Today, I would like to focus on one healthy thing that makes our life better. Healthy Gut. From my medical practice and public health training, I strongly believe that healthy gut is a significant immunologic protector form thousands of diseases! Moreover, healthy gut and aesthetics of our appearance are strongly correlated. Fortunately, advanced technologies in medicine and nutrition allow us to improve and maintain the health of our gut. As a result, you can enjoy your high-quality life longer.
As our lifespan started increasing, our disease span has also been increasing with it. Dr. Linne Linder stated that “our chronological age is the number”. However, she described biological age as “the cellular state of our bodies that can be older or younger than the chronological number”. Numerous research studies showed that the main cause of our accelerated biological aging is the low-grade, chronic inflammation. Recently, I published an article about the role of overweight and pro-inflammatory food in chronic inflammation. This type of inflammation accelerates biological aging, leading to premature aging. The question is do you want to live your life in a good shape?.
Healthy Gut and Weight Can Decrease Premature Aging
The main causes of chronic inflammation are pro-inflammatory proteins that are produced as a response to various assaults. In turn, these proteins trigger more than 400 negative gene expressions in the body that slowly kill our cells and DNA material. My personal choice is to work toward my health and healthy weight to minimize a potential for eking out premature aging and chronic diseases. Recently, I took a telomere test that revealed my biological age: it showed a considerably younger biological age than my chronological age. The results showed my cells perform as in a 22-year female. I appreciated this fact and can certainly say that my conscientious care for the gut and healthy weight have paid off.
What Is a Leaky Gut?
Our eating habits and environmental assaults can damage the gut wall integrity. Normally, the gut wall prevents the absorption and penetration of microorganisms, parasites, and undigested food particles to our body. This barrier is critical for our immune system. However, gluten, infections, toxins, stress and age break apart the intestinal lining and prompt a cascade of immunological responses and inflammatory reactions. Once these “invaders” penetrate the gut wall, they attack our body from the inside, leading to the chronic inflammation. “From an MD’s standpoint, it’s a very gray area,” says gastroenterologist Donald Kirby, MD, director of Center for Human Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic. “Physicians don’t know enough about the gut, which is our biggest immune system organ”. Yet, people who stick to a whole foods diet, fasting, and regular detoxification feel, perform and look much younger than people who are not.
How To Improve Gut Health?
One effective approach to make the gut healthy is a so-called elimination diet. This diet helps to remove the toxins and inflammatory foods for a certain period of time. It is important to remove inflammatory and toxic foods and prevent intestinal infections. Add digestive enzymes that improve digestion, beneficial bacteria to maintain a healthy balance of good bacteria, and, finally, periodically repair the gut wall. Here is my favorite “helper” – InflammaCore, which became an integral part of my healthy eating. Learn more here
Summary
Leaky gut significantly affects our immune system, leading to the chronic inflammation. In turn, chronic inflammation is a proven cause of premature aging and numerous chronic diseases. Although, aging is a natural process, it is highly beneficial to minimize the effects of chronic inflammation by improving our gut health with a better eating habits. Your biological clock can be reverted! If you choose to enjoy your active life for longer years, start considering your gut health as a priority!
