since 2001 and became a certified yoga instructor in 2004.  Her experience ranges from working with athletes at West Point and Georgetown to instructing elderly and wheelchair-bound clients in the fundamentals of  Yoga.  Lisa has conducted several lectures and workshops across the US, as well as in Honduras and Peru, where she volunteered her services. Lisa currently resides in Sausalito, California, where she lives and works. She is the author of the blog The Pragmatic Yogi and can be reached at her website, Lisa B. Minn.