This article and video is about my observations of how optimizing fat metabolism is essential for anti-aging, and how athletes who are focusing on optimizing their fat metabolism actually feel they have reversed their age by decades.

What inspired me to record this vlog and get YOU thinking about how you want to move through life, was a comment by a female athlete in her 60’s who said to me one day, “My husband and I have at least a 40 year difference in metabolic age!”

While this is based upon science, most of this perspective comes from the feedback I’ve received by athletes I’ve had the pleasure to work with, many ‘of a certain age,’ who literally feel and perform as if they are decades younger than their chronological age. People like Janet, Beth, Diane, Kuni and Bart . . . but I digress . . . point is this particular 62 years young athlete is a runner who is winning her Age Group in marathons and ultras.  She even finished 4th overall female at her first 50 miler! 

Meanwhile her husband has Type 2 diabetes and is suffering some of the  neurodegenerative aspects of this chronic yet, entirely preventable disease. 

The problem with Herd Mentality

The problem here is this athlete is considered a freak by most people, while the development of Type 2 Diabetes is considered a normal consequence of the ‘aging’ process in many parts of the globe, and it is also not uncommon with athletes.  We tend to have a herd mentality and, as we ‘age,’we look around at the rest of the herd and see the same things happening so we think these health challenges are normal. Well, I am here to tell you “It is not normal!”

The Science of Telomeres

Let’s start with the science of Telomeres, those finicky little bits of DNA at the end of chromosomes. As incomplete as the science is on the study of Telomeres, it is now well established that an excess of oxidative stress shortens telomeres.  However, emerging research is suggesting it is much more than this;  that most of the damage from oxidative stress is caused by the damage to single strand DNA during replication of telomeres during cell division.  Essentially all of this is the aging process at work and the greater the excess of oxidative stress the faster you age.

I’ve come to conclude some small doses of oxidative stress are hormetic in nature, thus help to make your cells, mitochondria and telomeres more robust and this is one reason why recommend the use of ‘Strategic Carbohydrates’ and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) tailored for OFM to yield that health & performance edge.

Can Antioxidants Help?

There is copious amounts of literature on antioxidants, particularly plant based antioxidants, and this is all well and good - I certainly want to encourage you to consume antioxidants as part of your diet, however, as I have posited in previous blog posts, this is a much more reactive approach.  We should be looking more closely as a preventative approach to reducing oxidative stress which is precisely what optimizing your fat metabolism will do. This includes the benefits of autophagy through Intermittent Fasting which occurs by default when you optimize fat metabolism.

Reducing Oxidative Stress Easily

But now let’s take this to a more experiential level, one YOU can relate to....

Those ups & downs in energy levels?  -> Oxidative stress from burning too much glucose.

GI issues? -> Oxidative stress on your epithelial cells.

Muscle soreness and slow recovery? Again, oxidative stress. . . all the result of burning too much glucose. 

The problem is all of these ‘experiences’ are considered ‘normal’ because most athletes have been ‘Sold & Told’ into believing they need copious amounts of carbohydrates to fuel their sport. And while some level of carbohydrates, strategically timed, do provide a significant boost in performance, the oxidative stress of chronic use leads to what is seen as the ‘normal’ aging process and challenges ‘normal’ to athletes. 

Again, this is NOT ‘normal’ folks. Think about it . . . do you really think that in the past 55 years modern Human ‘solutions’ to sports performance can supplant over 2 million years of evolution, no matter how many peer-reviewed double blind placebo-controlled publications support the idea that consuming tons of concentrated carbs, essentially sugar, is ‘good’ for you? . . . I didn’t think so.

It’s time to break from the herd mentality, get curious, think for yourself and get your body back to burning fat as your fuel, the way Nature intended to minimize the oxidative stress and slow and even reverse the aging process.  

Start Turning Back YOUR Metabolic Age Today by Optimizing Your Fat Metabolism, if you want some 1-2-1 help with this check out ways to work with us here.