NIDAL SAKR — Live Younger

FOOD AS MEDICINE, OR…MEDICINE AS FOOD?

Age Reversal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

Is food really medicine or is it just another cliché strategy used by organic medicine vendors to get your hard-earned money? You’re just about to discover verifiable answers to what is perhaps one of the age-long arguments about health. Buckle your belts fellow; it’s going to be one thrilling ride with knowledge! It was in the year 440 BC when the battle of thought regarding food as medicine became a course for public debate. Hippocrates, probably wielding his famous staff, stood before some scholars in the Forum at Athens and declared “Let food be thy medicine, medicine thy food.” Ever since it has been a war of facts and opinions. When the world was almost forgetting about the Greek’s stance, Islamic physicians Ibn Sina and Ibn Al-Baytar amazed the world of their time when they reignited the concept of food as medicine. Does the concept still hold water in our time? Does food function as medicine, or does it simply quiet the rumbles in our stomachs that tell us we’re hungry? Read on to discover perhaps unpopular truths! Is Food Really medicine? As an enthusiast of holistic well-being, I want us to look at “medicine” not just as a practice for recovery measures against diseases but as a preventive approach to health. We cannot adequately consider medicine in this aspect without understanding how we fall sick and what the body does when we are about to fall sick. Every one of us has a part of our body systems that acts like an army, guarding the territorial borders and sovereignty of our body systems. It picks signals whenever a foreign body that may be detrimental enters our body then it hollers your body’s siren to raise an army against such diseases. This is our body’s first reaction to the microorganisms or physiological changes that make us sick. When our body’s ‘army’ is not strong enough to fight these foreign bodies, we break down into ill health. This ‘army’ is called our immune system and the foreign bodies are chemicals, bacteria, or viruses. The ability of our immune system to either prevent or fight against diseases naturally depends on adequate nutrition. It could be that in the pursuit of overall wellness, a solution may just be staring at us in the eyes. Now that you have discovered the usefulness of food in the prevention of illness, it is only logical that food can also be used in the cure of the same illnesses either as a nutrient therapy or in addition to other forms of medical practices. A question still lingers on the horizon begging for the light of your attention, are all foods usable in the practice of medicine? From ages past, right from the mid paleolithic period down to our time, food has been a material for therapeutic purposes.¹ Despite that all foods have health benefits due to their inherent nutritional properties, some other foods offer higher health benefits – functional foods. In 1994, the National Academy of Science’ Food and Nutrition Board coined a categorization for any modified food or food ingredients that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains.² “WHEN OUR BODY’S ‘ARMY’ IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT THESE FOREIGN BODIES, WE BREAK DOWN INTO ILL HEALTH. THIS ‘ARMY’ IS CALLED OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM AND THE FOREIGN BODIES ARE CHEMICALS, BACTERIA, OR VIRUSES.” In the years that precede the 1990s, FOSHU began to be a topic of interest when the Japanese began to popularize the use of functional foods and no, it is not some Japanese temple slang. It is an acronym for an approach to medicine where food was utilized in an attempt to prevent or treat an ailment by taking them in quantities akin to what was required for normal feeding purposes. FOSHU, an acronym for Food for Specific Health Uses, isn’t a new concept even though the name is relatively new. In certain cases, medicine in the form of food nutrition is produced in non-food matrixes such as supplements where the nutritive content of food is extracted and administered in doses that are not obtainable when you ingest the food directly. They are called “Nutraceuticals” and the term was first used by Ziesel³ in his 1999 publication, ‘Regulation of “nutraceuticals.” Interestingly, many people are beginning to approach health holistically and are doing so with a turn to more natural means of treatment which is believed to be inexpensive and cause few side effects in comparison to its counterpart, the pharmaceutical drugs. Interestingly, Williamson⁴ confirmed that there are several instances where the ingestion of medicinal food produced better results than equivalent doses of a single extracted nutrient was administered. Research upon research continues to prove that the consumption of some foods or their extracted components which have physiological effects may be linked to a reduction in diseases.⁵ Should we look out for side effects? Generally, the intake of healthy substances may prove unhealthy in unwholesome quantities; a measure used in the cure and prevention of diseases becoming illness-inducing. Willett,⁶ reported that excessive dietary intake of some foods alongside risky lifestyle choices increases the chances of getting a stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. In essence, just as it should be in other areas of our lives, moderation is key in the administration of food as medicine. Is the use of food as medicine a holistic health approach? When I shared my thoughts on the importance of nutritious feeding for anti-aging and general wellbeing⁷ in my book “Lead A Horse To Water”, it was a surprise call for certain persons who are not aware that they can truly live happily in prolonged health without direct use of pharmaceutical products or modern medicine. Holistic medicine approaches your health from the angle of general wellbeing; mind, emotional, spirit, and body. Without a doubt, food doesn’t just feed or heal us; it blends with our body’s physiological system for a long time giving us longer chances of staying healthy. In holistic health practices like

FOOD AS MEDICINE, OR…MEDICINE AS FOOD? Read More »

WHAT IS “ORGANIC”?

