LegendaryLife Blog

As my plan is to live well over a hundred years by following a very healthy lifestyle full of whole foods, vigorous exercise and lots of mental activities, I found this Ted talk by Dan Buettner rather interesting. Here is the embeded video followed by a summary of the talk’s key points. If you wish, you can read more about Dan here.

Lecture’s key points:

• based off the studies of twin lifespans, it’s been calculated that less than 10% of our longevity is based directly off our genes with 90% being dictated by our lifestyle.
• there is a lot of confusion regarding optimal health and lifestyle choices
• a team of experts visited and studied extensively the lifestyle of populations known to live a long, healthy life with few health complications. These four areas are known as blue zones and include Costa Rica, Okinawa, Sardinia and California
• longevity myth #1: you can’t wish yourself to live longer, no matter how hard you try because we are built to multiply, not live long. Your chances of living to 100 are 1 in 5 000 currently within America.
• longevity myth #2: treatments exist that can slow aging. Our bodies have 35 trillion cells… there is simply too much we don’t understand and that can go wrong to possibly know what works and what doesn’t. These cells are completely replaced every 8 years and each time, genetic and cellular damage occurs which builds up exponentially.
• a 65 year old senior ages 125x faster than a 12 year old child
• the capacity of the human body to sustain your life is about 90 years, slightly longer for woman

• in the highlands of Sardinia, there is a place where old age is a given, with 10x more centenarians than in America! They are also healthy, working and enjoying a vigorous lifestyle. Here, men live older than woman.
• diet consists mostly of plant based and whole foods made and found locally using naturally sourced products high in Omega-3 fatty acids
• they are mostly shepards, so they enjoy an active lifestyle throughout their lives
• they enjoy wine which has 3x the amount of polyphenols than any other type in the world (this is a strong anti-oxidant)
• the older you get, the more wisdom and acceptance you get within the social structure of the Sardinian society
• on the island of Okinawa, in the northern part of the island, the oldest female population can be found
• here they live a long time, die quickly with little health problems in between
• 5x the number of centenarians with a fifth of the cancer compared to America
• they have a mostly plant based diet that consists of smaller calorie dense foods – they stop eating once their stomach is 80% full
• isolation is known to shorten lifespan, so the Okinawans have a system in which they develop lifelong friendships
• American’s have adopted a lifestyle that can be divided into two categories, work and retirement but in Okinawa, there is no word for retirement. They simply live by a motto which means “the reason you wake-up in the morning is ___”
• in America, it’s the 7th Day Adventists found in California which live the longest, the study that the numbers come from tracked 70 000 people for 30 years
• they don’t eat a lot of meat, for 24 hours a week they stop everything and focus onto their social being and doing nature walks

• things that all these “high longevity cultures” have in common
• they all do daily physical activity that isn’t overly strenuous on their body or joints
• they have the right outlook on life and a purpose that drives them on a daily basis, they purposefully slow their lives down to deal with built-up stress
• they all take some “time off” to reflect or to relax on a very regular basis
• they eat food based on what is found around them and it forms the majority of their diet
• they eat mostly plant based foods, a little wine and rarely till they are absolutely full
• they put their families and relatives first in their lives and have strong social contacts
• longevity has no short term fix

The Bottom Line

A long, healthy life is a choice that involves incremental and small proactive steps through ones life.

Before getting surgery done, make sure this guy isn't your surgeon!

With all that has happened in the past few months, a few articles I wanted to write about fell off the screen which I am now salvaging and writing about. Part of living a legendary life is having a body that is enables you to do as you wish.

Background Info

RNCentral.com has some really good advice, straight from front-line nurses who have very thoughtful and first hand experience to save you a lot of money by living healthily. Sickness can be avoided with a good lifestyle including plenty of exercise and a great whole food diet but sometimes, hospitals are a necessity, so here are some tips from Heather Johnson that ensure you leave as healthy as possible.

General Advice

1. Care about your Care

Nobody cares as much about your health as you do (or should). If there are some decisions to be made, make sure you are involved in the process.

2. Ask Questions

There is no such thing as a dumb question, only a dumb answer. If you don’t understand why a procedure, medicine or other things are happening to or around you. ASK!

3. Get YOUR care done by somebody you know!

Doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers are there to HELP you but having somebody you know, such as your own doctor, will make a world of difference in easing your stress levels. Somebody you have a medical relationship with will also have knowledge about YOU that maybe another practitioner doesn’t which may affect outcomes. Always make sure your personal doctor knows you are in a hospital undergoing treatment and feel free to consult with them.

4. Become an open book

No detail is too small or insignificant to be told to a medical practitioner… tell them everything about your health and any conditions you may be suffering from. Knowledge goes a long way towards successful treatment.

