The 4 Pillars of Longevity (What the Books Don’t Tell You)

I’ve been doing a deep dive into longevity. 

As I watch my friends, family, and colleagues age, it’s clear that some are doing it better than others. Part of my deep dive is understanding the difference so I can pass it on to our patients.

And let’s be honest: I’m 52. That looks and feels a lot different than 32. I might be looking for the “holy grail” of anti-aging for myself, too. 🙂 

I’ve read the books, watched the documentaries, and scanned the research. Inevitably, the same themes come up over and over. You could easily name most of them if I asked. 

What the books never seem to tell us, however, is what interventions do the most for increasing your life span (or, more importantly, health span). Is eating blueberries just as important as daily exercise? Which is more important, your relationships or your cholesterol meds?

No one seems eager to say. Everyone is happy to tell you their seven things or five principles but will stop short of telling you which ones matter most and by how much.

In their defense, we aren’t entirely sure. Research is murky, and longevity is perhaps the murkiest. After all, it takes a lifetime to discover how long someone will live. Longevity research takes the longest of all.

But we know enough to make excellent guesses about what matters most.

In order of importance, the following four things are what you must do to age with as much overall health and wellness as possible. This list is in order. From most important to least. They all matter, but they’re not all equal. 

Here are the four pillars of longevity:

  1. MOVE your body. Every single day. This means daily ambient movement. It means weekly weight-bearing exercise. It means flexibility and mobility. It means getting off your butt every day, whether you want to or not. Whether it hurts or not. Whether you have the energy or not. You must move
  2. CONNECT to people and purpose. This means making relationships important and doing something of value. Continue to work. If you don’t want to work, then volunteer.  Don’t want to volunteer? Help out the younger generations of your family. Stay involved with people in a purposeful way. You need a reason to live longer.
  3. EAT whole food. You all know what I mean by this. It’s not rocket science. The simplest way to express this is to cook. Use fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, meat, and whole grains to prepare your own food as much as humanly possible. Eat real food that you cook at home.
  4. TAKE your supplements & medications. There is plenty of good research supporting the value of what scientists call “exogenous compounds”. Talk to your ND to see if any are right for you. Help your body do its job.

Remember, these four things are in order of importance. 

Ask yourself:

  • Am I doing it backward? Many people have their focus flipped. They want the pill that grants long life, or the superfood that melts the weight away, but they are sedentary and unfulfilled. You can’t out-supplement your couch or your unhappiness. Work from the top down. If you’re not moving your body, don’t expect your vitamins to save you.
  • Am I focused on just one thing? There is no single compound, food, or 10-minute wall pilates routine that can undo aging for a sedentary, lonely human who lacks purpose and eats the standard North American diet. You need all four things, not just one of the things.

We’ve all heard the stories of the 99-year-old who drinks, smokes, and eats fries every day. What I can tell you after over 20 years in practice is that I have never met this person in real life. The oldsters I know who have amazing healthspans do ALL four things every day. And they started as early as they could. 

Four simple things. One long life. 

The Most Powerful Treatment for Depression?

It’s Mental Health Week in Canada, and going for a “stupid walk” for our “stupid mental health” is a funny meme making the rounds

But there’s a powerful reason people are taking those stupid walks:

Those who exercise regularly are far less likely to experience depression. This is true for ALL ages and genders.  

New research pooling data from 41 studies of 2200 people with depression showed that any type of exercise reduces symptoms of depression. 

The meta-study showed people with depression who exercised in any way improved their symptoms by between 5-6.5 points depending on which depression scale was used. For reference, an improvement of 3 points is the best outcome for most pharmaceuticals.  

These numbers suggest that, for every two people with depression who start to exercise, one of them should experience “a large-magnitude reduction in depressive symptoms.” 

This FAR exceeds the benefits derived from medications.  

The Three Things that Help You Exercise More

So how can you get more of the depression wonder drug known as exercise? We’ve had 10,000 patients come through the doors here at StoneTree, and we know there are three things that make a difference:

  1. Schedule it. Treat it like you would any critically important thing in your life by putting it in the calendar. Most people underestimate just how powerful this simple step is. 
  2. Exercise with others. Create an accountability partner who expects you to show up. A friend, a family member. Even a coach.
  3. Start small but be consistent. Consistency beats all! You don’t have to walk 10,000 steps on your first. Just get out there for ten minutes, but make that 10 minutes a habit, every day.   

Each of those three is a habit-change lever. How many can you pull?

