yamtimsina

Many years ago, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the department of medicinal chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University.
One of the graduate students was kind enough to share his father’s story with me.
When his father was 40 years old, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and had a stroke once.
His dad had struggled with obesity all his life and suffered a lot, practiced all kinds of dieting to reduce his weight.
His grandparents were also obese with heart disease, so he figured that his own diagnosis was inevitable.
It’s from my family.
It’s genetic.
There was nothing he could do, this was all his impressions.

What he told me was amazing.
His dad’s initial diagnosis was back in 2011.
Then, in 2014, he switched to an entirely plant based diet and completely turned his life around.
Today, his father is cancer free, more than that, he looks and feels younger with BMI, body mass index, under 25.

As a health enthusiast and research scientist, I also believe from research and my own experience that adopting a healthy lifestyle with a plant based food habit help to prevent all kinds of new lifestyle diseases.

Research says, to become virtually heart- attack proof, we need our LDL cholesterol at least under 70 mg/dL

Around 700 thousand people died from heart disease in 2023 in the US and more than 600 thousand died from lung related disease the same year.
In 2023, globally more than 10 million people died from heart disease and more than 7 million died from lung disease.

In 1900 in the United states, the top three killer diseases were pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrheal disease.
Now the killers are lifestyle diseases, and they are heart diseases, cancer, chronic lung disease.

The key is, let’s not blame genetics, let’s focus on what is under our control.

David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, author of must read book ‘Anticancer’ said
“All research on cancer concurs: Genetic factors contribute to at most 15 percent of mortalities from cancer. In short, there is no genetic fatality. We can all learn to protect ourselves.”

The key control actually is lifestyle and food: no smoking, not being obese, getting 30 minutes of exercise a day, and eating healthier by eating more fruits, veggies, whole grain, and less meat, and if possible, no meat.
These are all under our control, if we want to live happy and healthy.

The reason people are dying from heart disease is there are dramatic shifts in our dietary patterns at the moment.
High blood pressure is no more a normal disease, it is a disease of overnutrition.
The cause of high blood pressure is not about the medication need.
The real cause is what we eat and how we live.
Flaxseeds, hibiscus tea, and whole grains have potent blood pressure lowering effects.

People are dying from atherosclerosis.
One way to prevent atherosclerosis is to reduce LDL cholesterol level.
High fiber diets lowers blood pressure but we are not eating enough fiber.

High fiber intake from whole plant foods prevent strokes including both ischemic or hemorrhagic.
Fiber controls cholesterol and blood sugar levels that reduce artery clogging plaque in our brain’s blood vessels.

One more advantage of fiber is it binds to toxins, such as lead and mercury, and flushes them away.
The other problem is if we aren’t constantly filling our bowels with plant foods which are the only natural source of fiber, the unwanted waste products can get reabsorbed and weaken the body’s detoxifying effect.

We have to reduce the intake of trans fat coming from processed food, meat, and dairy. We have to reduce saturated fat coming from animal products and junk foods.
We must cut off dietary cholesterol coming from animal derived foods like eggs.

Many doctors say to patients that if your cholesterol is under 200 mg/dL, that’s normal.
But the research says otherwise, to become virtually heart- attack proof, we need our LDL cholesterol at least under 70 mg/dL.
It’s only possible by adopting a diet around whole plant foods.

Meat promotes bacterial toxins, called endotoxins.
They are not destroyed by cooking or stomach acid or enzymes.
Once we eat animal products, these endotoxins reach our intestines and are carried by saturated fat into our bloodstream and they trigger the inflammatory reaction in our arteries.

Likewise, nitrite preservatives in meat may increase the risk of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Unfortunately there is no cure for COPD.

One natural food to control cholesterol is Brazil nuts.
It is also a good source of mineral selenium.

Healthy lifestyle can boost telomerase enzyme activity and reverse cellular aging

Among many factors, one inevitable part of life is aging.
And, unfortunately, it poses the biggest risk factor for heart disease and cancer.
To understand aging, we have to know the role of the telomere in our body.
The tiny cap of the chromosome is called a telomere.

Every time cells divide, a bit of this cap is lost.
When the telomere is completely gone, the cell can die completely.
Telomere, basically, is our life fuse, the same as the fuse in a light bulb.
Smoking triples the rate of loss of telomeres.

Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, a professor and author of ‘The Telomere Effect’ was awarded 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine for her discovery of telomerase.
The finding is that a healthy lifestyle can boost telomerase enzyme activity and reverse cellular aging.
Remember, what kind of food we eat has more impact for telomere protection than weight loss or number of hours of exercise.
Eat more whole food, plant based diet, and reduce the intake of meats, dairy products, eggs, and processed foods.

I strongly recommend watching Dr. Blackburn’s TED Talk: ‘The science of cells that never get old’ where she talks about how we might have more control over aging than we think.

Revered biochemist, Earl Stadtman said, “Aging is a disease.”

Peter Attia, MD, author of ‘Outlive’ talks about the balance between what we can do to live longer and what we’re actually willing to do.
We need to track our glucose, optimize our sleep, follow a meticulous exercise routine, and potentially give up alcohol.

Dr. Attia said, “Risk is not something to be avoided at all costs; rather, it’s something we need to understand, analyze, and work with. One macronutrient, in particular, demands more of our attention than most people realize: not carbs, not fat, but protein becomes critically important as we age.”

In fact, epigenetics controls the gene activity.
Skin cells look and function differently than bone cells, brain cells, or heart cells, and the fact is all these cells have the same DNA.
Why they behave differently is because they each have different genes turned on or off.
This is epigenetics, same DNA, but different results.

