Author: yamtimsina

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.” 

We all want to become rich, but my meaning of rich is different here, rich, of course, financially, but rich also in time, energy, peace, power, and joy.
The only way to achieve this means we must be healthy.
One of the most fundamental things in life is our basic day to day lifestyle which has a profound impact on our quality of life, our healthspan, and our lifespan.
Our choices, especially, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and mindset are keys to optimize our health.
These lifestyle choices are entirely in our hands, it’s all up to us what and how to perform.
For example, moderate exercise can halve our risk of dying from heart disease.
Research indicates that careful dietary decisions can reduce our risk of death from any cause by 36% while poor diets can increase our risk of death by 67%.
Another finding from research is that simply walking 20 to 30 minutes everyday can avoid the risk of dying from a heart attack in half because exercise increases the blood flow to our brain, and improves our cognitive function as well.
One of the major lifestyle changes is dietary and nutrition habits.
Dietary decisions are most neglected and difficult to adopt in daily practice but are essential for our disease free life.

Dr. Dean Ornish, author of “UnDo It” and a clinical professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco says, “Think about it: Heart disease and diabetes, which account for more deaths in the U.S. and worldwide than everything else combined, are completely preventable by making comprehensive lifestyle changes. Without drugs or surgery.”

Cancer beating foods

Very few people know the secrets of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussels sprouts.
There are many factors but one most important is that they contain sulforaphane, a compound that reduces inflammation and can even slow the growth of tumors in our body.
Sulforaphane is cancer protective because it reuses antioxidants and detoxification enzymes that guard against the disease.
Sulforaphane not only inhibits tumor growth but also regulates hundreds of genes.

The broccoli sprout is a superfood that contains high levels of glucoraphanin, a precursor to the cancer busting phytochemical sulforaphane, one of the most powerful food derived molecules.
In fact, broccoli sprouts are up to fifty times more potent than broccoli alone.
Research on sulforaphane shows that 80% of the phytochemical we take goes into our body’s cells.

Here are some foods that are so good for our body that they influence more than one defense system.

Zucchini flowers contain a natural bioactive called spinasterol that protects DNA against mutations, aids immunity, and kills breast and ovarian cancer cells.
They also contain a good amount of vitamins A , C, E and K and provide important minerals like magnesium, zinc, and calcium.

Another food is persimmon leaves that could effectively inhibit liver tumor growth via enhancement of the immune function, and it displayed the potential to be a safe and effective anticancer and functional immune-enhancing agent.
Persimmons also have carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamin E, all of which are potent antioxidants and anti inflammation in the body.
Flavonoids extracts from persimmons kill colon and prostate cancer cells.

Wasabi is widely used as a food spice in Asian countries and it has effects on detoxification, anti-inflammation, and the induction of cancer cell apoptosis.
It has anticancer activities and extracts prepared from fresh wasabi rhizomes kill liver cancer cells.
Extracts from fresh wasabi also kill breast and colon cancer cells.

Bitter melon is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae and has promising anticancer effects on breast, ovarian, and cervical cancer cells.
Bioactives from bitter melon kill colon and breast cancer cells, lower cholesterol, and improve blood sugar levels in diabetes.

Bottarga is best eaten as a condiment food and has cancer-fighting properties.
It is rich in anti-angiogenic omega-3 fatty acids, specifically EPA and DHA, which are preserved even after long-term storage.
Extracts from it also kill colon cancer cells.

Squid ink is a type of seafood.
It has anticancer and strong antioxidant properties.
Studies have found that squid ink proteins and polysaccharides may suppress the growth of breast, lung, and prostate cancer cells
It has antioxidants, antiangiogenic, stem cell protecting, and immune enhancing effects.
It protects the gut microbiome against the side effects of cancer chemotherapy.

Beer is no more only a big dose of carbohydrates, it also contains xanthohumol and isoxanthohumol, which have anti cancer effects, are antiangiogenic, and can retard the growth of fat cells.
It also reduces the risk of kidney cancer.

Research indicates that a high-calorie diet with purple potatoes leads to a reduction in levels of interleukin-6, a pro-inflammatory protein linked to promote colon cancer.
Purple potatoes are antiangiogenic and they can kill cancer stem cells.

There was a time when spicy food was considered a health hazard.
But research made us rethink about spicy food.
Eating spicy food periodically is associated with a reduced risk from cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, and infections.
Chille-fed microbiomes prevent inflammation and obesity.

Dr. William Li, author of “Eat to Beat Disease” says, “Eating to beat disease empowers you to help yourself and the people you care about. You can love your food to love your health.”
His TED Talk “Can we eat to starve cancer?” tells the story of what to eat to kill cancer.

Our food, inflammation and diabetes

More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, about one in ten, and approximately 90-95 percent of them have type 2 diabetes.
When we eat too much refined carbs like pizza, pasta, sodas, white bread, pastries, fruit juice with high fructose corn syrup, processed meat like hot dogs and sausage, french fries and fried food in general, we are adding sugar and it goes straight into our bloodstream and blood sugar spikes.
Our pancreas makes insulin to bring our blood sugar down, which is good.
But insulin also accelerates the conversion of those calories into fat.
It causes chronic inflammation and many of these mechanisms lead to chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases.
Healthy fats actually stabilize our blood sugar.
The fastest way to lower insulin levels is to substitute fat for processed carbohydrates.
Some good fat-containing foods are olive oil, avocados, nuts, fatty fish, and unsweetened yogurt.
There are certain foods that fight for inflammation.
Olive oil, green leafy vegetables, brightly colored vegetables, fatty fish like wild salmon and mackerel, most fruits, nuts and seeds, and green tea are some of them.
Olive oil is high in polyphenols.
Specially nuts like almonds, cashews, chestnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts are very healthy.
Walnut reduces the risk of colon cancer.

Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist, researcher, and professor at Harvard Medical School says, “Highly processed carbohydrates are among the lowest quality components of the food supply, accounting for the majority of diet related diseases in the United States today.”
His book “Always Hungry” is a must read for those who want to break apart every myth about weight loss, and explains why we get fat and why we are always hungry.
This book also tells a story about why we become sick and how we can heal.

Dr. Robert H. Lustig, an American pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) says, “Sugar is the elephant in the kitchen.”
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Dr. Peter Diamandis, an American marketer, engineer, physician, and entrepreneur says, “Sugar is a poison.”

Plenity is a diet related pill to aid in weight management in adults who are overweight or obese and have a body mass index (BMI) of 25-40 when combined with diet and exercise.
Gelesis is a biotech company to empower people to improve and change their diet, lifestyle and health.
FDA approved plenity for obese people having BMI 25-40.

The higher the BMI, the greater the risk of developing diabetes.
A simple blood test that measures our average blood sugar level over the past two to three months is HbA1c.
HbA1c is glycated hemoglobin and it is made when the sugar in our body sticks to our red blood cells.
Our body can’t use the sugar properly and it sticks to our blood cells and builds up in our blood. Red blood cells are generally active for around 2-3 months so that the reading is generally taken quarterly.
If you have diabetes, your HbA1c level is 6.5 or above. A cutoff of HbA1c of 6.5 percent is an indication of diabetes.

Conclusion

Please remember this, one of the best investments in life is staying in good health by adopting healthy dietary habits. There is immense value for this investment and the truth is most of us came to know the value late in life once we pass and cannot regain it.
I’m sure in the future, we will have personalized nutrition based on gut microbiome, genetics, metabolic profile, and our environment to prioritize our health on an individual level.

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.”