People also suggest you find an activity you like. That does indeed make exercise easier. The tricky part with depression is that often you don’t like anything

If you don’t feel like moving your body, try the strategies above. It’s more important to do it than to like it.

Depression can be serious. Talk to a regulated health professional if you are having thoughts of self-harm. Talk Suicide Canada is available 24/7/365 for calls, and 4 PM—12 AM ET for texts at 1-833-456-4566.

Sources:

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/02/14/bjsports-2022-106282.long

Seasonal Allergies and Your Indoor Air Quality

When your immune system sees ordinarily harmless things like pollen and mold as harmful invaders, things can get a bit crazy. 

First, your immune system produces antibodies in response to the perceived threat. That process causes immune cells in your body to produce histamine, an inflammatory chemical that helps eliminate the invader.  

Unfortunately, the “help” doesn’t feel that helpful!

The histamine is what causes all your pesky allergy symptoms. All that itching, swelling, nasal congestion, sneezing, and sore throat is an inflammatory overload of your mucous membranes! It’s also why you might take an antihistamine to help relieve those symptoms.

But Why ME?

At this point, you may be wondering, “But why me? My friend doesn’t have seasonal allergies!”

Right you are. Some people are indeed more susceptible than others. And if you are one of those lucky people (hmmm), our approach is always to try to prevent allergies if we can. That means we want to find and address the cause of the immune overreaction while we’re helping with the symptoms

The Indoor Air Quality Connection

In addition to working on your digestive health and using one of our favourite allergy tools, IV Vitamin C, you might be surprised to know that your indoor air quality can also have a significant impact on seasonal allergy symptoms.  

Not only can pollens and mold spores make their way indoors, but indoor pollutants can make matters worse–things like dust, pet dander, particulate matter, and chemicals.  

  • Regular cleaning with a HEPA filter vacuum 
  • Using a HEPA air filter, particularly in your sleeping space
  • Using fragrance-free products. (Many fragrances contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. These chemicals are irritating to the mucous membranes in our respiratory systems, causing irritation or inflammation. That just adds fuel to the fire!)

If you want to go fragrance-free and help the planet, we love The Keep Refillery in Creemore, Meaford, and Toronto. They have unscented cleaning and personal care products, and you can refill your existing containers. 

And if you really love scented things? Try adding essential oils to your unscented products. You may still be aggravated by essential oil scents, but generally, they are very well tolerated. Some, like lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemon, may even help!

Two Foundational Supplements for Heart Health

#1: Vitamin K2

Vitamin K is one of those vitamins that most of us only know about from reading food labels. It’s actually found in two forms in your diet. Form K1 is found in green leafy veggies, and K2 is found in fermented foods.  

K2 is becoming more recognized as a valuable supplement.  

A large population study in Denmark showed– not surprisingly– that those who ate a diet high in K1 (or green leafy vegetables) had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. But the study also found that those who took the K2 form of the vitamin also had decreased risk of cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis.  

How K2 Helps Your Heart  

K2 is involved in bone health and calcium metabolism, and it helps decrease arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis by decreasing plaque disposition in the arteries

Now, Vitamin K deficiency is uncommon. But it can happen in people taking antibiotics or medicines that impede K metabolism or who have conditions that impair food absorption.

Note: more is not better. The research did not find that taking MORE K2 decreased the risk further.  

Try this article for more, including the benefits of taking K2 with Vitamin D,

#2: Fish Oil

Whether or not to supplement with fish oil has been debated in the literature for years after it was conclusively demonstrated that a diet high in fatty fish is associated with decreased risk of heart disease. 

This current review article in The Lancet shows a positive response in risk reduction when taking fish oil. (Note that not all fish oil supplements are created equal – which might be the cause of some of the studies not lining up.)

How Fish Oil Helps Your Heart

Fish oils reduce oxidative stress and decrease inflammation. But they can easily become rancid if not produced or stored properly. They are easily oxidized and, as a result, can do more harm than good if you don’t pick the right ones and store them carefully. Make sure you take a high-quality fish oil supplement that is stored in the fridge!

Need help with foundational supplements, lab testing, or supplement choices? We’re happy to help!

To Drink or Not to Drink?

Many happy wine-drinking Canadians woke up last month to find their world a little rocked by the release of new guidelines for alcohol consumption.

Conventional wisdom for years has been that drinking was fine up to a point—15 drinks a week for men, 10 for women.