Age Reversal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

You may have heard of it, you may have even eaten it, fancied worldwide as probably the safest form of food believed to have health benefits – organic food! Long before humanity became very scientific in its approach to living, people planted crops, cultured the farms, fertilized the lands, and harvested the crops without the use of synthetic chemicals. It is a common belief that this system of agriculture was the reason why older generations lived healthier, had fewer diseases to deal with, and had better environments. If you existed centuries ago, you can be sure that your meal was organic without synthetic compounds believed to have health concerns. However, things have changed since the 1940’s¹ and most of our food today has undergone one or more processes that make them unfit to be called ‘organic’. We all have an idea of what organic food should mean but in our innocent ignorance, there may be some important facts we may be missing out on in defining what is organic or not. What is Organic Food? They are food substances that are produced without the use of synthetic materials such as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers during any of their farming procedure and are usually not processed with the use of irradiation, synthetic food additives, or industrial solvents.² Although in the general sense of it, the garden in your backyard which is tended to by natural means only can be said to produce organic food, only an authorized government body can label food produced organic or not especially when it has to be sold in a market place. Several countries like Japan, Australia, India, and Mexico have their respective bodies that are authorized to label foods. In the United States, however, the Department of Agriculture has mandated the National Organic Program with the task of certifying organic foods.³ The importance of these bodies in the definition of what food in the market is organic or not is not far-fetched. They are farm produce that did undergo natural treatments such as being treated with tobacco dust which contains nicotine sulfate and is regarded unfit to be called organic foods. Also, some foods are treated with organic pesticides such as mixtures containing soaps and hydrogen peroxide, yet are eligible to be regarded as organic food. As you have seen earlier, several nations have their respective regulatory bodies so what is organic or not differs between countries, and these regulatory bodies are not only concerned about on-farm activities, even processing methods could determine if the food product is organic or not. Why the hype about organic foods? In many climes, a return to organic farming is seen as the solution to several health and ecological challenges. For instance, many people walk around carrying unhealthy doses of heavy metals from pesticide residues in their body systems. No, they are not cyborgs; rather, they have consumed foods with pesticide residues for a long time and these heavy metals have accumulated in their bodies. Such people have a high risk of getting weak immune systems, brain damage, or even cancer. With the health problem posed by conventional and ‘chemical farming’ as Lord Northbourne called it in his 1940 book “Look to the Land”. It is only expected that experts and people, in general, show a preference for organic foods. If you are a parent or you hope to be a parent someday, the health of your children would be of concern to you. Research has proven that certain residues from pesticides ingested at different levels of exposure by children affected the development of their cognitive abilities adversely. Animal models have shown neurotoxicity when treated with residues from pesticides and some of these residues which can accumulate from eating conventional foods treated with pesticides have been shown to cause an imbalance in the endocrine system.⁴ We cannot separate our health from what and how we eat. What we eat may affect our health directly such as inducing illnesses or indirectly by weakening our immune system which is supposed to help our bodies fight foreign disease-causing substances or organisms. Could it be that our deviation from organic feeding to synthetic agricultural methods is the cause of our plummeting general wellness? There are also certain effects conventional farming causes to the environment and if we continue at this rate will end up reducing the quality of our health, shortening our life span, and making our environments unsafe for healthy living. Impact of Organic farming on the environment From imbalance to the soil ecosystem to fertilization of our water bodies, conventional farming with the use of synthetic chemicals has caused serious environmental problems on a global scale. When water runs from fertilized lands into river bodies, it causes eutrophication. Eutrophication is the fertilization of water bodies beyond normal quantity. This kills our fish, blocks our waterways by making floating plants grow on boat passages. This is not to mention the increase in toxic heavy metal content in agricultural soils. There are speculations that when we shift from conventional ways of farming that use chemicals to a more organic approach, there would be long-term benefits in the areas of soil health, ecosystem sustainability, and preserving micro biodiversity.⁵ Final thoughts Our food choices can either affect us negatively or help our cells in positive ways. They can make our cells age faster or retain youthfulness.⁶ The health benefits of organic foods cannot be emphasized enough. Other than giving us food without disease-causing pesticide residues, organic foods help us strengthen our immune system. For many people, the reason they purchase organic foods is for their health benefits and their nutritional value.⁷ Judging by the reasons we have seen so far, their preference is cogent enough. As a person who believes in general wellness, I believe that you can enjoy a life of consistent health if you take your feeding more seriously, especially in the consumption of foods of organic origin. In holistic, the environment also plays a role in keeping healthy. Organic methods of

