aging – Chew Digest

Fasting, Longevity, and Workaholism.

Hi, my name is Michael and I’m a workaholic…LoL

I really do enjoy working 7 days a week, however, that can get exhausting; not just physically, but also emotionally. So I’ve been trying something a little different. Working 7 days a week, but then taking a 4-day break once a month. I may eventually try to focus my work attention a little more to get to the point where I can do that twice a month. Work 10 days on and then 4 days off.

This time around; on this 4-day break, I decided to fast. Just water for 72 hours. Woooooof. Knocked me the hell out. But now that I am 64 hours into it I am feeling much better and well cleansed. My skin looks wonderful and what little inflammation I had has reset back to what it should be.

I may even consider doing this once a month. Ironically if I did it would save me at least 10% on my monthly food bill. Not a bad savings in times like this. And as a benefit, it is well known in the scientific and medical community/literature that a 72-hour fast or prolonged fasting can lead to regeneration of the cells of your immune system. Imagine; resetting your immune system so that it can fight a better fight leading to better health and ultimately greater longevity.

I decided on 72 hours because I’ve gone much longer before. That and I had 4 days off to deal with the yucky feelings. My understanding is that those yucky feelings(keto flu) are a result of the body catabolizing its own, what we call stored fats. I imagine this is where the body stores a lot of the toxins that it can’t process now for processing later should we choose to do something beneficial like fasting. Which likely would have been a default thing that we have lost in time because of this world of plenty we have been enjoying for decades.

So I imagine the reason we begin feeling better after a few days is that our body has had a chance to clear out the toxins that were stored up for later processing which is accomplished through the act of fasting.

P.S. I’ve been doing a 12/12 feeding schedule for quite some time now. That seems to offer the best benefits overall. Metabolic and other health concerns arise when going above or below the 12-hour feeding window.

I know I’ve spoken to you guys a lot about eating certain ways and how important it is, but I really want you guys to know that longevity of years is and should be the ultimate goal. But even more with a body that looks and feels no more than 24.

We’ve been given by right of birth a gift of a potential 120 years of time that we are miserably failing to attain, and why anyone wouldn’t want to live to 120 years or more is beyond me. Especially if we could do it with a body that is functionally 24 years of age.

I do want to and plan to live to 120. I do realize that I am likely going to have to bury a lot of people I love that don’t want to live a lifestyle that lends towards that end, but I, at this point, cannot see it any other way. I want to fully appreciate the gift we have all been given. Why shouldn’t we?

I am going to try. Why not try it with me?

Accelerate your stem cell production in three ways

In 2006, Nobel Prize winners, Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanak, turned the world upside down when they found that skin cells could be reprogrammed and become ‘induced’ pluripotent stem cells. Somatic stem cells are undifferentiated. They are cells found throughout the body that are ready to go at any time. If a name were needed you could call them, “Johnny on the Spot.” They are always ready to be called into service in whatever way the body needs. One purpose they serve is that they replenish any of our senescent(old) cells that have reached the end of their useful life.

Stem cells are located in various locations throughout the body but multiply more readily in the protected environment of our bones marrow, our brain, and our gut. Our three innermost parts. Research shows that stem cells thrive in certain environments and the loss of their power of division and growth occurs when the environment is not favorable. What follows is how stem cells grow and thrive due to several internal and external influences.

1. Caloric Restriction Increases Stem Cell Proliferation

Studies have shown that the number of circulating stem cells in the blood increases with caloric restriction. Additionally, the lifespan of the organs is lengthened. Intermittent fasting or a fasting-mimicking diet is a good way to induce stem cell production and increase the overall functionality of cells. It is these stem cells that are the building materials for our temple.

Chronic inflammation and metabolic problems occur when too many building materials end up in our systems. Studies show that reducing glucose input increases stem cell longevity.

Plain and simple reducing circulating glucose is precisely what the body needs to optimally produce quality stem cells. Foods that are processed or concentrated in any way outside of the body are the biggest culprit.