There was even some thought that daily drinking—particularly wine—had some health benefits.  

Well, no more.

What we’ve always known is that alcohol at any dose is toxic to the human body.  The WHO released a position paper this year stating exactly that. It’s a bummer, but it’s true.  

A Focus on Risk

The new guidelines are about understanding and reducing risk rather than a simple cut-off number:

  • Zero risk = zero alcohol 
  • Low risk = 2 drinks per week. 
  • Moderate risk = 3-6 drinks per week 

Once you go over 6 drinks per week, the risk climbs with each drink.  

Risk of What? 

What risks are we talking about? The big ones include:

  • Cancer. There is no safe dose of alcohol when it comes to cancer, and its risk increases with each drink. Alcohol and cancer are so linked that there is increasing pressure to put warnings on labels just like we do with cigarettes.  
  • Heart disease and stroke. Increased risk at over 7 drinks per week, with risk increasing with each additional drink. 
  • Pregnancy. No safe dose.
  • Fertility. No safe dose.

It’s also worth mentioning addiction as a risk. Alcohol can be habit-forming. And that means the low-risk ranges can put some people at risk of moving up the risk ladder as their consumption increases.

Standard Drink Sizes

“Drink” is a vague term. Here’s how the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) defines a drink:

  • A 12-oz. (341 ml) bottle of 5 percent alcohol beer or cider
  • A 5-oz. (142 ml) glass of 12 percent alcohol wine
  • A 1.5-oz. (43 ml) shot glass of 40 percent alcohol spirits

Beer and cider tend to be easier to track as you drink them from a fixed-size container. Spirits and wine tend to be “free-poured” into glasses, and therefore harder to measure. If you’re wondering where you might be fooling yourself, that’s a good place to start.

How to Manage Your Drinking

It seems that, whether we like it or not, less booze is better, no matter which way you slice it. If you want to change your alcohol habits, this article from the CDC is an excellent place to start.

One recurring theme across all sources is to be conscious of your drinking—to set limits and actually count your drinks. An excellent tool for this is the TRY DRY app. (Apple/Android). It’s science-based, free, and has no ads. Give it a shot!

Do Artificial Sweeteners Lead to Weight Gain?

Note: It’s habit change season! Last year, we did an entire five-post series on creating change in the New Year. If you’ve got a resolution you’re trying to keep, those short posts contain all our wisdom about habits and sustainable change.

Many of you will be kicking off the New Year looking to make diet changes, and an easy place to start is by looking at how much sugar you consume. 

One of the first things people often choose is to replace the sugar in their diet with an artificial sweetener, like aspartame or sucralose. These are considered to be non-nutritive sweeteners, and on the surface, they seem like an easy win: just replace sugar with sweetener, and you reduce your caloric load. Done!

Not so fast. Research is confirming what was already suspected about artificial sweeteners: they disrupt the gut microbiome of healthy people and impair their glucose tolerance. Or, put more simply: sweeteners might add to the very problems we’re trying to solve, like weight gain and insulin resistance.

How can a calorie-free sweetener lead to weight gain?

Sweeteners have always been considered “inert,” meaning they pass through the body and aren’t absorbed by the small intestine. But researchers are discovering that the sweeteners can actually travel into the colon and change the composition of the flora in susceptible people. That, in turn, can trigger abnormal blood glucose levels. 

What about stevia?

Stevia is a plant-based sweetener made from the leaves of the stevia rebaudiana plant. It is also considered a non-nutritive sweetener, but is it safer than its chemical cousins? The jury is still out, but this article will give you some factors to consider. 

Can I test my gut health?

Testing the microbiome is becoming more and more common as we discover just how big a role your gut bacteria play in overall health.  Here at StoneTree, we use a number of tests, including GI MAP. To learn more, contact us anytime.  

Stress, Chronic Inflammation, and Long COVID

A recent study in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that there’s a link between psychological distress—things like depression, anxiety, and loneliness—and long COVID. 

From a naturopathic perspective, there’s a pretty solid argument for why this makes sense (and why long COVID isn’t “all in your head”).

The reasoning looks like this:

  • Depression, anxiety, worry, and loneliness create stress
  • Prolonged stress can cause imbalances in your stress hormones—what we call adrenal dysregulation
  • This imbalance can lead to chronic immune dysregulation
  • This, in turn, can lead to chronic inflammation
  • Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for long COVID

This matters because it changes how we might prevent long-COVID. We can focus on stress, inflammation, and hormones, which is something NDs understand very well.

