How To Control Cholesterol And Add Years To Your Life
On the morning of August 29th 1997, the officially recognised oldest person in the world, Marie-Louise Meilleur, sat down to her normal breakfast of oats.Not a lot was known about the habits of Marie Louise Meilleur but what we do know is that for large parts of her life plant foods were the main stay of her diet.
The idea that a diet with plenty of vegetables but little meat aids longevity has been the argument of anti aging experts for many a year.In scandinavia, the second world war caused a severe shortage of meat and a subsequent fall in death rates.When the general diet returned to normal the death rate went up.A 21 year study by a German Cancer Research Centre found that vegetarians and moderate meat eaters who mainly ate fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds lived significantly longer than the general population.
Eating plant foods in abundance,raises our levels of anti-oxidants.Eating fat, especially the type of fat found in meat products raises our intake of free radicals. By replacing our meat intake with more vegetables we raise our chances of living longer. This is especially true if we choose the vegetables or fruits with the best anti oxidants. It does seem that Marie-Louise Meilleur was following an anti aging diet, intentional or not!
Although a vegetarian based diet certainly helped Marie-Louise Meilleur live a very long life what she probably didn’t know is the anti aging properties contained in the oats she ate!You see, oats contain a special fibre called beta glucans.The Beta glucans fibre has been shown to lower the harmful type of cholesterol named low density lipoprotein (LDL) and at the same time boost the good type of cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) This prevents your arteries from getting clogged up and reduces the risk of many of the major diseases caused by high cholesterol levels.The protease inhibitors in oats also help the body fight against viruses and carcinogens in the digestive tract. That’s not all, they assist in the battle against diebetes by regulating blood sugar and insulin levels.
Oats are not the only grain with hidden longevity secrets.Something like 80% of cholesterol is actually manufactured in the body.Therefore, to have any real impact on cholesterol levels what we need to do is somehow alter the manufacturing process in our favour.It so happens that we can do this by making Barley part of our diet!Barley can help inhibit the production of LDL.It works by deactivating an enzyme used in the production of LDL but without lowering the production of HDL.
Without question then, a vegetarian diet is probably a lot better with grains. It could be a valuable secret to effective life extension.
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