Category: Longevity - Anima Journey

Why Water Fasting Sucks

5/4/2017

By Allan

It’s no fun! Gee, why is it no fun to do a water fast? Because the more you need to fast, the worse you will feel. So when you are younger you have a lot of energy and you might not even notice much; maybe you will be a little hungry the first day of the fast. You are all excited to learn about this healing modality so you try it on for a day or three. One thing you don’t want to do is what I have heard from people they have done: dry fasts. Dry fasting is dangerous because you become dehydrated and it concentrates the toxins that you are releasing from your lymph fluid and the rest of your body. So drink plenty of water to flush out your body while you fast. Also it is best if just rest with your eyes closed and get as much sleep as you can.

Do you get colds or the flu? If you do, you could clean out by fasting. Most people think that if they have colds or the flu they caught some bug. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t; it could be an overload of whatever you did like eating low water content food that clogs your system. You are much less likely to have a ‘bug’ chowing down on your clogged lymph and blood system if you keep your body clean. After all, you most likely take a shower and keep your outside clean - how about the inside?   The best health tip I have ever heard was “Stop doing what caused the problem.”   Listen to your body! An example might be: feeling that little tickle in your throat, feeling low energy after eating what you already knew wasn’t the best idea for you to eat.

What if you don’t have the time to fast anywhere from one day to thirty days? Consider this: do you have time to be in bed for a week or more with a cold or the flu? How about more serious health issues like cancer? By fasting on a fairly regular basis, you can likely reduce or eliminate the number of colds and other problems you have if you also take care to reduce your negative stress as much as possible, be in an optimal environment for you, and have fun moving toward your purpose.

Learn about being vegan or plant-based diet because it is easy. Then start eating more and more raw/live foods, transitioning to as much as you can do. I now eat more than a 99% vegan raw/live food diet and will probably go 100% this year because I feel so much better when I’m 100% raw/live.

Here are some resources to get started on fasting and eating a vegan raw foods diet:

* Intermittent fasting
* Short-term fasting
* Five day fasting to slow aging
* PCRM and plant-based diet
* Plant-based proteins
* 80/10/10 plan
* Raw foods e-zine

Markus video on weight loss

8/11/2016

by Willow

Not sure how many of you have heard about Markus Rothkrantz; he and his wife Cara, who sort of seem to sex-up their videos somehow, have a business where they promote raw foods and raw food products.

I thought his video on weight loss might be interesting to some; it really reinforces [a little heavily] the importance of a healthy and fresh food diet, although I don't think eating some steamed veggies every now and then is a bad thing, to keep our bodies functionally optimally. Of course, getting all of our nutrients in fresh raw foods can sometimes be iffy depending where and how they are grown, and how long they had to travel and then sit on shelves. We grow many of our own greens, such as lettuce, kale, parsley and even celery, and we put our own soil amendments in the raised garden beds. But many people can't or don't want to grow their own. I am not so keen on buying supplemental 'green powders' but maybe they can help at times, especially if one is low in some nutrients.

Anyway, maybe you'll learn something from his video and/or pass it on! He mentions the documentary "Fed Up" in his video; I haven't watched that one yet. Hope to soon!

Markus Weight Loss Special Epic Finale

Did you know that there is essential fat?

10/29/2014

by Willow Aureala

As Iʻve written in other posts, Iʻve been reading Dr. Lavieʻs The Obesity Paradox and sharing some fascinating tidbits from the book with you.

I learned another that I want to share today: there are two categories of fat: essential fat and storage fat. Essential fat is necessary for normal, healthy functioning and can be found in fairly small amounts in the bone marrow, organs, central nervous system, and muscles. For men, essential fat is about 3% of their body weight, and for women, it is about 12%. Womenʻs essential fat also has sex-specific fat, which is critical for normal reproductive function, and thus found in breasts, pelvis, hips and thighs.

Storage fat is the fat accumulated underneath the skin, in muscles and other specific areas in the body. It includes fat that protects the internal organs from injury, and women and men have about the same amounts of storage fat.