 Adrenal dysregulation and chronic inflammation are at the root of many symptoms we see in our patients.  It’s no surprise that this could be a root cause of long COVID as well.  

What can you do? Reduce your inflammation in the best ways we know of:

  • Eat right. Plenty of high-quality whole foods, like fiber, protein, fruits, and veggies.  These foods are anti-inflammatory in nature and help balance blood sugar, which is very good for our stress response.   
  • Exercise daily, especially outside in nature. Connection to nature is an instant stress reliever. Couple that with moving the body and the blood, and you have a panacea for the immune system and hormones 
  • Connect to others. Humans are pack animals. We do better when we are meaningfully connected to others.  Grab a green smoothie and go for a walk with a friend, and you’ve got a trifecta of movement, whole food, and connection!
  • Rest. No, for real, rest. Turn off the screens, put down the phone, go to bed early. Almost all of us need more sleep than we get—sleep helps recharge the hormones and resolve inflammation.

Long COVID may be relatively new, but inflammation isn’t. And after 20 years and more than 10,000 patients, we know inflammation! Connect with your ND to find out if your stress hormones and/or inflammatory markers are out of balance—we have tools that work.  

The #1 Way to Support Your Immune System this Winter


What beautiful fall colours this year! 

As we watch the last of the leaves fall, I’m reminded that fall is the time to prepare our immune systems for the coming winter. This year, with COVID, RSV, and the usual increase in colds and flu, strengthening your immune system is more important than ever.

Prevention is Better than Treatment

First things first: not getting sick in the first place is the best game to play.

Not getting COVID at all—or handling it with a robust immune system—is easier than treating a difficult infection. It’s far better to not get a cold than it is to treat one with medications that can impact your liver, your brain, and your heart.

With rare exception, your body already knows how to build a strong immune system. It’s like having an incredibly skilled contractor—your job isn’t to build things; it’s to provide the tools and resources. That’s the number one way to support your immune system.

What does that mean? It means there are things YOU can do and things WE can do here at StoneTree that can make a difference.

1. What YOU Can Do

  • Spend time outside. Movement is directly connected to your immune system. Movement helps take in air, transport blood and lymph, and keep you mentally healthy. Yes, it’s not always easy. But exercise is the single best magic bullet we know of for health.
  • Eat real, whole foods. Ideally, foods you prepare at home if you can. The simplest nutrition hack in the world is to cookIf you can cook using ingredients, you will have a better diet than 80% of people. 
  • Be social. Yes, colds, flu, COVID, and RSV are infectious. But being trapped inside alone is an awful tax on your mind and body. Be smart. Mask and isolate as needed. But don’t expect isolation and loneliness to make you healthy.

2. What WE Can Do

  • Measure and track relevant lab results. It’s possible to assess your immune system. Things like your overall inflammation. Your heart health. Your vitamin D levels. A healthy body usually has a healthy immune response—we can help you find out where you’re at.
  • Provide herbs and supplements. We have a lot of tools in the toolbox! Herbs like echinacea, oregano, andrographis, and vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, vitamin A, and zinc work to boost the immune system and kick out colds and flu.
  • Administer IV support. Our seasonal IVs are a huge hit, and they’re here for you. Intravenous Vitamin C for viral infections or once a month as a preventative, as well as inhaled glutathione for coughs, are great tools!

To speak with your naturopath, book an IV treatment, order supplements, or find a doctor that fits you, book here!

Our Top 5 Ways to Manage the February Blues

It’s the last week of February. The weather is cooperating, and March is in your sights! Still, while you can glimpse the end of winter, this can also be the toughest part of the marathon, especially if you are more susceptible to seasonal mood challenges. 

Here are our best tips for cultivating a good mood in the late winter.

Get outside and move your body
This is a two-for-one deal! Countless research papers have shown how much exercise can positively impact mood.

Coupling exercise with time outside brings the added benefit of exposure to sunlight, which helps combat symptoms of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). 

To get even more for your effort, do your outdoor movement with others. People and nature are great mood enhancers!

Laugh
Use the power of the internet for good. Watch a cat video that always makes you laugh, get a book of jokes, talk to a funny friend. Watch a silly movie. Make sure you laugh at least once a day.

Do something nice for someone else
This is easier than it sounds. Small acts of generosity can pay big dividends. Offer a compliment to a stranger, make a tea for your roommate, hold a door open for someone, or send a quick text of affection or appreciation.  