Deepak Chopra, MD, and Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, authors of ‘Super Genes’ , explain how environmental factors and experiences can modify gene expression without changing the underlying DNA sequence.
These modifications are epigenetic marks, which can be passed down to future generations, bridging the gap between nature and nurture.

Older age, smoking, and unhealthy diets are risk factors for both heart disease and cancer.
If we adopt a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, 30 minutes regular exercise, and avoiding smoking, it can help reduce the risk of both heart disease and cancer.
Healthy diet can reduce stroke risk by reducing cholesterol and blood pressure while improving blood flow and antioxidant capacity.
The plant based diet is the best to go.

Curcumin, an active compound in turmeric, helps to prevent or arrest cancer cell growth

Research shows that broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are cancer suppressors.
Kale lowers our bad LDL cholesterol and boosts good HDL cholesterol.
Kale is also an immunity booster vegetable.

There is another fact which says that only 7 to 10 percent of the adult Indian population eats meat daily.
If we don’t eat meat, we obviously ingest less substances like sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol in our body.

Report says cancer rates in India are much lower than in the United States because the regular use of the spice turmeric in Indian cooking has been proposed as a possible explanation.

Curcumin, an active compound in turmeric, helps to prevent or arrest cancer cell growth.
It prevents DNA mutations, it also helps to regulate programmed cell death.

Not fully understood but, curcumin, leaves non-cancerous cells untouched.
Curcumin affects several mechanisms of cell death simultaneously.
Not only lung cancer, curcumin is effective against breast, brain, blood, colon, kidney, liver, and skin cancers.

Very small amount of curcumin is absorbed into our bloodstream because it is only soluble in oil. Unabsorbed curcumin ends up in our colon and it impacts the cells lining of our large intestine where mostly cancer polyps develop.

The phytonutrient, quercetin, which is found in red onion and grapes reduces the number and size of polyps suffering from colorectal cancer.

One big question is, if curcumin is so effective, then why not do detailed clinical study?
But the question is who is going to spend money for the study that costs millions of dollars which can’t be patented.
This is the reality of the big pharma world.

There is another mineral called iron that is a double-edged sword, less means we suffer from anemia; excess means risk of cancer and heart disease.

One natural solution is to eat more phytates found in whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.
They detoxify excess iron in the body which is the source of harmful cancer causing free radicals like hydroxyl radicals.

Non heme iron is mainly found in plant foods but heme iron is associated with cancer and heart disease.

People who donate blood frequently have less risk of cancer because they get rid of iron from the body.

Potassium rich foods like greens, beans, and sweet potatoes reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Citrus fruits like oranges contain a phytonutrient called hesperidin which increases blood flow throughout the body including the brain.
Seven to eight hours of quality sleep lifestyle is also essential to reduce stroke.

Conclusion

“Remember, nobody can make money by prescribing plants in our diets.
Medical community including pharma can make money only by prescribing pills, not by plants,” said Michael Greger, MD, the author of ‘How Not to Die’.

Yes, we all agree that we have to respond to the changing nature of disease patterns like heart disease and cancers.
This now requires a focus on prevention and that needs lifestyle change especially food habits.

I recommend watching Dr. Michael Gerger’s talk ‘Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death’ video on NutritionFacts.org.

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.

Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.”

I recently met a man whose grandmother is from Loma Linda, California, the only blue zone in the US, an area where people live much longer than the average.
As a health enthusiast and research scientist, I was familiar with the book “The Blue Zones” by the author Dan Buettner, a longevity expert, who studied the areas of the world where people live exceptionally long lives.

I became quite interested to know about his grandmother and her place of living, and, in our conversation, the man said, his grandmother, a centenarian living at age 102, is religious and a strict vegetarian but eats fish, and drinks red wine occasionally.
At least, his observation over the years of his grandma’s life taught him that diet and lifestyle played a huge role in determining his grandma’s long lifespan.

Lifespan extends by long-term bad food restriction and natural circadian rhythms

He said, “My grandma doesn’t eat a lot and mostly eats only one meal in a day, normally eats fruits and vegetables, more often cultivating their own gardens full of green foods.”
She occasionally drinks a glass of red wine, which is kind of revolutionary as a Loma Linda resident.
He further said, “My grandma eats at least a half cup of strawberries every day, I believe that they are the highest known source of fisetin, a polyphenol, and it helps prevent DNA damage beyond repair.”

He recommended to me a book as a must read by Michael Greger, MD, “How Not to Age” and told me that this book makes us feel like we are what we eat.
What he said is that most of the concepts provided by Dr. Greger align with his grandmother’s lifestyle.
In his experience, a long and healthy life means not to damage the DNA and one way to do this is by bad food restriction.

He borrowed the words from Dr. Greger, “Up and down the evolutionary tree of life, the most reliable way to extend lifespan is long-term bad food restriction.”
He emphasized a lot on natural healthy habits and especially good natural foods without process and contamination.

Genetics, primarily, determines our life span and susceptibility to many chronic diseases but our lifestyle including quality sleep, and natural foods probably has the second greatest impact.
One of the natural lifestyles is adopting the science behind circadian rhythm and its impact in our body physiology.
It is crucial and essential to follow a natural lifestyle from the very beginning in our lives.

When we become old we lose contact with our circadian rhythm due to poor sleep quality that disrupts the production of hormones.
Hypothalamus controls our biological clock, circadian rhythm, and body temperature.
The function of the hypothalamus gets disrupted during old age.