WHAT IS “ORGANIC”? Read More »

WHAT IS CHEMISTRY OF EMOTIONS?

Age Reversal, Ask Nidal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, Live Younger, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

A smile comes to our faces when we see a heart-warming sight. Ever wonder what goes on in our minds from the moment we take that sight in to the moment the smile forms on our faces? What neurons are fired and what chemicals are released? Because in reality, that is the material form our emotions take; chemicals and hormones released by firing neurons. EMOTIONS AND HORMONES Hormones and neurotransmitters inside our brains control and shape our emotions. They formulate our feelings and create our perceptions. Their levels in our brain decide whether we feel happy or sad, content or displeased, calm or angry. And we, being the emotional beings that we are, act according to how we feel. Serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins are just a few examples of the hormones that regulate our emotions. SEROTONIN; THE MOOD STABILIZER When talking about hormones that shape our feelings, the most important one to note would be serotonin. Any drastic increase or decrease in it can be dangerous. However, there is a considerable normal range through which it waxes and wanes in every person’s mind. And what we understand as our “mood”, is really the levels of serotonin running through neuronal circuits. The levels of serotonin determine the amount of contentment we feel. It can also affect how confident we feel about ourselves. It can decide for us, our self-worth and also relates to the social status we possess in various overlapping social hierarchies.¹ A person high in serotonin could probably be someone satisfied with his life choices, confident in himself, and well respected in his social circles. A person low in serotonin, on the other hand, would feel wretched all the time and lack motivation. He would not think much of himself. Even the people around him would only think of him as a loser. You might be thinking that too much is controlled by this hormone. But it isn’t as simple as that… DOPAMINE; THE REWARD HORMONE Dopamine makes you feel pleasure, especially in the short term. When you gun down that opponent in an online multiplayer, or when you win that client over from another company this is the hormone that makes you feel good.² Since dopamine is basically a reward hormone, the need for having it can also be the motivating force behind beginning a hard task. A decrease in dopamine would make you feel sad, dull, and lacking motivation. Dopamine can also be responsible for addictive behavior since it is responsible for happiness and pleasure.³ That makes people prone to performing acts that would give them the greatest dopamine hit with the least amount of effort. Dangerous huh? “DOPAMINE CAN ALSO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR SINCE IT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HAPPINESS AND PLEASURE. THAT MAKES PEOPLE PRONE TO PERFORMING ACTS THAT WOULD GIVE THEM THE GREATEST DOPAMINE HIT WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF EFFORT. DANGEROUS HUH?” We control our emotions as much as our emotions control us It may appear that mere chemicals in our brains control our feelings and thus our actions, but this is just the half-truth. In reality, there is much that we can control. There are external events that can change how we feel in an instant. Some of them are not under our control, but many of them are. We can control whether we would study for an exam or not. The result, which would be the external event influencing our emotions, would depend to a large extent upon the choice we made. There are little things that matter just as much. Something as small as improving our sleep schedules can do wonders for how good we feel.⁴ If you feel unconfident about a speech you have to make in front of a thousand people, try appearing confident. Even when every instinct of yours is yelling at you to run. In moments those instincts will be replaced by real confidence. BASIC EMOTIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS There are some basic emotions like happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise that make the foundation of our emotional state of mind. All the other emotions are derived from the combinations of these basic emotions. These emotions influence the mind and the body. Happiness is related to the production of chemicals which improve immunity and promote bodily functions. Persistent sadness can transform into depression that has negative influences on our physical health. The emotional state of our mind influences our attitude and our approach towards achieving a goal. The effects of emotions on our physical and mental health are ultimately manifested on a cellular level. If our macroscopic health suffers, then you can expect the same results on the microscopic level. To achieve a state of health where our cells can stay healthy is central to our idea of prolonging our youth and living happily. This is why our emotional health is of utmost importance. EFFECTS OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS Negative emotions create a sense of despair and hopelessness; which transform into stress. That stress brings about hormonal changes that negatively influence physical health. Research suggests that human beings have a “negativity bias” according to which they pay more attention to minor sorrows and devoid themselves of bigger joys. This constant stress of negative emotions has a catastrophic effect on health.⁵ EFFECTS OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS Positive emotions on the other hand contribute to development and growth, better understanding, improved cognition, thoughts, etc. which have a positive influence on mental and physical health. Positive emotions are necessary for evading the harmful effects of negative ones and they also create emotional resilience.⁶ HOW EMOTIONS AFFECT OUR BEHAVIOUR AND MEMORY Emotions define behavior. To give a simple example, an angry person is more likely to adopt aggressive behavior compared to a calm person. There are many other ways in which emotions can affect our actions. Research has proven that the expectation of emotion influences behavior. For example, if a person thinks that an aggressive attitude will help him achieve a goal, he will adopt that attitude which in

