Healthy Food and Smaller Portions: The Key to Longevity
By Dharma
Singh Khalsa, MD
If you are like most people, you believe that your genes
have predetermined just about everything about you. As you look in the mirror
each morning perhaps you see your mother’s eyes or your father’s smile. You may
also be convinced that your genes have already predetermined the illnesses you
are destined to suffer.
In her book, Living Downstream, Dr. Sandra
Steingraber describes her health challenges in living with bladder cancer.
Because her mother, uncle, and grandfather had all died of various forms of
cancer, many people who knew Sandra assumed that she had inherited cancer
genes. They were not aware that Sandra had been adopted. Her cancer, she
believed, was caused by exposure to environmental pollution as a child.
Dr. Steingraber’s story reminds us of an important fact. Rather
than supposed genetic predispositions, it is external conditions ― the circumstances to which your genes are
exposed ― that contribute either to maximum wellness or to disease, accelerated
aging and premature death.
According to leading researchers, only about 10 to 15
percent of cancers are genetic in origin; the rest are caused by a combination
of environmental and lifestyle factors.
Here’s something else that perhaps you didn’t know.
Because you eat so often, food is the single most important
way to maintain your genetic integrity or to destroy it. Many excellent
scientific studies underscore this vitally important truth. Richard Weindruch,
Ph.D., has conducted research into how genes are affected by dietary change.
The results were published in Scientific
American, back in 1996.
His paper, “Nutrient Modulation of Gene Expressions,”
illustrates that simply by reducing the number of total calories eaten,
the lifespan of a lab mouse could be prolonged by 30 percent. In human terms,
that would translate into extending the predicted life span from an average of
76 years to a ripe old 93.
You would be very satisfied with that life expectancy,
wouldn’t you? I’d gladly settle in advance for 90-some good years.
There are 6,347 genes in the typical lab rat. Dr. Weindruch
discovered that during normal aging, when the animal was permitted to eat as
much as it desired, five percent of the rat’s genes underwent an increase in
activity and five percent decreased.
Ninety percent of the rat’s genes showed no change in
activity levels. Are you surprised to learn that the five percent that rose in
activity were stress genes and the five percent that fell were energy genes? For
the sake of longevity, these percentages should be reversed.
This is similar to what I see in patients who are aging
prematurely. They are fatigued, depressed and stressed. They describe having
chronic pain, arthritis, memory loss and weak immune systems. Unfortunately,
until I ask, they have rarely thought about how diet may have caused many of
their symptoms.
Perhaps you are not interested in being able to run a maze
at age 60, but I know you would like to have as much energy as possible and you
want to be active at every age and stage of life.
Here’s how you can do it. Merely by cutting down on your
total calories and eating healthy foods, you can send positive signals to your
genes, thereby increasing your chances for a long, robust life.
All the research on caloric restriction points out that you
are constantly speaking to your genes, and the words are the foods you eat. This
means smaller portions of nutrient-rich foods like lean protein, Omega-3 fish,
good fats like avocado and extra virgin olive oil, and fresh fruits and
vegetables are sending your genes an important message ― you want to live a long
and healthy life by providing every cell in your body with the right amount of
nourishment it needs to enable you to enjoy a ripe old age.
At the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, we
know that the food you eat not only determines your longevity, it is a primary
factor in the health of your brain and Alzheimer’s prevention. That’s why we have made it #1 in our 4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention. It’s your most
important tool for a healthy mind and body at any age.
You can obtain some great recipes when you sign up for ARPF
Newsletter and stay in touch, simply follow
this link.