I left a teaser in my last post about The Obesity Paradox: that not all fat real estate is the same. Well, Dr. Lavie reports that "excess visceral, or belly, fat is the classic sign of being over-weight and susceptible to health risks" (p. 57). This type of fat releases fatty acids, inflammatory compunds and hormones that can lead to problems like high ʻbadʻ cholesterol and high blood pressure. It may be, researchers speculate, that visceral fat is so problematic because it is related to an overactive stress response. Visceral fat cells also release their metabolic products directly into the portal circulation: blood going from the gastrointestinal tract and spleen through the portal vein to the liver. Visceral fat is also associated with insulin resistance and accelerates the aging process.

The fat around womenʻs hips, thighs, and buttocks keeps its contents, meaning it doesnʻt release harmful metabolic products into the body. These fat cells hold on to their fat very tightly and protect the liver, but also makes it hard to lose the fat in these areas. Studies have found, too, that the body fat in these areas [hips, thighs, buttocks] actually has high value for the body, protective factors. In fact, studies have shown that the fat in these areas may actually help reduce cardiovascular risk factors, as well as lower triglyceride levels. Thus, liposuction of these areas might actually increase risk for heart disease!

Thus, as Lavie points out: "Body fat has different personalities we never knew existed and that have everything to do with our health and longevity" (p. 60).

More to come on The Obesity Paradox!

Maybe atherosclerosis is not a modern plague?

10/17/2014

There has been much discussion and debate about hardening of the arteries [atherosclerosis], which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. It seems like this condition started becoming a noticeable problem along around the 1950s and has been a growing concern with our more sedentary lifestyles, smoking cigarettes, and obesity rates skyrocketing. However, CT scans of mummies spanning four geographies and over four thousand years show that atherosclerosis has almost always been a common condition, especially in older folks. 137 mummies show that atherosclerosis could just be a part of the aging process, rather than poor diet or being a couch potato. Your thoughts?

From: Lavie, Carl. 2014. The Obesity Paradox: When Thinner Means Sicker and Heavier Means Healthier.

Can having a bigger waist size be a good thing? Apparently, yes

9/23/2014

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

by Willow Aureala

Of course, no one thing is THE main factor or variable that accounts for something. However, just looking at the topic of waist fat or waist circumference, according to research by Dr. Lavie and others [and thousands of participants], People who have a larger waist size have been found to live longer and survive a heart attack, cancer, kidney disease and deadly infections. It seems that for some percentage of people, being overweight may actually have some protective factors.

One important question Dr. Lavie asks in his book The Obesity Paradox is "Could there be a genetic, evolutionary reason to be a little chubby when we're older and at greater risk for disease (and not beat ourselves up while trying to get down to what we think is an ideal weight"? (p. 15). I think that's a really good question. I do have concerns about the extreme focus that seems to be occurring in research on genetics because that in itself could lead to the sort of attitude like 'well, there's nothing I can do about it; it's just in my genes' and people could be defeatist and not attempt to make any lifestyle changes. But, it is also just as valuable to look at components such as genetics because this can give us a more balanced or rounded [pun intended] or inclusive idea of how the body works.

Dr. Lavie shares that in his practice and research, he noticed that "the people who fared the worst weren't just low in body fat, but they were low in muscle mass and cardio fitness, too. So, it's not only the presence of fat that helps us to live long past a horrible diagnosis of a chronic condition, but it's also the existence of what's called cardiorespiratory fitness. There's a great divide between being just fat and being fit and fat" (p. 15).

Dr. Lavie goes on to ask some other important questions that I'll also address in this blog post; for example, how much exercise is enough; is there such a thing as too much? Does running long distance or working out for long periods of time put too much strain on our hearts and actually reduce our longevity? What Dr. Lavie and others have discovered about fitness is that "We are not so much born to run as born to walk" (p. 16). So, just as too little exercise or too little fat may not lead to optimal health, so too could too much exercise or too much fat.

Here are some pieces of information, based on research, that I have found fascinating, and perhaps you will too:

Diabetes patients of normal weight are twice as likely to die as those who are overweight or obese
Heavier dialysis patients have a lower change of dying than those who are of normal weight or underweight
Mild to moderate obesity poses no additional mortality risks to those already suffering from heart disease
Being overweight is not related to increased mortality in the elderly
Obesity can help someone with cancer or an infection such as HIV live longer

Do these issues sound counter-intuitive to you? They certainly do to me! I have a really hard time wrapping my mind around those bullet points above! And, this is one reason I'm reading Dr. Lavie's book; to learn more about these topics.

