Fighting Inflammation with Age

As I started to "age gracefully," I found myself overweight after struggling to lose even a few pounds. My metabolism had really slowed down when I  turned 40. I started worrying when I hit 179 pounds at 45 years old compared to the 129 I had weighed in high school. These extra fifty pounds took a toll on my health; my arthritis and psoriasis were terrible. I was living in dark, damp and dreary Eugene, Oregon. I was under so much stress from my work and other family issues. Food was my only comfort in those tough times. Eventually, I got out of that stressful situation and moved to Florida and by the time I was 60, we had switched to a mostly vegan diet and gotten my weight down into the 160s.  But I just couldn’t get rid of those last 30 pounds. I was rather “healthy” with my vegan lifestyle, AND I spent most of my day on a treadmill computer desk or walking out in the sun. How could I not be shedding those last 30 pounds? I found out that my real problem was inflammation, which is what most of us suffer from. It was caused by my genes, diet, and stress. This is the story of my journey. 

I inherited psoriasis from my grandpa, and it started when I was seventeen. Boyfriend troubles caused stress in my life, and I started drinking.  I remember my grandpa sitting in his chair, scratching.  Psoriasis tends to appear on the outside of elbows and knees, the scalp, the lower back, the face, palms and feet. For me, it was almost everywhere! From my dad, I inherited arthritis in my neck, aggravated by my job as a computer programmer and moving that mouse back and forth, clicking and clicking.

The good news is that today, both my arthritis and psoriasis are completely gone – not one spot on me and a free-moving neck!  I remember having psoriasis so bad that I couldn’t sleep at night (itching so much that I would have to wear socks on my hands), and once it was covering so much of my body that my dermatologist said I would need to be hospitalized to avoid infection.  But today, I am sore-free, with no itching.  I wish I had figured out the cure when I was younger, but some of the cure wasn’t possible. I worked in high-stress jobs and later traveled so much that I couldn’t control what I ate. But today, I have already lost 20 of those 30 pounds, and it is coming off without dieting.

Now, this is a lot to do, so I have tried to list it in the order of easiest to most complicated.  The thing you are fighting is inflammation.  Inflammation is causing you to put on weight, and more importantly, it can cause you to catch COVID-19 more easier and increase your chance of death.  Inflammation is your new enemy; weight gain and other ailments, food sensitivity, etc., are merely by-products.  Ready to begin?  Try this for just the next month and see if it makes a difference.  You need to do this for a least a month to cure yourself.

1.  The outside you – Organic Coconut oil and NO CHEMICALS.  Buy the big tub of coconut oil at Costco or Walmart.  It has a natural SPF of 4-5, so lather it on before you go into the sun or outside.  Yup,  it is messy when it is hot and totally liquid or cold and hard to spread, but I put it on over the area that has wood floors and then rub it into the floor!  I have it in smaller plastic containers all around the house.   I rub it on after showers and into my hair too.  That is the ONLY thing that goes on my skin.  Everything else has chemicals that cause inflammation.  Sunscreen is bad, bug spray is bad, hairspray is bad, most hand lotion is bad, anti-aging creams are bad, and even the prescriptions that I had paid hundreds for over the years caused inflammation.  They are all gon,e and no chemicals touch my skin, nor do I ingest them.  More on that later.  I also use a more natural detergent and products that we get on Amazon; Grab Green Natural 3 in 1 Laundry Detergent Pods, Free & Clear/Unscented, 60 Loads, Fragrance-Free, Organic Enzyme-Powered, Plant & Mineral-Based.  We don’t use fabric sheets; instead I use little wool dryer balls, Smart Sheep 6-Pack XL Premium 100% Wool Dryer Balls.  Bounce fabric sheets are filled with chemicals that get on your sheets, towels and clothes then irritate your skin.  