2. Reduce Triglycerides

The most common causes of high triglycerides are obesity and poorly controlled diabetes. People with high triglycerides are more likely to gain weight, resulting in metabolic syndrome. Additionally, stem cells don’t grow as well in bodies that have high triglycerides.

Some might suggest taking MORE high-quality omega-3 fatty acids to balance out triglycerides and help stem cell growth. I would suggest removing the offending source of the increase returning the body to balance and homeostasis rather than just putting in MORE. Both can be done, but one option is free and I have reservations with the other in that excess is not always better. That doesn’t mean though that there isn’t a place and time where some wisely administered supplements could result in a beneficial end towards whole-body homeostasis.

3. Exercise Boosts Stem Cell Activity

Using our body’s systems results in the proliferation of stem cells by simple means of use. One out, one in. Burn out one stem cell so that the newest one in line can brightly shine. Aerobic exercise in particular aids in this process especially when it comes to stem cells becoming bone instead of fat. When used our muscles activate stem cells as well. These are called mesenchymal stem cells and they are activated by exercise being made available to form new muscle and bone. I would always advise exercising caution in how you go about incorporating any new kind of exercise program. Especially if there are free weights and machines since they end up producing a bit more stress on the overall human creature.

Scribe(author) – Michael J. Loomis | Editor at Chew Digest

What Disease?

I will proclaim that there is no such thing as disease from this day forward. That is not to say that there aren’t disorders of function(disfunction) within the human experience. Indeed there is, and we have all experienced disorders to one degree or another.

In other words, I am going to do my best to remove the term disease from my linguistic arsenal because I believe it to be problematic. Problematic in that it allows for a continued building up of ideas and language that takes us further away from the truth of what disease truly is. An advanced state of aging. A problem resulting from our body lacking the vital energies needed to repair or replace the components that we are wearing out. To say it another way, we are using up our body’s resources faster than we can renew them.

And so in some sense, the word disease becomes an expensive paywall that prevents us from understanding what is really going on. And this disease is simply the first paywall or locked door that keeps us from really understanding what is really going on. Once you are convinced that you have a disease and you have gone through that door, it is further separated out into many other doorways and dim passages by which the initial problem becomes even more confused, obscured, blurred, and specialized into other, even scarier sounding disorders and diseases that become even more difficult to understand. This then ultimately leads us down the road to needing a doctor to guide us as blind people through the perilous straights of murky medical terminology. By the time the common man gets to this point they don’t know what to do. And in many cases, their doctor’s primary care doctors know little more. From this point, specialists who hold the keys of knowledge hidden behind the doors of specialties and specific diagnoses aren’t really able to help us better understand what is going on simply because they lack the time or skills needed to easily teach us in plain language what is really going on within our body. And thus we simply trust them in their decision-making processes that landed us in their care in the first place. And once most people get to this point there is little they can do other than say okay, submitting ourselves to a course of treatment that isn’t necessarily going to get us back to a state of homeostasis. To a place of normalcy where our body can once again be in its default state of organic and biological flow where everything is working with ease.

And this then leads us back to life…

There is only life and life exists regardless of our consciousness of it. We get to participate in it for a period of time. A span. A spectrum of existence that begins with what we humans call birth, and that existence has a temporal ending that we call death. Metaphorically speaking, we are simply an act if you will. A scene in a movie or play that makes up the whole of our individual lives. Our act or scene is a story that has many stages in between its temporal beginning and end. One story; yet two natures. One that is physical and the other that is spiritual. One is the story of our physical body and the other is that which we call our consciousness. Yet, both are a part of the same individual story that makes up each individual human life. And it is all an animated existence powered by electrical energy.

Our physical body is an organic, carbon-based life form that has been drawn up, gathered together, animated, and electrified as a utilitarian, beneficial, and necessary part of life here on Earth. We are here for a reason. In some sense acting as a counterbalance to another factor that exists within the realm of life on Earth.

