Jeg blev fornylig spurgt om jeg ville bidrage til et kapitel i min lærer Dr. Serge Augiers nye bog om ‘langt liv’. Han spurgte om jeg kunne skrive hvad jeg forstår ved ‘langt liv’, hvordan jeg selv lever for at få et og hvilke kosstilskud jeg mener kan gøre en forskel.

I bogen, skrevet under Dr. Augiers alias ‘Urbandaoist’ giver han blandt andet sit eget bud på hvad han forstår ved ‘langt liv’ og hvordan man i følge Taoismen anskuer det, hvad det indebærer og ikke mindst hvordan man selv kan bidrage til at få et godt, sundt og langt liv ved hjælp af træning af krop, vejrtrækning og sind.    Det blev til nogle interessante tanker og en del reflektion for min part, før jeg kunne sende mit bud afsted til tryk.

Nedenstående er den tekst jeg sendte. (den foreligger urettet og er på engelsk).

My understanding of health and longevity:

I try to look at health as a positive vitality as opposed to the absence of disease.

Therefore longevity to me is not just about the length of my lifespan but being healthy and able until death. And I do believe that, even with the many unknowns in the equation, we do have a big role in and the ability to increase longevity and health by a number of ways.

I think for the physical part, even there might be overlaps with emotional and psychological wellbeing, that daily training, physical touch and healthy sexual relations are of great importance.

For physical training, I practice Chinese martial arts, as I believe this gives me the best value for money; the ability to defend myself and my family, good stamina and strength, relaxation of mind and body, grounding, coordination and correct and healthy movement of joints, connective tissues and muscles. Not to forget that it’s fun and I get to practice with people with whom I share a brotherhood and passion for life.

I also consider the work of breath very important and my experience is that deep relaxed breathing, done sitting as well as the practice of qi gong which involve conscious and mindful movements, coordinated with the breath are directly related with increased lung capacity, oxygenation of the body and the relaxation/rejuvenation associated with parasympathetic response, all of this resulting in increased vitality and wellbeing.

Meditation, the work of the mind is another area of utmost importance to mental health and clarity. The rewards from meditation in terms of clarity of mind, the ability to concentrate and getting to know my own mind is amazingly great.

Another aspect which is absolutely essential to health and longevity is what we eat. We know the saying ‘you are what you eat’, but that is only half the truth as we are what we eat and can’t excrete. So by eating as clean as possible we can reduce the exposure to pollutants, heavy metals, growth hormones, dioxins etc. which can be found in many conventionally produced foods or foods of poor quality. Exposure can increase the toxic load of the body resulting in overload of the body and in the long run affect health and wellbeing in a negative way.

An additional area being epigenetic influences, what turns on and off certain things? Here a healthy diet can be an effective way to avoid certain negative genes to express themselves.

In my life, I look for balance and often try not to be too rigid about things but when it comes to diet and the impact it can have either positively or negatively, for the most time I do eat rather strict.

In my diet I try to:

• Spare the body of all added sugar – both visible, invisible and artificial
• Eat whole grains – raffined are of no use for the body
• Don’t fear fat – the right fats benefits and slims
• Eat protein of good quality – organic poultry, game and fish. Lamb and beef in moderation.
• Eat legumes, nuts and seeds every day
• Eat plenty organic vegetables, berries and fruits every day – at least 600 g
• Drink 1 ½ liters of clean water, fresh vegetable and fruit juice, green tea or herbal tea every day – if I must have coffee or alcohol, then I go for enjoyment and quality
• Eat regularly – I never skip breakfast, and eat a big lunch and a little less for dinner.
• Eat balanced meals with healthy fats, quality protein, “whole” carbohydrates and vegetables – and of course as organic as possible
• Eat supplements that support and tune up metabolism to increase health and longevity.

Regarding supplements, we can indeed choose to look at single nutrients that might have individual specific longevity roles, such as Resveratrol, but then we should perhaps look at this differently and say what is it that we can do to directly enhance bodily functions and by that indirectly affect longevity with nutrients, and one major aspect has to be inflammation and reducing inflammation throughout the body, both at localised sites but also generally. Another being anti-cancer properties, the catechins of green tea being just one example, also the cruciferous vegetables provide a variety of glucosinolates, in addition to indole-3-carbinol that might play a big role in avoiding cancer.

If we look at protocols that look to reduce pathological threat, then that surely is as important as single nutrients having an impact on longevity. Detoxification, is that an area we should be looking at and if so what should we be considering?

Brain function; what are we looking at to stimulate neurotransmitters, what are we looking for, helping memory cells. How are we looking at dopamine function, can we support the overall dopamine roles and exploring if we by increasing dopamine levels, then would we see a general reduction in for example depression and depressed associations which in turn does impact longevity?

So if I was looking at this task, I would be less inclined to look at individual nutrients although there are certainly some, and more inclined to look at, what is our role in understanding nutritional status to impact a number of mechanisms that reduce length of life.

That being said I do favour certain supplements that will directly or indirectly affect long and healthy living.

The below list is what I consider most important:

• Multivitamin and mineral supplement in good quality with high bioavailability.
• D-vitamin
• Essential fatty acids
• Pro-biotics, the gut friendly bacteria and pre-biotics
• Co-enzyme CoQ10
• 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan)
• Nt-factor (Phospholipids)
• Curcumin
• Green Tea

Med ønsket om et langt og sundt liv!