HEALTHY AT 100 (23 page)

If you prefer not to consume fish in any form, it’s important to include ample amounts of ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oil (one to two tablespoons a day) in your diet. In my household, we grind flaxseeds in a designated electric coffee grinder every few days, keep the ground flaxmeal in the fridge, and sprinkle it on all kinds of dishes.
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Yo u also might want to consider taking supplementary DHA. Algae-derived DHA is presently available commercially as Omega-Zen-3 or Neuromins DHA.

It’s also important to keep your consumption of omega-6 fatty acids from being too high, because excessive omega-6s compete with the omega-3s found in flax and other plant foods, making them less available to your body. The ideal dietary ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is about two to one, but people eating the standard American diet today typically have a ratio of more like fifteen to one.

How can you make sure your omega-6 intake isn’t excessive?

• Get most of your fat from whole plant foods such as nuts, seeds, and avocados.
  

• Use extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil rather than oils high in omega-6s such as sunflower, safflower, or corn oil.
  

• Limit your consumption of processed and fried foods, and avoid anything even partially hydrogenated, for these are often made with high-omega-6 oils.
  

Besides DHA and EPA, are there any other nutrients that people in the industrialized world who are eating healthful plant-based diets need to be concerned about? Yes, there are, including vitamin B
₁₂
(which all vegans should take regularly), vitamin D, iodine, and carnosine. Unless you live in a southern climate and are outdoors a great deal year-round, you probably need either to take supplementary vitamin D or to eat foods to which the vitamin has been added. Both cow’s milk and many brands of soy milk are regularly fortified with this vitamin in the United States and Europe today.

It’s also a good idea to include iodized salt or seaweeds in your diet, or take supplementary iodine. Vegetarians may benefit from taking supplemental carnosine, a nutrient that tends to be low in plant-centered diets and that helps prevent glycation reactions in the human body. (Glycation, also known as the Maillard reaction, is recognized as a major contributor to premature aging.) Of course, the best supplement is a diet that includes a wide variety of green vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

Many people believe they need to eat meat to get enough iron. The beef industry has certainly given that impression in its ads. But those ads are misleading.

Iron is a mineral that forms part of the hemoglobin of your red blood cells and helps carry oxygen to your body’s cells. When your iron stores are low or depleted, you can’t get enough oxygen to your cells. A form of anemia results, and you may feel tired.

Contrary to meat industry insinuations, however, vegetarians are not more prone to iron deficiency than are meat-eaters. Iron deficiency
anemia is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies around the world, but most of it occurs in developing countries rather than in affluent countries, and the cause is more likely to be parasites than diet.

The form of iron found in plant foods is called
nonheme iron.
The kind found in meat (including poultry and fish) is called
heme iron.
Heme iron is far more easily absorbed by the body than iron obtained from plant sources. The beef industry tries to make this seem like an advantage for heme iron, but in fact it is a disadvantage with very real drawbacks.

Hemochromatosis is the most common genetic disorder known to occur in humans, with 24 million people worldwide at risk for this serious disease. People with this condition store an excessive amount of iron in their bodies, which is in turn associated with increased rates of coronary artery disease and liver cancer. The fact that heme iron from meat is so readily absorbed presents a risk to people with hemochromatosis, but excess iron also poses dangers for people who do not have this genetic problem.

Antioxidants are deservedly recognized for their role in sustaining health and helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, and other forms of chronic illness. Iron, on the other hand, is the opposite of an anti-oxidant. It is a potent
oxidant.
Excess iron in the body causes the production of free radicals which in turn can damage cells, leading to many kinds of disease and causing premature aging. For example, when sufficient quantities of heme iron are present, as is likely to happen when diets contain appreciable quantities of beef, cholesterol is oxidized into a form that is more readily absorbed by the arteries. This leads to increased rates of heart disease.

With nonheme iron—the kind found in plants—it’s a totally different story. Your body absorbs only what it needs. When your iron needs are higher, your body absorbs more; when they are lower, it absorbs less. And in this case, the wisdom of the body has profound implications for health and longevity.

