Longevity and anti-aging: tips for a healthier life

Podcast transcript

INTRO
Welcome to Docs in a Pod presented by whelmed. Over the next half hour, Docs in a Pod will educate you about the health and wellness of adults everywhere. Co-hosts Dr. Tamika Perry and award winning veteran broadcaster Ron Aaron will share information to improve your health and well-being. And now here are Ron Aaron and Dr. Tamika Perry.

RON AARON
Thank you so much for joining us today on the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron, along with our very special co-host, Dr. Tamika Perry. Dr, Perry, as many of you know, has been with us for quite a while. We love having her join us. She's fresh back from a trip to Morocco. Dr. Perry is an associate medical director at WellMed, and she oversees several large clinics in the Optum care in the North Texas region and southern sector. She hangs out in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Perry earned her undergraduate degree from Prairie View A&M University and went on to graduate from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She was a National Health Service Core Scholar there. Next, she completed her family medicine residency at Methodist Charlton Medical Center, where she served as Chief Resident. Dr. Perry is board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians. When she's not doing doc stuff, she loves to travel and fresh back from Morocco is an example. Dr. Perry, very delighted to be with you again.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Thanks. I'm so excited to be back. I will miss the food in Morocco. I will miss the delightful people and the awesome culture. But it's good to be back in Texas.

RON AARON
Were you on a tour group or did you just go alone?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
No, no it was a tour group. It's a it's a bunch of us who travel together and we kind of say, hey, where do we want to go? So, we decided we're going to go to Western Africa, and we picked Morocco, and, that's kind of what happened there.

RON AARON
Did you end up doing any camel rides?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
I did camel rides. I spent the night in the desert. I rode ATVs through the desert. We went up in the mountains. I mean, we really toured the country of Morocco. I think it was 4 or 5 different cities we went to.

RON AARON
You spent a night in the desert?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes. It looks hot, but it's really cold at night. Like really, really, really cold at night. The Sahara Desert is absolutely beautiful.

RON AARON
You would recommend Morocco? Put that on your bucket list for others.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
If you're going to go to Western Africa, I would definitely say roll through Morocco. Yes, absolutely.

RON AARON
We're going to talk in a moment, not about traveling to Morocco, but about longevity and anti-aging tips for a healthier life. Dr. Prachi Italiya is joining us. Dr. Prachi takes a patient-centered approach to care, ensuring patients are involved in making decisions regarding their own health. She earned her medical degree from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a residency through the Krista Spohn Hospital Family Medicine residency program. From a young age, she was driven towards the sciences and felt a strong calling to make a difference in the lives of others. Her grandparents were also a big influence in her upbringing, drawing her toward a specialty in geriatrics. Dr. Italiya is board certified, like Dr. Perry, by the American Board of Family Medicine. Dr. Italiya was born in India but raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. Today, she lives in Corpus Christi. In her free time, she loves to garden, spend time with her family and friends, traveling. Wow. Something that Dr. Perry also does. She's married with one relatively new ten-month-old son. Dr. Italiya, great to have you on.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Thank you for having me.

RON AARON
I need your help because this is a great topic. Longevity and anti-aging tips for a healthier life. I plead guilty to being 82. IÕll be 83 in May, and we have three young kids. Our daughter is 13, our twin boys are 11, almost 12, and I want to be here for them when they graduate high school, college and get married. So, I need another 30 years tacked on to my 82. It's all up to you, Dr. Italiya. Give me the magic pill.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Well, the magic pill exists already. I don't know if you guys have heard of the blue zones. I got really into this a couple of years ago when I watched the Netflix documentary on the blue zones. That was very, very interesting. We do have one in the United States in Loma Linda, California. So, my first tip to you would be to move to Loma Linda right now. I'm just kidding. How can we crate that here?

RON AARON
Now by the shown here, now by blue zone, what does that mean?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
These are just areas around the world where people are living into their hundreds. So, there's been research, and with geriatrics, we've talked about theories on aging and things like that too. But I just brought in the blue zones also because this is a place where you have a large number of people that are living well into their 90s and hundreds and they're living quality life. They're not really using assistive devices and they're independent and they still get up and live a good life on a day to day basis.

RON AARON
What's the secret?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Let's go back a little bit and maybe we can talk about what age is us first. Then we can think about how do we target what age is us.