So where does disease fit into all of this talk of man’s nature? What if I told you that disease is simply a metaphor for aging that has been used as a marketing tool in some sense? Well, that’s exactly what it is. The marketing of an idea that at the very least implies that there is something going on in our body that is out of our control that needs some form of external input, whether by ourselves or the hands of another.

So let’s remove the word disease from our common use of language and call it what it is then. Simply aging.

Beginning somewhere between conception and birth, aging has been defined as a steady decline or reduction of physiological function that leads to increased susceptibility to diseases that will ultimately end in biological death.

Beginning –> Aging –> Disease –> Death/End

When compared to other mammals, humans have what appears on the surface to be a longer lifespan. Approximately 120 years according to what humans have defined as a solar year consisting of 365 1/4 days.

Sidenote: I would like to argue that all mammals within their individual context from their own perspective experience the same amount of perceptible time known as a lifespan regardless of how humans define time. The idea that a day to a human would be something like a week to a dog, as an example. This might explain why a dog is so happy to see its human that has been gone on a two-week vacation. To us humans, it has only been two weeks, but to that dog, perhaps, it has been something akin to us having been gone for almost 2 months time.

Standard evolutionary models of aging are explained as the full potential of our body’s ability to repair or replace cells that would allow for continued existence. The idea is that over time, what we call natural selection, through a process called senescence, or the deterioration of age, begins to exert less effort in the removal of our spent cells. Our body loses its will to take out the trash, if you will.

This brings me back to the state that we have classically called disease. And this is the basis by which I would like to suggest that we stop using this negative, pejorative term for what is simply the process of aging.

What’s Keeping Us From Living Our Fullest Life?

Look at the fangs on this fuzzy fella. He is a gibbon and gibbons are frugivores.

I used to think that the reason we humans have these teeth in our mouth that we call canines is that we were meant to eat meat. Well, this fuzzy fella has some crazy-looking fangs, yet he only eats fruit all day.

I’m not saying that we cannot eat meat, because surely we can and do. But just because we call 4 teeth in our mouth canine teeth and they vaguely look like what a canine has a mouthful of doesn’t mean that meats were to be eaten by us in the amounts we do.

I still plan on continuing my non-animal fare as long as wisdom leads me down that path. It makes the most sense to me from my studies over the last 4.5 years on how the human body works BEST.

Can we eat meat? Sure. Should we eat meat? Not to the extent that most of us do if there is plenty of fresh plant-based/whole-foods are readily available. But hey, if you happened to find yourself lost in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and Alaska and the only things the Inuit have to offer is seal, then eat up my friend. It’s better than the other option.

If malnourishment were the other option for me I already have a plan in place for how I would go about consuming it. I’d rather be prepared than be caught off guard in that eventuality.

Can we humans fully function on a completely whole-food/plant-based diet alone? I am and I know a lot of other people that are doing it too, and we are all doing just fine. Am I 100% convinced that any one of us vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, or carnivore has it all figured out? No. There may yet be a better answer still.

These days we are living in a world of plenty where we have so many good options that we actually have the luxury to actually choose to do as we like. Something a lot of humans couldn’t have done just 150 short years ago. Many were just trying to maintain health or even simply survive. And sadly many suffered from all manner of malnourishment diseases that have been virtually vanquished in this world of plenty we live in today.

I personally can’t wait for the first person that has figured out how to live more than 120 years with a body that looks, feels, and functions like a healthy 24. It will start with a single person with sight beyond their own short life. A person that understands that there are things that are within our midst, within our grasp, within our power to control. Principles by which we can become the fullness of the life that was intended to be used by the intelligence that saw fit to gather our elements together into a cohesive bundle of energy. A life force bound up in this unique form for a purpose.

Do You Know Squat?

I’ve been practicing it daily now for 3.5 years. I drop down and hold for a 30 count first thing in the morning upon greeting the morning sun.

