This is Dr. Colin Rose; he is a Senior Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine. He’s also a main contributor to EduScience, a programme funded by the E.U. which is designed to enhance the teaching and learning of science in schools in Europe.

His most recent work has been about aging—and how to delay it. We also reviewed his latest book, here:

Delay Ageing – by Dr. Colin Rose

So, what does he want us to know? The key lies in his compilation of ten ways in which we age on a cellular level, and what we can to do slow each one of those:

Damage to DNA accumulates

While DNA can get damaged without any external stimulus to cause that, there are a lot of modifiable factors that we can do to reduce DNA damage. The list is easy: if it causes cancer, it causes aging.

Thus, check out: Stop Cancer 20 Years Ago

Cells become senescent

Our cells are replaced all the time; some sooner than others, but all of them at some point. The problem occurs when cells are outliving their usefulness. If a cell becomes completely immortal, that is cancer, but happily most don’t. Nevertheless, having senescent (aging) cells in the body means that those senescent cells are what get copied forwards by mitosis, and our DNA becomes like a photocopy of a tattered old photocopy of a tattered old photocopy. Which, needless to say, is not good for our health. So, the best thing to do is to kill them earlier:

Yes, really: Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin

Mitochondria become dysfunctional

Without properly functional mitochondria, no living human cell can do its job properly.

Options: 7 Ways To Boost Mitochondrial Health To Fight Disease

Beneficial genes are switched off, harmful genes are on

It’s easy to think of our genes as being immutable, but epigenetics means that our environment (amongst other factors) can mean that our gene expression changes.

Imagine it this way: your genes are a set of instructions for your body. However, your body will act or not on those instructions, depending on other factors. Hormones often play a big part in this; for example sex hormones tell the body which set of genetic instructions to read (and thus what kind of body to build/rebuild), and cortisol or oxytocin can tell the body which set of contingency plans to activate or suppress (respectively). A milder example is gray hair; genes have the program for it, but many other factors inform the body when, if, and how to do it.

Of more concern when it comes to aging is what goes on with more critical systems, such as the brain, in which the aforementioned DNA damage can cause unhelpful instructions to get interpreted, resulting in epigenetic changes that in turn facilitate age-related degeneration.

As to what can be done, see : Klotho: Unzipping The Genes Of Aging?

Stem cells become exhausted

Stem cells can become different kinds of cells, and thus they’re very useful for maintaining a healthy body. However, they get depleted with age. We can slow down the rate of loss, though; for example, intermittent fasting can help:

Per Dr. Li’s 5 Ways To Beat Cancer (And Other Diseases)

And for more detail, see:

Doctor’s Tip: Regeneration (stem cells) — one of your body’s five defense systems

(complete with lists of foods to eat or avoid for stem cell health)

Cells fail to communicate properly

Cells need to talk to each other constantly, to continue doing their jobs. We are one big organism, after all, and not a haphazard colony of the countless cells that constitute such. However, cell signalling gets worse with age, which in turn precipitates others age-related problems. Fortunately, there are nutrients that can improve cellular communication.

For example: PS, We Love You ← this is about phosphatidylserine, also called “PS”

Telomeres become shorter

These protective caps on our DNA suffer the wear-and-tear so that our DNA doesn’t have to. However, as they get shorter, the DNA can start suffering damage. For this reason, telomere length is considered one of the most “Gold Standard” markers of cellular aging.

Here’s what can be done for that: The Stress Prescription (Against Aging!)

The body fails to sense nutritional intake properly

This is mostly about insulin signalling (though problems can occur in other systems too, but we only have so much room here), so it’s important to take care of that.

See: Turn Back The Clock On Insulin Resistance

Proteins accumulate errors

This is due to DNA damage, of course, but there are specific things that can reduce protein error accumulation; see for example:

A quick fix – preventing protein errors extends lifespan

See also: Rapamycin Can Slow Aging By 20% (But Watch Out)

The microbiome becomes unbalanced

We at 10almonds often mention that gut health affects pretty much every other kind of health, and it’s true for aging as well. So, take care of that microbiome!

