Karen Devine's Seasonal Information - SPRING 2008 HOW OLD ARE YOU? When we think of age we naturally think of our year of birth giving us our chronological age. How often do we meet up with a face from the past and notice how well they are ageing or how old they now look? When we think of ageing most of us presume it is out of our control, and that past a certain age every ailment we feel gets thrown into the ageing pot. Thousands of pounds are spent on the anti-ageing industry, from nip and tucks to creams and lotions all in the name of slowing down the visible signs of ageing. None of us like the thought of getting old as we have images of degeneration causing joint problems, memory loss, heart disease, loss of looks, high blood pressure and a host of other seemingly ‘age' related problems. But if we consider that what we put into our body will become our cells, our tissues and our organs then maybe how we view ageing can actually become our responsibility.
BIOLOGICAL V CHRONOLOGICAL AGE Our chronological age our current marker for our timing in life, it tells us when we are ready for school, college, work, to be old enough to drink, to drive and tell us when we are able to hang our boots up and retire. But our biological markers are very different; they can give us a more in depth look at how we are ageing? We may think that when we reach 60 we are likely to have furred up arteries or adult onset diabetes or experiencing joint problems. But what we may not realise is that we can show signs of internal ageing at a much younger age. Certain markers can show your level of ageing such as cholesterol, high blood pressure, how you manage sugar and the hormone insulin, bone health, our basal metabolic rate free radical production, high triglycerides and much more. New research emerging can only increase our awareness of ageing which actually makes us realise that how we live and how we will look in years to come largely depends on us.
GENETICS Don't put it all down to genes, of course gene expression is a footprint that we take from our parents but saying that ‘my dad had heart problems so will I' is actually taking the responsibility from our own shoulders. There are certain diseases which are genetic but the rate at which we age is looking more likely that it is under our control. Accumulating toxicity, nutritional deficiencies and our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing may slow down the ageing process but it is up to us how we live our lives.
A CHOICE We can choose to live our lives un-consciously or consciously which means we can choose to feed our bodies the correct balance of nutrients, which include enzymes from raw food, essential fats, minerals and vitamins. We can eliminate the belief that we grow old in pain and discomfort and in need of medical drugs. We can decide to take stock and control of our life. There are so many options out there to help us on a physical mental and emotional level. Dealing with old emotions that leave us with strong feelings of anger, resentment, bitterness, sadness and grief can all be helped. We are human so we will and do have these emotions throughout our lives but how we deal with them will determine if they will impact on our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing What we put into our body can affect our mental and emotional body. Chemicals in foods, dead non-nutritious foods, lack of hydrating foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables can affect us on all levels. Cell to cell communication will be affected by a clogged up toxic body. Becoming conscious of our body on a physical, mental and emotional level brings us choices, in particular choices on how we to grow older. The thought that we can grow old in a ‘healthy body and mind' can be a challenge to our core beliefs. |