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So you’ve begun to start a work out regimen in an attempt to help quell the effects of aging.

You’re lifting weights 3-4 times a week, doing some cardio and hoping to preserve the precious muscle you’ve built over the years.

But weight-bearing exercise alone won’t diminish the effects of aging.

Like building a house, the integrity of the structure is only as good as the foundation. And nutrition is the foundation on which your “house” needs to be built.

“By concentrating on your nutrition and having a proper microbiome, you’re getting all the nutrients to slow down the aging process,” said Joe Alvarez, a certified personal trainer, nutrition and lifestyle coach who runs Fitness Profile and an adjunct instructor at Pueblo Community College.

Good fats, quality protein and non-processed carbohydrates are the ingredients to building this foundation and continuing the fight against growing older.

Fighting free radicals

A part of our bodies’ normal processes is the creation of free radicals.

Free radicals are molecules that are missing an electron and have a short lifespan. However, in that lifespan, they steal electrons from other molecules in the body.

These free radicals wreak havoc inside the body when its defenses can’t neutralize them.

“Our natural defense can fight to a point, but, as you get older, your ability to cope with that gets worse and worse, and that’s when you see the effects of aging,” said Rosalie Glenn, nutritional health coach at Natural Grocers and a registered dietician. “More free radicals are produced when you’re in an environment with a lot of pollution or you’re eating a lot of high-temperature fats, like deep-fried stuff.”

But, with proper nutrition, these defenses grow stronger.

Antioxidant-rich fruit and antioxidant-acting vegetables are the best ways to fight the free radicals head-on.

“When you’re eating a rainbow of colors, you’re getting a host of antioxidants to prevent the free radicals from circulating in your body, which can play a destructive role,” Alvarez said. “We want to discourage an aging process by eating the fruits and vegetables that have a plethora of antioxidants.”

Fighting oxidative processes

Glenn compares aging to how a car that is left outside in harsh conditions rusts over time. The same oxidative process happens inside our bodies as we grow older.

Inflammation, free radicals circulating in the body and the taxation of insulin are a few of the ill effects of bad nutrition and not exercising as we age.

“The answer is really simple,” Glenn said. “It comes down to having a . . . nutrient-dense diet.”

Though criminalized for several years by experts and nutritionists alike, fat and cholesterol have recently been seen to not be a leading cause of inflammation, but rather a way to fight it.

“Some of what people are most worried about is fat and cholesterol or salt, because they think it’s going to make their blood pressure go up,” Glenn said. “The reality is that people should focus on a nutrient-dense diet and a concentration of preventing inflammation and oxidative damage.”

By eating fewer processed carbohydrates and upping your intake of good fats, these processes can be weakened.

“Get more into healthy fats like butter, cream or coconut oil,” Glenn said. “These can make up a good proportion of the diet without causing any real cardiac issues.”

Adding high-quality protein is a must, too.

Chad Clark, physical therapist, certified strength and condition specialist and owner of Physical Therapy Connections, has a fairly simple method to determine how much protein one needs.

“Easy math would be one gram for every one pound of body weight,” he said.

Proteins can come from meat, fish and poultry, although they can be plant-based, too.

Alvarez said that grass-fed is key if you’re going the carnivorous route.

“I am a believer of eating meats but with a caveat that it should preferably be grass fed or fish that is wild-caught,” Alvarez said. “Any time you’re eating meats or eggs or poultry, the cleaner it is, the less apt you are to having hormones or chemicals that go into the process of getting these meats to markets.”

Fighting disease

Another key element of anti-aging is staving off disease.

A study done in Australia in which aborigines were moved into the city and lived off a more American Standard Diet showed interesting results once a sample of the aborigines returned to their homes outside of cities.

“They moved to the city and they started to get diabetes,” Clark said. “They moved them back to their natural diet and it reversed completely.”

Whether it’s heart disease, cancer, diabetes or a neurological disease like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS, good nutrition can help slash the risk of getting a disease.

“You stray from a good, solid nutrition program and you’re going to increase your risk,” Clark said. “Even if your genetics say you’re prone to (a disease), if you follow proper balance you’re lowering your percentage of the risk of disease.”

The brain, too, can benefit from good nutrition.

“The brain is made of 60 percent of fat, and a huge amount of cholesterol resides in the brain,” Glenn said. “Blood sugar issues and inflammation are hugely important in the development of Alzheimer’s.”

Adding essential fatty acids can’t help but stave off neurological diseases.

“There’s something called a blood-brain barrier that is kind of the protective piece that keeps stuff that shouldn’t get to your brain from getting in there,” Glenn said. “Having quality fats that support the integrity of your cell walls and blood-barrier — things like coconut oil (are) huge in that respect, as is having enough cholesterol in your diet to help your brain.”

Good for the gut

Probiotics and prebiotics also aid in fighting the aging process.

Both Alvarez and Glenn suggest eating a mixture of fermented foods to help the digestive process.

“The gut is so crucial, it really governs what happens in your body,” Glenn said “Eating fermented foods, like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha and whatever else you have in your repertoire with fermented fruits.”

“You’re only as good as what your body can digest,” Alvarez said. “So if you don’t have a good integrity in your gut, then the foods that you bring in won’t be digested as well. By eating these foods, you’re getting good, friendly bacteria.”

These bacteria can stave off diseases throughout the body and help other processes, thus helping the fight against aging.

Preserving muscle

Beauty is said to be skin deep, and there certainly is an aesthetic piece to aging. By preserving and building muscle, you can look younger.

“We’re going to age,” Clark said. “So it’s almost trying to age gracefully or aging so you can still look young. That’s how nutrition helps. You won’t look like you’re getting old.”

But Clark said there’s a functional part that happens, too.

He’s seen this in clients who eat good protein and stay active. Older clients are much more able to do everyday activities, like getting up from a chair and walking longer distances, while sticking to a good health regimen.

“If someone looks pretty bad on the outside, you’re going to guess things aren’t that great on the inside,” he said. “But, if you look good on the outside, inside you’re going to age gracefully. You’re going to keep muscle mass.

“I don’t know that we’re slowing it down, but we’re making it better.”

Glenn knows firsthand that proper nutrition can stave off the ill effects of aging.

Two years ago, the now-62-year-old won the Women Over 60 category in the CrossFit Games.

“Food goes hand-in-hand with the weight training part of it,” she said. “The bottom line is, good health habits through a lifetime is the biggest piece of what keeps you from showing your age.”

Source: Proper nutrition can help you look and feel younger | Pueblo Chieftain

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Nutrisattva is a protein innovation company focused on developing natural protein nutrition for individuals across age groups, nutritional needs, and lifestyles. Founded on the belief that the strains of urban living requires a natural, informed and convenience-based approach to good health, Nutrisattva develops products built on the knowledge of nutrition science, fitness and Ayurveda.