A question Jen frequently gets asked “If there was a bottom line of things you want to be doing in nutrition wise to help us age well, what would it be?” In this episode, Jen shares her top 4 priorities that influence and feeds her body as she ages.
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SHOWNOTES
Everything we eat is either leading up to health and longevity or not.
Cut Out the Crap
Almost everything we eat, aside from fresh vegetables, is processed to some degree. For example, cheese is a processed food, invented as a way to preserve milk, which would otherwise spoil quickly without refrigeration.
Think about refined and processed white bread, rice and pasta is further away from nature than wholemeal bread rice and pasta.
Junk food—like lollies, chips, packaged goods, and soft drinks we know are crap. The maybe hidden crap we don’t think of is like drinking fruit juice instead of eating the fruit. Nature gives us foods ready go, including all the fibre and nutrients. Eat it as close to nature as you can. I go for the fruit over the fruit juice.
Eat Less
Yes, intermittent fasting.
Why? It reduces your risk of neurodegenerative disease (like Alzheimer’s), cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Plus, eating less, through specific mechanisms like caloric restriction, dietary restriction, and fasting, can trigger autophagy. The process that recycles damaged cell parts that’s linked to a longer, healthier life
If we are going to use a powerful tool like fasting, we must do so carefully and deliberately. Timing matters. You could skip breakfast or dinner to shorten you’re eating window, but sixteen hours without food simply isn’t long enough to activate autophagy, inhibit chronic mTOR elevation (mTOR is a gene that regulates protein production and helps you build muscle, but too much is linked to diseases like diabetes and cancer or engage any other longer-term benefits of fasting we would want to obtain.
Too often, we see a person loses weight on the scale, but their body composition alters for worse: they lose lean mass (muscle) while their body fat stays the same or even increases. So fasting has to be done properly. Supported with herbs gets my naturopath tick.
Eat more Protein
I generally recommend 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day as the minimum, which is twice the RDA. Research data suggests that for active people with normal kidney function, one gram per pound of body weight per day (2.2 g/kg/day) is a good place to start.
Drink Less Alcohol
It’s an “empty” calorie source that offers zero nutritional value; the oxidation of ethanol delays fat oxidation, which is the exact opposite of what we want if we’re trying to lose fat mass; and drinking alcohol very often leads to mindless eating,” The fact that it’s a potent carcinogen and has been associated with Alzheimer’s doesn’t help either. If you don’t want to eliminate it, please at least consider reducing it.
RESOURCES
Jen’s fav herbal tonic for helping support the body on intermittent fasting days.
Jen’s Fav Protein Nutrition Shake
HEALTHY LIFE HACKS
The Healthy Life Hacks I want to share with you today are:
- Cut out the crap.
- Reduce the alcohol
- Work on increasing quality protein in your diet
- Try on Supported Intermittent fasting (reach out to me if you need it)
Did you enjoy the podcast today? Please let me know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Every month I draw one lucky reviewer to have a free one-hour consultation with me. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you’re tuning in from so that you always catch the next episode.
Are you looking for more great resources? Get a free copy of my Feed Your Body ebook here and be sure to explore my blog while you are there.