Satchin Panda, PhD, one of the leading researchers on circadian rhythms and author of “The Circadian Code” says “We must plan accordingly to enhance weight loss, improve sleep, optimize exercise, and manage technology so that it doesn’t interfere with our body’s natural rhythm. If we follow proper circadian rhythms we can prevent and reverse ailments like diabetes, cancer, and dementia, as well as microbiome dysfunction.”

Chemicals in processed foods and everyday household stuff are hormone disruptors

Hypothalamus, a circadian rhythm controller, is a type of traffic controller to ensure good hormonal flow in our body.
It produces GnRH, gonadotropin releasing hormones.

It also ensures that we have enough energy for “fight or flight” response in the event of danger.
Research shows that hypothalamus also contains stem cells like bone marrow that are lost when we reach 70 to 80 years old.

When we get old we produce less sex hormone, testosterone, that has a huge effect on muscle strength.
Decreasing the amount of testosterone means a dramatic decline in muscle quality.
Decreasing sex hormones mean less effective optic nerve and ear, causing our sight and hearing to deteriorate.
This is one of the reasons that aging people suffer from vision and hearing loss.

Old body also produces less vitamin D and the gut absorbs less calcium which means the production of parathyroid hormone (PTH) has to increase for sufficient calcium to be released from the bones for adequate blood level maintenance.
This is one of the reasons that many old people suffer from osteoporosis.

Vitamin D is related to our longevity.
Vitamin D is essential for the stem cells living under the crypts of microvilli to replace dead cells along the gut wall.
Higher vitamin D means a more balanced and happy microbiome.
One fact is sheep milk has more than four times vitamin D than cow milk.
Vitamin D3, cholecalciferol, is generally considered the best form of vitamin D supplement for people who really need it.

Dan Buettner, a longevity expert and author of “The Blue Zones” says “Most vitamin requirements are best achieved by eating six to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. ”

Among many factors, maintaining a good hormonal system is a key to not getting old faster.
Pineal gland is a key gland in our hormonal system that gives melatonin hormone which has roles for
– Quality sleep
– Circadian rhythm
– Suppress the production of sex hormones until puberty
– Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects
– Anti aging effect

The most melatonin rich natural foods are red wine, olive oil, mushrooms, nuts, and spices.

We are catching diseases earlier in our lives because we are bombarded by a lot of chemically contaminated foods and other household stuff in our everyday life.
We must know that there are chemicals everywhere, we must be proactive and careful about what we are using and how we are using them to limit their exposure in our lives.
We have to be aware that these chemicals in plastics, cosmetics, paints, and pesticides which are our everyday household stuff are hormone disruptors.

Emulsifiers, sweeteners, thickeners, flavours, colors, additives, and preservatives are inflammatory

All mothers, especially prospective mothers should be aware that plasticizers are used to make supple and flexible rubbers and plastics.
Nipple on a baby’s bottle is one example.
The chemicals phthalates are used and they are plasticizers.
Do you check phthalates when you buy baby’s bottle?

Dibutyl phthalate is common in nail polish and diethyl phthalate is common in personal care products.
Are you aware of them and check things that have no such chemicals?
Phthalates are also found in plastic wraps, bags, chicken meat, flooring materials.

Phthalates can cause miscarriage, premature birth, and birth defects. They are also associated with the risk of breast cancer and testicular cancer, and other types of cancer.

Nonyl phenols, NPs, are in laundry detergents, personal hygiene products, automotive products, latex paints, and lawn care products.

Bisphenol A, BPA, is found in plastics, water bottles, and protective coatings.

DDT, dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane, is a pesticide.
Chlormequat is also used to regulate plant growth to prevent them from bending over during harvest
Quaternary ammonium, chlormequat, are also used as herbicide and pesticide, and there is a high chance they are found in oat products, barley, and wheat.

Plastic particles called microplastics which are a mere micrometer in size, are now omnipresent in the environment.
They are in our air and our food chain, inhaled and consumed by humans everyday.
Microplastics alter microbiome diversity, create dysbiosis, and impact gut barrier function.

Anything containing ‘paraben’ is used mainly as preservatives in beers, sodas, and cosmetics.
Parabens can harm our body by disrupting hormones, affecting fertility, and increasing the risk of cancer.

Remember, our processed foods mean we have emulsifiers, sweeteners, thickeners, flavours, and colors including additives and preservatives.
They all are chemicals and they are inflammatory, and harmful for our body.
Our body can clean up only a limited amount of toxins and chemicals but today’s processed and ultra processed foods contain tons of these toxins and chemicals.

A poverty of attention on product labels means shortening of lifespan

Michael Greger, MD, nutrition expert, physician, and author of “How Not to Die”, said “Most deaths in the United States are preventable, and they are related to what we eat. Our diet is the number one cause of premature death and the number one cause of disability. Surely, diet must also be the number one thing taught in medical schools, right? Sadly, it’s not.”

Dr. Greger is also the founder of the extremely useful website: NutritionFacts.org.
Michael Greger’s TedTalk “Food as Medicine” is very informative and useful to prevent and reverse chronic diseases by adopting food and lifestyle change.

We eat a lot of processed foods but we don’t have time to read the labels even though we have smartphones in our pocket.
We all have become attention deficient creatures, we don’t have patience even for checking chemicals in food labels that are killing us everyday.

Gloria Mark, PhD, author of “Attention Span” said “In 2004, we measured the average attention on a screen to be two and half minutes. It went down to 75 seconds and now people pay attention to one screen for about 47 seconds.”
Dr. Mark’s book “Attention Span” discusses how social media and modern entertainment are amplifying our short attention span and draining our mental resources.

