5 Keys to Becoming Biologically Younger

By Al Sears, M.D.

Conventional medical wisdom is leading millions of people down the wrong path. Part of the reason is that so many "experts" continue to scoff at or ignore the exciting discoveries in the new field of anti-aging medicine.

Just as they did with nutrition as a new field, conventionally educated doctors are willfully remaining ignorant while sticking to the now preposterous position that anti-aging is impossible. By the time you finish reading this you will know how unfortunate this ill-informed position is.

On the surface, you can observe aging as your hair turns gray, your waistline grows and your body goes soft. But there are biochemical changes underneath that drive this physical aging. Measure and manipulate what happens at the cellular level and you can control the way you age to stay younger longer. Here's an easy example to understand:

As you age, the composition of your body changes with an increase in fat. Measure your body fat and reduce it. Measure your muscle mass and increase it. Now you've changed those particular markers of aging to be more typical of a younger person. That's anti-aging!

You simply change the important physical and chemical characteristics of age that you can influence back to what is typical for a younger individual. As you can see from this example, anyone who claims that this is impossible really hasn't even bothered to learn what anti-aging is.

Today, I'll show you how to test for and then reverse five chemical biomarkers of aging that I have identified as both important and modifiable. Most doctors don't look at these markers in this way. This is a BIG mistake if you want to hold onto your youthful features as long as possible. You can and should take control of your:

• Insulin: The overlooked secret to high energy and a lean body.
• Triglycerides: More important than cholesterol for heart health.
• HDL: The good cholesterol that drugs can't give you.
• CoQ10: The often-deficient anti-aging nutrient.
• HGH: Nature's master rejuvenator.

Each of these undergoes a transformation as you age. I have proven in my clinics that each of us can achieve control of all five with specific anti-aging therapies. I'm going to start with the first one, which will lay the groundwork for opening up opportunities with the other biomarkers. If you don't take care of this first, it has a way of hijacking your metabolic energies and you won't make good progress with the others.

Insulin. When you hear the word insulin, you probably think of diabetes. But insulin isn't just about this disease. In fact, changing insulin levels plays a key role in aging.

Insulin tells your body to build fat. The more insulin you have, the more fat you'll pack on (all other things being equal). Most hormones decline with age, but insulin increases with age. If you want to stay lean, strong and vigorous at any age, keep your insulin blood levels low:

• Risky: 20 and higher.
• Normal: 11 to 20.
• Best for anti-aging: 4 to 10.

You can effectively lower your insulin with these four tools:

1. Eat more protein. This stabilizes insulin.
   
   
2. Eat less total quantity of carbohydrate.
   
   
3. Use the Glycemic Index as a guide to help you choose the healthiest carbs. If you don't have one you can get mine here.
   
   
4. Exercise. For the purpose of lowering insulin, you don't have to be too choosy here. Just about any type of exercise has been shown to work, with the general rule that the harder you exert yourself the better the insulin control.

Triglycerides. You can lower these with the same strategies that lower insulin. Triglycerides are a type of fat in your blood. They are a marker of age because as you age your triglycerides tend to steadily rise. High levels put you at risk of heart disease and can make you fat. That's why it's essential to get a triglyceride test. Here's an idea of where yours should be if you want to maintain a healthy heart:

• High: 200 mg/ dl or higher.
• Risky: 150 to 199 mg/dl.
• Best for anti-aging: Less than 100 mg/dl.

My own triglycerides range around 55 to 60 and I'm keeping it that way. If your triglycerides measure high, use the four strategies above. Make the focal point of your diet natural protein. Protein from fish and grass-fed beef is best because these animals have healthy levels of omega-3s that will help to reduce your triglycerides, not to mention your waistline. For added power to achieve lower blood triglycerides supplement with one tablespoon of cod liver oil.

HDL. HDL is the good kind of cholesterol. HDL delivers life-giving nutrients and helps remove the bad LDL cholesterol from your arteries. Although a certain amount of LDL in your blood is normal and healthy, excess LDL often accumulates in elders. When this happens, doctors often prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs.

But if your doctor tries to put you on cholesterol-lowering medication, be warned. Those drugs DO lower LDL, but they don't increase HDL -- and that's what matters. Whether you have high cholesterol or not, you should work to increase your HDL to above 80:

• Risky: 40 or below
• Normal: Between 40 and 80
• Best for anti-aging: Above 80

The best way to increase your HDL is with high-intensity, short-duration exercise such as my PACE® program.

Another good strategy I use very often in my clinics is relatively robust doses of the B vitamin niacin. For it to work, you have to take at least 500 mg per day. For many, I gradually work up to a dose of 2000 mg (or 2 grams) per day.

I should warn you that doses in this range often produce a facial flush or prickly hot sensation to the skin. It's usually harmless but can be a nuisance. If it happens back off on the frequency of dosing. Try it again after a few days and increase it more slowly next time. Usually the hot rushes decrease as you get used to higher niacin blood levels.

CoQ10. This nutrient plays a key role in supplying the energy that your internal organs need. It's a most critical energy source for your heart. CoQ10 is also a very powerful antioxidant. It can improve your immune system, reverse gum disease, increase your overall perceived energy and can help prevent and even reverse heart disease.

Unfortunately, research at my Wellness Research Foundation has proved that CoQ10 levels decline as much as 80 percent through the years, so I include it as one of your most important biomarkers of age. Studies clearly link this decline to the diseases and illnesses of aging, especially cardiovascular problems. And, more than 80 percent of my older patients have turned out to be deficient in CoQ10.

You can measure this critical nutrient in your blood, but very few doctors order it. You will have to ask. It's imperative you get your levels checked and see how much CoQ10 anti-aging power you're missing. Then you can start doing something about it.

First, you can add more CoQ10 to your diet by eating red meat and eggs. However, modern animal husbandry has led to lower levels of this anti-aging wonder so you will want to go to the extra trouble to get grass-fed red meat. Supplementation with this particular nutrient is also important. For general anti-aging benefits, I recommend taking 100 mg per day. If your level is low, double that. In some stubborn cases I have used well over 1000 mg per day.

I can't recommend general anti-aging measurements for CoQ10 or HGH (below) because those are medical decisions based on your individual case history. Talk to your doctor or an anti-aging specialist for specific recommendations.

HGH. Your body produces high amounts of HGH when you're young, but production declines throughout your adult life. HGH is responsible for rejuvenating and repairing all tissues in your body. As your HGH declines, it orchestrates many of the changes of aging, such as loss of muscle tone, wrinkles, energy decline and excess fat gain. But add HGH back and you reverse some of these consequences of aging.

A recent study at the National Institutes on Aging once again proved that HGH improves lean body mass and decreases body fat -- even in healthy men. Studies also show it improves strength, sexual capacity and physical function and reduces frailty in elders.

So how do you affect your HGH? I've found you can effectively boost HGH in three ways:

1. Eat More Protein: Since HGH makes you build muscle, and when you eat high amounts of protein you have the material to build muscle, it makes sense that your HGH would rise in response to a high-protein diet. And indeed, it does. This is a mild elevation, but nonetheless HGH is so powerfully beneficial, even a slight increase can make a big difference.
   
   
2. Perform Strenuous Exercises: Strenuous exercise also increases levels of HGH in your body. Now I'm NOT talking about a brisk walk around the block. I mean gut-wrenching exercises like heavy squats and dead lifts. This is not a tip for the faint of heart. If you're athletic and in good shape, you should try it.
   
   
3. Supplement with Arginine: Several amino acids have been shown to boost the blood markers for HGH. But they have to be taken in relatively large doses to work. The one I use most myself is arginine. Pills don't work because you can't get enough. I use a powder at 5 grams per day mixed with water and taken 30 to 90 minutes before exercise. If you don't exercise the next best time to take it is before bedtime. Then you will get a slight boost in HGH while you sleep.

Stay tuned for my next anti-aging installment in THB. I'm going to tell you what I've learned about balancing your sex hormones to maintain more youthful features in both men and women.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs, is a practicing physician and a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness and heart health. To learn more, click here.]