RON AARON
All right. Hold that thought. We'll do that in just a minute. I want to let folks know who may have just joined us, you're listening to the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron along with our co-host, Dr. Tamika Perry. Our guest today is Dr. Prachi Italiya. We're talking about aging well, longevity and tips for a healthier life. So, Dr. Prachi, let's talk about healthy aging.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Let's talk about maybe what age is us first. When I was doing my studying for geriatric board certification, we talked about and learned about different ways that people age. So, some of the common theories out there are like the Hayflick limit theory. It talks about the telomeres shortening. The cells in our human body only have a limited number of divisions and with each division, the telomere is a type of cell that that shortens every time. Or the free radical theory, where we have too much damage from the free radicals. Mitochondrial theory of aging, again, it's related to mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell that releases a lot of free radicals. There's a lot of theories. I don't really want to get into all of them, but some of these ones kind of speak to me a little bit more because there's maybe something we can do about some of these things. Then there's the inflammation theory. Chronic inflammation. Our body has this chronic low-grade inflammation that causes Alzheimer's or cardiovascular disease or cancer. Stress is a big contributor to this. So, just knowing that basic background on some of these things that may age us, how can we reverse that or how do we slowdown that process? So, antioxidants. Including a diet with lots of antioxidants. That's been a suggested way to prolong life.


RON AARON
What about our antioxidants, for those who don't know?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Antioxidants can be found in different foods. Berries I know is a very common one. Dr. Perry, help me out here. Do other things that have antioxidants in them?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
The most common one is berries, like blueberries, raspberries, those berries that we would find close to the ground. You were mentioning earlier about the blue zones. One of the most commonalities in all the blue zones, and for those of you who don't know that there was a gentleman, I think it was from Scandinavia. I can't quite remember that detail, but somewhere in around 1999 or 2000, he was studying age populations in the world. And he put out this map, and on his map, he marked the areas blue people who lived around 100 years of age or more, and that's how they got to be known as the Blue Zones.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right. Because it was the blue ink that he marked on the map.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yeah, it was marked with blue ink, so they became the blue zones. But one of the commonalities of the blue zones was a diet that was high in antioxidants, low in inflammation.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
So, berries, fresh fruit and vegetables.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Plant-based diet.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Plant-based. So, little to no heavy meat. Meat should be a light garnish like a light fish or a light seafood. It wasn't anything really heavy. So, a plant-based diet is one of the things that really keeps those cells healthy and full of vitality.

RON AARON
I'm a big believer that broccoli cures everything. So, I try to devour a ton of broccoli, almost every day, every week. It becomes, for me, the salvation. Although my wife says, you've got broccoli breath.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Have bought into that yet? Have they bought into that broccoli cures everything?

RON AARON
No. Not yet. There are still in that yucky stage for broccoli.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
I don't think I've had enough broccoli to have broccoli breath.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Right, right. Plus, like a day or two later, you have to eat it right then and there because the aroma after that is not my favorite.

RON AARON
You mean broccoli burps?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Oh, my goodness.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
I'll have to see that.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
But like doctor Italiya was saying that antioxidants. Fresh fruits and vegetables. That's where we welcome them from. These people, I know they consumed goo gobs of them.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
To add to that, part of the diet that really helps prolong longevity is the healthier fats. You don't want the red meat and those kinds of fats. The olive oil, the avocado. Those are the fats that you want to include in your diet. To stick to the diet conversation, not just what you're eating, but also how much you're eating. I think it was in Okinawa, Japan, one of those blue zones is where they practice that 80% rule. You eat until you're 80% full.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Right.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
You don't overeat. You don't eat to your 100% capacity at every meal. That came up over and over in many things that I was reading about. Mindful eating is definitely something we should try to practice. What you're eating, how you're eating it, and how much you're eating it.

RON AARON
When you say eat till you're 80% full, how do you know?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
You want to eat until your satisfied, not eat to your stuffed.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes. There you go. That's a great way to put it.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes. So, if you if your belly starts to get a little tighter and you have to undo your pants, you've overdone it.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Next time go back a little bit.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Go back a little bit. Before you get to that point when you're like, oh, I'm not even hungry anymore, put the fork down.

RON AARON
Often as parents, we do a disservice to our kids because how many times have we said, now you finish what's on your plate there. One of my son's years ago said, dad, when you're full, you're done. Even if there's food left on your plate.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Correct.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
That's what's tricky. We don't want to waste food, but eventually, once we get to know our body, we learn how much is going to fill us up. Then we start to hopefully only fill our plates to the point that we know we're going to be full. But I totally see your point about not wasting food.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Prachi how old were you when you came to the United States?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
I was 11.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
So, you spent a good amount of your time in India before.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
I was born here, and my parents are here. Their parents were sharecroppers, and their parents were slaves and so on and so forth. So, food was a rare commodity. In my house, we did have the attitude that you do not waste food. You eat everything on your plate. My parents would say. we let you make your own plate. So, what you put on your plate, you eat.

RION AARON
That's a good point.