No Soap or Shampoo.  I use PURA D’OR Scalp Therapy Shampoo – Hydrates & Nourishes Scalp – Scalp Care Shampoo For Itchy Flaky Scalp w/ Tea Tree, Peppermint, Patchouli, Cedarwood.  It is my body wash, shampoo and conditioner.  I don’t color my hair anymore – that is a big inflammation that spreads through your body and causes cancer.  Instead, I use Light Mountain henna hair color, which is time-consuming and messy but has no chemicals.  I make my own deodorant and air freshener.   Buy a set of plastic spray bottles and essential oils.  There are lots of recipes online,e but deodorants, bug sprays and air fresheners go right into you fast and cause inflammation.  Yes, don’t have to avoid going outside which you love – that is actually great therapy.  We spend 15-20 minutes each day in the sun to get the Vitamin D that we both need, so make sure you do that every day; the earlier, the better.  We go out at 9:30AM while it is still cool in Florida and my coconut oil protects me.  I am starting to make my own makeup powders, more info on that later.

2.  The inside you – Good oils – Coconut oil, Avocado Oil and Olive Oil.  Salmon.  Now, we need to fix what is going inside you that is causing inflammation.  I eliminated two things; bad oils and sugar.  I don’t drink, but if you do, the alcohol has to go for now.  You might want to consider replacing it with medical marijuana (the kids have this right) – but make sure you don’t smoke it.  Any smoke (like your barbeque) causes inflammation.  You might want to try CBD gummies first to calm yourself instead.  Giving up alcohol wasn’t hard for us; we did that in our 20s but if it is part of your lifestyle and culture, a little tough.  If you do get medical marijuana, you can have that when you go out and have a few gummies and soda water with a lemon and still have a nice buzz.  Giving up sugar was VERY hard, but I have replaced it with stevia.  That is the only artificial sweetener that is okay.  The rest are very, very bad, so no more diet sodas unless they are made with stevia.  I drink Zevia Root Beer which I order from Amazon or often find it at the grocery store or Target.  Removing bad oils is also hard.  Most products have bad oil.  Even “olive oil butter” or “olive oil chips”  are really made with sunflower oil (bad) and have a little olive oil added. I have an air fryer, buy corn tortillas and make my own chips.  I eat my own guacamole that I make.  I make my own butter spread (start saving all plastic containers.)  No animal products except salmon.  Yup,  becoming vegan was a little too hard, especially when you go out, but everyone always has salmon on the menu.  Try to only eat cold water-caught salmon – farmed salmon has chemicals.  I buy it canned and make a sort of tuna salad every other day and on the other days, I eat a tofu burrito with lots of guacamole.  The goal is to get the good oils in you and the bad oils out.  I gained a little weight at first due to #3 next and all the good oil, but yup, I have now lost 20 pounds (although I might say 30 since I lost the first 10 from becoming vegan before 60 and stopping the cheese and Red Vine addiction that I had!) The hateful eight industrial seed oils are Canola, Corn, Cottonseed Soy, Sunflower, Safflower, Grapeseed, and Rice bran. Look at the ingredients of your “healthy foods.” They most likely have these and they are causing inflammation and belly fat.

 