As Dr. Lavie points out: "A good paradox in science is a good problem to have if you're looking for the truth; it opens the door to new information" (p. 17). So, I'll be sharing more of this paradox with you as I learn more! :)

The Fat is Fit [or it could be] Paradox

9/21/2014

Iʻve been reading a very interesting book called The Obesity Paradox by Dr. Carl Lavie [a cardiologist and researcher].

One point that Dr. Lavie writes about is that the notion that being fat also means that a person is unhealthy has actually been dis-proven by many studies over the last decade or so. Researchers have been learning that people who are in the overweight or obese BMI [body mass index] categories may actually be metabolically healthy [show no indicators of increased cholesterol, C-Reactive Protein, insulin resistance, and other common indicators of unhealthiness]. And, other studies have shown that many overweight people who have had myocardial incidents [such as heart attacks] seem to recover better and live longer than those with leaner BMI.

Researchers are trying to tease out the variables that could be in play in this evidence; some hypothesize that certain kinds of fat in certain places in the body may actually have protective factors.

But, as we all know, the body is a complex creature, and the variables at play are many.

Lavie does not recommend that those who are lean should bulk up and become fatter. However, his and other research indicates that it may well be that fitness, cardiovascular and muscle mass in particular, may sometimes or often be better indicators of health than BMI alone. People who are overweight but are fit seem to fare better against disease and disorders than those who are lean and unfit [and they are called metabolically healthy].

I havenʻt yet finished the book, so Iʻll be sharing some additional insight and information from Dr. Lavie. Itʻs quite fascinating to read about the debates that researchers are having regarding BMI [it appears to be a somewhat poor indicator of health, and researchers are proposing other indicators in addition to that], as well as the fat/fitness debate.

So, more to come! :)

Optimism and denial

9/2/2014

by Willow Aureala

Iʻve been reading Counterclockwise by Ellen Langer. Her main topic is the concept of mindfulness. For whatever reason, that word ʻmindfulnessʻ bugs me; I think because it sounds ʻnew age-yʻ or something and some new age concepts just bug me. However, I do agree with many things she writes about, and I appreciate the research studies she has included in her book to support some of her statements [of course, most people donʻt discuss any contrary research studies in their books, so that needs to be taken into consideration].

Anyway, one thing she wrote about is the correlation between optimism and recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery, and other studies about attitudes affecting recovery. She wrote "This improvement is not a function of a patientʻs tendency to deny that he was ill. Those who hold optimistic beliefs actually pay greater attention to their recovery, and in so doing they aid the recovery process and help anticipate complications. This optimism is highly correlated with mindfulness (and also may be causally related)" (p. 64). Mindfulness means to be aware, to focus slightly more attention on something that one may do otherwise. So, if someone is paying greater attention to their recovery, what might they be doing differently than those who donʻt? I would suggest that attention also means that a person could have more of a will or drive to recover, and perhaps those who donʻt place as much attention on their recovery are less inclined to get better, for whatever reasons. These could be familial, environmental [yucky surroundings], not really having much to look forward to when one has recovered, or other things. Langer doesnʻt really address these things. Does optimism follow from personality and/or environmental factors, or the reverse - do environmental factors and personality lead to more optimism, and thus, better recovery?

I donʻt think it is a one-to-one relationship; there are likely to be other variables involved than simply being optimistic means more will recover from something. I think mindfulness, or attention, is very important to oneʻs health and well-being, but to attribute optimism and attention as directly or as primary contributors to recovery from surgery seems inaccurate. How much ʻmindfulnessʻ is necessary to show better recovery? How much optimism? Where is the line on the continuum for those concepts? Certainly, our psychology is very important in our lives; mind & body, after all, do impact each other. But, other variables are important, as well.