WHAT IS CHEMISTRY OF EMOTIONS? Read More »

WHY “SUPPLEMENTS”?

Age Reversal, Ask Nidal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, Live Younger, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

Arguably, the next thing to being alive is living a life of wellness. A life that enjoys bodily vitality and fitness; several wealthy people who were sick at a point in their lives had mentioned that they were willing to sacrifice all they had to get their health back. This goes to validate the popular maxim “health is wealth”. In our pursuit of bodily wellness, the nutrients we supply our body go a long way to either preserve our health or leave us exposed to disease-causing substances and organisms. However, this leaves us with a question. Does our conventional food supply us with all the nutrients our body needs in the right quantities? You may want to find out and perhaps discover how that supplements may be the elixir we’ve all been seeking to a life of wellness. What are supplements? From the name, they are products made to supplement one’s diet. They could be tablets, pills, capsules, syrup, or powder.¹ If you recall elementary science, we were taught that healthy nutrition consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fatty acids, minerals, and fiber in their right proportion. Conventionally, we get these nutrients into our body through food which means that we would solely rely on the food we eat to provide these nutrients in the right proportion. However, with centuries of land exploitation through overfarming alongside other environmental disturbances, there isn’t enough transfer of soil nutrients to crop plants in appropriate amounts. Imagine a beautiful bridge covering the gap between your body’s nutrient requirement and nutrient inadequacy in our foods due to depleted soil nutrients. We can conveniently call this bridge “supplements”! Supplements are vital to our health in many ways. I cannot wait to show you. The definition given by The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act seems to give an encompassing answer. It defines dietary supplements as any product apart from tobacco that is meant to supplement a diet that contains one or more of the following: minerals, vitamins, an herb, or an amino acid. It is a substance used to increase total dietary intake by supplementing a diet.² Factors that may affect nutrition delivery of supplements The effectiveness of any supplement depends on how much of it was absorbed by the body. Some minerals need to be chelated to avoid absorption conflict when taken with other minerals. For instance, if you take magnesium and selenium supplements, your body’s uptake of copper minerals will be inhibited. However, calcium supplements rather reduced copper losses.³ That said, we may like to know when it is best to take supplements. Vitamins are best taken in the morning or during daylight while minerals are better absorbed overnight. What types of supplements are there? Supplements are administered in several ways, each peculiar one having its unique purpose. Those absorbed through the skin: This may sound interestingly strange and I understand why. When supplements are mentioned what comes to mind are pills, powders, capsules, or other forms of extracted food substances that have to be ingested. Aside from that, the skin is quite rigid in permeability such that the chemicals from our body lotions do not end up in our bloodstream. However, certain supplements can be passed from the skin into the bloodstream by making their molecules very small and dissolving them in fatty oils. In cases where these aren’t effective, sterile needles can be used to poke holes in the skin before supplements are introduced.⁴ We will not forget our old friend Vitamin D which is hardly ever required as an essential supplement because our skin mobilizes it on its own when it comes under sunlight. Those absorbed through the nose: the human nose has proven to be a potential route for the administration of drugs and supplements. It has a large surface area for quick delivery of substances into the bloodstream; it doesn’t involve the first-pass metabolism and in most cases secures your comfort.⁵ For instance, vitamin B12 which is required by our body for optimum red blood cell production and nervous system function⁶ most recently are being administered through the nose.⁷ Those inhaled: this is not anything like a cigarette! It is vaporized vitamins or essential oil-containing supplements. Although it was used as a therapy for people addicted to tobacco smoking, it is now being considered as a health-improving activity. A company producing vaporized vitamins claims that its vaporizer holds 10 times more Vitamin B-12 than you could obtain in a regular shot.⁸ Those digested: this is the most popular form of supplement intake where they are swallowed or eaten as you would do your food. They could be packaged as pills, capsules, or any ingestible material. What do we need supplements for? The hazard of nutritional deficiency is telling on many people, sadly, they are looking the wrong way for solutions. A research proved that poor or inadequate nutrition is one primary cause of the global sick rate.⁹ 5 out of 10 adults in the United States are suffering from chronic diseases that could have been prevented by healthier dietary patterns.¹⁰ This shows us how important food and feeding are to our health and the quality of life we live. When we talk about food, we cannot take our eyes from its source; the soil. For food to give us adequate nutrients for our wellbeing, the soil has to hold enough nutrients for the crop plants to take up. However, as reported by Peter et al., due to intense, mismanaged farming, soil nutrients, are becoming short of supply. Soil Nitrogen has reduced by 42%, sulfur by 33%, and phosphorus by 27%.¹¹ These reductions in soil nutrients affect the number of nutrients in our foods sometimes to levels below optimum to sustain good health. It will amaze you to know that even our favorite veggies no longer contain adequate quantities of magnesium; the magnesium content dropped by 25% in wheat and veggies in recent years.¹² The ultimate result of the depletion of soil nutrients is that our food will not provide adequate