Herbert Alexander Simon, an American economist, is a pioneer of the attention economy. His words, “In an information rich world, the wealth of information means a poverty of attention.”
In terms of processed and contaminated food consumption, we are in a boat of “a poverty of attention.”

Conclusion

After reading many books on diet, longevity, lifestyle from different experts, I realized that one of the best ways to not get old faster, and live without chronic diseases is to have harmony with nature, eat natural and pure foods as much as possible, have strong family and community bonds, but above all, we have to be free from high levels of chemical exposure and processed foods.

All of these people who are centenarians, 100 years old or more, with no chronic diseases means they are life simplifiers.
They took our so-called complex life and simplified it for a very long period of time.
They understood that the essence of a long healthy life is simplicity in terms of eating and habit formation according to natural rhythms.
What could be simpler than the adoption of natural circadian rhythms with 8 hours sleep?
What could be more elegant than eating natural home grown fruits and vegetables?
What could be more simple than the avoidance of chemically harmful household stuff and processed foods?

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.

Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.”

Few weeks ago, one of my dear friends shared with me his pain that wasn’t related to physical pain, it was more of a mental, emotional, and psychological pain.
My dear friend is a software engineer, he lives in the suburb of Philadelphia in a beautiful house with his wife and an amazing daughter.
He works for a big e-commerce company.
He told me he is in a position now to leave the job and go back to India and sell coconut water on the Indian beach.
His words, “I feel like my life now is a piece of shit, my life is draining, and all the time I feel heavy and overwhelmed.”
Obviously, it was an informal derogatory language that came out of his mouth suddenly, but I took it very seriously in my mind and it made me really think about our work and its impact on our life.

I am quite aware that people have different problems in life and most of them are stressed out due to financial problems.
If you earn a good amount of money and run your life well above the average American household, you should be happy.
But I feel like that’s not true anymore.
This world has changed enormously now.
My dear friend doesn’t go to the office, almost 90 percent of his work is remote, he can work from his comfort home, he doesn’t have traffic problems, he has no 9 to 5 barrier, but still he is suffering more than anybody else who goes to the office everyday.

My thought process emerged and I’m asking myself why people’s lives go out of balance and they suffer so heavily even though they look happy from outside.

One key factor that I found from my research is elevated stress due to excessive workload.
Stress happens due to many reasons but one of the reasons for elevated stress is excessive mental burden that affects the healthy body.

A lot of people forget that a healthy body is our main asset in life and success is the action it enables.

One of the things I found in stressed people is they are unable to observe everything around them.
They cannot notice the smallest details around them and they are unable to connect the dots around those details and they give up very quickly.
They can’t even reflect on the day, what they actually did, and what they ate, and how many hours they had a quality sleep the day before.
We must understand that good health is the access to a good life, we can’t give up this asset so fast so quickly.

I advocate a lot about healthy lifestyle and nutrition than any other things in life.
I strongly believe that if our body is healthy we can walk boldly and unwaveringly with full authority over time, creativity, and life choices.
This authority is key to spreading joy and happiness in life.

I also believe that a healthy body reassures us that we are worthy of personal sovereignty and are able to create plan B for life.
Healthy body reminds us that we are not here just to stress out and kill disease.

The depressing news that I found from The American Institute of Stress is that at least 120,000 people die each year as a direct result of work-related stress in US.
At least 65 percent of U.S. workers say work is the main cause of stress.
If we convert that stress into stress related healthcare costs, that would be $190 billion a year.
This astronomical number indicates that we have to take action for this silent killer in society.

Science of stress and modern life

The total burden on our body that builds up when we are exposed to repeated stressors is allostatic load.
It is basically the total effects that chronic stress has on our mental and physical health.
It is a ‘wear and tear’ on us due to life and environmental stressors.

Our body’s sympathetic nervous system produces stress chemicals and the adrenal hormone system protects our body from the effects of stress at low levels.
The problems start to appear at high levels when we start to expose stress repeatedly over time.

When our body becomes overloaded with stress, it shows many physiological effects and later diseases due to inflammation caused by free radicals.
Remember, stress response ignites free radicals, the damaging molecules that lead to inflammation.
If we suffer from chronic stress, we feel no pleasure in anything.
My dear friend used to say he doesn’t like social connections which is one of the biggest symptoms of chronic stress.

As we know high stress is bad but low stress is also not good for us.
Generally at a low stress level, we feel underload and low morale, and may be a little bit of fatigue and then we reach the optimum point of stress level.
But once we pass that optimum level, we move towards exhaustion, breakdown, completely overload, and burndown.
I believe that’s what happened to my dear friend.

Chronic stress invites many negative effects in our body.
Dysfunctional mitochondria, increased inflammation, changes in brain function, changes in genes and epigenome are some of them.
Chronic stress is a main cause of faster aging by losing telomeres and damaging DNA.
To make you more memorable, our DNA is a shoelace and telomeres are the caps at the end of shoelace to protect DNA.
So basically, telomeres are the caps to prevent breaking down of DNA.

If we are too stressed all the time, normal aging is no more normal.
A higher level of stress creates shortening of telomeres, so one stressful year can damage five to ten years of normal aging.

Remember, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, MD, cardiology professor and author of “The 21-Day Immunity Plan” says “Stress is a silent killer.”
We have to recognize it as soon as possible and act accordingly.