It is widely recognized that women consistently outlive men almost everywhere in the world. Many of the world’s leading experts in longevity, including Thomas T. Perls, M.D. (Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and founder and director of
the New England Centenarian Study), believe the reason is women’s menstruation. With the monthly shedding of the uterine lining, women during their menstruating years have significantly lower iron levels in their bodies than men. Since iron generates the formation of free radicals, Dr. Perls says, a lower iron burden leads to a slower rate of aging, reduced cardiovascular disease, and decreased susceptibility to other age-related diseases in which free radicals play a role.

Physicians have traditionally prescribed iron supplements and even transfusions for premenopausal women with “iron-poor blood.” However, says Dr. Perls, iron supplementation for pre-menopausal women may actually be damaging: “It’s possible that higher iron levels, which may have been considered ‘normal’ only because they are common in males, actually speed the aging process.”
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Many studies have shown that males who make frequent blood donations have lowered iron levels and heightened resistance to the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, and thus are far less likely to develop atherosclerosis and heart disease. Regular blood donation in both men and menopausal women seems actually to improve the chances of longevity by lowering the amount of iron in the body and thus reducing the rate of oxidative damage.

According to Dr. Perls, lower iron levels in adults (up to a point, of course) are an advantage:

Although dietary iron is of great importance in children to ensure adequate red blood cell production, it may turn out that adults, and perhaps even adolescents, are speeding up their aging clocks by maintaining iron levels that are now considered “normal,” but may in fact be excessive.
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With heme iron (the kind found in meat), your body absorbs virtually all the iron in the food, regardless of whether it is health-supporting to do so. With nonheme iron (the kind found in plants), however, you absorb only as much as you need. Many researchers now believe this is one of the reasons people eating vegetarian and other plant-based diets characteristically live healthier and longer lives than those who eat significant amounts of meat. Plant foods rich in nonheme iron include whole-grain breads and cereals, legumes,
nuts and seeds, and dark green leafy vegetables. Some dried fruits are also good sources, particularly raisins, apricots, and dates.

The debate about how much, if any, animal foods are optimum to include in one’s diet will no doubt continue for some time. It is hard to argue, however, against the reality that most people eating the standard Western diet would benefit considerably by moving in a more plant-based direction.

If you’ve been eating the way most Westerners eat, the advantages of shifting toward more plant foods and fewer animal foods and a more natural diet are many and significant. You will lose weight, improve your cholesterol and other serum lipid profiles, and lower your risk for many chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. You will consume less fat, less saturated fat, less animal protein, and more fruits and vegetables, all of which are important steps in the right direction. You will consume less cholesterol and be exposed to fewer environmental toxins, which is again all to the good.

As long as you don’t consume too many processed and overly refined foods such as sugar, white flour, and hydrogenated fats, you’ll get more than ample amounts of protein. You’ll have the inner peace that comes from knowing that your diet is more cruelty-free. And you will very likely be healthier, age more gracefully, and live longer.

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In the modern Western world, people tend to fear that no matter what choices they make, the aging process leads inescapably to deterioration, disease, and suffering. Few of us anticipate that with the passing years we will deepen not only in wisdom, but also in our capacity for joy.

I was born in 1947, which makes me a charter member of the baby boom generation. I listened to the song “My Generation” that was wildly popular in the 1960s, in which the British pop group The Who repeatedly sang “I hope I die before I get old.” Ours was a generation that looked at older people with doubt and suspicion. Our motto was “Never trust anyone over thirty.”

Some of us never made it through that stage. Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, died of a drug overdose in 1978. He was only thirty-one. The Who’s lead singer, Roger Daltrey, claimed in 1965 that he would kill himself before reaching thirty because he didn’t want to get old. In 2004, though, he was still performing the song, saying now that the song is really about an attitude, not a physical age.

What I have learned from the elders of Abkhasia, Vilcabamba, Hunza, and Okinawa is that The Who, back in the sixties, were unconsciously reinforcing a damaging cultural stereotype. I’ve learned that one can be old and beautiful, old and still passionately alive, old and still bursting with wonder and blooming with joy. I’ve come to see that old age can be a time of growth and renewal, wisdom and well-being. I’ve come to understand that the lives of older adults can be as full of promise and potential as those of younger people, and that different generations can relate to one another with dignity and respect.

