I saw an interesting slide show today on the Top Doctors Labs Facebook page.  The opening slide said Your beauty is not in question, your health is.  I then entered the term anti-aging into the Google search engine and there were thousands of hits for anti aging this or that for the face, but very few for anti aging in relation to health.  And in the top ten were 7 of mine from this blog. 

Although my blog is titled anti-aging gastronomy, it is really about the positive effect alkaline producing foods have on the human body, namely the prevention of chronic disease.  Or, inversely, it is about reducing the amount of inflammatory foods consumed, foods that promote chronic disease.

For those of you who are new to my blog, I am going to repeat my introduction and explanation to the philosophy in which I believe very strongly, that is---inflammation is the cause of chronic disease.  Although my field of expertise is not medicine, and I have been told by my personal physicians that “there is no scientific evidence that supports that”, there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that does.   So, here is a repeat of my first post, from 23 days ago.

If you are reading this journal, I assume that you have the same interest as I have in the benefits

of eating foods that keep us young.  Sounds simple, but it is not.  The aging process is the replication of cells.   Cellular aging was once described to me in this way.   Think of your favorite photograph, a self portrait of you at your best.  Now make a photocopy.  You can see that it is not exactly as perfect as the original.  Now take the copy and make another copy.  You can see this one is even less perfect than the second one.  The sharpness dulls, the contrasts lessen.  Now take that copy and make another copy and so forth and so on.  That is what happens to our cells as they replicate.  So, you can see that if we cause them to become damaged or imperfect, as they replicate, the damage and imperfections are magnified time and again.   That is why at fourteen years old we are well and physically fit eating a diet of hamburgers and fries, but at forty years old, not so much.  

I am a writer of songs, screenplays, poems and novels.  And, although I have never been published or produced, it is not that I am not good at it, it is that I choose to live a life which excludes networking and living within the culture of similar writers, producers and others.  So, as a substitute I have turned my creativity to food and with a dollop of scientific inquiry I have arrived at a place in my life where I long to share what secrets I have learned to the benefit and longevity of mankind.  Oh, I am also a chef!

In the next 57 days I am going to eat my way to the best health I can be.   I have started and stopped this journey a number of times, having a specific goal, but never quite making it, as life often happens to interfere.  I have in the last four years, shed 40 pounds, rid myself of joint pain and  swollen fingers and feet,  reduced my glucose from 109 to 85, lowered my cholesterol to normal levels, reversed hypothyroidism, and eliminated those pesky so called “age” related symptoms such as short term memory loss, dry skin and hair loss.   Now I am going to attempt the last lap.   My final goals are simple, using the anti aging gastronomy that I have developed, I am going to lose the last 15 pounds and be totally free from all pain.

Four years ago my medical history described me as pre obese, pre diabetic, pre hypertensive, pre high cholesterol, pre hypothyroid and pre…    I was suffering from symptoms of non specific origin (although my physicians were quick to assign labels such as adult onset diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypothyroidism, adult onset asthma, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and pseudo gout ), symptoms that included swelling in knees, fingers and ankles, and muscle pain that “moved” from neck to upper back, lower back, hips, knees, and ribs.  I had extreme fatigue, chronic sinusitis, hair loss, dry skin, occasional short term memory loss (searching for forgotten words), prone to skin infections that sometimes abscessed and my weight had ballooned out of control.  I had none of these problems in my past history.  Always the skeptic, I rejected my physician’s offer of pharmaceuticals and glib assessment that my symptoms were due to my age.  And luckily took the advice of my wise and learned chiropractor who gently but persistently advocated for nutrition as a remedy.   I thank God every day that I decided to listen to my chiropractor and put my trust in food.  Her advice started me on a path to wellness.

Assuming that my chiropractor was correct when she suggested that my symptoms were the result of an inflammatory process, consuming too many inflammatory foods, I read everything I could find on the internet and at the library, on the relationship between pain and inflammation until I was convinced that inflammation was, in fact, the reason for my ill health.  Next, I read everything I could on the relationship between food and inflammation, food and pain, food and arthritis, food and diabetes, food and cellular aging.  I knew that if I was going to feel well again, the remedy had to be at the cellular level. 

