Telomeres : The Answer To Aging?

You may have seen recent articles, and or videos about telomeres.

Here is a video of Sierra Sciences CEO Bill Andrews, PhD, making a presentation about telomeres at the 2009 Longevity Summit.

He explains that telomeres are the very end of the DNA string in the chromosomes. DNA is a hundred million bases long. Telomeres are about 15,000 bases long when we are first conceived. As cells divide the telomeres get shorter. When we are born we have about 10,000 bases in our telomeres. When telomeres are around 5,000 bases we die of old age. (This is the theory.)

He starts off by saying that we can't do anything to stop telomeres from getting shorter as our cells divide. So there is a maximum limit of about 125 years to human life.

He also tells us that bad lifestyle choices, such as smoking, will make telomeres get shorter even faster. So this of course encourages us to live healthy lifestyles. So far so good.

However he assures us that there is no lifestyle changes that can keep telomeres long and healthy.

As he proceeds we find out that the telomeres in some cells do not get shorter. At first he says just reproductive cells have this property. But as the presentation goes on we find out that other cells also have this ability to live longer.

His job is to find drugs that will help cells keep long telomeres. He invisions finding drugs that will allow us to live much longer.

We next find out that no one really knows yet if keeping telomeres long will keep us from aging. Indeed there seems to be much more involved in aging than telomeres. In fact only humans, dogs, cats, and horses seem to have this telomere problem. No other animals age in this way.

Interestingly, cancer cells have this ability to keep long telomeres. If we take a drug to cause cells to be like cancer cells, is that a good thing?

It turns out that Bill Andrew's presentation is simply a plea for money to do more research, to make drugs to patent and sell.

A little more research on our part, and we find out that telomeres also stay healthy if we eat balanced amino acids from whole foods. This is a direct disagreement with Bill Andrew's statements. Even though, in his presentation he does make mention of groups of people who are known to live longer and have longer telomeres than those who don't live as long.

If you study these groups of people who live to be over 100 years old and still have very healthy active lifestyles, you find out that they don't take drugs, or even supplements, for the most part.

They do however eat lots of fresh veggies, fruits, and whole grains. They also get regular exercise (often strenuous), and have good social lives.

These kinds of presentations are good examples of how important it is to listen to what is being said, as well as what is not being said.

He said that eating well and exercising won't help, but all his years of research hasn't been about anything but drugs. He hasn't researched nutrition, or lifestyle.

This is a common mistake made by many many people. They assume that because people who eat processed foods and take drugs can't achieve optimum health, then it must be impossible to achieve optimum health unless we come up with some super drug that will solve all our problems.

He also encourages everyone to spend hundreds of dollars to have there telomere lengths analyzed. The only purpose I can see in that, since they don't really yet know what the real truth about telomeres and aging is, is to get you anxious to buy his drug that he will be making in the future, so you will put up money now to move the research along.

Unfortunately most of the articles out there, that talk about telomeres, are presentations designed to sell some supplement or drug like substance, or to give you false hopes to look forward to the miracle pill, that they will soon be making, to give you long life.

But a little common sense and level-headedness, along with an understanding of nature and natural foods made by our creator, helps us to know that by eating wholesome foods with complete proteins we are already way ahead of the game.

Specifically recommended foods that help with this include eggs, raw milk, and whole wheat.

So if you choose a healthy lifestyle and keep your telomeres long, can you live forever? Probably not. Remember that there is much more to aging than just telomeres.

But choosing a healthy lifestyle will help you to enjoy life much longer with fewer health concerns along the way.

Enjoy your day!
Coach G.

Let's Talk Food : What I Eat

Many of you have been asking what I eat, so I guess I should answer.

When I rise in the morning I drink a couple of cups of water (with minerals included of course).

I then like to eat an apple and a slice of my homemade bread before I go running. The bread is made from freshly ground wheat and sprouts. I usually put honey and cinnamon in it, along with coconut oil and "Real Salt". Most of the sprouts are wheat sprouts, but I include a variety of other grain and bean sprouts as well.

After running, I make breakfast. Usually either oatmeal or wheat cereal. Most often it is the wheat. Grind two-thirds of a cup of wheat and cook it in 4 cups of water (with minerals). Feeds three. I like to serve it with some honey, cinnamon, and coconut oil.

Some mornings I'll make eggs for breakfast instead.

Lunch is usually a slice or two of my bread with raw butter and honey on it. I also like to make a drink for lunch with raw eggs, raw milk, home-grown kefir, a little honey and cinnamon, and some nutmeg and/or mint (fresh from the yard).

I will also often snack between meals. Usually another slice of my bread, and maybe a cup of raw milk. Sometimes some fruit or veggies.

I love to mix peanut butter and honey to put on my bread as well.

Of course, I am also drinking lots of mineralized water all through the day.

For dinner I always try to get some kind of veggies. Usually a large salad with lots of spinach. I love avocados in my salads as well. The salad will often include carrots and tomatoes. Instead of salad dressing, I like to use a little spray sea salt with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I will often eat a plate full of salad. Sometimes it will be stir-fried veggies instead.

Then I like to get a high quality starchy food. Usually potatoes or rice and beans. Potatoes must always include the peels. I use lots of spices on my potatoes or rice. My favorites are cayenne, turmeric, oregano, garlic, onion, ginger, and of course, "Redmond Real Salt".

I like to mix a little coconut oil in with my potatoes or rice as well.

I generally also have a large glass of raw milk with my dinner as well.

Now, of course, this can all vary quite a bit, but these are my basics most days.

Any more questions?

Milk : Does It Do A Body Good?

Milk (cows milk) is one of those things that I mention frequently as being good for you.
However, I nearly always preface the word milk with the word raw.

I was recently asked, "Is it better to give children pasteurized, homogenized milk, or no milk at all?"

I firmly believe that if you cannot get raw, un-homogenized milk, then you are better off not having any milk at all.

Let me explain. Milk truly is one of natures most wonderful foods. You could actually live on a milk only diet for years. In fact there is one Doctor who actually uses milk as his main method to treat his patients, no matter what ails them. He puts them on a milk diet until they are better. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes years.

You will see different studies suggesting different things about milk, but here is the rule of thumb for you. If you use raw milk it will lead to health and healing, if you use pasteurized, homogenized milk it will lead to disease.

Many of the studies don't even state what kind of milk was used.

When you pasteurize milk, it becomes a non-food. All the goodness that it had, has now become bound up and not usable. The calcium, the protein, etc. Also pasteurization kills most of the good bacteria in the milk which would have been so good for your digestive system.

And, contrary to what you may have heard, nearly all food poisoning that involves milk is caused by pasteurized milk. The good bacteria in raw milk keeps the bad bacteria in check. Pasteurization kills nearly all the good bacteria, but doesn't kill all the bad bacteria. Therefore there is nothing to keep the bad bacteria in check, and they grow profusely.

When milk is homogenized, it becomes even more dangerous to the human body. Homogenized milk has the fat globules broken down so small that they can pass through into the blood stream. Each little fat globule is coated in a resin that is very bad for your heart health. If there are any nicks or scratches in the vessels(caused by free-radicals), that resin attacks it and opens the wounds even more. This causes the body to create cholesterol to patch up the wounds. These patches, if they become extensive enough, can clog the artery.

Beware of the 'Organic' milks out there these days. They are still pasteurized.

That is why I say that pasteurized, homogenized milk should be avoided completely, and raw milk should be consumed when ever possible.

Remember, the fat in raw milk leads to healing in the body.

So, get some raw milk, and drink up!

To find where to get raw milk, go HERE.