appearance, overall health, and longevity—is tremendously exciting.
With the exception of a few traits like eye color and an increased potential risk for some diseases—our genetic inheritance or genotype holds not just one, but a variety of options for what will be expressed and appear as our phenotype, our actual physical self.
And we're learning that which genetic options are chosen is affected by the foods we eat, that the foods we consume actually "talk" to our genes, delivering information that changes which aspects of our genes—those that promote health or those that engender dysfunction and disease—will be activated.
Scientists have learned that even the genes we've inherited that render us more susceptible to various chronic diseases do not, inevitably, cause disease. Their damaging messages remain silent—unless we make food, lifestyle or environmental choices that trigger them into action.
While researchers are just beginning to identify which genes are highly protective and which render people more susceptible to unhealthy aging and chronic disease, the latest research already provides sufficient information to make smart choices about the foods you eat. Right now, you can choose the healthy way of eating that hundreds of studies clearly show is most likely to tell your genes to create your healthiest possible phenotype.
We now know that vibrant health and youthful aging are not just a matter of luck. We can optimize our genetic potential for health every time we eat. And we know enough about the messages specific foods deliver to begin eating to unlock our genetic health potential right now.
An explosion of recent research has begun to reveal the immense effects that phytonutrients, the thousands of protective compounds in plants (phyto means plant), have on our health.
What should I eat to send healthy messages to my genes? While the evidence is complex, the conclusion it all points towards is simple: A Mediterranean-style diet is the best way we can choose to send our genes the messages that will produce our optimal health.
This healthy way of eating—which easily delivers between 5-10 daily servings of fruits and vegetables along with whole grains, nuts, cold-water fish rich in omega-3 fats, and the healthy fats found in olive and flaxseed oils—is absolutely loaded with hundreds of phytonutrients.
Research uncovering the multitude of ways in which phytonutrients talk to our genes is now beginning to explain the many epidemiological studies that link a Mediterranean-style diet to healthy aging, protection from and/or treatment for all the major age-related chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.
How to Eat for Youthful Aging
First, we need to avoid unnecessary exposure to free radicals and keep our cells well supplied with antioxidants, both by consuming them ready-made in the foods we eat and by inducing those genes that maximize our own internal production of antioxidants.
In addition to familiar antioxidants in foods, such as vitamins E, C and beta-carotene, our cells rely for protection on a number of very powerful antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase, all of which are manufactured in our cells—if the right messages are sent to our genes by phytonutrients, especially the flavonoids.
Trace minerals, and thus the foods in which they are concentrated, are also necessary since they are essential components of our antioxidant enzymes.
100% natural cocoa from the cacao beans, the source of dark chocolate, is packed with phytonutrients and trace minerals. According to various studies, just two ounces of dark chocolate with high cocoa butter content per day may help prevent arteries from narrowing and hardening.
Cocoa is extremely rich in phytochemicals called flavonoids that can be preventative for coronary heart disease. These antioxidants reduce the risk of arterial damage caused by free radicals that can eventually lead to cancer. Another health benefit is that dark chocolate being the richest in flavonoids inhibits platelet aggregation that could cause a heart attack or a stroke. Studies have also shown that flavonols in cocoa prevents fat–like substances in the blood stream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries making it less likely that the blood platelets cause clots.
Chocolate with a higher content of cocoa has also been linked to emotional health because of increased phenyl ethylamine, a substance that stimulates the secretion of endorphins, chemicals in the brain, similar to morphine that are responsible for positive moods and also act as natural painkillers and tranquilizers. They are released at times of sever mental stress or strenuous exercise. Other stimulants found in chocolate are related to amphetamines, which activate neurotransmitters in our brains and help us to stay alert. Chocolate also boosts endorphin levels in the brain, which may be the explanation for the feel good factor by ¨chocoholics¨!
Omega 3
Omega-3 fatty acids are a form of polyunsaturated fats, one of four basic types of fat that the body derives from food and are critical for maintaining good health, yet our bodies cannot produce it. Omega 3s encourage a healthy heart and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases by keeping the levels of cholesterol at a minimum and stabilizing irregular heart beats and lowers blood pressure. These fatty acids are also natural blood thinners and by preventing platelet aggregation, they lower the risk of blood clots and strokes.
In 1982, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for research about essential fatty acids. Since that time, the role of essential fatty acids in the human mind and body has been studied more than ever before. It is estimated that the body of knowledge surrounding Omega-3 fatty acids alone totals around 6,000 scientific studies, including 1,000 clinical studies, many of which have been published in such prestigious journals as The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The Lancet, among others.
In the following sections, you'll find out that Omega-3 fatty acids may help you maintain mental and physical health. But remember, there is more than one factor involved in maintain well-being in any of the topic areas mentioned in this section, and the impact of the amount and type of Essential Fatty Acids in the body varies from one person to another.
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