3.  The Mental You.  Exercise is the cure.  I wish everyone could get rid of the stress in your life.  I live a truly stress-free life.  We sold our software company, and I’m in year 2 of a 5-year retirement plan.  We didn’t make a ton of money, but we now have a monthly income and a reduced lifestyle that requires less income.  I have no real human contact with clients anymore (part of the agreement) – that was a real stress builder.  If you are a high-stress job and probably can’t retire – your goal is to fix this. Consider downsizing your lifestyle to live with less (what you need instead of what you want) and retire. Use a treadmill desk.  Start doing Yoga. When the TV is on, I am normally exercising.  It is hard because towards the end of the day when we sit down to watch TV, I can be exhausted, but it is just for a month to see what a difference it makes.  I went to a personal trainer and got this routine.  Right now, your body is mostly fat.  It is merely a part of aging.  After 30, we lose our muscles and convert them to fat to prepare us for the “winter” of our lives.  This fat, especially belly fat,  means elevated cortisol hormone, which means elevated blood sugar, which then raises insulin – the fat storage hormone. So even if you’re still eating the same, your body will hold onto more fat – especially at your waistline.  So, getting rid of sugar (alcohol) and exercising are cortisol (the stress hormone) fighters.  Every time you are angry, take a walk (if it is hot, jog around in a pool or the kitchen) or start exercising.  It works!  It gets you away from the stress and has the added benefit of your long-term plan to convert yourself into a lean, mean, fighting machine!  Here is the exercise plan designed by personal training before they shut down.  The goal is to convert fat to muscle so your body burns more calories per day and then you can either eat more (which I like) or lose weight (almost done with that.)  Do not diet – under any circumstances.  You need to instead convert fat to muscle and slowly burn the weight off.  A 3″ square of muscle weighs more than fat, so you can gain weight at first, but then after 30 days, you normally turn the corner and start losing about 1-2 pounds a month.  It is a VERY slow process of weight loss, but it has worked for m,e and I have very little belly fat left and 30 pounds lighter! I massaged my belly every night to make sure my skin tightened back up.  I eat a lot – a whole lot.  I often go off the “vegan” plan and have a cupcake, fish and chips, steak or fried chicken, but that is now rare, but I do not diet. This Sunday, I will have a pepperoni pizza! But now I really, really enjoy it rather than it being just dinner. When a friend makes something special – it is double special for me to eat!

Exercise plan 

A.  On the couch or chair, sit down and stand up.  It is harder than you think.  Don’t use your arms. Start with 12 reps and increase to 20. Then do it many times a day.

B.  Using 10-pound barbells, I do 3 different arm strengthening routines; 12 reps each, then increase to 20.

C.  I lay flat ahhh….resting, and then doing toe touches where I lift my toe up and then touch it down; 20 for each leg/toe and then 20 together.

D. 20-pointer dogs.  Yoga Balance Table, then bring your right hand to touch your left knee. Reverse.

Yoga Balance Table

E.  5 minutes of stepper.    Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Stepper with Resistance Bands – from Amazon

F.  I also garden for 1 hour and do an 1 or 2 hour on the treadmill, but you might not have room or finances for the treadmill right now.  If you can find a corner in the front room for these – the stepper and treadmill, great.  We use a treadmill desk, so it’s easier.   I have been on the treadmill while writing this, checking Facebook and handling my email, so I’m almost at my 1 hour, and it is almost breakfast time, then gardening.  Ah… the life of the semi-retired.

G.  WiiFit – I do the yoga and balance game and now I am adding more real yoga into my life.  Just starting this, so more info later.

This is a lot to do, but it works.  It also helps that it is hot and humid in Florida.  Our house is pretty humid; we keep it hotter than most, 80 degrees in the summer since it is 90-100 outside.  Running the air and heat dries out the house and you.  Our indoor humidity is between 45-50%.  You might not be able to do this, but it works for us.  I am now allergy, psoriasis and arthritis free and lighter. All were caused by inflammation. We meditate twice a day for 20 minutes (you might call them senior naps), and that is a great time to chat.  You and your spouse or significant other might try this; going into the bedroom, shutting the door and meditating for 20 minutes.  Sometimes, we just talk, but being in that cool, dark room together and away from the noise can be helpful.  We do it at 10AM and 2pm every day.  You might just start at 10AM on Sunday.  This means de-scheduling your life.  Start saying “no” to events.  Covid 19 has taught us that lesson; we no longer need to fill our weekends with travel, eating out, and attending events, so try to continue this when things start opening up.  Hard when you have family still, but we moved away from all that.   When you are at a restaurant, mall, lake or park with friends and family, ask yourself this, “would I rather be home in my dark bedroom, having a nap – or even in my own chair by the TV or pool floating around peacefully or be here – trying to look pretty and be witty?”

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