DR. TAMIKA PERR
Yeah. So, even though I love food. Food is my friend. I did not want to stuff myself. So, I would only get enough. If I felt like I didn't have enough, then I was allowed to go back and get more. I got in the habit of not piling a bunch of food on my plate at one time.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right. Yeah. It's not Thanksgiving every day.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Right. It is definitely not. Hopefully you came from beginnings where food wasn't such a rare commodity. But for a lot of us in America, especially generations back, food was a rare commodity.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right. I've definitely lived through a time period where it was a rare commodity. So, I understand finishing what's on your plate, but again, to the point of only putting in as much as you need on your plate to begin with.

RON AARON
Now, did you grow up as a vegetarian coming from India?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes, I did. The plant-based diet is very close to home for me. I was born vegetarian, and I stayed vegetarian.

RON AARON
Oh, cool. Stick with us. Speaking of staying with us, we're going to come right back as we talk about longevity and anti-aging tips for a healthier life. We're going to find out from Dr. Italiya. She mentioned that yes, she is a vegetarian. I was a vegan for a day. Very tough to stick with. You're listening to the award winning Docs in a Pod.

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RON AARON
We are so pleased you're sticking with us right here on the award winning Docs in a Pod. Our podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. We're also on the radio in several cities in Texas, and Florida as well. I'm Ron Aaron and along with our co-host Dr. Tamika Perry. We're talking with our special guest, Dr. Prachi Italiya. Dr. Italiya is talking with us about longevity, anti-aging, and tips for a healthier life. I want to pick up, Dr. Italiya, from where we just were. You mentioned that you are a vegetarian. That you've stuck with it. Is that, although tough to make people vegetarians if they don't want to do it, is that a good direction for a longer, healthier life?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes, I would say so. The Dash Mediterranean Diet is highly rated. I've actually incorporated more Mediterranean dishes in my regular diet as well. Obviously I'm Indian, so I've stayed away from that, and I've actually adopted more of Mediterranean foods in my regular diet. But it is hard to ask people to go vegetarian.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Do you do any animal products? Like, do you do cows milk or eggs or anything?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes. I do animal products. I do like milk and cheese. Egg is acceptable. I'm trying to stay away from it, but I do give in to the occasional cookies and desserts. They obviously have eggs. I don't particularly care for the taste of eggs, so I won't eat eggs directly cooked.

RON AARON
Well, the good news is you now need a bank loan to get eggs. So, that got a force cutting back.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
I know. Once again, I hate to beat a dead horse, but that was one of the commonalities in these blue zones. If you had meat, it was really kind of a side garnish. It was not heavy, pro-inflammatory meat. It was more like a bit of the seafood. The other caveat was that all of these areas' physical activity was ingrained in their lives. There was like a village either in Greece or Italy, I can't remember which one but basically the village was on the side of a mountain.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
It was Italy. Sardinia.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yeah. It was Italy. Every day walking was like vertical uphill walking.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right. I know what you're talking about. These women had the houses that were at the end of a steep hill and just to go anywhere out of their house, they had to walk up and down that steep hill every day. That automatically helped their stability, their core strength. They didn't fall, they had good leg strength and they stayed independent. The other thing that stands out on mobility, that you said that Dr. Perry, is that Okinawa, Japan. These people sat on the floor every day. That stood out to me because to get up from the floor and down back on the floor, that requires a lot of leg strength that is harder to come around in your 70s and 80s. These people were 90 plus, and they had no trouble getting up and down and sitting in an Indian style position for hours while this guy was in his shop and cooking and doing woodwork. These two places you mentioned, physical activity was ingrained in their day-to-day lives. They didn't go to the gym. We as an American culture focus so much on the gyms and the bodies and this and that. But these people didn't have any of that and still don't care for it. They just include the activity in their day-to-day life. They're just walking to the store. They're walking to their restaurants and they're walking to get all these things done. They don't need to go to the gym. This reminds me because as I was thinking about this podcast today, I actually saw a couple in my clinic on Monday. My last two patients of the day. 91 husband, wife is 87. They drove themselves to the clinic. They don't use any canes or walkers. It turns out they follow a lot of what we're talking about here. The wife is the dietitian. She's monitoring everything that's being brought and cooked in the house. The husband is very active around the house. They don't go to the gym, but he is so active around the house. He manages everything. He doesn't call a plumber, electrician, nothing. He does all of the maintenance and upkeep on the house by himself, and he is getting down on his knees and pulls weeds in his yard every day. This man takes no medicines. They were such an inspiration.

