Your Cart is Empty
That’s a nice title, isn’t it? Unlocking The Aging Process.
But what does it really mean?
If we want to actually increase longevity, actually increase lifespan and overall health and ability during the entirety of that lifespan, then we need to look at some things.
We need to define what we’re talking about and, even more, compare the current “norm” we have grown accustomed to… to what not only can exist, but doesexist in other places today.
Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, loss of muscle, strength and energy, low hormones, brittle bones — these are what many of us think of when we think of aging.
Because that’s just because this is what we’ve become accustomed to seeing.
And that’s the first thing we need to correct. Because the above laundry list does not come from normal aging.
This is abnormal aging.
And it doesn’t have to exist. At least not to the degree that it does in our current society.
A person should be able to live past 100 years old, with high energy levels, strength and mental ability, doing what they want without the need of twenty different drugs to keep them going, and then pass away peacefully.
And not only should that be the case, but in places outside of our “modern world” — called Blue Zones — it is the case. Quite routinely.
And it’s not due to genetics. We know this because when these same people are moved to the modern world, their disease and death rates parallel everyone else’s.
No. Getting older doesn’t have to mean getting weaker, slower, sicker, feebler, or more dependent.
There’s something else at work here.
There are conditions that come with aging. And then there are conditions that accelerate the aging process and bring about the above list of diseases.
And in this series we’re going to cover them: where they come from, how they affect us and what you can do about them.
I’m in my seventies and run the largest alternative health clinic on the planet. I work about 8-10 hours per day, still run in triathlons, have high energy, I’m strong and I’m healthy.
And there’s no reason you can’t be too.
So let’s dive in.
When we look at bad conditions in life, where things are going wrong, there is always a cause. Things don’t “just happen.”
The same is true when we talk about health.
If something is going wrong in the body, there is a reason.
But in the US, and many other places, more and more, we don’t look at the causes of disease, but instead their symptoms. And we address those.
I call this “Disease Management.”
If we’re in pain, that’s a symptom. The pain is a symptom. And it’s caused by something.
We can take a pain killer, which numbs the pain — “manages” the pain, but this doesn’t address the cause of the pain. So when the pain killer wears off, we still have the pain.
When we only address the symptom, and not the cause, the cause doesn’t go away.
Even more, over time, the cause can get worse.
Let’s use an analogy.
Say you have a leak in your kitchen. Water is dripping from the ceiling onto your floor. So you call a repairman.
Now, if he were looking for the cause he would probably look inside the ceiling, or above it. Where is this water coming from? Is it a broken pipe? Is it from the air conditioner? Is it a leak in the roof?
Once he finds where the water is coming from he can seal it off and the drip goes away.
That would be addressing the root cause of the problem. It would be done. We could move on with life.
But what if he didn’t do that? What if he just addressed the symptom?
Well, the symptom is water puddling on the floor.
So he cleans up the water on the floor and puts a bucket under the leak.
Good, no more water on the floor.
But then he tells you that this bucket will need to be emptied regularly. And not only that, but that as he’s an expert in the area, he needs to be the one to do it.
So he charges you for the first visit, and then signs you up for his monthly “bucket-emptying” service.
But wait, the cause of the leak hasn’t been found and addressed. So one day, maybe a day or week or month later, there’s a new drip coming from near the first.
So he increases your bucket “prescription.” Now you have two buckets.
Mold starts to grow on the ceiling where the water comes through.
So he charges you for mold spray that “keeps it under control” so it won’t spread to much, and he sells you some air freshener for the smell.
It gets worse. More water is coming down. Buckets cover the floor. It smells so musty.
So he rents you a powerful fan to blow the air away.
And… eventually the ceiling falls in and you look up at the sky through the hole in the roof that has been there this whole time, steadily growing.
Did you get all that?
It may seem silly, or exaggerated, but now look at the state of healthcare in the US. It’s all symptom based. It’s all about how we can “manage” our conditions.
Type 2 Diabetes? Don’t change your diet to reverse it, instead take insulin for the rest of your life to slow the decay it causes.
High blood pressure? Don’t change your diet, take blood pressure medication to manage it, while simultaneously lowering your hormones and energy levels.
Now, I’m not saying this is never needed. Sometimes it really is.
But can we at least try to find the cause of the situations and address those?
When we look at our body, we’re looking at our house.
If there’s something wrong in our body, that’s a “leak.”
We can find the cause of the leak and fix it so it’s gone, or we can “manage” it, and watch as it gets worse over time.
