Gut Health and Basic Nutrient Needs For Youthful Aging

Gut Health & Basic Nutrients for Youthful Aging

There is great focus on the declining health of the average American lately as it seems we are all getting far less health for far more money. Our foods are devoid of good nutrition, yet pricier than ever. Our medical care is skyrocketing while the current system of managed care aims at maintaining, rather than reversing and preventing illness in the first place. So it is no surprise that many patients ask me for tips on how they may enjoy good health throughout their whole lifetime.

Staying Healthy Can Be Challenging

People think that staying healthy is challenging, yet there are simple solutions to staying healthy in an unhealthy world. These begin with following essential, nutritional guidelines. You see, everyone needs the basics each and every day to fight off the dangers of modern living and of disastrous food choices:

Probiotics
Multi Vitamins
Multi Minerals
Anti Oxidants
Energy Nutrients, and
Liver Cleansers

Did you know that your intestines are home to over 100 trillion living critters otherwise known as the ’healthy bacteria’ that make up your gut flora?

In fact, these healthy bacteria alone make up for nearly 4 pounds of your total body weight! Yet despite wishing you could be clean of any and ALL internal bacteria, without these you would NOT have good quality of life.

These healthy bacteria are essential in exerting a positive influence over your immune system, digestive system, vitamin production and the detoxification of your body. But they are susceptible

How Are My Good Bacteria Being Destroyed?

Your good bacteria are sensitive to the overuse of antibiotics, steroids, chlorinated water, oral contraceptives, antacids, high sugar diets (junk calories), diets high in refined & processed foods and to chemotherapy/radiation treatments.

Why Is It So Important To Protect My Good Bacteria?

In regards to your immune system, these healthy bacteria interact with parts of your intestines known as the Peyer’s Patches, and considering how many BAD bacteria you swallow each day you can appreciate why nature has provided you with such great protection. In fact, over 60% of your immune system resides in your intestines within these Peyer’s Patches.

During the actual act of digesting your foods, these healthy bacteria also play a leading role. They help you to process your nutrients safely through your system.

You may not have realized that the simple act of eating and of processing your foods creates an inflammatory condition within your body.

During the process of vitamin production your healthy gut flora (the microbes, like acidophilus) helps your body to make Vitamin B2, B3, B6, B12, folic acid & Vitamin K.

And in regards to detoxification you’re able to eliminate your wastes rapidly by increasing intestinal motility. Your healthy bacteria play a very large role in the process of waste elimination.

How Can I Protect & Restore My Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Remember to use antibiotics ONLY when absolutely necessary, and the same goes for steroids usage also. Always drink filtered water. Make sure to avoid high sugar diets and unnatural sweets. Avoid antacids (which are usually needed because your food choices are bad to begin with and your body may be TRYING to tell you something).

How Else Can I Restore My Healthy Gut Bacteria?

You will need to start thinking about restoring what has been taken out of your foods. There is a great depletion of our soil due to commercial over farming. Commercial farming has for the most part replaced individual farm owners that cared for their soils and rotated their crops as nature intended. These crop rotations are necessary in order to put back those minerals that are taken out in process of growing our produce.

You need to realize that the ways in which you are preparing your foods (like overcooking or buying processed foods) is destroying the natural B vitamins, and vitamins A, D, E as well as many of the natural minerals found in these foods.

You need to be responsible for your food choices and realize that you have to be different from the rest of the American population, because over 60% of Americans do NOT consume the recommended 5-8 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. And certainly don’t forget to WASH OFF the pesticides and fertilizers that are on these nutrients before you eat them.

Here’s a Few More Tips & Medical Snippets To Get You Started On Good Nutrition

Vitamin C: Thanks to the work of Linus Pauling’s research we know that there is a 31% decrease in colds and flu when you consume 70-200 mg daily. That protection jumps to 40% when you increase your dose to 1,000 mg daily.

Vitamin E: There’s a little debate on this one but research review shows us that the fragment of Vitamin E known as the gamma tocopherol, rather than the alpha tocopherol component offers the greatest cardioprotective component of the vitamin E family. Make sure that your Vitamin E is a mixed product containing the gamma tocopherol portion. Research shows that if you take 400-800 IU daily you could be decreasing your chances of having a heart attack by as much as 47%

Selenium: Volunteers given 200 mcg/day (micrograms per day) over a 4 year study showed incredible results! You could see a 50% decrease in the incidence of cancers, including a a 45% decrease in lung cancer risk, a 58% decrease in colorectal cancer, and a 63% decrease in the incidence of prostate cancer. Now that’s impressive!

