Expert Shares Tips for Reversing Your Aging — Eat This Not That

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By Ghuman

Introduction

As we age, our bodies naturally start to show signs of wear and tear. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept the aging process as inevitable. With the right diet and lifestyle changes, you can reverse the signs of aging and look and feel younger. In this article, we’ll share expert tips for reversing your aging with an “Eat This Not That” approach. We’ll discuss the foods you should be eating to keep your body healthy and youthful, as well as the foods you should avoid. By following these tips, you can start to see a difference in your skin, hair, and overall health. So let’s get started!

Expert Shares Tips for Reversing Your Aging — Eat This Not That

As we age, our bodies naturally start to show signs of wear and tear. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept the aging process as inevitable. There are plenty of ways to reverse the signs of aging and keep your body looking and feeling young.

Nutritionist and anti-aging expert Dr. Mark Hyman has some tips for reversing the aging process. He recommends focusing on eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones. Here are some of his top tips for eating to reverse the aging process:

Eat This

  • Fruits and vegetables: Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is essential for keeping your body healthy and youthful. Fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help protect your cells from damage and keep your skin looking young.
  • Healthy fats: Healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, and nuts are important for keeping your skin hydrated and your cells healthy. They also provide essential fatty acids that can help reduce inflammation and keep your body functioning optimally.
  • Lean proteins: Lean proteins like fish, chicken, and beans are important for maintaining muscle mass and keeping your metabolism running smoothly. Eating lean proteins can also help keep your skin looking firm and youthful.

Not That

  • Processed foods: Processed foods are full of unhealthy fats, sugars, and preservatives that can damage your cells and accelerate the aging process. Avoid processed foods as much as possible and opt for whole, unprocessed foods instead.
  • Sugary drinks: Sugary drinks like soda and juice are full of empty calories and can cause inflammation in your body. Avoid sugary drinks and opt for water or unsweetened tea instead.
  • Alcohol: Alcohol can dehydrate your skin and cause inflammation in your body. Limit your alcohol intake and opt for water or unsweetened tea instead.

By following these tips, you can help reverse the signs of aging and keep your body looking and feeling young. Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can make a big difference in how you look and feel.

Who among us wouldn’t like to turn back the clock, to reduce the damage done by aging and maybe even age in reverse? That possibility is edging away from science fiction and closer to science fact. In a recent episode of his podcast The Doctor’s Farmacy, Dr. Mark Hyman, a functional medicine physician with the Cleveland Clinic, talked with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a naturopathic physician in Connecticut and lead author of a recent study that suggests you can do specific things to reduce your biological age in just eight weeks—at home, starting today, without significant expense. Read on to find out more—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.

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Fitzgerald said that as a gauge, her study used a process called DNA methylation, a series of changes on the strands of our DNA that scientists have found correlate strongly to a person’s biological age. One thing that positively affects methylation—thereby reducing age—is consuming catechins, a plant compound largely found in greens. “The catechins in green tea or curcumin or luteolin or resveratrol or quercetin, all of these compounds that we know and love and use and eat and prescribe … appear to direct methylation traffic,” said Fitzgerald.

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“Our gut bugs regulate us, and they’re playing an intimate role in healthy genetic expression. So we need to love on our gut bugs,” said Fitzgerald. In her study, subjects consumed the probiotic lactobacillus plantarum.

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The subjects in the study did not consume dairy, gluten, sugar, or processed food. Alcohol was also verboten. The study participants also engaged in “very modest” time-restricted eating—they ate during a 12-hour period and fasted for at least 12 hours.

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“Exercise is, as a rule, potently, anti-aging, but if we overdo exercising, then that can be pro-aging,” said Fitzgerald. Study subjects were instructed to exercise for just 30 minutes a day, five days a week, at 60% to 80% of their maximum heart rate.

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​​”The data on sleep is strong, specifically relating to DNA methylation,” said Fitzgerald. “If you’re not sleeping, you’re aging. That’s really the bottom line now.”

She added: “It’s extraordinary how nourishing sleep is on genetic expression on DNA methylation specifically. But more broadly, we know poor sleep is the risk factor for all of the chronic diseases of aging.” Fitzgerald her colleagues prescribed that the study participants sleep for at least seven hours each night. They were also advised to meditate regularly to reduce stress and induce relaxation.

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The scientists used a biological age clock to determine that study participants who undertook the recommendations were 3.24 years younger at the end of eight weeks compared to a control group who made no changes to their routine.

Summarized Hyman: “Everybody is looking at these expensive drug trials and all these mechanisms, very intense interventions, and you’re saying eat better, exercise a little, sleep better, relax. And basically, you can reverse your biological age.” And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don’t miss these 35 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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