Stress and hormone secretion

When our body detects emotional and physical stress, our sympathetic nervous system becomes very active.
Our brain produces chemical signals that increase adrenaline and cortisol in our blood.
These two stress hormones are made and released by adrenal glands located next to our kidneys.

Adrenaline increases our heart rate, breathing rate, carbohydrate metabolism so that we can use energy quickly if we need to run away.
Cortisol gets sugar into the bloodstream by increasing its production so that our brain can use enough energy to get us out of mess.
Cortisol also sends a message to the rest of our body systems like digestive, reproductive, and immune systems not to use much energy.
This looks normal in an any emergency situation but under chronic stress, these effects on body systems become serious.

Stress brings anxiety or panic attacks and that eventually leads to hyperventilation.
This happens to a high rate of breathing and oxygen consumption in blood.
Hypertension, heart attack, and stroke are common due to increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
Heartburn, reflex, bloating, constipation are common due to interference with the normal release of digestive enzymes.
Depression and anxiety are also due to fewer immune cells being made.

Stress hormones increase risk of diabetes, decrease sperm formation, decrease testosterone in men, change in menstrual cycle, and worsen PMS symptoms in women.
Difficulty sleeping, inability to pay attention, memory problems, learning difficulties, mood swings, irritability are other problems of excess stress hormones.

Stress hormones have a huge effect on our brain.
The amygdala, the part of our brain that controls fear gradually enlarges, and the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, the memory and decision making points, gradually shrink.

One fact is that some people are more susceptible to stress and others are more resilient.
Our response to stress is encoded in our own DNA, an inherited factor, that determines our capacity for resilience.
Our response factor is also dependent on epigenetic and environmental factors which affect our gene expression.

Stress and irritable bowel syndrome

Stress has a very bad negative effect especially for people with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome.
One reasons I wrote about IBS and stress together is personal. One of my family members has been suffering from IBS for a long time, so I did some research and found out that stress has severe implications for IBS patients.
This disease can only be cured by lifestyle change and diet selection. This is my personal experience from my family.
IBS is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain and change in bowel habits.

Dr. William Chey, MD, professor of gastroenterology at University of Michigan, says “The symptoms of IBS are triggered mainly by two reasons: food and stress.”

For IBS patients, stress can damage the interactions between the brain and gut.
Stress results in overactivity or underactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis along with autonomic nervous, metabolic, and immune systems.

Stress increases intestinal permeability also called gut leakiness.
This leakiness allows potentially harmful toxins into the bloodstream which increases IBS complications and GI pain.

Stress can alter the secretions and movement of the intestine due to slow down or speed up bowel transit causing pain, constipation, and diarrhea.

Stress increases visceral hypersensitivity that leads to bloating and abdominal pain and worsen the bowel urgency.

Dr. Megan Riehl, PsyD, GI Psychologist and author of “Mind Your Gut” says “Stress changes the stress hormone level and alters the bacterial composition in the gut.”

Our gut microbes have the capacity to upregulate stress responses and increase the risk of depression.
The gut microbes affected by stress can alter mood and eating behaviour.
They trigger cravings for highly processed and flavored foods containing processed carbohydrates, sodium, and fats.

Conclusion

There are hundreds of reasons why you should be healthy and stress free because when you become healthy and stress free then you can become anything and offer anything in this world.
This is the power of a healthy body.
Having good health and stress free life frees up a huge amount of mental space.
Instead of having most of our brain occupied by only our problems like how we’re going to get rid of this illness; all of that mental space is utilized to focus on other things like how we’re going to contribute to change this world.

So my advice to all of you is this:
Visualize your life as a series of stories that gives you a chance to take a step back, look at the whole picture, and try to develop a new perspective of your life.
Take a few deep breaths because that recruits our nervous system to help you return to the present moment.

My dear friend, there are mainly three kinds of mind that operate our body: emotional, rational, and wise.
Most of the time we use our emotional mind, and very few times we use our rational mind.
What we have to do is we have to use with a wise mind most of the time because this mind is in the center of rationality and emotion.

We have to think bigger picture and investigate problems from many corners of our lives to balance emotional and rational mindset.
So my friend, start to use a wise mind by adopting a small habit change and do it everyday as a prioritized routine work same like your everyday software development work: (1) Five minutes of breath work and meditation for mental exercise (2) Move your body for fifteen minutes for physical exercise, and (3) Eat a healthy diet mainly plant based food for positive energy.
Your work stress will gradually go away, it will not go overnight but eventually will go away, you will feel it, but only if you stick with your habit. This is my personal experience from my family.

Dr. Kelly McGonigal, PhD, a research psychologist and author of “The Joy of Movement”says “Go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.”

If you have a few minutes, please watch Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s TedTalk: “How to make stress your friend?”

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.

Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.” 

We had an important project briefing in the office.
Our team was working on the scale up of one of the API molecules for a pharmaceutical company.
API means active pharmaceutical ingredient which later becomes the drug molecule which we use as a medication for a specific disease.
I didn’t see my colleague Natasha who was supposed to give an update of the project that we were handling.
Her manager came and said “Natasha can’t make her update today because her grandfather is hospitalized.”

After three days, Natasha came into the office and she told us what’s going on in her family.
She told me about her grandfather, a retired car mechanic, no alcohol habit, but still suffers from fatty liver and his liver is almost non-functional.
Her grandfather is taking glutathione supplement to improve liver function but he is not getting satisfactory results.
After hearing this I immediately remembered the glutathione molecule from my graduate school, our only master antioxidant in our body, and how crucial this chemical is for us.