This after peddling my legs while laying on my back 50 times. 50 leg extensions while holding my legs with my hands behind my knees and then 100 leg curls while on my belly. It’s my way to start the day and get the engines running full steam ahead.

I also do 15 squats at a time, sometimes multiple times per day, while holding on to the kitchen sink. I may do that many times a day, but at least once so that I can do a tremendous amount of squats a year. How can that not do something positive for the body?

At this point in my morning routine, I do a full-body lymphatic where I massage all of my limbs and torso towards the jugular veins in my neck. The purpose of this is to keep all of the intracellular and lymphatic fluids moving in a positive direction, back into general vascular circulation for better overall health. I’ve seen the benefits in my own life. Here is what I’ve noticed.

Overall improved skin/tissue quality which in turn improves color and appearance.

It reduces fluid retention and swelling by moving excess water and metabolic waste from the tissues back into the lymphatic channels where our immune system can do its best work.

I’ve also noticed a better texture across my skin overall along with a reduction in scar tissues. My suspicion is that this makes our body more efficient at healing its injuries and illness related to direct trauma and surgeries.

And of course, possibly the greatest benefit of all, it is incredibly relaxing.

I have a very lofty goal of making it to 120 years of age with a body that looks and feels no more than a healthy, robust 34. But wouldn’t that be fascinating if I got to see my birthday in the year 2116? I would love nothing more than to celebrate my birthday at 144 with a body that looked and felt no more than 24.

I’m simply growing a fully refurbished body. And it is gonna last. This time I’m doing it the right way.

Death was once my master. Now it has become my greatest teacher. A wicked man that I once was, obeying the dictates bearing the fruits of ignorance in my daily life. I had no idea the path I was traveling and where it was going to lead me. But I have repented and now I will not relent. I have found joy in knowing that I am no longer a victim of circumstance or just bad luck because of genetics. That life is not a roll of some celestial dice. That it is not something that is in every way out of my control. But something more comforting, knowing that there is a will in this thing called life that wants us to not only be healthy and wise but also bear much good fruit unto life itself.

We are here for a reason. Life does not waste its force where there is no return on investment. We are here for a purpose and it is my pleasure to serve that greater good even if I don’t yet fully understand the goal. And that is why I am here to serve.

And it all begins with some squats at the beginning of each and every day with the first kiss of the merciful morning sun that brings me life and the motivation to rise to the occasion.

*Thoughts From a Facebook Response-2022/01/30

Some thoughts from a response in a Facebook post.

My body’s disease expression was diagnosed as mycosis fungoides. A cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Regardless of what it is called, I don’t see it being anything different than one simple thing. Advanced aging and failure of the body to properly detox. But not because the body and how it functions was the problem, but my behavior was the thing that was keeping my body from properly detoxifying itself.

Maybe we are all wrong to one degree or another about which foods need to be going into our mouths when we should be looking for another or other factors altogether.

I probably spend way too much time researching/reading/listening to different people that are masters in their respective fields of understanding when it comes to aging and how to minimize the effects of it.

That being said, I’m beginning to see a pattern amongst them all and that is that we are simply spending more time per day eating than we need to be. And that if we could pack enough nutrients into one feeding per day, our body would be much better off than multiple meals and snacks.

One idea I’ve been considering trying is something like eating one of my giant 3-pound salads one day followed by coconut water the rest of the day. 2.5-3 pounds of sweet potatoes the next day + coconut water. And then a huge bowl of vegetable soup on the third day + coconut water. All fruit on the fourth day. Then maybe just a day of liquids. Rinse and repeat.

I think diversity and variety within a plant-based/whole food framework are more important than these disagreements we are all having. Even raw vs. cooked. I think it might likely be healthier to do both on different days to keep our internal micro-organisms guessing rather than us being predictable.

To my animal-eating friends. That is your choice, but there is a LOT of clear data to be found that demonstrates that in the long run, it does more harm than good.

