Wouldn’t you like to slow ageing down, live longer, be disease free and keep your body healthy as long as you can?  Looking youthful on the outside at any age is great, but we need to ensure our insides are young too.

With self-discipline you can have greater flexibility and tireless amounts of energy at any age.  The earlier you start with consistent exercise the younger you will be when you get older.

***There is no age at which you need to allow yourself to ‘get old’.  You are not your age, you are your lifestyle choices and this includes what your gut digests and assimilates.***

Make dinner your smallest meal

Having a late dinner might be fun, but it is not good for your brain.  When you sleep your glymphatic system (cerebrospinal fluid is a clear fluid found in the spine and cleans out your brain) is allowed to do its work. However, late eating and too little sleeping means that blood is focused on your digestion and less on ridding the brain of debris.  Consider four hours between eating and bed a good amount of time – 7pm dinner normally works well for me!

Minor changes that are really major

In the modern world of conveniences, we move less compared to countries where people have fewer electronic devices and machinery. Manual work such as opening the garage door, walking to school or the shops, raking the garden, picking up garbage, climbing stairs, getting up and down to turn the radio or tv off are all little things that force you to move.  What are the automatic processes that you have adopted in your life that you can change to manual?  Think of everyday little ways to engage your muscles. Turn these ‘little’ actions to habits by telling yourself “I don’t climb stairs anymore” – the next time you are faced with an elevator your brain will look for the stairs.  You really don’t have to spend hours in the gym! The key to staying young is to exercise and engage your body, brain and immune system.  Your immune system will help you fight inflammation.  Good gut bacteria love it when you move your body and exercise increasing the number and quality of varieties in your GI (gastrointestinal) tract.

Think ‘simple food choices’ and regular calorie restriction

 It is more important what to exclude (for example sugar, vegetable oils, animal products), than to include (for example green leafy and cruciferous vegetables, millet, nuts) in your diet. Poor food choices mean that you introduce bad bugs  into your digestive tract which can contribute to gut and body inflammation.  Practice regular low-calorie restrictions (between 600-900 calories) and keep your diet free of fast food.  If you are not vegan, try a five-day vegan diet every month to grow and nourish your good gut bacteria.

Keep your two brains happy

Brain in your head + brain in your gut = two brains. These two brains talk to each other constantly via the Vagus nerve and hormonal cellular systems.  Avoid foods that are going to breach the GI tract such as corn, red meat and dairy as well as anti-inflammatory medications (NSIADs).  Keeping your gut bacteria happy will improve your memory by reducing neuroinflammation (inflammation in the head brain).  Doing everything to reduce and avoid inflammation is your goal in slowing ageing but also to maximise your health.  This way your two brains will keep sending healthy messages to each other.

Brush to keep your lymph moving

Your lymph (a clear fluid that contains white blood cells and proteins) washes away any debris in your body.  You can help this ‘pumpless’ system by using a hand held brush on all lymph areas to stimulate movement of fluid away from your neck and your groin.  It also works very well on your inner thighs and knees in long upward strokes to keep your skin smooth from fatty deposits.  Try and do this for 5-10 minutes twice a day, keeping a brush next to your bed means you can’t avoid it…

Have lots of pure cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil

On our ‘reducing inflammation’ journey together, cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil has once again had a huge thumbs up in recent research. One of the reasons is because of its high content of polyphenols which is also found in red wine (yippee!) and ground flaxseeds.  In your GI tract, good bacteria convert polyphenols into anti-inflammatory compounds.  Remember that inflammation is ageing, so consume plenty of olives and olive oil.

Fast regularly

There is a significant amount of research regarding the health benefits of fasting regularly.  The one that makes sense to me is the one arguing that ‘not eating’ starves the bad bacteria and allows your body time to flush out toxins. Snacking and eating all day puts pressure on your pancreas and the whole digestive system.  Training your mind and body to eat less when you do eat and cutting out snacking takes time, but if you pursue it, you will find it easier the more regularly you do it.  Calories in does not equal calories out. Allow your body to tap into your fat stores for energy.

Contact me with any questions or thoughts.