Practice daily gratitude
This can be done by writing in a gratitude journal or simply by saying aloud three things you are grateful for. You can do it in the shower, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or while driving to work. 

Another way to practice daily gratitude is by saying a genuine thank you to someone you interact with during your day. A real thank you to the grocery clerk. A real thank you to a co-worker who helped you with something. A real thank you to your spouse for shovelling the driveway. These little words of thanks are cultivating positive thoughts in two ways. Practicing being grateful AND doing something nice for someone 

Take an Omega 3 supplement
There is some decent research on the effect of omega 3’s and mood. You’ll find a good meta-analysis here

Omega 3’s give you added benefit of managing cardiovascular risk factors and increasing skin health!

New You Week 5: Anticipating Challenges

Week five! So far on our journey, we’ve learned how to:

Now it’s time to get serious about dealing with the very real obstacles on the road to habit change. If you’ve already stumbled in your 2021 goals, it’s time for a fresh start—this time with more tools at hand to help you with the rough patches.

The biggest challenges in habit change can be lumped into two camps.

1. Continuing a negative habit.

This is the “falling off the wagon” scenario in which you’re trying to quit something that doesn’t serve you—perhaps you’re trying to stop smoking, drink less, or avoid foods that you know trigger unhealthy eating. You might be trying to curb your spending, reduce your social media use, or stop being critical of others. But try as you might, one day you give in to the very thing you’ve sworn off.

2. Losing momentum on a positive habit.

This is the opposite scenario, in which you’re trying to start a new positive habit. You might be trying to drink more water, eat more nutritious foods, or exercise more. Perhaps you’re trying to write daily, or develop a meditation practice, or show more gratitude. But try as you might, one day you simply don’t do the very thing you’ve promised to.

One Moment is Not All Moments

Your first approach should be to change the way you feel about obstacles, misfires, lapses, and all other challenges on the way to better habits. You will rarely adopt a new habit perfectly, right away, and this is particularly true of healthy lifestyle changes. Changing your diet, quitting smoking, drinking less alcohol, becoming more active—these are all difficult changes to make. You will almost certainly face challenges.

To this, we say: who cares? Missing one daily walk isn’t a character flaw. Giving in to a less-healthy food choice isn’t going to kill you. 

But what is a problem is letting one bad choice become permission to give up.

One lapse is not a failure. One bad day is not a sentence. Accept that you will face challenges. And plan, right now, to simply get back up each time you fall. This is your habit change, and you get a fresh slate every day if you choose it.

Implementation Intentions 

Psychology has some help for staying the course in the form of implementation intentions. Simply put, this is a plan for when and where you intend to perform a new habit. 

Author James Clear says:

The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence:

I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].

  • I will meditate for one minute at 7 a.m. in my kitchen.
  • I will study Spanish for twenty minutes at 6 p.m. in my bedroom.
  • I will exercise for one hour at 5 p.m. in my local gym.
  • I will make my partner a cup of tea at 8 a.m. in the kitchen.

To apply this to a negative habit, try using a substitute behaviour. “When I get the urge to [negative behaviour] I will do [positive behaviour].” The idea is that this pre-planning can interrupt your habit loop enough to get you past the initial urge.

Know Your Triggers and Pitfalls

Habits are neural patterns. They’re wired into your brain in a kind of loop, and every loop has a cue—a signal that initiates the pattern. Stress makes you crave a drink. The chime of your phone causes you to check your messages.

If you observe your negative habits, you can look for the cues that precede them. What happened just before I went down the YouTube rabbit hole? Why did I have the drink I didn’t really want?

Likewise, if you observe the times you stumble on your positive habits, you can ask similar questions. Why did I miss that walk? Why didn’t I make a lunch yesterday?

The beauty of this approach isn’t just that you can avoid future problems, but that you get to treat a “failure” as a way of getting better. Each time your habit change breaks down, you get to learn a way to make your habit stronger in the future. 

As you can tell from the list above, anticipating problems is just that—it’s anticipating. It’s looking ahead and knowing that life happens. That things don’t always go as planned. It’s not expecting that your progress will be perfect or easy. 

We all want to be hopeful. Optimistic. We’re drawn to the failure is not an option attitude. 

When it comes to habits, however, we prefer failure isn’t permanent. Expect that there will be bumps on the habit highway. Take them with all the grace you can. Learn from them.

Then cut yourself some slack and keep on going!