5. Become your own expert

If you suffer from a medical condition, make sure YOU become an expert in it. Not only will this help to create informed decisions regarding your care but it also allows you to have an intelligent conversation with your doctor or nurse.

Medications

6. Know and tell your drug history

Every supplement, prescription and over the counter drug you take should be listed along with amounts (quantity / dose) and given to the person caring for you. Drug interactions are a very nasty thing that are avoidable.

7. Allergies

If you got them, be sure to tell!

8. Ask about prescriptions

Your health practitioner will know far more about drugs than you ever will but that doesn’t mean you don’t politely ask them to give you additional details about it which you can then research on your own to learn more about.

9. Don’t over/under dose!

Numbers are usually abstract things but when it comes to medicine, they can have serious consequences if they are wrong even by a decimal point. Be sure to double and triple check all dosing with different people before taking your medicine.

10. Double check your medicine

Don’t assume anything, once you get the medication, open it right away, make sure your name is on the bottle and the dosing is correct. If things look a little odd, point it out!

11. Can you read it?

If you can’t read your doctor’s handwriting, then how do you expect a pharmacist to? Make sure the drug name is clearly legible and be sure to ask him to tell you the name orally as well so the two match.

12. Side Effects are BAD

Every drug, even placebos, have side effects. Make sure you read and understand them before taking medication, prescription or otherwise. If you feel “not right” after taking a medicine, call your doctor right away!

13. One stop pharmaceutical shopping

Most pharmacies now track your prescription history in their computers which also double-check automatically for drug interactions and other possible hazards. Make sure you consolidate all your prescriptions at one pharmacy.

14. Measure

Pills may be easy to use but sometimes medication comes in other forms which aren’t as easy to measure. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if there is an easy way to get the right dosage if your drug is in powder or liquid form. If needed, ask them to show you how to properly administer the correct dosage in front of you.

Surgery

15. Know what is going on!

If you are going for surgery, after educating yourself as to what will be done to you, make sure that those responsible for your care ALSO have this knowledge. If there are complications, you want somebody who knows both YOU and the procedure to make an informed decision on your behalf.

16. Surgery is to be avoided

If you don’t need something done, don’t get it done. Packing-in multiple surgeries in one shot may also sound efficient and possibly save you some coin but it also exponentially increases the risk and damage being doen as well.

17. Deal with specialty hospitals

Some hospitals are well known for certain medical procedures, make sure you go THERE to get your surgery done. For instance, if you have a hernia, try to go to a hospital or clinic that specializes in hernias… the motto of “practice makes perfect” holds very true in the medical field.

18. Know your Surgeon

Is your surgeon specialized in the surgery he or she is about to perform on you? Do they have all the right and up-to-date credentials? These are things that are best known BEFORE surgery than in a recovery room.

19. Know what is going on!

This needs to be repeated, if you don’t know what is going on and your caregiver is in the same boat… you are asking for problems. Educate yourself and your caregiver BEFORE surgery.

20. Deal with specialists

Specific conditions require specific knowledge, if you are about to go under the knife, make sure you deal with specialists and even better, get a second opinion as well if you have any doubts.

21. Mark your body!

It seems the media is full of stories of surgeons amputating the wrong limb, doing the wrong procedure on the wrong patient and even leaving tools of the trade behind. If you are going in for surgery, MARK YOUR BODY with the name of the surgery and if you have two of them, make sure your doctor, with pen, marks the incision area with a EXTRACT / CUT / TIE (etc.) LEFT or RIGHT as well. The last thing you need in surgery is having to do it again because the wrong side was fixed

Hospital Stays

22. Keep yourself up to date!

If you haven’t heard back regarding a test of any kind that was performed on you, make sure you ask and find-out the results. Don’t assume no news is good news… especially in a hospital with overworked and underpaid staff.

23. General Hygene

Wash YOUR hands before you touch any wounds and make sure your health care provider does the same. The last thing you need in a hospital recovering from a condition is to get another one!

24. Freedom! Almost…

You got out of the hospital… GREAT!  But do you know what you have to do to make sure you don’t return? If no, make sure you do. Some conditions require specific treatments to be performed.

25. Assign a caregiver

Sometimes you are unable or unwilling, due to the nature of your condition, to tell a medical practitioner what is going on. Make sure that at least one person in this world knows both you and your condition so they can make decisions on your behalf.

BONUS

Getting sick sucks, going to a hospital sucks even more… avoid both by living a healthy lifestyle, don’t smoke, drink or do too many crazy things in a row.

The Bottom Line

Become your own health advocate!