WHY “SUPPLEMENTS”? Read More »

HOW TO OWN THE KEYS TO YOUR HEALTH?

Age Reversal, Ask Nidal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, Live Younger, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

The control center of our being is our central nervous system. The idea that there is a link between our mental and physical health isn’t new, but we have only begun to realize how strong that link really is. Nature has awarded us with the ability to perceive. It has taught us to attach emotional meaning to these perceptions which in turn are translated into material form within our brains in the form of neurotransmitters and hormones. The emotions we feel and the decisions we make due to our feelings are thus controlled by these chemical mediators of emotion. Yet at the same time, our beliefs, words, and actions, have an equally important effect on governing these chemical mediators and thus on governing our emotions. And this is what we can control! The normal balance of these neurotransmitters; and their fluctuations within a normal range; is what keeps our “mental health” in place. This balance can be deranged due to several internal pathologies. At the same time, however, any external influence of our environment can disturb this balance as well. “THE MIND MOST EFFECTUALLY WORKS UPON THE BODY, PRODUCING BY HIS PASSIONS AND PERTURBATIONS MIRACULOUS ALTERATIONS… CRUEL DISEASES AND SOMETIMES DEATH ITSELF.” — ROBERT BURTON, THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. This disturbance is what results in extreme emotions of grief, loneliness, excitement, and mania. If these disturbances become dramatically persistent, they manifest in the form of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and a multitude of other disorders. These momentary or continual “mental health problems” in turn are responsible for directly or indirectly causing derangements in our physical health. These derangements ultimately impact the cellular processes at the micro level which can potentially lead to cellular aging. Bear in mind that the key to keeping our cells and our bodies young is to stay healthy, and not just physically. Mental health is just as important and might really be what controls our physical health… AS ABOVE-SO BELOW The effects that poor mental health can have on our physical health can be categorized as direct effects and indirect effects. The direct effects would be those chronic diseases and immune system anomalies that are associated with poor mental health, while the indirect effects would be those that result from behavioral changes due to bad mental health. DIRECT EFFECTS OF POOR MENTAL HEALTH ON PHYSICAL HEALTH A number of chronic diseases have been described that are associated with mental or psychological disorders. Mental stress has also been implicated in triggering these conditions… Cardiovascular disorders Heart failure, hypertension, and other such conditions have been associated with chronic stress. Depressed individuals can have higher chances of developing such conditions. That may be in part due to their unhealthy lifestyle.¹ Diabetes mellitus This is another condition that is linked to having a stressful mind. Stress does not directly cause diabetes but it does increase the risk of developing this disease. This is in part due to the hormone “cortisol” which is released during stressful conditions. Eating disorders Many such disorders have psychological causes. Obsessive-compulsive disorders and anxiety are at the core of some eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa. They involve symptoms like food restriction, compulsive exercise, binge eating, and purging by self-induced vomiting. These habits can become addictive in a way and cause serious damage to your physical wellbeing.³ Gastrointestinal problems Many GI illnesses also arise with poor mental health conditions. Psychogenic diarrhea is a documented condition that occurs due to extreme anxiety. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder that also has psychological causes. For example, people who have faced childhood trauma are more prone to develop this disorder than those who haven’t. Physicians are now focusing on administering psychological treatment to patients suffering from IBS. Sexual dysfunction: Mental health problems like depression, psychosis, and personality disorders have been liked to sexual dysfunction. Many mental health patients suffer from problems like impotence, erectile dysfunction, and premature ejaculation. Menstrual abnormalities have also been associated with many mental health disorders.5 Skin Problems: Many skin conditions are associated with psychological stress and poor mental health. Many psychological or psychiatric patients develop skin problems like eczema, psoriasis, and acne. This can have serious adverse effects on their quality of life. Cancer People who stress out too much have an increased risk of developing cancer. One research explains that chronic stress can have effects like uncontrolled cell proliferation in some parts of the body which leads to cancer.¹ Deranged Immune System It has been postulated that a person’s state of mental health affects the immune status of an individual and vice versa. The nervous system and immune system are linked through hormonal and neuronal mechanisms. The chemical mediators released from the nerves have an effect on immune cells and the cytokines, chemicals produced during an immune response, influence the activity of the brain. Adverse mental states are associated with the production of stress hormones and such transmission of nerve impulses which modulate the activity of the immune system. This relationship suggests that adverse mental health states are associated with the derangement of the immune system leading to susceptibility to infection, activation of inflammation, and various autoimmune conditions. INDIRECT EFFECTS OF POOR MENTAL HEALTH ON PHYSICAL HEALTH The behavioral changes that result from poor mental health can result in poor dietary and sleeping habits as well as an increased tendency to abuse drugs and alcohol. Sleep Sleep is essential for normal diurnal activities of our body and for maintaining functional balance. Inadequate sleep affects cognition, memory, performance and causes headaches. Altered mental states such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder influence the sleep-wake cycle leading to poor sleep habits such as insomnia, hypersomnia, and disrupted sleep. In turn, these sleep disturbances exacerbate mental disorders by affecting normal brain function and a person enters a vicious cycle of worsening sleep habits and mental condition. Research has proven that patients with pre-existing chronic illnesses experience altered sleep habits due to stress which in turn is responsible for the poor quality of life. Disrupted

