(Before we begin the newsletter, I invite you to check out my latest YouTube video on longevity and the microbiome and how to make microbiome building “Probiotic Rich Millet Miso Soup with Sweet Potato”. The link is below.)
FIGHTING THE “AGING BATTLE”
Buck Institute For Research On Aging is in Novato, California. It’ sits on high dollar property, high on a hill, over-looking more hills, and then the bay. It brags that it is the first independent biomedical research institute in the world to focus solely on aging.
There are over 20 labs on Buck’s campus, forming a collective of the world’s top scientists in the field of aging research. These scientists believe they are tackling a new frontier. In explaining what they do a lot of military language is thrown around, like: “Fighting the battle against aging, tackling aging, combating aging, and coming together to fight a common enemy; aging”. As well as, “the golden age of bio-technology…where we have new tools to eradicate our most ancient enemy; aging”. This tech start-up, and many like it, see “full-on age reversal as not only achievable but imminent”.
When I look at all this attention and big, big investment money directed at high hopes for cracking the aging code and creating a golden pill, a golden drink, a golden tonic or powder, it just makes me sad how misdirected they all are. The campus and the labs are so sterile and so isolated from the true life forms that support us, maintain us, allow us to even exist…..our mighty microbiome….
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SPECTRUM: MICRO-TINY BIOME LIFE-FORMS
One thing we ALL share across the world is if we’re lucky we all age. A newly published study by Stanford scientists reveals that we don’t age gradually, as has been traditionally believed. Instead we age at the molecular level in two accelerated “bursts”. One in our mid 40’s and the other in our early 60’s. How healthy we age is now being attributed to how well we care for our microbiome.
The microbiome, a world with-in a world of our larger body, is far from isolated. This is a community of microorganisms we live with everyday from our first breath to our last.
“Until recently, scientists had thought our microbes hardly mattered. But research is revealing a different story. One in which microbes are running our body and becoming a healthy human is impossible without them,” says biologist Alanna Collen, author of “10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold The Key To Health And Happiness”. She goes on to say “You are not just flesh and blood, muscle and bone, brain and skin, but also bacteria and fungi. You are not an individual but a colony”. A colony of one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) bacteria and fungi….
You will find these colonies of inhabitants on the skin, in the vagina, in the mouth and in the gut. Most of the microbes, however, are found in the gastrointestinal tract, specifically the mucosal lining of the intestines.
The majority of the micro-organisms in our mucosal lining have a symbiotic relationship to us, their host. That means we both benefit from the relationship. We provide them with food and shelter and they provide us with services like helping with digestion, protection against harmful bacteria and help with controlling our immune system. 80% of our immune cells live in this microbiome.
If we feed our microbiome the foods it needs, our immune system stays strong and vibrant and is able to fight off invaders. If we feed our biome the foods that are weak in vitamins and minerals and needed fiber the trillions of biome critters will struggle to support us. If this essential colony becomes too weak to support life, our health will suffer and hence our potential for healthy longevity.
WHERE DOES THIS MICROBIOME LIVE IN OUR BODY?
Because most of the gut microbiome resides in the intestines it’s easy to mis-understand exactly where it is. The colon is a long hollow tube. The mucosal lining is a secondary ‘tube’ that literally lines the inner wall of the colon. One of the many jobs of this busy mucosal lining is acting as a buffer between the toxic contents in the colon and the rest of the body.
Your gut microbiome is unique to you. You inherit your first gut microbes during vaginal delivery and with breast feeding. Later your diet is meant to introduces new microbes into your biome.
But presently we have an overall population in America with a weak microbiome. As more infants are born via cesarean section, and may miss out on breast milk, studies show reduced microbial numbers in the gut. These early years of initial gut colonization are instrumental in shaping the gut microbiome of an adult and how they will thrive in their journey through life.
In America today 85% of people aged 50 and over live with at least one chronic condition, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, COPD, and over 80 known auto-immune diseases, like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. And nearly 25% of people in this age group are living with at least three of these conditions. All of these diseases are linked to our diet as well as a weak biome.
One of the hottest topics in human health right now is the longevity and the microbiome. Your diet is a key factor in determining which microbes are in your gut; the friendly ones or the disease causing ones. Fiber-rich-minimally processed foods support a healthy microbiome. Ultra processed foods promote the growth of harmful microbes.
Foods That Harm The Microbiome Are:
> Refined sugars
> Gluten
> Dairy
> Fried foods
> Processed meats
> Artificial sweeteners
> Hard alcohol
> Antibiotics
> Non-organic foods
> Over the counter probiotics
> Glyphosates (want to know more about the dangers of glyphosates to the gut lining? Check out the July 5, 2024 DFL Newsletter: “80% of Americans Have Some Form Of Leaky Gut…Why?” HERE)
FOODS THAT RE-POPULATE THE MICROBIOME
A strong microbiome is increasingly recognized as critical to our very survival. Health is what we consistently do and the same can be said of ill health. “Disease does not sneak up on people and strike them down. It takes time and a great deal of neglect and abuse of the body for disease to finally occur”, said Dr John Tilde (the creator of the “The Laws Of Life”, over 100 years ago).
Human physiology and the nature of chronic disease has not changed. What we eat has….
When I was in my late 40’s, without knowing, I was doing everything possible to age my body early. I had never heard of my microbiome and my daily actions in no way supported it. My eating habits had allowed me to create several diseases that where destroying my quality of life. My poor brain was so foggy I could barely string three words together. I was weak and tired most days and struggled with early arthritis. I felt like I was circling the drain. My chronological age did not accurately represent my body’s biological, or inner, age. By my 50’s I was diagnosed with uterine cancer.
What I didn’t know then, but I came to learn, is that cancer is not a freak of nature. My body had not turned against me, as many people believe: I had turned against my body. My very acidic diet of high fat dairy consisting of cheese, butter, and lattes with whip cream; my overboard love of all things with white sugar; my ignorance of how important it is to eat an alkaline diet free of chemicals; it was wiping out my microbiome and aging my cellular biology before my time.
I now know that like any relationship I only get what I give. I am the provider and protector of my own personal microbe colony and they in turn sustain and nourish me.
My microbiome critters favorite foods are not made in a laboratory high on a hill in some far off place. Their favorite foods are pre-biotic ones like garlic, leeks, onions, dates, raw honey and bananas, as well as pro-biotic foods like sauerkraut, miso and kimchi. I now make sure they get their very favorite foods daily. I have eliminated the foods that cause them harm.
It excites me to think that they are happy with me.
Once you know how to change your health and extend your life, it changes everything.
SOUPS ON!! I invite you to check out my easy, probiotic rich, microbiome building “Millet Miso Soup with Sweet Potato” video HERE. Try out the recipe; you’ll love it!
Much Love And Support
Paula Diana
Diet For Living School
Education That Changes Live
#longevity #microbiome #chronicdisease #dietforlivingschool