Recently we had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Stephen Spindler who advised that you have got the heart (meaning that research has established that the CR Way lifestyle appears to slow cardiova
scular aging) and you should concentrate on improving gut health.
How prophetic his guidance was. About the time that Dr. Spindler was speaking to us, an 85 year-old superbly successful calorie restrictor was getting back home from her daily mile walk at a nearby park. She seemed to have everything going for her – lots of energy, happy – plenty of friends, smart – a current bridge tournament winner, beautiful face and skin. Only a few things bothered her: She had to avoid certain foods, because they gave her diarrhea, and her nasal passages bothered her by overly secreting mucus – causing frequent throat clearing. But these could easily be ignored.
Back when she was 81, she was stricken with a very painful appendix attack – indicating that the bacterial build up in her colon was too great and her appendix was on overload. Her strong constitution won the day and saw her through the emergency removal of the appendix. As she recovered from the operation, though, her gut dysbiosis was worse than ever – exacerbated by antibiotics given as part of the treatment for appendicitis.
One might reasonably ask: What caused the dysbiosis in the first place? Could it have been the unsanitary conditions caused by the many pets she lived with? Poor food choices? One can only speculate.
Eventually her increased dysbiosis reduced somewhat and she was able to get back to normal — trying harder than ever to be totally healthy and have good chances to become a centenarian and beyond.
But it was not to be, at 85 she died shortly after a heart attack Attending doctors were unsure what precipitated her heart failure. Could it have been her gut dysbiosis problems? For more on the gut and what it might affect, take a look at : The All-Powerful Gut Microbiome.
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