There is a continuity to human life. Today’s older persons are yesterday’s children, and today’s children are tomorrow’s elders. The health you will experience and the opportunities you will have in your later years depend to a substantial degree on how you choose to live between now and then. The good news is that you do not have to choose between paths that all lead to sickness and pain. You can take steps that lead in a far more promising and hopeful direction.

Eating wisely is one such step, and a most important one. But what if there was more you could do to bring about a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life? What if there was another secret you could discover, leading toward an elderhood of strength and health, beauty and joy? And what if this was something that would give your body cause to thank you every day for the rest of your life?

This “secret” has long been second nature to the Abkhasians, the Vilcabambans, the Hunzans, and the Okinawan elders. We’ll take a look at it in Part Three.

T
aking steps toward a better diet can make an extraordinary difference, even if you’ve eaten poorly for years. One reason is that although you may think of your body as a permanent structure, most of your body’s tissues are actually in a constant state of renewal. The cells lining your stomach, for example, are replaced every five days, while your red blood cells last about four months. The cells in an adult human liver are replaced every three to five hundred days. Even your bones are far from permanent; the entire human skeleton renews itself about every ten years. Almost all the cells in your body are being continually regenerated, so what you eat today literally becomes your body tomorrow.

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• Bring consciousness to the foods you eat. Ask whether they are natural, wholesome, and in alignment with the health of your body and your spirit.
  

• Don’t pollute your body. Don’t eat junk food. Go to your kitchen cupboard and get rid of any food products that no longer serve your potential to be radiantly fit and healthy. You don’t have to count calories if you make every calorie count. Eat slowly, chew thoroughly, digest well. Eat just to the point of fullness without feeling stuffed. Remember that it takes twenty minutes for your stomach to register how full it is, so give it time.
  

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• Whenever possible, shop at local farmers’ markets or participate in community-supported agriculture, buying produce direct from the grower. Shop at local natural-foods stores, or at chains like Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Trader Joe’s. Always read labels so that you can select foods with the most nutritious ingredients. Save money and packaging by buying in bulk.
  

• Don’t buy or eat anything that contains partially hydrogenated oil. Learn to recognize the smell of rancidity, and don’t eat nuts, seeds, or grain products that carry the telltale odor.
  

• Keep away from high-fructose corn syrup. Replace regular ketchup with organic brands that are sweetened with fruit juice. Look for jams that are 100 percent fruit sweetened (no added sugar). Stay away from food dyes (blue 1, blue 2, citrus red 2, green 3, red 3, red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, etc.).
  

• Drink soy milk rather than cow’s milk. Switch from mayonnaise to a more healthful soy or canola version. Eat whole-soy products like tofu and tempeh rather than meat.
  

• Eat less meat or none at all. For protein, depend on soy foods, other beans, peas, whole grains, and nuts.
  

• If you eat any kind of meat, purchase products that you know to be truly free-range and organic, such as those with the Animal Compassion logo from Whole Foods.
  

• If you eat fish, be sure it’s low in mercury, and wild, not farmed. To learn about the mercury levels in various kinds of fish,
  visit gotmercury.org
  .
  

• Whenever possible, select fresh fruits and vegetables rather than frozen or canned ones. If you are unable to get the fresh produce you want, then choose frozen (without added salt or sugar) over canned.
  

• Get to know the amazing variety of vegetables beyond French fries and iceberg lettuce. Enjoy eating a wide assortment of fresh vegetables, especially lots and lots of dark green leafy vegetables (kale, collards, mustard greens, spinach, chard, broccoli, etc.). Eat an abundance of fresh raw vegetables and fruits. Whenever possible, eat food that is in season and locally grown.
  

• Eat fewer products made with flour (bread, crackers, chips, pastries), and more whole grains, beans, sweet potatoes, and vegetables.
  

• If you eat chocolate or drink coffee, get fair-trade and organic whenever possible. And get darker forms of chocolate, because the higher the percentage of cocoa, the greater the health benefits.