THE SOLUTION TO A SIMPLE, MEANINGFUL, WELL-DESIGNED LIFE /
THE F Ê T E / LIF E PROJECT NO.
51
THE TRUTH ABOUT AGEING Welcome to the Fête/Life Project – a collection of helpful, useful and practical articles that can be applied to life at any time, but especially now. Sourced from the many magazines we have released, our message has never been more relevant or needed by our community today… let’s embrace the simple life and treasure what is truly important – human connection, community, self care and pure acts of kindness. SUPPORT WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST /
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TO HELP INFLAMMATION /
A diet that includes oily fish ensures a source of the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats
health / W E L L - B E I N G
STORY / DR LIBBY WEAVER
THE TRUTH ABOUT AGEING Ageing is inevitable, yet how we transition through the years can differ drastically from person to person. As children we typically feel excited about getting older, with milestones like reaching the double digits and dreams of what the absolute independence of adulthood will be like. But we seem to reach a certain point along the way, where all of a sudden, getting older is no longer viewed in a positive light. In fact, for many people, ageing becomes something they fear or dread. Yet this is a natural part of life that we will all go through. So why the fear? There are numerous factors that can contribute, but if we pull back the curtain on this it usually isn’t about getting older itself – it’s the story we tell ourselves about what getting older means. Our own personal story about what ageing means tends to be a conglomeration of past experiences, interactions with others and the information and images we are exposed to through various forms of media on a daily basis. Unless we go digging into our beliefs, it’s usually not something we’re consciously aware of – it’s just our perception of the truth. But different people have different ‘truths’ when it comes to ageing. Ageing to one person can mean feeling wiser and more comfortable in their own skin – which inspires a radiance of its own. While, to another, ageing may represent significant degeneration of their health or how they look or feel. For some, it is the changes in appearance that occur with age that are dreaded or feared the most. We are exposed to an enormous volume of images depicting what popular culture considers ‘beautiful’ or ‘ideal’ on a daily basis and it can be easy to develop a perception that we need to look (or continue looking) a certain way. But your changing lines, hair colour or body in no way detracts from who you are and the goodness in your heart and ageing is a natural process. In fact, it’s an enormous privilege that we get to live into our elderly years. However, in saying that, our lifestyle and how we take care of our body most definitely influences how well we look and feel as we age. We don’t want our lifestyle to detract from our health so that many of our later years are spent battling health challenges that detract from our quality of life.
In today’s society much emphasis tends to be placed on various aspects of youthfulness as being attractive and we are bombarded with messages about needing to hide the effects of ageing, but no one actually talks about the natural and inevitable processes of ageing. Yet, the more we know about these processes the more we can do to ensure we take such good care of ourselves and reduce the likelihood of premature ageing or ageing being rapid and debilitating. So let’s take a look at what ageing is really all about. The three biochemical processes through which we age are oxidation, inflammation and glycation. The good news is, great nutrition goes a long way to providing our bodies with the substances it needs to ensure these processes happen slowly rather than rapidly. OXIDATION
Oxidative damage is caused by free radicals, which are single oxygen units that can damage the tissues of the body. Free radicals are produced by normal processes like breathing and exercising, but our body will produce more of them if we are exposed to cigarette smoke and environmental pollutants or when we experience chronic stress or inflammatory reactions. A small number of them assist the body with some vital processes, such as helping us get over an infection. However, when they are in excessive numbers for too long, degeneration occurs. To help protect ourselves from the damage that free radicals have the potential to cause, we need to consume antioxidantrich foods as antioxidants quench the free radicals.
Some of our micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) act as antioxidants in the body, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, but there are also many, many phytochemicals (beneficial plant-based substances) that have antioxidant actions. We simply cannot disregard the benefits of eating plant foods, especially plenty of colourful vegetables. INFL AMMATION
Inflammation is another major way in which we age. Simply put, inflammation is one of the ways your immune system responds to a substance it deems problematic entering your body. How do things enter? You can ingest them, breathe them, or you can absorb them through your skin. When your immune system perceives that a threatening substance has entered, it mounts a powerful and multipronged attack on the ‘invader’. Part of that response is to create inflammation, which occurs wherever the immune system is engaged in a battle – in the tissues of your face, in your blood vessels, and/or in your vital organs, for example. The red, hot, painful inflammation that your body lets you know about tends to be an acute localised response, however chronic low-grade inflammation is usually silent, and can happen when a person isn’t taking good care of themselves. Inflammation is essential to keep us alive, but in excess it can be detrimental to our health. For example, chronic inflammation can contribute to many health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Because these conditions develop over time, they do become more prevalent with increasing age. In saying that, we are seeing an increase in younger people developing some of these conditions, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, largely due to the amount of processed food and drinks consumed.
ISSUE NO. 28 / FETEPRESS.COM.AU
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health / W E L L - B E I N G
Our lifestyle choices – including our food
The changes you make now can have a
and beverage choices, the cosmetics and
significant bearing on your health in the
household products we choose, how hard
future and what your experience of ageing
we push our bodies and how much rest we
will be. While it is truly wonderful that we
get, as well as our perception of pressure
have access to modern medicine which
and urgency – can all either drive or reduce allows us to live longer, we don’t often stop inflammatory responses in the body. One simple way to reduce inflammation is to limit the amount of problematic substances that enter the body. This could mean reducing your alcohol intake, quitting smoking and avoiding highly refined processed foods. There are also a number of foods that have natural anti-inflammatory properties and
to consider the quality of that life – the life
BECOME BREATH AWARE / MORE RAPID BREATHING LEADS TO MORE FREE RADICAL PRODUCTION, WHICH REQUIRES MORE ANTIOXIDANTS TO BE CONSUMED IN ORDER TO AVOID EXCESSIVE DAMAGE. WHEN WE A R E S T R E S S E D, WE T E N D TO TA KE S H O R T , S H A R P, S H A L L O W B R E A T H S
in those years. We don’t often pause to
T H AT M OV E T H E C H E S T. B EG I N TO
think about what it would be like if we lost
NOTICE YOUR BREATH – DOES
the strength or flexibility of our bodies and as a result, lost some of our independence. So, a question I like to pose is, “Are we living too short and dying too long?” For it is the quality of your life that I care about so deeply.
