Quote (Stealth @ Apr 22 2013 02:22pm)
What a helpful thread! So thankful for your insight.
We are surrounded by alzheimers and cancer etc etc etc and a lot of it is because of lack of proper nutrition, exrcise and excess things I our bodies/diet like heavy metals and such.
We do a lot of talk about eating for building muscle and such.
Is there any diet/living plan out there that strives to cover all the bases of eating and living to prevent as many of these diseases and problems as possible over time?
What I mean is , if I want healthy lungs I am reading to incorporate thyme and pineapple and other supplements to improve lung quality/function.
If I want to try to prevent alzheimers I can take glutathione and remove msg and heavy metals.
If I dedicate my diet to preventing alzheimers (insert any disease here) I will do a great job in that area but lack in liver function or anything else for example.
It seems nearly impossible to "get it all" regularly enough to truly reap the benefits.
Is there anything out there (diet etc) that is structured in a best attempt at covering all of our bases?
It seems daunting but I thought I'd ask
Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge bank with us!
And a side comment: my personal main goal is to strive for perfect lung function since I used to smoke marijuana heavily and am sick to my stomach of the damage I have done to my lungs and brain. Smoked from ~16-22 and I hate hate hate hate that ever happened.
Hey there!
Thank you for the kind words. With regard to complete body health, there are always alternative approaches towards preventing/reducing the risk of cancer and other diseases.
If you truly want to be as healthy as possible, and improve your chances of being disease free, and live longer than less healthy individuals, follow these steps:
1. Eliminate stress. I cannot possibly make this any more of a priority. When a body is constantly under stress, mental/physical/emotional, that person is MUCH more likely to contract various forms of cancer and other diseases. The solution to this is to live within your means (don't overspend and stress yourself to earn money), treat others the way you want to be treated (protect your relationships), find things in life that you love and surround yourself with them (hobbies, career, etc), see a psychiatrist/therapist if you feel you need someone to talk to about deep rooted issues, keep a positive attitude, and realize how good your life is compared to so many less fortunate individuals.
2. Get enough sleep! Sleep deprived people are shown to age much more rapidly than those who get enough sleep. What constitutes enough sleep? It depends. If you are just living your life normally without any physical exertion (no workouts), the body can get by with around 7 hours of sleep without issue. If you are working out or doing any type of physical exertion, especially strength training, 8-9 hours of sleep per night is more like it. Also, quality of sleep is very important. That means sleeping straight through, waking up on your own (without alarm clock), and not having outside noises disturbing your sleep.
3. Eliminate artificial sweeteners/colors/flavors/preservatives from your diet! Just read the labels of what you're eating. Artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, etc.) should be avoided as they have been shown to cause cancer in lab rats under certain circumstances/dosages. The same can be said about artificial colors/flavors and especially preservatives. Generally if you can not pronounce the item on the nutritional label, look it up - if it turns out to be a chemical added to preserve, enhance, or modify the original product, do NOT eat/drink it.
4. Try eating organic fruits/veggies that are grown locally or in the US. This is a heavily debated topic. However, a few of the most recent studies have shown organic fruits/veggies to contain far less amounts of arsenic, metals, and other unwanted substances inside the meat and rind of the fruit/vegetable. You should STILL wash your fruits/veggies with mild soap and plenty of water. However, avoiding pesticides and GMO (genetically modified) fruits/veggies, as well as cleaning them properly, would guarantee you the highest quality and lowest exposure to possibly harmful substances.
5. Drink at least 1 gallon of water per day!! I seriously can not explain how important this really is. One of the biggest problems in the American diet is lack of proper hydration. Dehydration can bring on everything from Alzheimers to UTIs. Drink a good quality water, either triple distilled/reverse osmosis + added minerals, or 100% pure spring water from a reputable company such as Zephyrhills. I would prefer to see the Spring water choice than the distilled + added minerals, mostly because of the pH levels and overall mineral content.
6. Minimize exposure to questionable environments/hazards. This means simply reduce your direct exposure to anything that is potentially toxic, caustic, or dangerous in any way. That means don't live underneath power lines, don't keep your cell phone glued to your head all day, don't breathe in carbon monoxide from vehicles all day, and certainly don't breathe in mold/mildew/paint fumes, or other inhalant chemicals. Stay AWAY from pesticies, herbicides, and other intense chemicals used to treat foliage. You can always opt for "Safer Soap" products to treat your hedges if you need whitefly protection.
7. Do not excessively drink/smoke/do drugs. This is self explanatory, but I had to put it in anyway. You can drink alcohol in moderation (1 drink a night approximately), but I would stay far away from smoking/drugs under all circumstances.
8. Balance your diet!! You need a good blend of protein, complex carbs, and GOOD FATS, in order to maintain good overall health. Protein sources should be all lean meats (chicken/turkey/fish/etc), eggs, and whey protein. Avoid dairy products, but if you have to eat them, use organic ones only. You also should get your bodyweight worth of grams of protein per day (MINIMUM) so a 200 lb man would eat 200g of protein per day. Carbs should be mostly complex (slow digesting), such as whole grains (like whole grain bread/rice/pasta/etc), veggies, some fruits, oats, etc. Also make sure you are getting at least 20-30g of FIBER per day!!! Lastly comes fats, which should be at least 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of UNSATURATED fats to saturated fats. You need to stick to good HDL fats such as olive oil, canola oil/vegetable oil (again, stick to organic if you can), fish oil, flax oil, mixed nuts, nut butter, avocados, etc. Also make sure to get a balance of 1:2:1:1 ratio of sodium:potassium:magnesium:calcium. Try to do 2,000 mg sodium, 4,000 mg potassium, 2,000mg calcium, and 2,000 mg magnesium.
9. Practice safe sex, OFTEN. This means you should have sex frequently (several times a week if possible), but try to only have partners that are free of disease, and of course, free of stress. It actually has been shown to decrease the risk of other diseases (non STD) when you are monogamous. This might have to do with emotional/mental issues. The bottom line, if you can find a good partner, stick to them, and have sex frequently - you are also reducing your risk of certain diseases.
10. EXERCISE!!! This one also goes without saying. Try to get at least 30-45 minutes of intense physical activity per day. You should ideally be doing 45-60 minutes of strength training, and another 30-45 minutes of cardio training. I recommend taking no more than 1 day a week of complete rest from all physical activity. For cardio health, sprinting and HIIT are superior to long distance running. For strength training, 5x5 would be your best selection.
11. Supplements!! Everyone striving for overall health needs to be supplementing every day. Multivitamin (NOW! Adam), Stress-B (Twinlab), Vitamin D-3 5,000 iu (NOW!), Immune Advantage/Immune Renew (NOW!), Cranberry/Licorice extract (NOW!), Vitamin C 1,000mg (NOW!), Antioxidant Blend (NOW!), Joint Support (Universal Animal Flex), Chlorophyll (NOW!), EFA's (NOW! Super Omega 3-6-9), ZMA (NOW!), etc.
In conclusion - if you want to be healthy, lead a good lifestyle, keep a positive attitude, surround yourself with good people/good things, and take care to avoid putting anything questionable into your body. You will have optimal organ function, live longer, and be as disease free as possible (barring genetics related issues).