A guru of mine popularized the phrase "antiinflammatory diet". Essentially a whole food mostly plant based diet. It goes with the concept that in the millennium, most disease has at its roots a form of inflammation. I contend that there is more to inflammation than just bad nutrition. I teach my patients that to get back to the "wholeness" of living disease free. In my treatment plans and lectures, I write prescriptions of changes to cosider in solidifying your ability to withstand the challenges that face every decade.
Thinking T
Eating = E
Activity A
You can have good TEA and increase the chances of living until 90-100years old with very little medicines and disease.
You can have bad TEA and allow every bad gene known to the human species to express itself. It doesn't matter that everyone in you family tree has been without illness or early death. Living a full catastrophic life (as John Kabat-Zinn refers to) without remorse will only screw up the brilliant actions found in your DNA to live/fix/avoid danger.
Good TEA consists of;
1-allowing the brain to let go of unnecessary reactions to our environment. When I have patients come to my office for the first time, 50% will have an elevated blood pressure and state they don't like doctors. This is probably an evolutionary reaction trained from when you grew up and expected every visit to end in a shot. Rational thinking should help you figure as an adult you can say you don't want a shot-but subconscious fear is a learned behavior hard to break. Furthermore, if sitting in a small office, waiting for a stranger and having someone know your "insides" makes the fight or flight/sympathetic system turn on and manifest a fast pulse and high blood pressure......imaging what being late for work, forgetting your lunch, getting billed improperly, having someone tail gait you at highway speed, or just getting bullied or intimidated.... does for your pressure. It is well documented that most heart attacks in the world occur on Monday morning. This would be where "thinking" part of TEA is involved but it's more of developing a way to let go of analyzing every millisecond of every encounter and possible outcome. Doesn't mean live like a hippy from the 60's in a commune but it does mean you have to invest in changing that "teenager-like" reaction of thinking irrationally and letting emotional tornadoes blossom from every stress event. (I remember someone with anxiety pushing me to come up with a treatment plan for them but "they didn't want pills, didn't believe in psycho therapy and don't have time to practice mind relaxing......this dude needs a referral to Dr Bob Marley)
2-giving every cell in the body the basic building blocks of what they need to perform duties of existing. Those of you who remember science can picture a cell and its center called the nucleus. Within the this center, DNA does its magic of replicating for 90 years, cutting out bad genes that look like cancer, conducting the orchestra that takes place to chemically breakdown any toxin that you happen to ingest, recognize and kill any invading virus or bacteria that isn't helpful and keeping you moving/feeling/thinking happy and loved. Eating crappy food/alcohol/overindulging will tip the scale from "living till 90" to "just getting by" at 20, 40, 60 years and usually when the "Ferrari" is given low quality gas, it's engine will run but performance will be worse than a "Yugo" and it's engine will soon fail.
3-movement, outdoors, laughter, breath/heart stimulation are all so embraced by your body. Everyone feels good when they are maintaining some form of activity...even the infants. If basic brain of a newborn feels joy in kicking feet and moving fingers....what more do we need to prove that stagnation is a bad thing. I remember watching this kid in the airport waiting for a flight-zoned into his computer. Didn't move a muscle including his eyeballs for hours......yet there was expression of movement with his left ankle/foot. It was nervously moving like it alone was on 5 red bulls. (The tell tale sign a police officer looks for in the admission of guilt via body language-this kids' leg was "hiding something") It was fascinating that his eyes and ears were getting stimulation but his body was trying to express its need for activity..... and he was ignoring it to continue pleasuring his eyes and ears. This 3rd leg of "DrRic's Antinflammatory Lifestyle" has it's challenges in that most people think of exercise as that feeble attempt at going to the gym and getting personal training from college years. "Goin to the Gym" is just one of an infinite form of movement activities. Instinctual activities that have been in existence since the dawn of man are walk and swim (biking was developed in the last few centuries) There are well established activities that have been utilized by ancient cultures like tai chi or yoga (and the cool thing is they take care of steps 1 and 3). Info mercials develop every 6-12 months- a new fitness machine guaranteed to change your life (until the next new fitness machine is purchased to replace the now basement delegated "lifechanging equipment") I believe it is cheaper to hire a guru/coach who can listen to your wants and needs and use experience to develop a sustainable series of activities you had no idea were out there. How is a patient with limited experience supposed to teach himself a sustainable method of living to turn around a failing body?....the Internet!!! (yeah right!) While your at it, teach yourself a degree in medicine and the human psyche so I can start sending you some referrals. Finding an activity you can embrace forever is possible on your own but takes alot of experimenting and direction that most humans don't have patience for (especially if you are unhealthy to begin with).
Bad TEA consists of the Standard American Dream (work alot of hours, make alot of money , you are #1-everyone else is beneath you!), the Standard American Diet (1 in 3 are obese and dying slowly) and the Standard American Pastime (TV)
Not everyone is ready to adopt this antiinflammatory way of living (click here to see a video describing DrRic's Antiinflammatory Lifestyle). It takes big commitment to initiate and a strong will to continue. In my opinion, making a change a little at a time is more difficult than being "all in". When someone shows me the signs that they are invested in "flipping over" to a better way of living, I give everything I can in planning and give them the best "coaches" to initiate and complete the plan. If they are being dragged in by a spouse, sitting with arms crossed and no intention to listen I try not to waste my time in preaching to deaf ears. What I know for sure is that everyone will "flip over" whether now or later at deaths door. If they aren't ready to "flip" now, it's ok I 'll be around for a while to help when it happens....it will happen.
