4 Natural Health Tips to Help You Age Gracefully

Genetics play a role in your longevity, but a healthy diet and lifestyle are also crucial. According to U.S. News and World Report, there are four ways to slow down your aging process and help you stay away from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Dr. Joseph Mercola gives his recommendations to make these tactics more beneficial for you.

1. Limit Your Exposure to Free Radicals

According to free-radical theory, your body ages because free radicals attack your cells, damaging your DNA. Free radicals are aggressive chemical compounds that are a byproduct of your natural metabolism.

Lifestyle choices, such as smoking, eating processed food and trans fat, and pesticide exposure, create more free radicals in your body. Eventually, your DNA becomes damaged beyond repair and leads to early death.

To combat free radicals, eat a diet that’s high in natural antioxidants. Raw, fresh organic fruits and vegetables are the best sources of antioxidants.

Dr. Mercola’s Tip: Take Antioxidant Supplements

Effective supplements can help increase your antioxidant intake, such as:

• Resveratrol – This is very effective against aging, and has even been called the “Fountain of Youth.” It can cross the blood-brain barrier, helping protect your brain and nervous system. Resveratrol is found in the seeds and skin of grapes and red wine, but you can also take it as a supplement.
• CoQ10 and ubiquinol – Co Q10 is essential for health and longevity, providing energy to every cell in your body. It is naturally produced by your liver, but production declines when you reach your mid 20′s. To counter this, it’s advised that you take the reduced version of CoQ10, ubiquinol, which is directly utilized by the body.

Glutathione or GSH is another helpful antioxidant. Dr. Mercola recommends you get it through proper diet instead of supplementation. Increased glutathione levels play an important role in preventing telomere shortening, helping to reverse aging. One of the best sources of glutathione is high quality whey protein from grass-fed cows.

2. Lessen Inflammation

Inflammation is a normal and beneficial process that occurs when the body’s chemicals and white blood cells protect you from invaders like virus and bacteria. If the immune system triggers an inflammatory response when there is no threat, it can cause excessive inflammation and lead to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

Inflammation can be treated naturally. Eat anti-inflammatory foods such as dark chocolate, turmeric and animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil.

Dr. Mercola’s Tip: Exercise!

Exercise also helps lower inflammation. Dr. Mercola recommends the Peak 8 Exercise program, an anti-aging exercise that helps boost the production of human growth hormones.

3. Prevent Glycation

Glycation occurs when sugar mixes with protein and fat to produce molecules that promote aging. Advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, churn out free radicals and promote inflammation, accelerating the aging process.

To avoid ingesting AGEs, you should turn down the heat when you cook. The browning effect from cooking at high heat produces these molecules. Lessening your consumption of sugary foods also helps.

Dr. Mercola’s Tip: Say NO to Fructose

Dr. Mercola advises you to avoid food and drinks sweetened with fructose. Glycation brought about by fructose leads to health problems such as:

• Elevated blood pressure
• Obesity and insulin resistance
• Cardiovascular disease, arthritis, gout, and liver disease
• Elevated LDL and triglycerides

4. Stay Away from Stress

Stress triggers the release of various hormones that cause your blood pressure to rise and your pulse to race. Your body releases a hormone called cortisol that works to lessen these effects. But problems occur when cortisol levels stay chronically elevated. Stress also promotes inflammation in your body.

Dr. Mercola’s Tip: Try Effective Relaxation Techniques

Researchers found that people who live longest are those who have effective strategies for coping with stress. Meditation, prayer, and having strong social networks are just a few methods to lessen stress. Dr. Mercola’s Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can help you cope with sleeping problems, giving you more restful nights.

More Anti-Aging Lifestyle Tips

Aside from these 4 tactics, Dr. Mercola gives you more helpful tips to fight aging naturally.

• Eat a healthy diet based on your nutritional type. Dr. Mercola’s FREE Nutritional Typing program will help you determine what diet suits you best. These 7 super foods can help slow down aging as well.

• Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels. Vitamin D has many positive effects on your health. You can get enough vitamin D through proper diet, sun exposure, safe tanning beds, and vitamin D3 supplements.

• Increase your intake of animal-based Omega 3 fats. Dr. Mercola recommends krill oil over fish oil, because it’s free from pollutants like mercury and PCBs, offers better absorption than fish oil, and is more resistant to rancidity.

• Take in antioxidant-rich foods – Blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, artichokes, and beans are good sources of antioxidants.

• Avoid pollutants, toxins, and chemicals. Replace your soaps, household cleaners, air fresheners, bug sprays, insecticides, pesticides, and personal hygiene products with non-toxic alternatives.

• Don’t take pharmaceutical drugs. Thousands of people die every year from the side effects of these drugs.

For more natural health tips to fight aging, visit Dr. Mercola’s website.

Related Links:
Can You Really Extend Your Life Span with this Antioxidant?
Science Finally Reveals How You Can Actually REVERSE Aging
Great Tips to Add Years to Your Life
Top 7 Foods That Slow Your Aging

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Tags: aging, anti-aging, antioxidants, dr. joseph mercola, free radicals, fructose, glycation, inflammation, stress