Aging:

Think of the billions of people pay for drugs, skin creams, etc. when in fact one of the best cures for longevity and looking young is a plant based diet. Most people who are on mostly raw food diets look many years younger than the rest of the population (even by decades). Our skin is the biggest organ we have, and it can tell a ton about how someone has cared for his or her body from the inside out. Our pore size, smoothness of skin, radiance, wrinkles, etc is a resemblance of what our cells have had to work with in our past.  If you want to look alive it is very simple-eat alive and fresh. Refined sugar, coffee, alcohol, and animal products do nothing to help you look or feel younger. Even if you are starting late in life you will see the benefits of healthier new cells shortly if you stick with it.

Plant based diets are richer in the powerful antioxidant vitamins C, E and A (beta-carotene) than meat eaters, they are likely to have better health, with lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and live up to six years longer. And the bonus is a lower risk of dementia.The basis of healthy eating is clearly vegetables, legumes, fruits and whole grains. (See the pull-out on page 9.)It’s also a diet that will help ward off wrinkles by boosting the skin’s natural defenses against sun damage. Researchers found that that people who ate more vegetables, legumes and olive oil were less prone to skin damage from sun, whether dark or fair-skinned.  The worst skin damage was in those who ate a lot of dairy, meat, butter, margarine and and sugar. In fact, smooth skin is normally a measure of how well the rest of the body is ageing, according to the journal Age and Ageing. Older people with less wrinkly skin tended to be healthier and have fewer disabilities. And it’s never too late to start, according to the Department of Health’s Small Change, Big Difference campaign.

http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/veggiehealth/turnback.pdf

Raising our cortisol levels by stress, caffeine, or by artificially raising it through processed foods will age us rapidly. The best way to reduce cortisol levels is by eating a high nutrient plant based diet. When we spike our blood with a stimulant our bodies get confused. We need stable energy that will help keep our bodies in a non-stressful state which in turn helps keep our cells looking and feeling their best.

Carol Alt appeared in Playboy Dec, 2008 to show the world what almost 48 looks like when eating raw. While fitness played a part in this, she gives most of the credit to her diet of only raw non-animal foods. Raw food contains enzymes which help the body digest and absorb nutrients. Heating food above 116 degrees destroys these vital enzymes. This way of living not only encourages weight loss, but it also increases energy, and reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer. If you’re not a believer, then perhaps you should get a copy of Playboy – you know, for research purposes.

You may say my uncle Billy Joe Bob lived till he was 96 and ate whatever he wanted. There are a few cases of people who are lucky enough to not have disease hit them in life, and their bodies are somehow strong enough to fight off the toxins inside the body. Strong believer that we are meant to live far beyond 100, and Billy Joe probably could have had more energy, performed better, and looked younger if he had lived a more conscious life.

Most people after we hit our 30’s have the desire to look younger and stay looking younger. Is it no surprise that people who do not eat the dead look less dead normally. Some of the biggest stars in Hollywood who look the youngest eat plant based diets. Madonna, Demi Moore, Russell Simmons, Pamela Anderson

Alicia Silverstone notes how much better vegetarian diets are for your health: "Since I've gone vegetarian, my body has never felt better, and my taste buds have been opened up to a whole new world. It's one of the most rewarding choices I've ever made and I invite you to join me in living a healthy, cruelty-free lifestyle." Indeed, studies show that a vegetarian diet promotes a healthy heart—and that helps stars maintain a youthful vigor and boundless stamina while on stage, in the studio, and on the field.

Sir Paul McCartney sums it all up: "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty." From Goveg.com

Shania Twain- I don't eat meat, fish, or eggs. I was never a big meat-eater, but I've got more energy now," says Shania, who hasn't eaten an animal since she married longtime vegetarian (and record producer) Mutt Lange.  

Barbara Walters had a show on TV in 2008 about living past 100. Many doctors agreed that humans should live a lot longer than we are currently. Some recent studies I have seen have quantified the US as only having one or two percent of the population healthy. Meat is very hard on our organs to break down and it takes up a ton of energy and leaves organs lined with plaque. Your body prefers foods it can utilize right away without draining your energy to digest.

By Rita Zeidner

Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; Page HE01

Tom Perls, head of NECS at Boston University reckons that a group of Seventh Day Adventists in California encompass some important common factors. Average lifespan is 88 (10 years more than the US average) and despite being genetically different, they share a lifestyle that commonly includes vegetarianism, no smoking, no drinking and which places strong emphasis on family, all of which contribute to longevity. Nutrition and lifestyle are therefore key factors.

Full of Beans?

Other researchers concentrated on the diets of centenarians and came up with a high intake of legumes – pulses. It’s certainly true of the Japanese with their tofu, natto and miso based on soya beans; the Swedes with there brown beans and peas; and Mediterranean dwellers with their lentils, chickpeas and white beans. The hotspot for longevity is the Japanese of Okinawa, with more centenarians than anywhere else in the world. Dr Bradley Willcox and colleagues studied 600 of them over a 25-year period before writing their book, The Okinawa Way.They identified a pattern. The key was a diet of whole grains, vegetables, fruit and soya products, regular exercise, a spiritual outlook on life that minimized stress and a successful integration of  Eastern and Western health care systems .With low levels of cholesterol and homocysteine (a toxic substance that blocks arteries in a similar way to cholesterol) they had an 80 per lower risk of heart disease and strokes.

These aged Okinawans also had reduced rates of breast and prostate cancer, half the rate of ovarian and colon cancer and a much lower risk of dementia. It wasn’t genetics that took the credit but diet – the right formula for combating disease. And what’s good for the Okinawans…Normal, everyday processes such as breathing, digesting food or simply moving about creates unstable molecules called free radicals that can damage cells and result in cancer and other diseases. Smoking, pollution, ultraviolet light and stress also create free radicals but so can cooking food – especially meat.

 
LIFE EXPECTANCY- Would you like to add 7 years or longer to your life? A government study comparing the non-drinking nonsmoking Mormons to non-drinking nonsmoking vegetarian Adventists was done over many years. The Adventists lived on the average 7 years longer. The National Geographic reported that the 3 longest-lived tribes in the world were centenarian vegetarians. They are the Hunzas of Tibet, the Azerbaijans of the Caucusus and the Villcabamba of Ecuador.