This is what most of us know as aging, watching our body slows degrade over time, getting worse and worse.
But the thing is, it’s not normal. It’s abnormal.
Most “aging” today isn’t due to our house slowly “wearing out.” It’s due to leaks that have sprung that we don’t then address.
Someone in their sixties with a host of ills or conditions isn’t just “old.”
This is the result of “leaks” that have sprung up over the course of their life which, unaddressed, slowly build up, causing new problems which, also not addressed, cause even more new problems… until we have what we have today.
But it isn’t normal. And it doesn’t have to be this way.
Over the next several weeks we’re going to dive into what’s actually happening here.
What is different in our society vs those where living past 100 in good health isn’t strange?
What are the various causes of abnormal aging?
And what can we do to stop and even reverse it?
We’re going to cover it. So stay tuned.
Giovannucci, E. (2005). Nutritional factors in human cancers. Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 554, 293-303. doi: 10.1007/0-387-24980-9_23
Hu, F. B. (2011). Globalization of diabetes: the role of diet, lifestyle, and genes. Diabetes care, 34(6), 1249-1257. doi: 10.2337/dc11-0442
Jayasinghe, S. U., Jayarajah, U., & Jayasinghe, S. D. (2015). An overview of risk factors for cancer. Journal of Ceylon College of Physicians, 46(2), 42-46.
Mattson, M. P., & Wan, R. (2005). Beneficial effects of intermittent fasting and caloric restriction on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 16(3), 129-137. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2004.12.007
Orfila, C., Lizard, G., & Rousselle, C. (2019). The impact of environmental pollutants on Alzheimer's disease. In Environmental Factors in Neurodegenerative Diseases (pp. 67-82). Springer, Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-14227-1_5
Ozdemir, M. A., Aktan, M., & Kaya, N. (2017). Relationship between aging and kidney disease. Annals of geriatric medicine and research, 21(4), 187-195. doi: 10.4235/agmr.17.0043
Sack, M. N. (2006). Mitochondrial depolarization and the role of uncoupling proteins in ischemia tolerance. Cardiovascular research, 72(2), 210-219. doi: 10.1016/j.cardiores.2006.07.016
Sebastião, E., Chacón-Madrid, K., González-Donoso, R., González-Manzano, S., Rodríguez, C., Porras, A., & Martín, M. A. (2020). The role of oxidative stress in pathological aging and Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 73(3), 797-810. doi: 10.3233/JAD-190711
Toth, M. J., Matthews, D. E., Tracy, R. P., Previs, M. J., & Fareeduddin, A. (2005). Age-related differences in skeletal muscle protein synthesis: relation to markers of immune activation. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 288(5), E883-E891. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00445.2004
Comments will be approved before showing up.
We know about amino acids, hormones, and how different foods affect our ability to build lean muscle, burn fat and stay healthy.
But if we want to achieve maximum levels of energy, recovery, health and performance, and build the most lean muscle, then we need to go down to the cellular level.
After all, our bodies are just one big mass of some 100 trillion cells all bonded together.
How well we're doing is an exact reflection of how well our cells are doing.
And they require a multitude of nutrients and biochemicals, all held in equilibrium, to ensure they can work properly, produce energy, build muscle, and keep our body going.
When these aren't properly balanced we can get headaches, brain fog, low levels of energy, muscle cramps, slower recoveries from workouts, and imbalances in hormones.
But when everything is in place, we have the most powerful you that you can be.
So let’s see how this works.
While Heart Rate measures the amount of beats per minute of your heart, and Resting Heart Rate measures the amount of beats per minute when your body is at rest (not active), Heart Rate Variability measures the natural variation in time between beats.
When we measure heart rate (how many beats per minute), we’re getting a large picture of how the heart is doing. For example, if we’re running or exercising, our heart speeds up. Then, when we’re resting, it slows down.
Before we cover what actually causes Heart disease, I want to cover something that doesn’t, or at least not in the way most people think: Cholesterol.
You’ve probably heard of the Cholesterol Hypothesis.
This hypothesis states that higher levels of cholesterol, particularly LDL Cholesterol, are associated with higher rates of Heart Disease.
To prevent heart disease then, we take drugs known as statins that lower our liver’s ability to produce cholesterol.
This hypothesis has been so deeply ingrained in our understanding of how the body works, that the idea of challenging it is almost laughable. (Even though it’s still just a hypothesis after all this time.)
Mario Corallo
June 10, 2023
And that’s the reason why I’ve taken my health into my own hands.