Calcium & Magnesium: These deficiencies are reaching epidemic proportions in the American diet.

Calcium: Is a critical building block for bone health and osteoporosis prevention. You need doses of 1200- 1500 mg/day in combination with Vitamin D. I prefer to include calcium in my food choices rather than in supplements. Also, aim to keep your levels of Vitamin D in the blood between 50 to 60 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter). Make sure to ask your doctor to check your levels of 25, hydroxy vitamin D. Calcium is also critical in keeping your hair, nails, heart, and thyroid working optimally and in tip top health. If you have restless legs or calf cramps you should consider using calcium in a well balanced multi mineral formula as deficiencies may be what is causing this problems.

Magnesium: Is utilized in over 300 reactions throughout the body. Common conditions such as mitral valve prolapse, migraines, anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, fibromyalgia, asthma and allergies have all been linked to a Mg deficiency. Perhaps not coincidentally, these conditions also tend to occur in clusters together within the same individual.

Antioxidants: These have a role in the destruction of free radicals which form in your body from pollution and the act of digesting and absorbing nutrients into your body. They reduce oxidative stress in your body. They slow the aging process. You should remember that it is always best to mix a good quality multi vitamin, multi mineral and phytonutrient (plant based) antioxidants and consume them together as this is the way the body will utilize these ingredients, in concert.

Adding one necessary nutrient while omitting another may not supply all of the essential vitamins or minerals needed along a chain of events in the processing of nutrients or detoxification of wastes. This could cause accumulations of mid-level substances that have not reached their endpoints in a process and could be detrimental to your body. I know, it sounds complicated (and it is) but I will try to break it down into bite sized portions for you in future newsletters.

CoQ10: This is the most essential nutrient for the production of energy at the cellular level. You can reach your highest concentrations of CoQ10 by consuming organ meats. If you do not eat organ meats, I recommend a pharmaceutical grad supplement of CoQ10 each day. This is a powerful antioxidant and a very potent anti aging compound.

What you may not know is that CoQ10 gets progressively depleted over time by many medications; notably, the cholesterol lowering drugs (like, lipitor, pravachol, zocor...), by diabetic medications, and by various heart and blood pressure medications as well. If you are on any of these, or a mixed cocktail of more than one of them then it goes without saying that you will need to supplement.

It is this very depletion that is the likely culprit of so much muscle injury and the many body aches experienced by patients on long term treatments with these types of medications. A safe dose of CoQ10 is between 60-100 mg/day.

Fish Oils: These oils have been extensively studied and many reports have been published by the American Medical Association to stress the importance of adding 1-2 grams of fish oil supplements to the American diet to help achieve optimal health.

Fish oils are critical for the youthful appearance and health of your skin and hair, for the proper functioning of your cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels), for healthy levels of good cholesterols (HDL), for the prevention of female conditions like PMS and menopausal symptoms, and especially for the nervous system. In fact, it has been beneficial for the improvement of mood, the reversal of depression, of obsessive compulsive disorders, of attention deficit disorders (with or without hyperactivity), and of many other neurological disorders.

Should I Be On The Basic Nutrients?

Absolutely! You should be on a daily schedule of basic nutrients essential to healthy aging if you are over 40, if you are a chronic dieter, if you are eating a poor and unbalanced diet, if you are over stressed, if you are on prescription medications, and if you are interested in improving your overall health and body functioning.

Here Are My Simple Suggestions for A Healthy Nutrition Cocktail..

A well rounded probiotic formula,
A Multi Vitamin,
A Multi Mineral (with Calcium/Magnesium),
Antioxidants,
CoQ10,
Mixed Omega 3 Fish Oils (EPA/DHA in a healthy ratio), and
A Liver Cleanser or detoxification program (especially if you are having trouble losing weight).

If you are suffering from less than optimal health, or for help with choosing high quality nutraceutical grade formulas and detoxification programs to boost your weight loss program and to get the most out of your nutrients & foods get in touch with us today.

Stop suffering with less than optimal health or poor performance. There is a better way. Contact Us To Make An Appointment Today.

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore