Whole Life Magazine

June/July 2013

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DAVID "AVOCADO" WOLFE YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Essentials for a long, beautiful life W hether or not you are beautiful is only partially an accident of nature. Much more critical is what you put into your body. At the most basic level, you remake yourself moment-by-moment and meal-to-meal. The food you eat literally becomes part of you, as in, "You are what you eat." Thus, lasting beauty stems from a commitment to eating what is beautifying. There are two ways to approach a beautifying diet: Putting in healthy foods, pure water and nutrients; and leaving out unhealthy, damaging foods and water. Not sure what to leave out? Foods that disfavor beauty include processed chemicalized foods, refined sugar, processed cooked starches, cooked rancid oils and fried foods. Sweets, refined breads and soda are damaging to the teeth and skin, and stimulate weight gain. Starchy, hybridized cooked carbs (including most common breads and grain products, as well as potatoes) make the skin dry and pasty. Such foods deplete the body of minerals, create acidity, and can lead to fungus, yeast and mold overgrowth, and immune system susceptibility. Sugar is damaging to the skin because it attaches to collagen molecules, causing stiffness and inflexibility, which leads to accelerated skin damage and wrinkle formation. In addition, when simple sugar molecules, such as fructose or glucose, are in the bloodstream without the moderation of an enzyme, they can become attached to proteins or lipids (fats). This process, called 26 glycation, forms rogue molecules known as "advanced glycation end-products (AGEs)." If a person has a high amount of sugar in his diet, he will have a high amount of AGEs in his bloodstream, and these inflammatory compounds literally prematurely age us. Cooked and rancid oils and fats are particularly destructive because they do not dissolve in water. Since we are primarily a water-based life form, it makes metabolism of cooked and rancid oils difficult at best. Cooked and rancid oils may make it into fatty organs and tissues where they are inflammatory, burden the organs, and inevitably create detrimental responses in the skin, leading to acne, wrinkles and premature aging. What to add? Raw, healthy fats and oils are important—omega 3 fatty acids, olive oil, oily seeds and avocados—to keep your cell membranes flexible, so the cells can absorb nutrients and respond properly to hormones. Unhealthy fats that take the place of good fats are like a toxic imposter, making the cells stiff and inflexible, with difficulty receiving nutrients. Circulation can become sluggish, which contributes to dry, flaky skin and acne. Stiff cell membranes also make your cells less responsive to important hormonal messages. All this adds up to bad news for your skin and longevity.  Vitamins and oils that are important for good skin—vitamins A, C, D, E, K and omega 3 fatty acids, as well as raw saturated fats (especially coconut oil)— are destroyed by heat. On the other hand, nutrient-rich raw food is ideal for bringing a sparkle to the eyes, luster to the hair, radiance wholelifetimesmagazine.com FINAL REDESIGN WLT-5-27-11pm.indd 26 5/28/13 11:12 AM

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