Source:
25 Tips to Help Protect Yourself from Medical Errors By Heather Johnson

Most peoples bodies look like this building by middle-age... it doesn't need to be this way!

I realize that the word “disease” is thrown around all to easily in this world, usually in order to give people a reason to take yet more pills and medication but I truly believe that aging is actually a disease that is acquired through lifestyle… let me explain.

What is aging and its cause?

Aging is slow, progressive process, caused by cellular degradation, DNA replication errors (mutations) and general “damage” however you wish to define it within a living organism. It cannot be stopped nor reversed but it can be slowed down with proper lifestyle choices. Let me repeat, aging CANNOT be stopped or reversed regardless of how many products out there state otherwise.

What are factors that increase the rate of aging?

There are a number of things one can do to avoid “getting old before your time” and here is a quick list, there are many more but this should give you an idea of what needs modifying in your life to prevent the acquisition of this aging disease.

Stress

Having a crazy, burn the candle at two ends lifestyle is one of the quickest manners to age yourself. Now, there is good stress and bad stress, worrying about your finances is BAD stress while putting stress on your body physically (within reason) is GOOD stress. I have seen numerous studies directly linking stress and aging… this is probably the biggest thing you need to get a handle on within your life… luckily, it’s also the easiest to change in your life. Other things you can do which stress your body include drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking (pick your poison), taking drugs (legal or otherwise within reason) and a host of other mental, physical choices we put ourselves through on a daily basis.

Food

A typical western diet heavy on meats and low on vegetables / fruits is a great way to not only increase your incidence of bowel related conditions but also a great way to stress all your internal organs (BAD stress) leading to pre-mature aging. You ARE what you eat, no if, ands or buts about it and the sooner you realize that every little piece of food you shove in your mouth plays a very active role in your bodies ability to fight disease, stay healthy and do as you tell it to, the better you will be.

Genetics

Genetics is the ONE factor you have relatively little control over, but as Dean Ornish has found, you can actually, through lifestyle, change to a certain extent, your genetic predispositions. Let me repeat, the genes you where born with aren’t necessarily the ones you end up dying with, thanks to lifestyle choices. This is a MAJOR discovery and one that really got me excited, the body renews itself completely every 7 years, take every opportunity to make sure that while this process is occurring that you are smarter, stronger and healthier than the day before.

(see previous article: TEDTalks: Dean Ornish – activity leads to longer, healthier life!)

Acquired Diseases, Viruses and Infections

A very quick way to age and possibly die way before your time is the acquisition of diseases, viruses and infections, no matter how benign, they will play a role in your lifespan. There are extreme virus like the Ebola Virus which has a very bad survival rate once acquired but viruses like AIDS (HIV-1, HIV-2), with proper medication and genetic profile, mean a shortened but not as dramatic “hitting of the brick wall”. You can get a (bacterial) staph infection which quickly goes away with proper antibiotics or get it on your joints (arthritis) which limit your mobility. Basically, acquiring any common or otherwise diseases, viruses or infections do play a role, so try to avoid them if you can.

So why is aging a disease that is acquired?

I think aging is a disease that is acquired through lifestyle choices in that there are two types of aging, natural and unnatural. Natural is the general process of aging, unnatural is doing such things as watching TV all day on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips. There is nothing natural in eating artificial foods, our bodies are NOT made for it anymore than living a sedentary life is… these are completely unnatural things for us to do and this is how we acquire unnatural aging along with the diseases they play a very large role in developing. The only reason many people are able to live such a long time while abusing their bodies is due to the medical advances that have come with living in a modern civilization… otherwise, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of older folks keeled over on a more regular basis. Our bodies are made to run, hunt, seek and discover, not sit around waiting for our next meal to come out of microwave.

The Bottom Line

Aging is a disease if brought upon by bad lifestyle choices.

Well, it has been one month now since I completely stopped using toothpaste, my oral hygiene regimen of rinsing my mouth with baking soda / salt twice a day followed by brushing my teeth with plain water twice a day seems to have actually IMPROVED things!

Stumbling upon a far more effective alternative to mouthwash

I use to use mouthwash but it seems that, after a few hours, the “ickiness” would always return and overnight, well, in the morning I felt like I had drank from a swamp the night before. All those chemicals moving around in my mouth also don’t inspire much confidence considering all the health issues people are having later in life due to environmental and lifestyle choices followed over a lifetime. There HAD to be alternatives, I read a few online articles a few years back and stumbled upon the “salt” rinsing. It’s quite easy, fill a 1/2 cup of hot water and mix in about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking soda. The result? Well, the best damn mouthwash you can ever have at a fraction of the price of what is being “marketed” as the best. Throw the rest into an oral irrigator and your mouth will be as clean as an emergency room floor (before the patient comes in of course).