Langer also discussed that when someone is told that they have cancer and are given a low prognosis for recovery [you have X months to live], then many people accept that and this can lead to a doctor-fulfilling prophecy [she calls it a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I wonder; doctors words influence many people]. She wrote "When we learn the correlational finding - say, that cancer kills - and mindlessly accept as necessarily true, then a diagnosis of cancer may unwittingly lead us to see ourselves as victims of self-fulfilling prophecies" (p. 65).

Certainly, unwittingly believing what anyone says could have a negative impact on us. A curious question comes out of this ʻcancer is a killerʻ issue, too: why do so many people ask the doctor "How long do I have?" Langer also discussed how many doctors are asked this question, and yet, they really are reporting statistics, and there are always outliers on statistics. Perhaps some people have a ʻdeath wishʻ and thatʻs why they ask the question "How long do I have?" That would be an interesting study to me: to learn more about why people ask that question.

So, yes, mindfullness, or attention, is very important. There is an old saying, you get what you focus on. But, I think, too, that there are other variables or factors that Langer doesnʻt address in her story about cancer or recovery from surgery. If someone is of older age, and all they have to look forward to is returning to a nursing home where they have little to say about their world [Langer also discussed control for nursing home residents and how much that can impact their lives and longevity], then there probably is a good reason why they may not recover well... They may be focusing on what they donʻt have to look forward to, and thus, are not that interested in ʻrecoveryʻ.

Our brains and minds are so fascinating, and researchers are attempting to tease out the different components of what makes us tick [or not]. I appreciate many of Langerʻs observations and the value that mindfulness has in our lives, but itʻs not always mindfulness that is relevant in a given situation.

Reference:

Langer, Ellen 2009. Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibility.

Priming - itʻs powerful!

8/29/2014

by Willow Aureala

I saw a video a few years ago showing a psychological research study on priming. The researchers had participants come into a building and an associate of the study greeted the participants and had them follow the associate to an elevator. Some participants were then asked to hold a hot beverage in their hand while the associate bent down to [ostensibly] tie their shoes while another group of participants were asked to hold a cold beverage. This was the actual key or focus of the study, the hot or cold beverages.

After getting off the elevator, the participants were led to a room where they were present while someone was supposedly being interviewed for a job. The participants were then asked after the ʻintervieweeʻ had left whether or not they would hire the person just interviewed. Those participants who had held the cold beverage in the elevator overwhelmingly said they would not hire the interviewee, while those who held the hot beverage overwhelmingly said they would hire the interviewee. The differences were statistically significant. This means that we are subconsciously [or whatever the term would be] affected by something so seemingly insubstantial as holding a hot or cold beverage. [I can imagine all sorts of scenarios where this small thing could have a big impact, such performance reviews or customer satisfaction surveys and the like.]

Elizabeth Langer also discussed priming in her book Counterclockwise: "Primes often tell us what is expected of us, and too often we mindlessly comply" (p. 85). Langer discusses priming in regards to people being subtly influenced by aging priming cues. In an experiment, participants were randomly put into either a group to solve anagrams that had been formed from words reflecting stereotypes about old age (e.g. felorguft from forgetful), while the control group solved anagrams that were formed from more neutral words. After the participants finished solving the anagrams, the researchers timed their short walk to the elevator to leave and discovered that those in the experimental group walked to the elevator more slowly than the control group.

The reverse is also true; mindless priming can be "reversed." In another study that Langer and colleagues performed, they had people sort a hundred photographs of young and old people. They found that "if young people sort mixed photos of old and young people, the photos primed old age. Those in the control group were asked to put the photos into two groups, "old" or "young", thus priming them for old age, and thus replicated the slow walking noted in the above experimented after they finished the sorting project. The experimental group sorted the photos in a non-age-related category, such as sex, while a second experimental group generated their own non-age-related sorting categories" (p. 86). So, did the experimental group participants, who sorted the photos according to non-age-related categories walk slower or faster? You guessed it; they walked faster than the group who sorted according to age. Langer calls this "mindful sorting" and believes that "being mindful allowed them to overcome the effects of the ʻold ageʻ prime" (p. 87).