At one point in our conversation, Natasha said, “when I hear the word liver, the only thing that comes to my mind is my grandpa.”
This answer penetrated so deep down in my head that I couldn’t stop mentioning this here.
Sometimes, we don’t know what triggers us to do things in life.
She didn’t say that the liver is one major organ in our body that filters our blood and produces hormones.
To be honest, I became very emotional when she connected liver and her grandpa together and I realized how much we care about the people whom we love.
And, most importantly, how much our life is affected by it.

So the question is, what is the connection between liver and glutathione?

When there is imbalance between the amount of fatty acids absorbed and disposed of by the liver, generally non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) appears.
This imbalance increases a buildup of fat in the liver leading to inflammation and fibrosis.
Glutathione is a very strong antioxidant that our body makes and uses every single day.
It helps to reduce cell damage in the liver.
Its deficiency can contribute to fatty liver disease.

Dr Robert H. Keller , MD, a pioneer in glutathione research who is first to receive a US medical patent for glutathione, says “ We are oxygen based organisms. We live on oxygen, and oxygen creates a fire. That fire is called an oxidant. In order to put it out, we need a very good antioxidant. Many antioxidants work for one thing, or two things, or three things. Glutathione works for everything.”

Liver disease and glutathione

Approximately 2 million deaths occur each year worldwide due to liver disease.
The most common liver disease-related deaths are cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The most common causes of cirrhosis are viral hepatitis, alcohol, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

So now let’s see, what is the biochemistry of glutathione?
Glutathione is made from three amino acids: glycine, cysteine and glutamine acid.
It is a tripeptide and produced by enzymatic reactions using these three amino acids.
It is produced by our liver and plays a major role in tissue building and immunity development by attacking damaging free radicals.

Free radicals are very reactive molecules and are produced in the body by mitochondria due to various reasons.
The most probable factors are poor nutrition, pollution, stress, processed foods, fast aging, heavy metals and toxins exposure, and over consumption of alcohol.

Dr. Gustavo Bounous, MD, says “It’s the body’s most important antioxidant because it’s within the cells.”
His research indicates that a deficiency in glutathione is linked to several diseases and a lack of innate cysteine inhibits glutathione production.

Glutathione is anti-inflammatory in its action so it relieves the symptoms associated with autoimmune disease.
This antioxidant is important for the metabolism of vitamins C and E including many minerals.
People with severe stress due to chronic disease have less glutathione to protect their liver from damage.
Many times liver damage becomes really bad and all the cells die.

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, author of “Young Forever” says “Glutathione is the mother of all antioxidants.”
His book “Young Forever’ teaches to reduce inflammation and support the health of our immune system, especially how to exercise, sleep, and destress for healthy aging.

After reading “Young Forever”, I believe there is a very simple rule in life: we don’t need a doctor with MD or scientist with PhD to know what makes us sick and what we need to do.
We don’t need dieticians and nutritionists to follow diet rules; we just need to be a little bit more conscious in the kitchen about what we are making and eating and what we are drinking throughout the day.
I recommend watching Dr. Mark Hyman’s TedTalk.

Research also indicates that glutathione helps in the detoxification of xenobiotic and endogenous compounds including carcinogens.
Xenobiotics are foreign substances but endogenous ones are produced within the body.

Glutathione helps to reduce fine lines and wrinkles improving skin elasticity.
It helps with patients with cystic fibrosis, vascular diseases, AIDS, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease.
It improves sperm motility in infertile men.

Low glutathione, obviously, increases risk of many liver diseases: drug induced liver injury, alcohol and non alcohol related fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.

People with low glutathione suffer from breakage of red blood cells, spleen enlargement, gall stone, mental imbalance, and anemia.
People suffering from cancer, AIDS, and chronic disease, all have very low glutathione.
Low glutathione increases risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atherosclerosis.

Glutathione, avocado, asparagus, and broccoli sprouts

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, says, “Methylation ingredients are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione.”

The best way to keep our body producing this antioxidant is to eat enough natural foods containing this antioxidant including methylation ingredients.

Best foods containing glutathione are: asparagus, avocados, spinach, okra, and broccoli.
Similarly, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, mustard green, garlic, mangoes, shallot, onion, fish and poultry are also good supplies for glutathione.
Cysteine is a building block to make glutathione.
So, foods rich in cysteine like avocados, egg, sunflower seeds, beans, whey, citrus fruits, kiwi, pepper, Brazil nuts, fish, cottage cheese, brown rice are extremely helpful.

Foods rich in vitamin C helps to turn on glutathione and helps to reduce toxic damage.
Vitamin C rich foods are citrus fruits, kiwi, and peppers.

Selenium is another key component of glutathione.
Foods rich in selenium like Brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna, halibut, sardines, turkey, cottage cheese, and brown rice are extremely important.
Never forget to folate foods like garbanzo beans, liver, pinto beans, lentils, asparagus for better glutathione.

Remember high levels of selenium from supplements could have negative effects, so it’s always better to take it naturally unless otherwise advised by health care professionals.

We have to reduce the amount of alcohol because it uses the high amount of our glutathione levels.
High quality sleep and regular exercise increase our glutathione level.

Regular consumption of NAC helps to promote production of glutathione.
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), is a precursor to glutathione.

Oral glutathione is not well absorbed and is not the best way to increase our glutathione level.
Research indicates that glutathione supplement can improve liver function for people with non alcoholic fatty liver damage.
This might be the reason that the doctor prescribed it to Natasha’s grandpa.

