In chapter 2 of this report, we looked at the different forms of degeneration and the diseases they cause. Now let’s talk about what needs to be done to slow down degeneration.
Chapter 3: Ageing young
Obstructing the various degenerative processes inevitably involves taking targeted action to improve the body’s state of functioning, by encouraging the drainage of accumulated toxins and energy recovery. Let’s look at how to go about it!
1- Preserving the excretory organs
Toxins asphyxiate cells, impairing their function and causing internal and external damages. To protect itself and prevent an excessive build-up of toxins, the body must eliminate them. The major excretory organs (liver, kidneys, lungs) play this essential role. As soon as one of them weakens too much, toxins accumulate dangerously, leading to the appearance of various disorders and a rapid deterioration in health. The excretory organs are a major key to ageing well.
People who age in good health preserve their excretory organs. Their diet is adapted to their digestive capacity and is generally frugal. It is sometimes punctuated by light periods or fasting.
2- Adopting an anti-inflammatory and hypotoxic diet
Diet is very important in effectively combating degeneration and preventing recurrence. If it is properly and rigorously planned, spectacular improvements can be achieved. A favourable diet is one that limits exposure to toxins and helps to reduce the body’s inflammation levels. It also saves energy during digestion and protects the digestive organs.
Anti-inflammatory” and “hypotoxic” foods are terms that are being used more and more. But what do they really mean? How can you tell if your diet is hypotoxic and anti-inflammatory? It’s hard to make sense of all the different ways of eating that are supposed to combat inflammation. I suggest you put the human being, and more specifically you as an individual, at the centre of your thinking.
Protein and kidney weakness
Chronic kidney disease affects 3 million French people. The number of people with chronic renal failure is increasing by 5 to 7% a year. Protein consumption is one of the major causes. It is often only mentioned once the degeneration has set in.
Fear of protein deficiency is widespread. The usual incentives have something to do with it. The average protein intake is 1.35 g per kilo of body weight (g/kg). Protein intake should not exceed 0.6 g/kg.
Excess protein is useless and even dangerous. The human body cannot store it. It relies on the liver and kidneys to convert it into energy and eliminate the toxins produced by this process. Excess protein causes the large excretors to age more quickly.
A hypotoxic diet provides the body with as few toxins as possible. It must contain low levels of pollutants (pesticide residues, medicines, food additives), toxic or unusable substances from food processing and cooking, and toxins that come directly from food. But all this is not enough to make a diet anti-inflammatory.
An anti-inflammatory diet should help the body to manage inflammatory phenomena more easily, whether or not they are already present. Above all, it should help prevent chronic inflammation. It’s your body that will tell you whether your diet is favourable or not. Here are 3 key rules for a healthy diet:
No good health without good digestion
As the central organ of our health, the intestine acts as a protective barrier or a gateway to disease. Digestive heaviness, drowsiness after meals, bloating, acidity, gastric burning, abdominal pain, diarrhoea or constipation, abundant or foul-smelling flatulence are signs that, when chronic, indicate a digestive situation that is becoming pathogenic.
1/ Digest well:
Even the best food in the world, if poorly digested, sooner or later leads to chronic inflammation. Good digestion protects your intestine, your immune system and your excretory organs.
2/ Frugality:
A light, frugal diet is easier to digest. It also puts less of a metabolic strain on the body. Frugality is known to improve the state of health of both animals and humans and increase the length of life in good health.
3/ Respecting digestive capacity:
Digestive capacity depends on tolerance to different foods, energy levels and the working order of the digestive organs. Regular consumption of a food that you can no longer tolerate or that you digest poorly will inevitably drag you down.
3- Fasting
Fasting is an excellent way of keeping the body in good health, and is probably the most powerful way of reversing the progression of various degenerative diseases.
Hippocrates already used it as a major element in helping his patients to heal. Numerous scientific studies have explained the mechanisms of fasting. In 2016, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded for work that led to a better understanding of one of the fundamental mechanisms expressed during fasting: autophagy.
Fasting considerably speeds up the elimination of toxins and tissue repair. In this way, the body is rejuvenated. However, it is not a magic wand. The regeneration time required varies according to the type of degeneration. And when the deterioration is too advanced and irreversible, the organ in question will not be able to recover its normal state of function, despite regeneration of the rest of the body.
Which fast is best suited to each type of degeneration?
- Intermittent fasting is very interesting for maintenance. It has positive effects on elimination and clogging diseases. The extent of the benefits depends on the daily duration of the fast and, above all, the meals eaten during the day. A diet which involves a great deal of digestive work and high insulin production limits the potential for improvement induced by intermittent fasting.
- Weekly fasting is a maintenance and preventive fast. It is not frequent enough to bring about real regeneration. An interesting dynamic is really set in motion to reduce elimination and clogging diseases from 2 days of fasting or less food per week.
- Fasting for 5 to 7 days allows the body to undergo a major cleansing. The elimination of toxins can become very intense when the body is heavily clogged. Fasting is very effective for elimination diseases, as long as the organs are not too badly damaged. For very clogged organisms, it is necessary to repeat several one-week fasts. When organ damage is already present, a longer fast should be considered. Between fasts, maintaining a biodynamic lifestyle helps to maintain the benefits obtained.
