Food Processor Recipe

One of the best aspects of
having a Health Savings Account is that you can control your medical care. If
you want to have a medical test or procedure done that is not covered by your
health insurance, you pay for it with pre-tax money from your health savings
account. One of the processes of aging that scientists have been learning more
about in recent years is glycation, and the formation of Advanced Glycation
Endproducts, or AGEs. Here’s how to reduce this harmful process, and a simple
test you can pay for from your Health Savings Account to see how you’re doing.

What
is “Glycation” and what are AGEs?

When we take a piece of bread
and put it in the toaster, it slowly turns brown. This is the result of a
natural process called the “Maillard reaction”, in which sugars react
with proteins. It is this process that gives flavor to beer, pizza crust, and
roasted coffee.

The same process naturally
happens in the human body. (So in a sense, we all slowly “brown” as
we age). When a protein in your body is “glycated”, it has a sugar
molecule attached to it, and can then bond to another protein in your body in a
process called “cross-linking”. These damaged proteins result in the
formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts.

Exposure to AGEs in the
body contributes to inflammation and to a large variety of age-related
diseases, including cataracts, joint stiffness, Alzheimer’s disease, and cardiovascular
diseases. Some AGEs increase the risk of auto-immune diseases such as
rheumatoid arthritis, and others increase the risk of cancer.

Reduce
AGEs in your Food

When experimental mice are
fed a low-AGE diet, they have
better cardiovascular health, better kidney health, better blood sugar
management, and they live longer. AGE
formation is increased when foods are cooked at high temperatures, and for
longer periods of time. You can significantly reduce AGEs created in food
preparation by using boiling, poaching, or stewing rather than frying or
grilling.

So one strategy is to
simply reduce your consumption of “browned” foods. So for instance,
fried shrimp will have way more harmful AGE
compounds than boiled shrimp.

How
to Reduce AGE Formation in your
Body

AGE formation is particularly high in
diabetics, due to uncontrolled sugar levels in the body. This is one of the
reasons why they suffer from increased rates kidney disease, vision loss, and
cardiovascular disease.

Millions of Americans who
have not been diagnosed as diabetic still have glucose handling difficulties,
typically diagnosed as “metabolic syndrome”. It is becoming more and
more evident that a diet low in foods that raise blood sugar rapidly (typically
the “white” foods like bread, pasta, rice, and sugar) will reduce a
person’s risk of diabetes or metabolic syndrome. This in turn will also reduce
your body’s AGE formation.

Supplements
You Can Take

Numerous dietary
supplements have now been shown to reduce glycation, cross-linking, and AGE formation. Some experts recommend the following
supplements, typically 500 mg to 1 gram of each, per day:

·        
Carnosine

·        
Benfotiamine

·        
Alpha-lipoic
acid

·        
Acetyl-l-carnitine

·        
Curcumin

If your health care
practitioner recommends supplements for the prevention or treatment of a
specific health condition, you can pay for them from your Health Savings Account.

A common blood test that
diabetics have done is Glycated Hemoglobin A1c. This measures how much the red
blood cells have become glycated over the past one to three months, and is seen
as an indicator of average blood sugar levels.

Stay Healthy, Grow Your , and let your account grow.