As a supplement, standard glutathione is poorly absorbed when we take orally so that S-acetyl-L-glutathione, liposomal glutathione, and reduced glutathione are much more absorbable.
It’s always good to look for complementary antioxidants like vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, milk thistle, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), and selenium.

These supplements are expensive to have.
More than that, we have to reflect back and ask ourselves why and how we arrived at this stage in life.
Sometimes, this ‘why’ is very helpful to change our life, maybe, for various reasons we became unable to care about our health, about our foods, and about our lifestyle in the past.

Conclusion

During my conversation with Natasha, I’d asked one more question to her, “Natasha, you are not ill but how much impact does your family experience when your grandpa suffers from chronic illness?”
She didn’t answer in words.
I only saw her tearing eyes.
Our tears speak millions of words.
And, this is not only Natasha’s story, there are millions of households like this.

We store cookies and crackers in our pantry, we don’t walk to Walmart which is less than a mile from home.
We hesitate to purchase fresh avocado and broccoli sprouts regularly because they are not tasty.
And we always complain about no time for exercise, gaining weight and not being healthy.
If you are always sick, then, ask at least a few times why you are always sick.
You will find many answers, write at least three answers.
Pick one and start to work on it, you know what you need to do.

Let me make one statement here, if we hear the word liver, let’s remember avocado, asparagus, and broccoli sprouts; then only glutathione smiles.
Avocado, asparagus, broccoli sprouts, and smiling glutathione.

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.

Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.” 

At one point in my life I had chronic illness and my doctor told me I have to take one medicine throughout my life.
I was not happy at all.
I used to have severe fatigue, muscle pain, frequent headache, and a kind of skin problem.
My doctor had a conclusive result: I was suffering from oxidative stress.
I also believed myself because I was a scientist working around radiation, toxins, and chemicals all the time.
I thought, maybe, I elevated my free radicals in my body.

I started doing some experiments on my body after reading some books and some research reports.
To be honest, I found so much information, sometimes conflicting and always overwhelming.
Finally, I started to see something that is working for my body.
By the grace of God, I am medicine free now.
As a result of my own research and experiments on my body, I developed two habits.
First habit, I always started my day with a very good balanced breakfast with a lot of vibrant colored vegetables and fruits with whole grain.
And second habit, I started intermittent fasting.

As I said, I am a scientist so I found my best by fine-tuning what I eat and what I do.
My attitude is trying new things and always learning.
It took me years but I learned how to do it and started to feel really good after eating my chosen plant based real foods.
I started to feel physically and emotionally the best when I eat vibrant colored vegetables and fruits in the morning.
I don’t know but I feel like these two habits that I developed are somehow connected for my body, so that I am a vocal proponent of personalized medicine, food, habit, actually anything that we eat and do in life.
Every single human body is different.
I realized that fasting is working really well on my body.
I started to feel really energetic and amazing during and after fasting.

There are different ways I generally go for intermittent fasting, my goal is to get fasting 16 to 18 hours with the eating window of 6 to 8 hours daily.
My best fasting window period, generally, is from 8am to 6pm when I am out of home.
So, the only thing I do is skip lunch and keep my body hydrated with water or lime water or black tea or green tea or black pepper-turmeric water.
The worst part of me is up until now I’m not able to fast on weekends or holidays or when I am at home.
To be honest, I want to enjoy life when I’m around my family and you also should enjoy it, just do what is best for you.
We all are human so we must allow for the joys that our food can bring in our lives.

Intermittent fasting and mitochondria

So let’s reveal a little bit about the science behind fasting.
Intermittent fasting allows our body to adapt to different conditions ranging from normal to severe.
It is a mitochondrial fuel switching process that brings metabolic flexibility in cells.
When our mitochondria feels overwhelmed with tons of various foods, we invite metabolic inflexibility.
It means our body is unable to use all of its fuel sources.
If our body cannot use energy quickly, our metabolism is off.
This leads to brain fog, fatigue, confusion, and memory lapses.
Metabolic flexibility is possible only by optimized diet and lifestyle change.

Our mitochondria are very smart and highly equipped organs to switch between using sugars and fats as fuels in the body.
Fat is a great energy source.
The problem is that our brain prefers to run on sugar and doesn’t use fat very well.
During time of fasting, mitochondria will use fat and let the brain use sugar for energy.
Intermittent fasting stretches our mitochondria and it promotes them to break down fats.
The breakdown of fatty acids into ketones which make energy in our cells and these
ketones help cells to communicate, reorganize and clean up.
During fasting, our body makes new mitochondria and repairs the damaged ones.
Therefore, intermittent fasting is key for mitochondrial health that brings energy and well being for us.

Recent research shows that intermittent fasting improves mitochondrial function especially in brain, liver, and skeletal muscles which are key for brain aging and neuroprotective effects.
It has been shown that intermittent fasting enhances neuronal survival.
Research also indicates that intermittent fasting reduces inflammation and helps to delay disease progression for people with asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer.

Research also shows that we can cut fat with intermittent fasting without losing muscle mass and it improves memory and cognition.

Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist and author of the “The Obesity Code” says “your body has two fuel sources: food and stored food. You’re switching them when you fast,” and he adds “the price of fasting is zero.”

The role of ketones is also interesting, they improve performance of cells by increasing the stress resistance, antioxidant activity and decreasing inflammation.
Most interestingly, they allow brain cells to grow and make new connections there.
Free radicals are produced from normal metabolism in our body, mainly made in mitochondria. The kind of food we eat is another source of free radicals like fats, sugars, processed foods, alcohol or pollutants from the environment, radiation from the sun, or smoking, or toxic chemicals from any place like pesticides from fruits and vegetables.

