Is Your Body Aching? Chronic pain and discomfort seems an inevitable part of life as we age, or is it? I have witnessed the aging of thousands of people as I have counseled people on health for over 30 years and one of the main complaints with getting older is pain, pain and more pain. Did you know there are options available that can significantly reduce this discomfort, without using drugs! I will never forget a long term customer of Nutrition World named Ester Holley who told me that she had never had a headache or any chronic pain in her life until passing 90 years old and the biggest thing she credited for her lack of pain was her very aggressive nutrition program. I believe that we can get so programmed by the media that we see chronic stiffness and pain as a normal part of life and that is simply not true. Have you ever seen wild animals struggling to get up after sitting or their lack of flexibility upon exertion? Absolutely not, however if these animals ate and drank the empty calories and poisons that we do, they would not last long in nature. John Wayne once said, “Life is tough but it is tougher when you are stupid” and this certainly applies to your health. We all know what pain feels like and how it can diminish our quality of life however the most concerning story is not how it hurts but what chronic inflammation is also doing to us internally in regard to arteries, organs, heart, brain, joints, prostate, liver etc. Every knowledgeable researcher today agrees that 80% to 90% of all chronic diseases have their roots in longstanding inflammation and to achieve optimal health, inflammation must be lowered. Inflammation is programmed into us for the critically important purpose of producing healing when something is injured, however the lifestyle we lead today produces an unhealthy body chemistry which allows inflammation to continue on and on without end and this is doing significant damage to the area that it initially attempted to heal. The bio-chemistry of inflammation is very complex but I will simplify this by telling you that the interplay of insulin, glucose, stress hormones and fatty acids are the key players in this disaster. The one factor that will increase your chances of aging well and reducing disease is living a life that produces the least amount of chronic inflammation. When they analyze individuals who live to be 100 years old the ONLY common factor among them is low inflammation. The following lists the most important reasons for chronic inflammation to occur in our body. The habits that produce high levels of chronic inflammation are the following: 1) Missing meals (going more than 5 hours without eating). 2) Consuming meals of fast-acting carbohydrates. 3) Consuming or drinking foods high in any fructose sweeteners. 4) Over eating of Omega 6 fats (red meats). 5) Not taking enough Omega 3 oils (fish oils). 6) Sleeping poorly or not enough sleep. 7) Stress in your life that is excessive. I have never seen anyone who addressed the above list of suggestions that did not receive tremendous benefits in health and reduction of pain but make sure you check with your health care professional if being treated for any medical conditions before beginning. Some of you may be thinking that taking pain killers such as aspirin, Motrin, Advil etc would be the easy answer to this issue of inflammation but this is wrong. These painkillers are a double edged sword in regard to the damage they may do in some people. A large percentage of people suffer liver damage from excessive acetaminophen, kidney damage from Motrin and Advils, and ringing in the ears and bleeding with aspirin. The option to this dilemma is to address the above lifestyle habits and also consider the most heavily researched herb probably in the history of natural medicine and that is Curcumin. Curcumin offers tremendous protection of our liver, protects brain cells, helps maintain a healthy gall bladder, but most importantly, can reduce long term inflammation better than any other discovered natural substance. For more information and medical references on Curcumin, click here. I have been a fan of this herb since early 2000 when research was pointing to its health benefits. Researchers looked at countries like India where Alzheimer's and some cancers are so significantly less than other countries and that is because of India’s tremendously high intake of curcumin in their foods. | 
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