Toothpaste, for all it’s wonders, is actually rather useless

I was brought-up being “marketed” by dentists and businesses that if I don’t use toothpaste, my teeth would fall-out and gingivitis was just around the corner… what a bunch of BS! Standing-up to commercial forces even in the face of conventional wisdom is actually a fantastic habit to have! Most of toothpaste ingredients are geared towards polishing, considering it’s thrown-out a few seconds after being “applied”, it makes you realize how either incredibly potent (ei: dangerous) or useless it really is. Consider toothpaste is a rather recent invention, I can safely say that it isn’t worth the status it has been given.

Results after one month

After one month of the no-toothpaste lifestyle, my gums have went from a slight redness along the gum-line to pink! My mouth always feels fresh and clean even after a meal or a few hours of heavy exercise. Even better… “tartar build-up” is gone and my teeth are actually WHITTER! What can I conclude? Well, I wish I started this regimen 30 years ago! It has saved me money and proven incredibly effective! Before you ask your dentist about following this regimen, realize that he or she, although a professional, is still being marketed rather heavily by companies that want you to use their oral products. Try this regimen for a month, go see your dentist, ask them if they see (or you feel) a difference THEN tell them what you have done!

Is Listerine environmentally friendly?

I have nothing against Listerine or other products but when a far more effective (and cheap) method exists that is environmentally friendly, why are we being marketed bogus junk? Just think of the chemical and logistical footprint that a simple product like Listerine has on the environment? A lot of wasted energy to produce an inferior product… that is mass-produced and marketed as THE BEST when it really falls rather short. I have no qualms about the “chemicals” in my salt/baking-soda mouthwash but who knows the long-term ramifications of the chemicals found in most toothpastes and mouthwashes these days. I think our governments have truly failed us on so many levels, it’s astonishing how much of our daily lives are influenced on a subconscious level by marketing whose focus is on profits rather than co-existing within our environment.

The Bigger Issue: The government doesn’t care

If the government really cared about our health, things such as alcohol, junk food (including TV diners), tobacco products… the list goes on, would simply not be available for consumption much less marketed to us on a daily basis. If the government really cared about the environment, mass-production of useless products when environmentally friendly alternatives existed wouldn’t be profitable. If the government really cared about it’s citizens, it would put a higher priority on physical education (government run gyms, school programs etc) instead of promoting a lifestyle of stagnation. Governments are there to help guide a population regardless of economic considerations but this sadly has changed where financial considerations have a higher priority than of the people it “should” be representing.

The Bottom Line

Only by standing-up against conventional wisdom can truth be discovered.

I was recently contacted by the Nursing Online Education Database to review an article they had written titled “50 Tiny Health Habits that Can Save You Big Money (And Add Years)” and I must say I agree with most of what I see. Just to clarify, I have no formal medical training, I am simply a person with many passions and one of them is spreading the word about the very big advantages of a healthy lifestyle!

Article Summary

It’s a known fact that people following a healthy lifestyle throughout your life, though you are never too old to start, save a fortune in medical expenses and lessen or even completely avoid a host of diseases that strike us mortals. Most importantly, a healthy lifestyle will add QUALITY YEARS to a limited lifespan.

Bad habits to avoid or stop immediately: Smoking, drinking, unhealthy snacking, promiscuity, tanning, nail bitting, drug abuse (including caffeine), leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating too fast.

Good habits to have: take vitamins, drink plenty of water, avoid sleep deprivation, exercise, avoid second-hand smoke, eat breakfast, eat your vegies, wear sunscreen, wear good shoes, stretch and floss regularly.

How to de-stress yourself: maintain a good posture, relax your jaw, get some sun, meditate, take your time when eating and most importantly, take a break!

Avoiding those evil diseases: wash your hands, drink green tea, eat fish, drink milk, scrape your tongue, eat a high fiber diet, wash your kids toys regularly, clean your sheets and towels and throw kitchen sponges away!

Invest in yourself: get tested for STDs, become best friends with your dentist, replenish your beauty products, get a flu shot, buy generic, don’t share (toothbrushes, shavers etc), save your money (in an account), avoid the junk food, go to the gym.

Personal habits that help: know your families medical history, accept your mortality, cook for yourself, find somebody to share your life with (no matter how brief) and push yourself to become more then you think you are capable.

My review of key items on this list

Overall, I think this is a great article, Laura knows what she is talking about! Some things I don’t completely agree with while others I believe need to be re-enforced.