HOW TO OWN THE KEYS TO YOUR HEALTH? Read More »

WHAT IS “GMO”?

Age Reversal, Ask Nidal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, Live Younger, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

If you were around let’s say a hundred years ago, you would agree with me that the world today looks many times different from how it did then. Many men wore California hats and women wore heavy gowns but very interestingly, our crops and livestock had to wait so long or consume so many resources to produce a moderate amount of produce. For centuries before then, things had been that way however a hundred years past, harvest and nutritional impact increased geometrically. For a phenomenon that recorded little change over the centuries, a hundred years is so short to produce such drastic changes! What happened? Welcome to a world that is embracing the possibilities of GMOs! What are GMOs? From country to country, organization to organization, definitions differ in context and inclusions, however; I want you to have a definition that answers your curiosity and gives you a one size fits all meaning. GMOs can include anything whose gene had been altered even without human intervention but naturally.¹ Going by this definition, the scope of our discussion will become wider than what a blog post can handle. For easy understanding let us define GMOs as organisms especially crop plants and livestock that have undergone gene alterations under human manipulation. When gene alteration is mentioned, our minds travel to more sophisticated engineering and techniques such as cloning, artificial insemination, and gene manipulation done in labs. However, the European Union goes a bit broader to include less sophisticated methods such as selective breeding.² The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization would not allow such broad definition, they opine that for an organism to be termed “organically modified”, its history of modification must not involve any natural recombination or mating.³ To be factual, even the world’s leading research organizations are still deciding what definition to accept for GMOs and Non-GMOs however you can take these definitions you read here for it and be certain what GMOs are. “ALTHOUGH GMOS HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH SOME PROBLEMS SUCH AS LOSS OF NUTRITION AND TOXICITY DUE TO UNSTABLE MOLECULES, YOU WILL BE INTERESTED TO FIND OUT HOW OUR LIVES CHANGED WITH THE ADVENT OF GMOS. ” How did it all begin? Although genetic modification is a new term, it is not without a precursor. As far back as 12,000 BC, people have been seeking ways to improve on the characteristics of living things⁴; crops and livestock to be precise. Techniques such as selective breeding were employed; two or more livestock of the same species with desirable qualities were mated together till they produce offsprings that bore desirable traits from both animals. This process is time-consuming and the probability of getting offspring with desired traits was minimal. In 1972, modern genetic modification got its first breakthrough when a man successfully performed an experiment that had never been done in recorded scientific history. The DNA of a monkey virus was merged with one from lambda virus via a DNA recombinant process and boom the world became aware of the possibility of DNAs from two species forming one molecule.⁵ The man was Paul Berg and that experiment paved way for several other genetic experiments that have shaped what we know today as GMOs. Although GMOs have been associated with some problems such as loss of nutrition and toxicity due to unstable molecules, you will be interested to find out how our lives changed with the advent of GMOs. How GMOs affected food production Many genetically modified organisms are crop plants and the aim revolves around three objectives; adaptability to environmental change, increased yield, and sustainability. Cash crops account for most of the genetically modified crop plants. In 2014, soybeans alone recorded half of all genetically modified crop plants planted.⁶ This is understandable because of its status as a cash crop. Though there are some experts raising concerns about the use of GMOs, their adoption into mainstream agriculture has been quite growing. ISAA reported that between 1996 and 2013, the total area of land where genetically modified crops were planted had increased by a factor of 100⁷ with most of these lands sited American countries then little other in Asia, Europe, and Africa. If you are a farmer, there are some persistent issues you’d face such as pest and disease invasion, heavy metal uptake from pesticides and herbicides. GMO encoders have such issues in mind when they engineer new varieties. For instance, most genetic coding for plants is gotten from Bacillus thuringiensis to produce vegetative proteins that are poisonous to insects. The farmer no longer has to purchase insecticides or deal with the environmental hazard of heavy metal accumulation in the soil. Other than pest and disease resistance, resistance to herbicides like glyphosate, and increased yield, genetic engineers have also encoded some food crops to produce more amounts of specific nutrients. If you consume genetically modified golden rice, for instance, you can be sure that you are consuming quantities of Vitamin A precursor at an amount higher than what is obtainable ordinary rice meal. The golden rice has three genes that are coded to biosynthesize beta-carotene which is a Vitamin A precursor.⁸ These plant modifications are not without certain concerns. Genetic codes of microbial origin used in the modification of these crops may become sources of antibiotic resistance in the long run. If this happens, certain medications we take to become well will prove ineffective. The livestock industry hasn’t entertained many breakthroughs in genetic modification as its crop counterpart but some genetically engineered livestock species have not only been successful but have also been introduced into the market. The numbers are understandably few because coding the genes of mammals takes time, involves drudgery, and is cost-intensive. The process would involve implanting embryos in females with viral DNA, with the hope that the desired genetic traits would be formed within the reproductive cells of the offspring. This takes time because you would have to hold your horses till the offspring reaches the breeding stage before you

WHAT IS “GMO”? Read More »

HOW TO REVERSE AGE ON CELLULAR LEVEL?

Age Reversal, Ask Nidal, AskNidal, Cellular health, fitness, HEAL, Health, Live Younger, LiveYounger, love, Mental Health, Relationships, Social Media, Wellness / NIDAL SAKR