I T S TAY U P I N YO U R C H E S T, O R D O E S I T M O V E Y O U R B E L LY ? DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING (LONG, SLOW BREATHS THAT MOVE T H E B E L LY I N A N D O U T ) S L O W S DOWN OUR RATE OF BREATHING A N D I S O N E O F T H E FA S T E S T WAY S THAT WE CAN LOWER STRESS
increasing our consumption of these
HORMONE PRODUCTION.
can also be beneficial. Some examples
ADDRESS NIGGLING SYMPTOMS /
of anti-inflammatory foods include oily
IF YOU’RE EXPERIENCING
fish (which are a source of the anti-
DIGESTIVE COMPLAINTS OR
inflammatory omega-3 fats), turmeric
BLOATING, PMS OR MENOPAUSAL
and ginger.
SYMPTOMS, RECURRING
GLYCATION
THIS IS YOUR BODY TRYING TO
Another factor that contributes to ageing
COMMUNICATE TO YOU THAT
HEADACHES OR GENERAL FATIGUE,
S O M E T H I N G I S N’T R I G H T. T H E S E
is glycation. This occurs when glucose,
S YM P TO M S M AY B E C O M M O N, B U T
fructose or galactose (sugars) bind to
THEY’RE NOT NORMAL – THEY’RE A
some of our DNA, proteins and lipids (fats),
SIGN THAT SOMETHING WITHIN THE BODY NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
leaving them unable to do their jobs in the
INVESTIGATE THEM, BRING
body. The by-product of this is what are known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). If we have a diet high in refined and processed foods, the problem becomes
TOP TIPS TO AGE WELL / MAINTAIN OR BUILD MUSCLE MASS /
worse as we get older, since the cumulative
AFTER ABOUT THE AGE OF 30
sugar intake for most just keeps growing.
ONWARDS, WE LOSE MUSCLE
This can cause cells and tissues to not work properly, resulting in ageing or, in some cases, disease. I’m passionate about doing all we can to prevent degenerative diseases and live an
M A S S G R A D U A L LY U N L E S S W E D O S O M E T H I N G TO M A I N TA I N (O R P R E F E R A B LY B U I L D ) I T. M U S C L E I S I N C R E D I B LY I M P O R TA N T T O O U R H E A LT H – N O T O N LY D O E S I T KE E P O U R B O DY S TA B L E, I T A L S O I M PAC T S O U R M E TA B O L I C R AT E A N D
energised, healthy, full life. There is so
GIVES US THE STRENGTH TO MOVE
much we can do to reduce our risk of
T H R O U G H O U T O U R D AY I N T H E WAY
developing chronic diseases as we age, yet many people still operate under the faulty belief that just because their mother or father had a chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease or type-2 diabetes, they are destined to get it too. And while it is true that our genetics do play a role in our susceptibility to a number of health conditions, epigenetics teaches us that it is what we do with our genes that matters. According to epigenetics you have the ability to control the expression of your genes, meaning you have the ability to impact to what extent you ‘inherit' certain health conditions. Let that empower you.
WHAT MIGHT BE DRIVING THESE. FOR SOME OF YOU, SEEKING P R O F E S S I O N A L A D V I C E M AY B E O F B E N E F I T. OT H E R S M AY K N O W D E E P DOWN WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE A N D A R E J U S T AVO I D I N G I T. T H E REALIT Y IS, IF YOU DON’T ADDRESS T H E S E S YM P TO M S N O W, T H E Y ’R E L I K E LY T O G E T L O U D E R A N D M O R E CHALLENGING AS TIME GOES ON. P R I O R I T I S E YO U R O W N H E A LT H A N D TA K E A C T I O N TO D AY.
SO EMBRACE SOME KIND OF R E S I S TA N C E T R A I N I N G. T H I S D O E S N ' T N E C E S S A R I LY M E A N Y O U HAVE TO GO TO THE GYM. PIL ATES I S A G R E AT F O R M O F R E S I S TA N C E TRAINING AND YOGA USES YOUR OWN B O DY WE I G H T A S R E S I S TA N C E. GARDENING, CARRYING GROCERIES O R C H I L D R E N, C L I M B I N G S TA I R S AND FARM WORK ALL USE YOUR MUSCLES TOO. EAT A RAINBOW / DIFFERENT COLOURED FRUITS AND V EG E TA B L E S CO N TA I N D I F F E R E N T NUTRIENTS – MANY OF WHICH ARE POTENT ANTIOXIDANTS. EATING A RAINBOW OF COLOURS HELPS TO ENSURE YOU ARE GETTING A RANGE OT H E R B E N E F I C I A L S U B S TA N C E S THAT YOUR BODY NEEDS TO THRIVE, AND TO HELP PREVENT PREMATURE AGEING.
FETEPRESS.COM.AU / ISSUE NO.28
A N D B EG I N TO TA KE N OT I C E O F
THAT WE WANT TO.
OF DIFFERENT ANTIOXIDANTS AND
64
CURIOSIT Y TO EACH SYMPTOM
Dr Libby Weaver is a nutritional biochemist, best-selling author and speaker. DRLIBBY.COM