Promiscuity

Here is a scary fact repeated many times but needs to be said again, a full 1/4 of Americans are walking around with an STD, whether they realize this or not, yes, that may include you (reading this now). This can range from HPV to AIDS and everything in between. Some are incredibly nasty while others are relatively benign, but an STD is an STD no matter how you describe it. Entering “morals” into the equation as to why promiscuity is “bad” is best left to religion, not the medical community in my opinion.

Drug Abuse

I have had first hand experience with the evils of drug abuse with both of my sisters, one of which died as a result. What I can tell you is that countries who behead drug pushers and traffickers are right on… people who make a profit off other peoples misery deserve no less a reward. The irrational and extreme mood swings, exponential aging and the breakdown that drugs cause within a family are incalculable. I am talking about hard drugs but I also saw my grandfather slowly die due to a life of smoking cigarettes. Drug abuse isn’t just the hard stuff, but any type of drug abuse, from smoking to prescription drugs can only spell problems in your later years.

Daily vitamins

So far, there have been NO studies out there supporting the use of vitamins or multi-vitamins, not one. If you eat a whole, balanced diet, multi-vitamins are not needed for a healthy life. That being said, I take a multi-vitamin twice a day, there may be no proof that it works, but I consider it an insurance policy as I can’t turn back the “health clock” within my body should such a study come out. There is A LOT of hype regarding the vitamin industry, buy the cheapest ones that have everything including the kitchen sink in them… multi-vitamins should be following this shot-gun approach for maximum effectiveness.

Exercise

Walking, running and climbing stairs has been shown to NOT BE ENOUGH. Any exercise regimen must include weight training. Why? Well, unlike running and general cardio-vascular exercises, which are great… weight training increases your muscle mass (promoting fat loss), keeps your body tones and stimulates your central nervous system including an optimization of your neuro-muscular pathways. Why is this important? Well, these all decline with age and lack of use, get them optimized when you are young and their degradation will happen at a slower rate.

Wear Sunscreen

I realize both sides of this argument but I do not wear sunscreen but when I go outside, I always have a hat, long sleeves (even in the summer) and avoid the sun during its peak hours, roughly 11am till 3pm. Sunscreens are effective but for me, they cannot replace common sense. If you go to a beach and spend a few hours in the sun, absolutely wear sunscreen but for daily activities like walking a dog… I consider this a waste of money and time.

Floss

I have to be honest, I don’t floss… what I do instead is put half a cup hot water, mix it with a heaping tablespoon of salt, a pinch of baking soda and wash my mouth with this at least once or twice a day. Why? Well, I believe it’s far more effective then flossing, not only does the salt get under the gum-line and between teeth but it also promotes blood flow. More importantly, this KILLS every bacteria and virus that may live in your mouth. I still brush my teeth of course, but since I have followed this regimen a few years ago, morning breath, tartar build-up and icky mouth feelings dissapeared! Kill them all and nothing is left to do you harm is my philosophy regarding oral care.

Drink Milk

You know what, I don’t agree with this what-so-ever. Where do cows get their calcium? Plant materials. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables will give you far more calcium then any glass of milk could ever hope to do. I believe the marketing of milk has been detrimental to the healthy eating habits of most people, they assume wrongly that milk is the only or BEST source of calcium on the planet, which it is not. Most milk is mass-produced by boosted cows and guess what, this stuff leaches into your milk. I use milk for recipes and that is the extent of my use for this substance.

Wash your kids toys

Before you rush-out and buy some cleaning chemicals, get yourself a steamer, they cost almost nothing and are by far more friendly to your child’s body. Using steam will kill everything, doesn’t produce environmentally damaging chemicals and is a far cheaper method of cleaning.

Replenish your beauty supplies

I think women are at their most beautiful when they wear NO make-up. I believe that the entire fashion and cosmetics industry is a farce that essentially tells women that they are ugly unless they SPEND MONEY on their stuff to look great. Sorry, but a healthy lifestyle will do far more good then any of this garbage will ever do. Preying on self-esteem of woman in order to gain access to their pocket book is just plain evil in my opinion.

Accept your mortality (embrace your age)

Love the skin you’re in, age gracefully and embrace your age sound nice but I disagree. The moment you accept this, in my opinion, is the moment you accept the inevitable that you can do little to nothing to FIGHT aging. I work hard at the gym to extend my lifespan and slow the aging process (the eye candy is a bonus) but you won’t see me ever sitting around saying “wow… I have really aged… great!”. Aging is a battle that I realize I cannot win but that doesn’t mean I will stop trying!

The Bottom Line

Great article… hopefully this gets other to take their health seriously!

Buzvia: 50 Tiny Health Habits that Can Save You Big Money (And Add Years)