Dr. Michael Roizen: You Can Choose Your Age
CBN.com According to Dr. Roizen whether you look at clocks, calendars, or hourglasses, time doesn’t stop. He says everyone ages at the same rate with birthdays every year – that’s your calendar age. But he also believes you have the power to turn your clock faster or slower with the lifestyle choices you make regarding what you do with your body and what you put into it which ultimately determines your RealAge. For example, a fifty-year-old who smokes and eats chopped liver and sausage may actually have the body of a 65-year-old because of her bad habits, while a 50-year-old who eats well, stays away from toxins, and takes care of her body with moderate exercise could have the body and health of a 36-year-old. Dr. Roizen says you control more than 70 percent of how well and how long you live. By the time you reach fifty, your lifestyle dictates 80 percent of how you age; the rest is controlled by inherited genetics. Of course, no one can stop aging, but you can make adjustments to your life that will have a dramatic effect on your life expectancy and the quality of your life by controlling your blood pressure, avoiding cigarettes, exercising thirty minutes a day, controlling stress, and following a healthy diet.
SLOW THE AGING PROCESS
According to Dr. Roizen there are three main factors in age-related disease that you can control. By controlling these factors you can slow the aging process.
- Aging of your heart and blood vessels (responsible for things like strokes, heart attacks, memory loss, and impotence, when arteries cut off nutrient rich blood to important organs)
- Aging of your immune system (which leads to autoimmune diseases, infection, and cancer)
- Aging caused by environmental or social issues (accidents and social factors like stress are very powerful factors that contribute to aging)
You can help strengthen your immune system with the nutrients noted below:
- Vitamin C keeps your immune system and arteries young and can make you up to one year younger by taking 500 milligrams twice a day every day.
- Yogurt helps to prevent the overgrowth of fungi that shouldn't be able to grow in your body.
- Flavonoids such as oats, onions, apples, and tomatoes decrease the rate of arterial and immune aging. Eating about 31 grams of them a day - you'll have a significant effect on your RealAge, making you up to 3.2 years younger.
- Pumpkin Seeds helps to reduce the average length of a cold (contains zinc).
EAT WELL AND LIVE YOUNGER
Dr. Roizen also offers some diet basics that will help you live longer and enjoy increased energy.
- Avoid processed foods that contain trans and saturated fats; white foods like creamed sauces, white bread, white rice, and simple sugar; products containing high-fructose corn syrup
- Eat daily 9 handfuls of fruits and vegetables; at least 1 ounce of nuts; whole-grain breads and cereals that contain fiber.
- Eat at least 3 times a week fish (like line-caught salmon, mahi mahi, tilapia, catfish, and flounder).