HOW SELF HEALING PREVENTS AGAING? Since the dawn of time, mankind has sought the cure for death. Age after age, this idea has traveled through different paths of fantasy and insanity, through the fountains of youth and the elixirs of life, through the golden apples and the philosopher’s stones, and all paths have led to their culmination in the books of modern medicine. One cure, however, that still escapes all the collective knowledge of the entire human history, is the cure to the disease known as aging. But that might actually be changing soon… The basic structural and functional unit of the human body is the microscopic entity called the cell. Every small change that takes place inside it at a micro level, manifests itself at the macro level in the entire body. The body gets healthier as the cells get healthier, and it starts to deteriorate as the cells begin to age. Vinay Kum describes cellular aging in his book on pathology as “the result of a progressive decline in cellular function and viability caused by genetic abnormalities and the accumulation of cellular and molecular damage due to the effects of exposure to exogenous influences.” You must be thinking that if it’s the aging of cells that causes the aging of the entire body, then if we can partially or completely stop the cells from aging, can we perhaps prolong our youth or even restore it well into our 50s and 60s? Well maybe. But to get there we must first understand what cellular aging really is. So let’s break it down. HOW DO CELLS AGE? Different mechanisms have been described in detail in the medical literature like DNA damage due to inflammatory free radicals, epigenetic changes, shortening of telomeres, deformation of proteins, etc. The effect of diet and nutrition in triggering some metabolic pathways has also been implicated in the process of aging. DNA DAMAGE The information for normal structure, function, and division of cells to produce their progeny is encoded in the form of a collection of nucleotide bases called DNA. Aging is directly related to our DNA. Interestingly, certain genes directly regulate aging, and mutations in such genes can result in premature aging, as occurs in Werner’s syndrome. Remember, any damage to DNA can result in effects on all the components of a cell. A healthy cell is constantly exposed to insults by free radicals which can be produced due to exogenous influence like UV rays or endogenously within the cells. Endogenous free radicals are produced in mitochondria during the process of oxygen consumption called cellular respiration. Their levels are kept in check by anti-oxidative mechanisms. The efficacy of these mechanisms decreases as the cells age, leading to the accumulation of free radicals which damage the DNA. Since these free radicals originate in the mitochondria, mitochondrial DNA is especially prone to getting injured. “LIFESTYLE CHANGES IN OUR DIETS AND HABITS, AND EVEN IN THE WAY WE BREATHE CAN SET UP STALWART WALLS OF DEFENSE AGAINST SUCH INSULTS TO OUR DNA AND OUR CELLS, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE PRACTICE HERE AT HOLISTICLIVEYOUNGER.” There exist certain mechanisms in our body that are responsible for DNA repair. With age, the efficacy of these repair mechanisms decreases. This causes the DNA