Also, the idea of needing to eat three times a day along with snacks is probably just a dumb idea from the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the need to create human resources that needed to be working all day long.

There really seems to be something about allowing the body to rest as long as possible between feedings but not really something found in extended fasting unless death is looming.

Anyhow…These are just some thoughts.

P.S. And we should all probably be getting a little more direct sunlight on our skin regularly. And the more melanin one has in their skin, the more is needed.

*Fruitarian vs. Centenarian

“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.”

I’ve been studying human physiology and disease pathology for the last 4.5 years. A part of that study has been dedicated to observing the practices of the longest living people on Earth. Our centenarians. Groups of people that live in these specific five places called Blue Zones.

1. Okinawa, Japan
2. Sardinia, Italy
3. Nicoya, Costa Rica
4. Ikaria, Greece
5. Loma Linda, California.

There are a number of things that they have in common. One of them is a whole-food/plant-based diet. To be a little more specific, people in these so-called Blue Zones typically eat a 95% plant-based diet that’s rich in legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and nuts, all of which can help reduce the risk of death.

Strangely…None of these groups are fruitarians.

In late 2020, I was introduced to a practice called Natural Hygiene. The natural hygiene diet is a system of healthy living whereby moral, physical, and environmental pollution is strictly avoided, and natural, healthy food is chosen in preference over processed foods. The principle is to provide everything the body needs to be healthy and to avoid anything that may hinder health and well-being.

One of the hallmarks of this system, as it is practiced today, is a diet that primarily consists of juicy sweet fruit and gentle leafy greens. Small amounts of nuts and seeds are also on the approved list. This system also tends to focus on a practice called food combining and also the opposite which is mono-meals where only one kind of fruit is eaten until the consumer is full and then rotating through a variety of fruits and gentle leafy greens.

I have been practicing this way of eating for the past year myself and have found it to be very VERY beneficial in its ability to help the body heal and cleanse itself from the inside out. This will always be a part of my dietary practice.

But is eating this way what the human body needs to find its way to its fullest potential of living to 120 years and possibly well beyond to a place above 144 with a body that looks no more than today’s middle age?

I cannot say for sure, because there are no models that exist outside of religious texts that demonstrate this much less suggest this. And those practitioners that have been promoting this way of eating over the last 100-150 years have never themselves accomplished our fullest human longevity potential, much less in large communities. Or even small groups for that matter. Most haven’t even lived any longer than any average Joe that didn’t have any particular practice, but those in the Blue Zones have.

For me, I will continue on looking for better answers, and practicing what I preach. I will be continually pressing into the practices of what I can observe is working in the each and everyday practices of those that also practice what they preach. But I will not be so stubborn as to ignore the proofs that exist in our day in favor of rigid structures of beliefs in contrast to actual evidence of that which actually brings forth fruit.

I will continue to learn, grow and adapt. A wise man I knew once said, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.” Thanks for the wisdom Chuck(Smith).

Simply Younger

It would seem that I have figured out how to negate the effects of aging in my body.

Or at least the things that made me look and feel older. Aches, pains, freckles, moles, age spots, liver spots, skin tags, etc. Even arthritis it seems. I’m so limber it’s almost comical. I can squat down, bow, touch my head to the ground and stand back up without using my hands, aside from balance.

I don’t think my body will ever look like a seventeen year old again, but that’s what I’m shooting for. I’ve had so much success at this point that it is at least worth shooting for.

I am expecting that Continue reading Simply Younger

Cancer, aging and cellular senescence.

Inducers of Senescence, Toxic Compounds, and Senolytics: The Multiple Faces of Nrf2-Activating Phytochemicals in Cancer Adjuvant Therapy

~Content Source

Normal cells do not divide indefinitely due to a process termed cellular or replicative senescence. Several lines of evidence suggest that replicative senescence evolved to protect higher eukaryotes, particularly mammals, from developing cancer. Senescent cells differ from Continue reading Cancer, aging and cellular senescence.