Here’s a primer: Gut Health 101

Want to know more about delaying aging beyond the cellular level?

Check out: Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?

Take care!

Dr. Rupy Aujla: The Kitchen Doctor

This is Dr. Rupy Aujla, and he’s a medical doctor. He didn’t set out to become a “health influencer”.

But then, a significant heart condition changed his life. Having a stronger motivation to learn more about nutritional medicine, he did a deep dive into the scientific literature, because that’s what you do when your life is on the line, especially if you’re a doctor!

Using what he learned, he was able to reverse his condition using a food and lifestyle approach. Now, he devotes himself to sharing what he learned—and what he continues to learn as he goes along.

One important thing he learned because of what happened to him, was that he hadn’t been paying enough attention to what his body was trying to tell him.

He wants us to know about interoception—which isn’t a Chris Nolan movie. Rather, interoception is the sense of what is going on inside one’s own body.

The counterpart of this is exteroception: our ability to perceive the outside world by means of our various senses.

Interoception is still using the senses, but is sensing internal body sensations. Effectively, the brain interprets and integrates what happens in our organs.

When interoception goes wrong, researchers found, it can lead to a greater likelihood of mental health problems. Having an anxiety disorder, depression, mood disorder, or an eating disorder often comes with difficulties in sensing what is going on inside the body.

Improving our awareness of body cues

Those same researchers suggested therapies and strategies aimed at improving awareness of mind-body connections. For example, mindfulness-based stress reduction, yoga, meditation and movement-based treatments. They could improve awareness of body cues by attending to sensations of breathing, cognitions and other body states.

But where Dr. Aujla puts his focus is “the heart of the home”, the kitchen.

The pleasure of food

❝Eating is not simply ingesting a mixture of nutrients. Otherwise, we would all be eating astronaut food. But food is not only a tool for health. It’s also an important pleasure in life, allowing us to connect to others, the present moment and nature.❞

Dr. Rupy Aujla

Dr. Aujla wants to help shift any idea of a separation between health and pleasure, because he believes in food as a positive route to well-being, joy and health. For him, it starts with self-awareness and acceptance of the sensory pleasures of eating and nourishing our bodies, instead of focusing externally on avoiding perceived temptations.

Most importantly:

We can use the pleasure of food as an ally to healthy eating.

Instead of spending our time and energy fighting the urge to eat unhealthy things that may present a “quick fix” to some cravings but aren’t what our body actually wants, needs, Dr. Aujla advises us to pay just a little more attention, to make sure the body’s real needs are met.

His top tips for such are:

• Create an enjoyable relaxing eating environment

To help cultivate positive emotions around food and signal to the nervous system a shift to food-processing time. Try setting the table with nothing else on it beyond what’s relevant to the dinner, putting away distractions, using your favorite plates, tablecloth, etc.

• Take 3 deep abdominal breaths before eating

To help you relax and ground yourself in the present moment, which in turn is to prepare your digestive system to receive and digest food.

• Pay attention to the way you sit

Take some time to sit comfortably with your feet grounded on the floor, not slouching, to give your stomach space to digest the food.

• Appreciate what it took to bring this food to your plate

Who was involved in the growing process and production, the weather and soil it took to grow the food, and where in the world it came from.

• Enjoy the sensations

When you’re cooking, serving, and eating your food, be attentive to color, texture, aroma and even sound. Taste the individual ingredients and seasonings along the way, when safe and convenient to do so.

• Journal

If you like journaling, you can try adding a mindful eating section to that. Ask questions such as: “how did I feel before, during, and after the meal?”

In closing…

Remember that this is a process, not only on an individual level but as a society too.

Oftentimes it’s hard to eat healthily… We can be given to wonder even “what is healthy, after all?”, and we can be limited by what is available, what is affordable, and what we have time to prepare.

But if we make a conscious commitment to make the best choices we reasonably can as we go along, then small changes can soon add up.

Interested in what kind of recipes Dr. Aujla goes for?

Check out his recipe page here!