A Micromanagement Nightmare

Watching Your AGEs as You Age  I just read an article(1) about compounds in the body called Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs.) ⁽¹⁾ These compounds have the unfortunate effect of speeding up the aging process.

I’m guessing most of us feel like Time is already doing a fine job aging our bodies, so we’d probably like to know how to avoid compounds which speed up that process!

First, understand that AGEs are formed naturally when sugars in the bloodstream react with proteins, fats, and nucleic acids in the food we eat. So it’s no surprise that we can mitigate AGEs damage through food, too.

Step 1: Avoid AGEs-Triggering Foods  Start by limiting foods that have high concentrations of AGEs, like:

• Meat, particularly when served in ways that involve sugar, e.g., meats marinated in a sweetened sauce and cured meats like bacon, hot dogs and corned beef, as well as meat cooked at high temperatures, especially over an open flame or on a grill
• Fried Foods, particularly those fried commercially where the oil is used without frequent changing, allowing large amounts to AGEs to accumulate and get into the fried food
• Cheese, especially hard and aged varieties
• Processed and Packaged Foods due to their added sugars and high-temperature processing
• Sugary Foods and Beverages which fuel production of AGEs.

Step 2: Eat More AGEs-Fighting Foods  Next begin focusing on foods that mitigate AGEs damage, like:

• Berries
• Spices like cinnamon, allspice, cloves, black pepper, turmeric and garlic
• Nuts, especially walnuts and pistachios
• Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts
• Citrus
• Green Tea

But, But, But . . . Here is where the aggravation of micromanagement comes in.

Because tomorrow, you’re going to read an article on the critical role of nitric oxide, and to boost nitric in the body you need to eat a different food set that includes chard, beets, radishes, cucumbers and bananas.

What’s more, to make all those nitric foods work, you need arginine from a high-protein set of foods, e.g., grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, pasture-raised eggs and dairy products.⁽²⁾

And before long you’ll see an article on how fiber intake is linked to the health and function of the gut microbiome. So you have to start figuring out how to get anywhere from 21 to 38 grams of fiber each day from whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, in addition to fruits and vegetables.⁽³⁾

And finally you read about the importance of enzymes and discover that you should be eating pineapples, papayas, avocados, bee pollen, yogurt, and fermented vegetables like kimchi.⁽⁴⁾

The Micromanagement Nightmare  How in the world, each day, are you supposed to keep track of, buy, prepare and eat all the different foods needed for the proper functioning of your body? A micromanagement nightmare indeed!

The Easy Solution: Wild and Wonderful Diversity Before throwing up your hands and ordering pizza, realize there is an easy and effective solution: Eat as wild a diversity of foods as you can.

Yup, that means expanding your food horizons beyond the usual broccoli and asparagus. Go on a treasure hunt at the grocery store and get some crazy things like beets, parsnips, red cabbage, bok choy, jicima buckwheat, pomegranate juice, frozen wild caught salmon, a jar of kefir, maybe even kimchi!

The Magic  The more wildly diverse your diet, the greater the chance you’ll be eating whatever food is recommended in the next health article you read. So when you read, e.g., about the beneficial effects of fermented foods, they are already part of your diet.

Meanwhile, should you hear a talk (like the one I heard just last night) cautioning against eating too many fermented foods, guess what? Because your diet is so diverse, it’s unlikely you’re eating enough fermented foods to be a problem.

The Fun Sometimes, life can be a little dull, right? Experimenting with a new food is a sure and simple way to brighten things up. I discovered this when we had to eliminate dairy and gluten. Far from being a terrible burden, it transformed our food world from boring black and white to vibrant Technicolor, as I posted here.

You can bet our ancestors weren’t toting a calculator to figure out if they were meeting all their RDAs. They were just eating whatever nature provided, when nature provided it. Fortunately, in our modern world, we don’t have to go forage across the savanna for dietary diversity. We just have to “forage” a little more attentively at the grocery store!

 

⁽¹⁾ This is a quick-read, condensed version of an article on AGEs by Ocean Robbins of the Food Revolution Network. Be sure to read the entire article to understand AGEs more fully.

⁽²⁾https://theingredientguru.com/nitric-oxide-health-benefits/?vgo_ee=6Dou25EqNHXjr6gXV5tFE4%2FG6o%2Ffoh0WQbPThG%2BSGGg%3D

⁽³⁾https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590097822000209

⁽⁴⁾ https://well.org/healthy-body/enzymes-a-health-miracle/?_kx=WdK-ZmGd3g-hn7pblcCxiors2C0qXntR_6cjN1ksgGDSylMbo0faoNkT90qhwONk.RWJXZm#why-are-enzymes-important