Dear ,
Here's my 274th Canyon Ranch Health Tip:
at your next physical, ask for a CRP test.
This stands for
C-reactive protein.
A CRP test measures the degree of INVISIBLE inflammation in your body,
long before inflammation shows up on the more traditional tests that
screen for things like cholesterol.
In bodily terms, think of inflammation as an insidious, smoldering
fire that can secretly build up and run amok in your body, causing or
worsening the start of most age-related diseases like heart disease,
cancer and Alzheimer's. Let's not forget arthritis, which begins with
inflammation in the body, mainly the joints. Inflammation is also a
culprit in autoimmune diseases like allergies and digestive disorders.
Any doctor will say that these diseases age us.
What they don't usually tell us is that we can have control whether
we get these diseases and therefore, how quickly we age. Our key to
aging slower is to control our inflammation and therefore keep our
immune system in balance.
Smart new science has shown that all age related diseases start with an overactive immune system.
So if you keep your immune system in balance you can age more slowly
and avoid cancer, heart attack, diabetes and Alzheimer's because
studies have linked these age-related diseases with an overactive
immune system.
You cannot die of cancer if it cannot make it past your immune
system. You will not have a heart attack if the plague does not build
up on your arterial walls. Arthritis will not cripple you if your
immune system does not directly assault your joints.
Yes, genetics and family history play a small role but your lifestyle
is much more predictive of aging better so the good news is that HOW
QUICKLY WE AGE IS LARGELY WITHIN OUR CONTROL!
Maybe you are content with the speed of your aging. I don't know, maybe
you wake up feeling younger as you get older(!!)
but if you are like me
and
would like to put the brakes on
(or even reverse) the aging process
there are things you can do to stay younger for longer.
One thing is to floss. Plague that builds up in your mouth can travel
directly into you gut and contribute to inflammation which is directly
correlated with plaque (get it? Tooth plaque/heart plaque?)build up in
the arteries. People that have heart attacks more often than not have
never flossed!
Another tool is exercise. Have you broken a sweat in the last 2 days?
This helps keep your immune system in balance in a way that keeps you
feeling young.
But the biggest key on your anti-aging keychain is diet and nutrition. Have you ever heard of NCR?
NCR stands for Nutrient-To-Calorie Ratio and refers to making sure
that food is as high in nutrients and as low in calories as possible so
that you get food that is as chock full of usuable energy with the
least amount of calories as possible.
So a McDonald's Milkshake would
have low NCR because it is high in calories and low in nutritional
value, same with most candy and junk food.
Some examples of eating high NCR foods are eating a piece of whole
fruit
instead of drinking fruit-flavored beverages, eating green
vegetables instead of potatoes, and snacking on nuts instead of chips.
But the grand daddy of all NCRs is (you knew I was getting to this)
Acai juice. Two swallows of this fruit juice (which actually tastes
good) has the antioxidant equivalent of 13-14 servings of fruits and
veggies, plus heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and esterified fats as
well as plant steryls. Plus it only has 30 calories per ounce. Talk
about triple-coupons!
Now, fruits and vegetables are wonderful but I don't think I could eat
14 servings in one day and it's impossible to get that nutritive value
in that small of a serving by eating fruit. 
This means the Acai juice NCR is off the
charts as far as bang for your anti-aging buck.
That is why Oprah featured it on her show as the number one new
superfood and
why I felt a big improvement in my energy level and
exercise performance and
why I keep beating the Brazilian Rain Forest
Drum of MonaVie.
(you know what to do if you need some)
There is tremendous value (and it will be improvements that you will
actually be able to feel in your body in a week or two)in adding these
small changes to help you slow down or even halt the speed of your own
body's aging process and
to decrease your chances of ever having to deal with the C-word or other devastating illnesses of old age.
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