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Three Main Causes for Aging: And How to Avoid It

By August 11, 2014 February 18th, 2020 No Comments

Glycation, Inflammation and Oxidative stress, generated through the process of living life (eating, sleeping, breathing, exercising), are inevitable for everyone.  But there is hope! You CAN minimize the effects of the aging process.

There are three common mistakes that rapidly AGE your body faster.  Understanding these three biggest causes of aging will help you in slowing down the aging process.

Old smiles

The Spring Center for Natural Medicine wants everyone to be happy and healthy, no matter what age!

#1 – Glycation

Glycation is the process in which the sugar you eat gets STUCK to the proteins in your body.  This is really, really bad news for the aging of your organs, but also for a part of your skin called collagen. Sugar stiffens and cracks the collagen.  Too much glycation and your skin will look like an old garden hose – cracked, brittle and wrinkled. That means fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and yellowing appear on your face.

There are 2 main ways to minimize glycation: 1.  Increase the antioxidant level in your body.  Antioxidants protect your body from the nasty effects of glycation. 2.  Keep your blood sugar low and controlled every day without major spikes… this means minimizing excess sugars and grains, which are the worst blood sugar offenders.  A side effect of controlling your blood sugar low and steady is that you minimize fat storing hormones like insulin, which helps you to get leaner!

#2 – Inflammation

Inflammation is a bad word no matter how you look at it! Inflammation occurs when your body releases harmful chemicals in response to environmental toxins. Those ‘harmful chemicals’ in your bloodstream attack your body and cause aging. Worse, these chemicals can silently damage your skin, organs, and your brain, for years before you notice the effects.  But by then…it’s usually too late.

There are a few ways to deal with inflammation. First – try adding ginger, green tea and turmeric to your diet.  The ginger herb is an anti-inflammatory powerhouse and the green tea contains EGCG which is another potent anti-inflammatory.  You can also take ginger capsules and/or turmeric capsules each day if you don’t use ginger and turmeric in your cooking regularly…they are both very inexpensive in capsule form and add a potent whollop of natural anti-inflammatories to your body.

Second – light exercise protects your body from inflammation .  You don’t need to do too much but it should NOT be long.

That’s been proven to increase inflammation and even cause heart damage over time (that’s why some marathon runners drop dead of a heart attack). Best exercise is “High Intensity Interval Training”.

#3 – Oxidation

Oxidation is the WORST of the bunch. This is referred to as the ‘rusting’ of your body, and it’s what happens to your car when salt and water attack it, and when an apple that turns brown after you expose it to air.  Same thing in your body. If you let oxidation take place, you can wrinkle up like an old apple left out in the sun.

The easiest way to avoid oxidation is by eating hefty amounts of fresh, organic fruits and veggies daily.  The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in those protect your body from the harmful effects of oxidation, inflammation, and glycation.