to go through changes at certain points which we call mutations. An aged cell with such mutations can simply lead to cell death, or worse, to cancer Another mechanism of note is explained by the Antagonistic pleiotropy theory which describes the evolutionary aspect of aging. Pleiotropic genes encode opposing traits. Their favorable effects manifest early in life but they become harmful in later stages of life. By way of natural selection, such genes are selected from the gene pool owing to their beneficial effects in early life; when most people reproduce; which overrules their negative effects in the later stages of life. This is because the survival of the species is naturally more important to us than the survival of individuals, even if it comes at the expense of decreased longevity.⁴ But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Lifestyle changes in our diets and habits, and even in the way we breathe can set up stalwart walls of defense against such insults to our DNA and our cells, and that is exactly what we practice here at HolisticLiveYounger. SHORTENING OF TELOMERES Telomeres are short segments of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degradation and ensure their complete replication. These segments get shortened each time a cell replicates and that eventually results in cessation of replication.² Our bodies have mechanisms to get rid of the aged cells. Continuous cellular replication allows newer cells to take the place of older ones. There is a limit, however, to the number of times a cell can divide, and once that limit is reached, the cells enter a phase called cellular senescence.⁵ These cells continue to wear off with time and, without getting replaced, eventually meet death. There is an enzyme, however, that can prevent this. It’s called telomerase and its job is to maintain the length of telomeres.⁶ It occurs naturally in many stem cells of our body as well as in cancer cells. That is one of the reasons why cancer cells tend to keep on replicating. Most of the cells in our body however lack this enzyme which is why the telomeres on their chromosomes keep on shortening. It may come as a surprise to you but merely changing what we eat, has been proven to be effective in prolonging our telomeres.¹ That opens a way to augment the health and replicative capacity of our cells in a realistic manner. ¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6316700/#:~:text=Telomere%20length%20is%20positively%20associated,28%2C33%2C34%5D DIET AND NUTRITION Paradoxical though it may seem, eating less increases your chances of living longer and healthier lives. The nutrient-sensing mechanisms in our body are governed by certain hormones or substances. Among these are Insulin and Insulin-like growth factor 1.⁷ Researches in mice models indicate that aging is directly correlated to the

HOW TO REVERSE AGE ON CELLULAR LEVEL? Read More »

Author name: NIDAL SAKR

FOOD AS MEDICINE, OR…MEDICINE AS FOOD?

WHAT IS “ORGANIC”?

WHAT IS CHEMISTRY OF EMOTIONS?

WHY “SUPPLEMENTS”?

HOW TO OWN THE KEYS TO YOUR HEALTH?

WHAT IS “GMO”?

HOW TO REVERSE AGE ON CELLULAR LEVEL?

By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies. We use cookies to provide you with a great experience and to help our website run effectively.