 It didn’t take long to see the connection between my years of feasting on the western diet of meat and bread, meat and pasta, pasta and cheese and cheese and bread and my burgeoning weight, but it didn’t explain why the downward spiral of my health now and not at a younger age until I understood the process of cell replication that I have already explained.    I was convinced that my adult onset symptoms were in fact the result of years of consuming inflammatory foods even when I thought I was “dieting”.   Based on the philosophy that foods that are alkaline producing are anti inflammatory and those that are acid producing are inflammatory, I embarked on a dietary change that lead to the successes I have already described.  Now it is time for the final leg of my journey to be as well as I can be.

Acid producing food and alkaline producing food should not be confused with acidic such as a lemon is acidic.  The ph is determined by burning (similar to metabolizing) so it is not something you can assume, but can only get from a scientific table of tested foods.  You want to keep your body on the alkaline side to avoid inflammation.    The difficult part is creating interesting, flavorful, and feel good meals without the use of many of our favorites from our western diet.  For example, a hamburger patty and bun is 100% highly acidic.  Spaghetti and meatballs is 100% highly acidic as is pizza with pepperoni.   I was raised in an Italian/Scottish household where pasta of some kind was served almost every day unless we were eating beef and barley soup.  What is the food group with the highest acidic forming rating?  Grains!  What is the meat with the highest acidic forming rating?  Beef!  This created a challenge for me. 

The meals do not have to be 100% alkaline producing to have a profound effect.  I found that as long as I maintained a proportion of at least 60% of the meal to be alkaline forming, I was successful.   Most of the time, the plate was 75% alkaline and the rest slightly acidic.  It is not a matter of either or, but how alkaline or acidic producing as well.  For example, lemon and watercress are extremely high alkaline producing, while blueberries are alkaline producing but not as high as lemons.  So, knowing that, there are little tricks to having your cake and eating it too, so to speak.  If I want to have a glass of red wine which is acidic, I add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and throw in the lemon too. 

I have an idea that I can make a difference to the community in which I live.  I have found the upstate South Carolina to suit me well, so much so that I would like it to be the location of the first “eat smart” restaurant serving anti aging food which I am marketing as anti aging gastronomy.  The restaurant will offer the community an alternative to meat and bread and deep fried foods, a menu offering a higher proportion of anti inflammatory food choices.  It will also be a teaching kitchen, a place where those who share my philosophy can learn to prepare foods for an anti-inflammatory or anti-aging diet and an incubator for other food industry entrepreneurs who need help getting a start.    

I have been working for over a year to raise the other half of the funding that I need to open Beyond the Bull.   The name Beyond the Bull was chosen for several reasons.  First, the ingredients go way beyond beef.  It won't be missed, I promise.  Second, when you step inside, you must leave all the bull*** out on the sidewalk.  Third, as my culinary mentor and favorite instructor once told me, I wear my emotions on my sleeve so what you see is what you get---no bull.  Last, I am a huge fan of the equities market and have always been way beyond the bull.  And besides, it makes for a great logo!  The location is chosen, the plan is ready, the alliances have been made.  Anderson, SC could be the first restaurant in the nature to offer anti aging gastronomy.  If you want to learn more about Beyond the Bull and its progress, go to http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/97093?a=559839 .

Tomorrow’s menu Day 24 

Breakfast:  Poached egg on whole wheat toast, topped with tomato salsa fresca, half grapefruit

Lunch:  Spinach salad with apple cider vinaigrette made with a touch of mustard, black olives, crumbeled bits of hard boiled egg whisked, topped with some hummus and pickled red onion

Dinner:  Roasted bone in skin on, crispy chicken breasts, smeared under the skin with unsalted fresh sage butter, served with whole kernel corn, brown rice (red style with the salsa cooked in),  fresh steamed green beans and a side of cucumber, tomato and flat leaf parsley with lemon

Don’t forget the dried figs, apricots, sunflower seeds, almonds and fresh fruit between meals.  Eat smaller portions more often and don’t forget 6 16 oz glasses of water a day!

Next blog, the eating out nightmare!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Angela B