What about you? Do you use age-related phrases or thoughts, such as "Iʻm too old for this" or "Iʻm getting to old to do that" or "Youʻre too old to do that"? In our "Immortality Cult" discussions, we talk about the words and phrases that people all-too-often use about themselves as they age, as well as others who are ʻold.ʻ Perhaps it is way past time to get rid of these ʻmindlessʻ notions and words about aging? We can start today by noticing the words and thoughts we use or have about aging, and start re-framing them for a more positive attitude about aging. What kind of words or phrases would you eliminate, and what would you use to replace them? And, an even bigger question is: do we have to believe the changes we are making in order for them to have an effect? Where does belief come into play? For example, if someone really does believe that a person at X age shouldnʻt be doing something, does changing the wording make any difference? From the studies and research Iʻve read about, the changes likely can make a difference, even if belief may not be present. And, it could well be that belief might follow as we change our words!

Reference:

Langer, Elizabeth 2009. Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibility.

Wearing uniforms means a longer lifespan

8/28/2014

by Willow Aureala

Did you know that research shows that people who wear uniforms to work tend to have better health and longer lifespans? Also, clothes provide an even greater age-related cue for middle and upper classes. Wealthier people who do NOT wear uniforms tend to have poorer health than those who do wear uniforms, and this effect is greater as income increases.

Similar results have been found with balding men: since balding is a cue for old age, those who go bald earlier in life tend to have a greater risk of prostate cancer and coronary heart disease compared to men who do not get bald early in life.

And, for women who have children later in life, they tend to live longer than those who have children earlier in life because they are surrounded by more ʻyouthʻ cues in their ʻolderʻ years, even though one might suspect that stress and other negative factors might impact these older moms more, they donʻt.

Also, in marriages where the spousal age difference is four or more years, the younger spouse is surrounded by more ʻagingʻ cues and tend to have shorter life spans. The older spouse is surrounded by more ʻyouthʻ cues and tend to have longer life spans.

Thus, certain contexts and cues prime people to age more rapidly or stay youthful longer, including clothes!

Reference:

Langer, Ellen 2009. Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibility.

Hope your way to longevity

8/13/2014

by Willow Aureala

When I teach psychology classes and ask students how many of them want to live to be 100 years old, very few raise their hands. When I ask them why, they respond mostly with stereotypical images of the elderly: alzheimer's disease, bodily dysfunctions [organs not operating properly, for example], other loved ones dying [being alone], nursing homes, and similar thoughts. On rare occasions, a student will respond that she or he would want to live longer if they were of sound body and mind. The young have a persistent image or stereotype about aging, which I can relate to because I had the same images. And, my experience working in a nursing home didn't do anything to dispel those images. However, I have since learned that more people live fairly well in their later years; it is a smaller population that experiences such unhealthy conditions that they can no longer live alone. And, of course, more people are becoming aware and taking action to live healthier longer.

How much does mindset have to do with living longer? There are mixed research results on this topic, but I wanted to share the results of one study that should be thought-provoking.

In 1975, researchers Becca Levy and colleagues asked more than 650 people positive and negative statements about aging, such as "Things keep getting worse as I get older" and "I am as happy now as I was when I was younger." Their results were scored and categorized as holding either a positive or negative view of aging.

Then, 20 years later, Levy and colleagues found that those who viewed aging more positively lived, on average, seven and a half years longer than those who were negative on aging. Another study done in the 1990s by Heiner Maier and Jacqui Smith als found that dissatisfaction with aging was one of the principle factors in how long people live.

The results also showed that holding a positive outlook on aging made far more difference than any physical indicators, such as cholesterol levels, exercising, body weight, etc.

Thus, says psychologist Ellen Langer, we must be mindful of our beliefs and make a decision to change them. "We must choose to believe that we have control over our health" (Langer p. 24), even if we are sometimes wrong. There is the more likely result of lost rewards by choosing not to believe we have control, and more likely some positive rewards by "exercising meaningful control over our health" (Langer p. 24).

Allan, for example, says things like "Getting older is great!" or "I have so much more knowledge and experience as an older person!" In our "Immorality Cult" gatherings, we have talked about our beliefs about aging and health and what we might want to do about them.

What do you think about mindset, positive aging beliefs, and getting older? Are you focused on changing the stereotypical beliefs about aging? How might a person go about changing their negative beliefs about aging?

Reference:

Langer, Ellen 2009. Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. Ballantine Books