NEW DELHI, Oct 6: Eat less, switch on the anti-ageing gene, and watch yourself get younger and disease free.
These are among the several tips that Mumbai-based nutritional therapist Rachna Chhachhi suggests in her new book “Restore”, which is about how diseases take root and how we can restore our health.
Her five rules to start a journey are: Take the biological age test, Eat an anti-inflammatory diet, Cut your simple sugars and carbohydrates, Get the vitamin-B that makes you young, and Eat less.
“Implementing all these may seem difficult, but it isn’t. Each one of the rules contributes to reducing inflammation, hence reducing the propensity to get diseases,” she says.
According to her, inflammation inside the body is the root of all pain and most illnesses.
“Inflammation ages you, your organs and makes you get diseases faster. It accelerates degenerative diseases you were meant to get in your 60s, and makes you get them in your 30s and 40s,” the book, published by Timeless Health, says.
Rachna herself went through a debilitating disease while she was working with a financial company and cured herself by nutritional therapy before changing the course of her life. Her first person account, and case studies on how she reversed diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension, migraines, rheumatoid arthritis etc via nutritional therapy, form part of the book.
She cites three reasons for diseases to take root that finally lead to inflammation: nutrient-anti-nutrient imbalance, stress and sleep.
High stress and less sleep will upset the nutrient-anti-nutrient balance and cause damage.
Sleep is one of the most important factors to stay fit.
“Sleep deprivation lowers growth hormone levels that are directly linked to accumulation of fat around the waist. The belly fat is particularly bad for your heart, hence the connection between sleep deprivation and heart.
“Lack of sleep causes hunger, cravings for junk, lack of absorption of nutrients that help the body recover, digestive disorders, heart risk, unexplained pains, which all lead to increased level of inflammation in the body,” the book says.
Premature greying, overall slim but a prominent paunch, forgetfulness, brittle nails, tiredness even after adequate sleep, frequent indigestion and constipation – these are some of the symptoms that you can be prone to weight gain and look older pretty soon, Rachna says.
A Harvard School of Public Health report based on WHO projections estimates that the economic burden of lifestyle related ailments for India will be close to USD 6.2 trillion for the period 2012-30, a figure that is equivalent to nearly nine times the total health expenditure during the previous 19 years of USD 710 billion.
While this staggering figure seems unreal, the proof is in the urban working Indians between 32-37 years being afflicted with chronic lifestyle diseases much earlier than their age should.
Rachna also suggests striking a balance while eating.
“Eat a good breakfast, take a multivitamin, follow the 80-20 and have dinner as soon as you reach home,” she says.
There are also tips for staying happy.
“Get enough rest, exercise the blues away, eat a balanced diet, get plenty of healthy fat, bask in the sunshine, do breathing exercise, drink (two small drinks a drink) and have sex,” these will keep one happy. (PTI)
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