- Fasting for 10 to 20 days helps to restore damaged organs. Once the excess accumulated toxins have been sufficiently reabsorbed, the body enters a phase of organic repair. The elimination diseases still present regress and disappear. It is during this phase that the regression of clogging diseases is the most spectacular. And it is at this stage that very interesting results begin to appear for diseases caused by a deterioration in the circulatory system. Immune disorders can also be alleviated when they are induced by the body’s state of clogging. If they are mainly caused by the emotional state, improvement is much more uncertain.
- Long fasting, beyond 3 weeks, works on problems of emotional origin such as certain cases of obesity or auto-immune diseases, and on in-depth rebalancing.
The frequency and duration can be adapted according to the type of degeneration, the state of the body and the individual’s capabilities. In all cases, you need to prepare for your fast properly, without trying to go too fast, and you need to be accompanied by a specialist or be well-informed so that you know what you are getting into. Certain illnesses, resulting from major deterioration, will require several fasts for in-depth renewal.
If you can’t fast, either physically or mentally, or for lack of time, you can take a revitalisation cure. The principle is also to rest the digestive system with a very light diet. For example, a vegetable juice cure, a varied mono-diet or a diet based on fruit and vegetables. These cures help you to approach a lighter diet more calmly and prepare you for a future fast.
Healthy ageing thanks to autophagy
Autophagy means “eating oneself”. Autophagy is a normal biological protection and recycling mechanism. Cells have a programme for eliminating and replacing defective cells or cellular organs, through a process of digestion that takes place within the cells themselves. This is cellular cleansing.
Autophagy keeps organs young and prevents the development of various degenerations. It is necessary for the body to function properly. It is particularly active when the body is living on its reserves, for example during a fast, and is slowed down by copious and/or frequent food intake, especially of glucose and proteins.
4- Getting enough rest
Many people cannot conceive of a day without being in constant activity from morning to night. Rest is lost. It’s frowned upon!
Rest is a great renovator. It is during the night that the body cleans itself and recovers best.
People in France sleep between an hour and an hour and a half less than they did 50 years ago, and the quality of sleep has deteriorated. Insufficient sleep creates an energy deficit and prevents the body from compensating for the day’s activities. When I was doing competitive sport, I learnt one essential thing: recovery is part of training and it conditions performance.
To get enough rest:
– Avoid prolonged exposure to screens, especially in the evening.
– If possible, go to bed before 10.30pm.
– Don’t neglect naps (and even micro-naps) and moments of relaxation during the day.
5- Breathing in the joy of life
Too often we think that health is only a matter of what we eat. Our state of mind is just as important as what is on our plate. Healthy older people tend to have a dynamic mood.
Our thoughts influence our hormone, immune and energy levels. Feeling good whenever possible, wherever we are, whoever we are with and whatever activities we do, maintains a physiological state conducive to good health. Here are some tips for feeling the joy of life:
– Have a passion;
– Have goals;
– Look at the glass half full (and not half empty);
– Don’t try to control everything;
– Help others in a selfless way;
– Identify what you have achieved and shared during the day;
– Doing activities that you enjoy, that nourish you internally and calm you down.
Reconnecting with yourself
What are my basic needs? Are they being met? We should all take the time to ask ourselves these questions.
There are many ways in which you can influence degeneration. Do I need to do sport? relax? do something artistic? spend time with people you love? express something verbally?… No one can know exactly what is right for you and no one can do it for you.
Reconnecting with yourself leads to personal fulfilment. It’s also a fabulous way of gently and effectively resisting degeneration.
The rule is simple: feel good, as often as possible. The trick is getting started…
6- Get moving
Along with rest and food, movement is one of human beings’ fundamental needs. The body functions better with good cardiopulmonary capacity. Physical activity reduces the negative effects of stress and prevents them from accumulating without a period of decompression. It also encourages the circulation of energy throughout the body.
You don’t have to be intensely active, but regularity is essential. Practising Tai Chi or Qi gong gives excellent results. Walking also works.
The 3 golden rules of physical activity :
– Be regular
– Adapt your effort to your recovery capacity
– Resume exercise gradually after a long period of inactivity.
7- Reducing oxidative stress
The king of antioxidants: glutathione
Glutathione is a powerful detoxifier. The other antioxidants are at its service.
Diet is essential and antioxidant supplementation can be useful. But glutathione deficiency reduces the benefits. With age, medication, heavy metals or poor digestion, glutathione supplementation can have spectacular effects.
Oxidative stress is normal. We should not try to suppress it. We need to enable the body to control it effectively using antioxidants.
There are many antioxidants (vitamins A, C and E, beta carotenes, zinc, selenium, polyphenols, etc.). Almost all of them come from food. But the human body also produces some, the most important of which is glutathione.
Antioxidants are found mainly in fruit, vegetables and nuts. Wild plants, aromatic herbs and berries are the foods that contain the most antioxidants. Vegetable juices are a very good natural source of antioxidants for supplementing the diet or consumed as a cure to replace the diet. As a cure, they allow you to fill up on vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, while putting your digestive system at rest and encouraging the drainage of toxins that clog up your body.
