While aging is inevitable, aging gracefully is the result of a focused effort to keep harmful substances out of our bodies, and to put great ones in.
There are many things in life that we cannot control, but it is best to take the time and energy to focus on the ones that we can control. If you desire your journey through aging to be filled with wonderful health, including a sharp memory and great physical health, keep these seven dangerous things from polluting your body.
Fast Foods
They are so tempting, aren’t they? Nothing smells better than that hot apple pie or that carton of hot french fries. However, they are not friendly foods; they provide nothing of value, especially to an aging body. Fast foods speed up the aging process, cause hardening of the arteries. They also pollute the body with free radicals and disrupt hormonal balance.
Pharmaceutical Drugs
Some drugs get in the way of the body healing itself. Drugs are not disease healers, they are symptom maskers and often create dangerous conditions within the body. Because they are difficult to metabolize, the body expends great energy trying to break them down. This puts a tremendous strain on all organs.
Most drugs create pro-aging side effects and damage the stomach and liver. Once the liver is compromised, detoxification is also compromised and more and more free radicals are left floating around, which accelerates aging. If at all possible, try to find a way to encourage the body to heal itself rather than making pharmaceutical drugs your first choice.
Sugar
We cannot say this enough: sugar is evil. It is bad for the teeth, bad for the body, bad for the brain and of no value whatsoever to the body. Refined sugar is the most degenerative food there is. Commercial sugar, found in most processed foods, is pure carbon and forms carbonic acid in the body.
Carbonic acid is a toxic substance which has to be neutralized by minerals. The more sugar we eat the more minerals we waste on this process. Sugar puts tremendous strain on the adrenal glands and promotes fungal growth, yeast and obesity, which all promote premature aging. Sugar also feeds cancer cells and increases the risk of getting breast and colon cancers.
Shockingly, the average American consumes over 125 pounds of sugar each year. To break the sugar addiction, try abstaining from sugar for a few weeks straight – after you get over the hump, your body will no longer crave the deadly substance.
Heavy Metals and Plastics
There are many sources of heavy metals including canned food, tap water and mercury amalgam fillings. Heavy metals settle in the body and encourage degenerative diseases.
An example is antacids and aluminum foil, both of which can cause a buildup of aluminum in the body. Aluminium has been linked to diseases such as Alzheimers. The most common heavy metals found in the human body are mercury, lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium.
Plastic packaging can cause severe hormone disruption which is related to hormone-driven cancers and infertility. Avoid using plastic wrap if you can. Instead, choose glass containers with lids for your leftovers. If you must use plastic wrap, be sure that it does not touch the food.
Cigarettes
Smoking one pack of cigarettes per day will add eight years to your biological age. According to the Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking causes one in five deaths in the United States. Cigarette smokers, on average, die 14 years earlier than non-smokers. The good news is that if you discontinue smoking you can gain back five of those years.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/
http://www.promolife.com/cart/health-articles/detox-articles/heavy-metals-bodys-time-bomb