Free radicals exist less than a second but can cause significant changes to nearby fat, protein, and DNA molecules.
Oxidative stress means damage from free radicals that causes arthritis, vision loss, heart disease, cancers, and quick aging.

Dr. Steven Gundry, physician and author of the “The Plant Paradox”
says “fasting or intermittent fasting gives us an opportunity to really get all the best cells all the time and that’s what we all want.”

Antioxidants and mitochondria

So, what about the science behind vibrant colored fruits and vegetables?
As we know now mitochondria have clean up members that protect from free radicals, they are called antioxidants.
The work of mitochondria and antioxidants are complementary to each other.
Mitochondria produce reactive oxygen species like free radicals as damaging molecules and the role of antioxidants is to neutralize them.
These antioxidants are transported to mitochondria by transporter proteins.

Scientists have delivered antioxidant molecules to mitochondria for liver injury caused by oxidative stress in mitochondria.
This is a significant step towards chronic disease treatment.
Scientists have also discovered a key molecule that carries glutathione, the major antioxidant in our body, to mitochondria where free radicals are produced in large amounts.
By stimulating antioxidant transport to mitochondria, we can prevent or treat a number of diseases including aging, neurodegeneration, and cancers.

Dr. Deepak Chopra, author of “Perfect Health” and a Clinical Professor says, “foods that are deep blue, purple, red, green, or orange are leaders in antioxidants and contain many nutrients that boost immunity and enhance health.”

Our body makes very small amounts of antioxidants so we have to eat foods high in antioxidants.
Anti inflammatory diets high in antioxidants like vitamins A, C, E, lutein, lycopene are essential to make our mitochondria healthy and active.
Antioxidants from foods are way powerful and better than external supplements.
For example, foods have eight types of vitamin E but we have only one available as a supplement.

Dr. William Li, author of “Eat to Beat Disease“, a physician scientist says, “selling antioxidant supplements has become a big business, but nothing beats the incredible antioxidant properties of fresh, whole foods.”

Some of the most important antioxidants are sulforaphane from cruciferous vegetables, resveratrol from grapes and red wine, curcumin from turmeric powder, quercetin from onions.
They all decrease oxidative stress and restore mitochondrial function.

Cumin is an antioxidant containing spice that helps with digestion of fats, helps when bloated or having abdominal pain.
Turmeric is another very important antioxidant containing spice.
Curcumin is the active compound in turmeric and when taken with black pepper shows antioxidant and antiinflammatory benefits.
Research indicates that turmeric increases blood flow and improves depression and cognition.
Large amount of turmeric must be taken to get benefits because our body cannot absorb all of it because it is fat soluble.

Foods from plants are the main source of antioxidants.
They are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, and cocoa.
Most important antioxidants found in our normal foods are shown below, but remember, these are only the tip of the iceberg.

Vitamin C – Citrus fruits, kiwi, mangoes, broccoli, spinach, berries, peppers, concord grape juice, bitter melon, olive oil
Vitamin E- Avocados, nuts, seeds, tomatoes, mangoes
Allium sulfur – Leeks, onions, garlic, chives
Flavonoids – Black tea, green tea, citrus fruits, red wine, onions, berries, apples, red cabbage, grapes, broccoli
Isoflavonoids – Soybeans, tofu, lentils, peas, milk
Polyphenols – Pomegranates, olive oil, flax, grapes, oregano, dark chocolate, pecans, legumes, teas, rosemary, Greek coffee, wine, taro root, sweet potato, red cabbage, purple corn, elderberry
Indoles – Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, brussels sprouts
Lignans – Flaxseed, sesame seeds, bran, whole grains, vegetables
Lutein – Green yellow foods like corn, spinach, kale, collards, pumpkin, eggs, carrots, chile peppers
Lycopene – Red pink foods like tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, papaya
Anthocyanins – Purple foods like eggplant, grapes, berries, red cabbage, concord grape juice
Beta-carotene – Pumpkin, mangoes, apricots, carrots, spinach, parsley, chile peppers
Catechins – Red wine, tea, blueberries, kiwi, cacao
Copper – seafood, lean meat, milk, nuts
Cryptoxanthin – Orange foods like pumpkin, mangoes, oranges, pineapple, peaches, corn
Manganese – Seafood, lean meat, milk, nuts
Selenium – Seafood, lean meat, whole grains
Vitamin A – Liver, sweet potatoes, carrots, milk, egg yolks, broccoli, apricots
Zinc – Seafood, lean meat, milk, nuts

Conclusion

Remember, lack of antioxidants causes oxidative stress that leads to the beginning of chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Always be gentle with yourself when you choose diet and lifestyle change for healthy living.
No one is perfect in this world, everybody is learning progress about what our body needs and what it doesn’t.
When I started drinking green tea and black pepper-turmeric water regularly, my symptoms gradually disappeared.
This isn’t about eating everything exactly the right way and right manner all the time.
The secret is habit formation, small changes in the food habit and lifestyle can make a big impact on our health.
Always look for varieties of plant based foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, various nuts, various teas and coffee, various herbs and spices, dark chocolate and fermented foods.
Don’t forget to fine-tune and observe your body, learn from the body, it always tells you something new.
We have to aim for progress, not for perfection when it comes to eating the right food at the right time.
I know it’s still hard but just be patient with yourself as you try and learn what is best for your body.

But always remember, Harvard professor and author of “In Defense of Food” Michael Pollan’s famous food rule: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.

Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.”