Strengthen your body's defences and extend your life by eating the foods you enjoy.
Health, according to the majority of people, is defined as the absence of disease. Many people believe that "if I'm not sick, I'm fine." However, this mindset suggests that our health is passively waiting for anything to go wrong, which it is not. According to William W. Li, MD, a scientist-physician, "our health is an active state 24/7, protected by a series of hard-wired defense systems in the body that are firing on all cylinders, keeping our cells and organs functioning smoothly."
They create a protective shield around your health and activate the cells that repair you from the inside out.
Each of these defence mechanisms is regulated by nutrition, which means that you have control. "When you know what you eat to support each health defense, you can use your diet to preserve health and overcome sickness," says Li, head of The Angiogenesis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting disease through angiogenesis, the body's process of producing new blood vessels.
The five defence systems identified by Dr Li are angiogenesis, regeneration, microbiota, DNA creation, and immunity. Read on to learn how to strengthen each one so that your body can better prevent disease and live a longer, healthier life.
1. Fill your diet with soy, tea, and vegetables for an angio-preventive diet
To live a longer, disease-free life, your body must create a balance between the ability to form new blood vessels (which is essential for wound healing and restoring blood supply in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases) and the ability to keep cellular growth in check—otherwise, you risk developing cancer and other diseases.
Angiogenesis, the natural process of splitting and sprouting new blood vessels, can have a negative effect by feeding the growth of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, and diabetes-related vision loss. Dr Li's mentor, Harvard scientist Judah Folkman, came up with the idea of starving tumors by destroying their blood arteries. "The purpose of an angio-preventive diet is to maintain a healthy state of balance in the body's angiogenesis defense system," Dr Li explains.
According to Li, Soy, black raspberries, tomatoes, tea, pomegranate, and even licorice, beer, and cheese are some of the most beneficial foods for improving your body's ability to starve.
According to Li, Soy, black raspberries, tomatoes, tea, pomegranate, and even licorice, beer, and cheese are some of the most beneficial foods for improving your body's ability to starve cancer and maintain an angiogenesis balance. According to Li, there is increasing evidence of the effectiveness of these foods. "In Asia, those who eat a lot of soy, vegetables, and tea had a lower risk of breast and other cancers."
2. Eat more fish and flavonoids to regenerate stem cells
Our bodies are made up of stem cells found in our organs, bone marrow, lungs, liver, and gut. Their duty is to keep our tissues healthy, repair them, and regenerate them, and what we consume can impact how well they do it.
Fatty salmon, according to Li, is one of the most powerful regenerative foods. He cites studies from the University of Montreal that show a fish-oil-rich diet boosts the creation of stem cells, which are connected to improved circulation in oxygen-depleted muscles. Dark chocolate, black tea, beer, red wine, mangoes, and olive oil are also high in flavonoids, which promote regeneration.
3. Load up on antioxidant-rich foods to protect your DNA
The genetic code of our DNA may be set in stone, but that doesn't mean it's permanent. Environmental factors such as free radicals or the natural ageing process, which shortens the end caps of our chromosomes known as "telomeres," can damage our DNA throughout our lives. The good news is that "some foods can cause DNA to repair itself, while others activate beneficial genes and silence bad ones," Li explains.
You should eat foods that repair and maintain the health of your DNA if you want to live a longer, healthier life.
Foods's high in antioxidant substances such as vitamins A, C, D, E, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and selenium help to enable strong DNA repair and decrease cellular ageing. To refuel, eat spinach, kale, and other leafy greens, carrots, broccoli, oranges, berries, red peppers, lentils, navy beans, eggs, sardines, almonds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, coffee, tea, soy, and turmeric.
4. Use anti-inflammatory foods to activate your immune defence
In one way or another, your immune system is involved in every disease. In some cases, the immune system is weakened and unable to combat infections properly. In other cases, the immune system enters chronic overdrive, resulting in inflammation and, frequently, tissue damage.
Regularly eating the proper foods can help you remain healthier for longer by reducing inflammation and strengthening a weakened immune system. Anti-inflammatory foods such as olive oil, cranberry juice, broccoli sprouts, Concord grape juice, black raspberries, walnuts, licorice root, blueberries, and black raspberries, as well as chilli peppers, can help you strengthen your immune system.
5. Add fermented foods to boost your microbiome
The microbiome, a group of bacteria in our digestive tract, plays an essential function in controlling our immune system. To strengthen our inner ecosystem, it's necessary to consume foods that promote the microbiome while avoiding items that upset the balance of a healthy microbiome, such as refined sugars and artificial sweeteners.
Black, oolong, and green tea are among the finest beverages for maintaining a healthy balance, as they "may enhance beneficial bacteria and decrease bad bacteria." Kiwifruit, sourdough, pumpernickel bread, dark chocolate, fibre-rich beans, and fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, yoghurt, and kefir are just a few of the foods that are good for your stomach.