The Longevity Secret, Part II: Nourishing Anti-Aging Techniques

In “The Longevity Secret, Part I,” I took the time to address what noted doctor and scientist Hans Selye discovered was the number one deterrent to living a longer, more successful, and stress-free life. That being the case, I would like to suggest that you go back and read the first part before continuing on with this blog post.

In part two that follows, I will address some components that may contribute to our desire to maintain our youthfulness and well-being. This includes all of life’s situations, from a newborn coming into the family to a young child or teenager you want to watch grow. Whether you’re healthy, sick, or disabled, whether you’re in the midstream of your life’s voyage or in your sunset years, the techniques that follow will hopefully help you in your pursuit of a happier, more satisfying existence for whatever time you have left to participate in life’s short journey.

To sum up this brief introduction, if you’re still breathing (smile), this information may be relevant. I hope it gives you the incentive to try at least some, if not all, of the suggestions going forward.

 As for my own efforts to address anti-aging techniques, I’ve personally tried many of the methods outlined here. Please remember that they may not be what you’re looking for. My personal quest is highly individual and therefore may or may not be applicable in your own life. That said, let’s start with the obvious.

What’s Really Behind the Anti-Aging Pursuit?

As I’m about to enter into the sunset of my life, it’s much easier for me to look back and realize that, for the most part, I was so anxious to just look good! Yes, I’d see photos of my earlier self and then look in the mirror and find gentle but obvious wrinkles here and there. I’d notice that my body was gradually getting more rotund, and my skin thinner and much dryer. I kid you not, but each time I took a look in the mirror, it felt as though my heart skipped a beat!

Knowing deep down in my heart that I couldn’t stop aging in the midstream of my life, I nevertheless searched for (and spent plenty on) anything that might help me keep that youthful look. (Anything, that is, except surgery! Some of the stories of those who are desperate enough to take that route are just plain scary.)

I now know that starting early in life is the best approach to anti-aging. That means eating clean, whole, healthy foods, getting consistently good sleep, and staying away from habits and addictions that stress the liver and your digestion. I have no doubt that this the only way to slow down the aging process, however that is simply not how most of us choose to live, and unfortunately, we reap what we sow!

As my mother’s caretaker for over thirty years, I had plenty of time to contemplate growing old. She aged rapidly after she turned seventy, and by the time her life ended she was an invalid with dementia. Her life became a living classroom for me, and the experience made my own mortality more relevant. Because of that stark realization I began to pursue the next level of nutrition in an effort to attain, at the very least, a better quality of life and health in my senior years.

It’s my sincere belief that if we don’t start in our youth, we’ll have an even greater need for super nutrient dense foods and food-grade supplements as we hit fifty or no later than our early sixties. The best description of the foods and practices that are a regular part of my daily routine is that they are highly ENERGETIC.

 It’s no secret that we’re made up of energies of all kinds. I state in “The Longevity Secret, Part I” that we must make the best of those energies we have left as we withdraw from our reserves and approach our senior years.

In my case, I slowly began to understand that I needed a different diet rather than more vigorous exercise or expensive, potentially life-extending formulas like human growth hormones or plastic surgery. Let me now describe what’s worked for me once I began consuming more high-energy foods (while also keeping up with the physical exercises and religious or spiritual practices I mention below).

As a result of changing my diet, after a few months I detected that the signs of aging in my face and body seemed to be slowing down. It was visually obvious, and I could see that it was working. Quite a surprise!

Let’s look at an anti-aging diet, but absent any expectations that you won’t grow older. After consulting with many different clients, many of whom came to me with questions about anti-aging supplements and foods, I developed my own protocol for those fifty years of age and older.

It seems common that as we age, we:

• Snack more and lose our incentive to cook fresh, organic foods for one or two
• Experience more digestive issues
• Suffer from more aches and pains, frequent falls, heart trouble, low energy, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and mal-nutrition in all its forms.
• Think we don’t have enough money to spend on holistic health protocols
• Become more dependent and trusting of the allopathic directions of our medical doctors (sad)

What to do? I decided I simply had to give my clients the choice of going in one of two directions:

1. Start spending a lot more on Standard Process whole food supplements to get the nourishment they were missing with their very poor diet and lack of incentive to cook the energy foods I describe below.
2. Get serious and learn how to make nutrient dense foods with help from books like Nourishing Broth and Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morrell of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is! by Stephanie Selene Anderson. (This choice would reduce the cost of the whole food supplements, which are still needed in either case, but just not as many.)

Very few clients were truly willing to make the honest attempt to learn how to make the super nutrient dense foods they need to slow down the aging issues and reduce their need to take lots of supplements. Others were able to take only certain Standard Process supplements along with these whole, high-energy foods.

In other words, balancing high-energy, anti-aging foods with a few good whole food supplements (plus any special supplements for your particular health issues) is the first step in what I call the “optimum anti-aging diet.”

 Below are some of the key foods that make up my diet. I combine them with other organic foods, such as salads, grass-fed beef and buffalo, pastured chicken, fish, eggs from pastured hens, complex carbohydrate vegetables, and low-sugar fruits.

 Personal note: I eat no sugar except what I get from fresh fruits and an occasional tablespoon of organic blackstrap molasses on my whole grain pancakes.

 My Recommended High-Energy, Anti-Aging Foods 

1. One pint of bone broth daily, no matter what! Add some garlic, salt, and pepper, or consume it in soup—especially bean and oxtail soup made with broth rather than water (oxtail soup recipe here).
2. One (6 oz.) glass of fermented beet kvass (recipe here), in addition to some other type of fermented food that will go with my meal. Sauerkraut is one, but there are many others to choose from in Nourishing Traditions.
3. One or two slices of whole grain sourdough bread daily. (Read my article “To Gluten or Not to Gluten” to learn more.)
4. One can of sardines two times a week. (See why this is especially important in my blog post “The Warming Power of RNA.”)
5. Approximately 6 oz. or more of liver at least two times a week. Along with at least 1,000 IU of fermented cod liver oil or a few tablets of vitamin D3, as contained in Standard Process Cataplex D. (Vitamin D is a good to take with high-vitamin A liver.)
6. Raw butter (2–3 tablespoons) daily, as well as lard, tallow, and other good fats advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation.
7. Raw milk (2–8 oz. glass) daily. (Learn why raw milk is an essential daily food here.)

In addition, here are two whole food anti-aging supplements that I take daily:

Calcifood Powder (1–2 tablespoons) with raw milk. According to Joseph Antell, Standard Process herbalist and teacher, this combination provides not only raw marrow and raw bone meal but also contains all of the amino acids.

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA). Derived from yeast, RNA supports cell replication and protein synthesis. RNA also promotes healthy cellular growth and development. Read more about RNA here.

Two Exercises That Will Enhance Your High-Energy Diet

1. Improve your posture with “Core Walking Exercises.” You can find video demonstrations on YouTube. A personal trainer can also show you this easy but important anti-aging exercise. Your posture will determine a good deal of how your brain not only gets the mental message of youthfulness but also help your body remain upright over time.
2. Muscle memory is also important. Please see my blog post “Muscle Memory” to learn more about preventing your muscles from growing weak as you age.

One Last Anti-Aging Suggestion for the Mind and Soul

In my world, there exists another more powerful energy than even food. What is it?

Reaching out in prayer and meditation through my religious practices to those powers that lay beyond our comprehension. In my humble opinion, those who don’t have a religious or spiritual component in their lives may find it more difficult to accept the inevitable. To learn why I believe this is such a powerful force, please read my blog post “How About Some Spiritual Nourishment?”

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Afterthoughts from the Traditional Cook

Hopefully you now realize that there’s a way out of an otherwise lonely and fearful existence as you age. To be happy no matter what is a special gift that depends on everything I’ve stated above, and then some. Below is a fun little poem that helps us look at the funnier side of our lives. Be well, my dear readers!
—Maria Atwood, CNHP

Lasting

“Fish oils,” my doctor snorted, “and oily fish
are actually good for you. What’s actually wrong
for anyone your age are all those dishes
with thick sauce that we all pined for so long
as we were young and poor. Now we can afford
to order such things, just not to digest them;
we find what bills we’ve run up in the stored
plaque and fat cells of our next stress test.”

My own last test scored in the top 10 percent
of males in my age bracket. Which defies
all consequences or justice—I’ve spent
years shackled to my desk, saved from all exercise.
My dentist, next: “Your teeth seem quite good
for someone your age, better than we’d expect
with so few checkups or cleanings. Teeth should
repay you with more grief for such neglect”—

echoing how my mother always nagged,
“Brush a full 100 strokes,” and would jam
cod liver oil down our throats till we’d go gagging
off to flu-filled classrooms, crammed
with vegetables and vitamins. By now,
I’ve outlasted both parents whose plain food
and firm ordinance must have endowed
this heart’s tough muscle—weak still in gratitude.
—W.D. Snodgrass, 1926–2009

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Note from Maria: I am a Certified Natural Health Professional, CNHP, not a medical doctor. I do not diagnose, prescribe for, treat, or claim to prevent, mitigate, or cure any human diseases. Please see your medical doctor prior to following any recommendations I make in my blogs or on my website.

Images from iStock/tommasolizzul (main image), SIphotography (woman looking in the mirror), sebastianosecondi (aging sign), Ibbo39 (ingredients).

Related Topics

alternative health | anti-aging