RON AARON
I need his phone number. I'll get him over here to work on our house.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
They were such an inspiration to me. They were so, so healthy. Knock on wood. I pray that they do well. But what else they had in common that I also noticed was common in the blue zone is every day that they got up, they had purpose.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yep.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
That sense of purpose or this sense of belonging to a community. That is very important. In our in our lifestyle today, we have nuclear families, and that loneliness sets in so easily as we age, and our friends are passing away. We don't have that community all the time around us. I see so many patients that are by themselves. So, that social connection helps.

RON AARON
What is it about loneliness? It turns out to be a killer, but why?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
One of the top comorbid conditions of senior years is depression. That's linked to loneliness. Decrease epinephrine, neuro-epinephrine, serotonin in your brain.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Serotonin. Dopamine.

DR. TAMIKE PERRY
Yeah, dopamine. I personally don't believe humans were meant to live in a vacuum by themselves.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
We're social beings.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
We're social beings. One of the things that for longevity that seniors should think about is what does my new tribe look like? How am I going to find my new tribe? Because my kids have moved away, some of my neighbors may have passed away. My spouse, either we were not together, or they've passed away. So, where do I find my new tribe? We're talking about the church.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Senior centers.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
We're talking about senior centers, dance classes. Our senior cnter next door is awesome. I have so many seniors who attend so much they call it the club. One senior said,I have to stop going to the club because I've neglected my yard in which I love. Because she loved the socialization there. She was like, I have a brand-new friend. She whispered, I may have a little boyfriend. Good for you girl.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
That is awesome.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
That is super important. It keeps those happy hormones that Dr. Italiya talked about high in our brains.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
I have these patients, they call themselves the Golden Girls, and they have a little bridge club. They get together and they play bridge. Those are the people that I see generally doing well in their health, and they're happier. When you're happier, you have the drive, you're going to want to get up and do that next thing and take your medicine if you are on one or get up and take that next step to socialize. Even socialization requires movement. We have to move around to get somewhere or to do whatever. To get up and make yourself that meal, that requires physical strength. That also brings me to that mental engagement. We have to keep ourselves mentally engaged. Simple things such as wanting to make a meal for yourself. It requires planning. That cognitive next level of thinking. That's another thing that's part of longevity. How do we keep our minds engaged so we don't succumb to diseases like Alzheimer's or any kind of dementia? Social connection is a big contributor to that. Also, keeping engaged in day to day activities that stimulate the mind on that higher level.

RON AARON
Cooking also requires bending down to get a pot, putting it on the stove, getting something to stir whatever you're making.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Right. Picking up a heavy pot.

RON AARON
Yeah. So go for the heavier pots.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
The cast iron.

RON AARON
Dr. Italiya, we got a couple minutes left. If you were writing out a prescription for one of your patients on how to live a healthier life, runs through again, the tips that you would share with them.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
I would say top three things for me would be prioritize healthy eating habits. Plant based diet is included in that. Include physical activity on a regular basis, whether it's the gym or in your day-to-day life. Then I would say find purpose.

RON AARON
Dr. Perry, you agree?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
I 100% agree. Find friends who you all have a common purpose with.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yes.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
It's going to make your purpose, your physical activity and your eating so much easier.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yeah. And you can do it all together.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yep.

RON AARON
I can remember after my dad died, my mom was saying that all of her friends dropped out and disappeared, and she was really not connected. She ultimately moved into a communal living facility, independent living, which really was a plus for her.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yeah.

DR. TAMKA PERRY
Absolutely.

RON AARON
All right. Well, I want to thank both of you so much. It's been very, very encouraging to hear all this and Dr. Italiya, I, like Dr. Perry, have been cutting way back on the amount of red meat that I'm eating. In fact, I mentioned to my wife the other day, it doesn't taste as good to me anymore, which I saw as a real plus.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
That's awesome. I think you're on your way to 90Õs and 100.

RON AARON
Well, I've got to be there for my kids, right?

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Yeah.

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Absolutely.

RON AARON
Thank you so much. Really appreciate you being with us. Dr. Perry, weÕll do it again soon. Have you got another trip planned?

DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes. In June I am going to Paris with my girlfriends like we do every year except this June we're also going to see Beyonce.

DR. PRACHI ITALIYA
Wow.

RON AARON
All right. Hang on, we'll go with you. I love it. Thank you all very much for joining us today on the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron. We'll do it again soon. Talk with you soon.

OUTRO
Executive producer for Docs in a Pod is Dan Calderon. The producer is Cherese Pendleton. Thank you for listening to Docs in a Pod presented by. WellMed, be sure and listen. Next week, two Docs in a Pod presented by WellMed.

DISCLAIMER
This transcript is generated using a podcast editing tool; there may be small differences between this transcript and the recorded audio content.

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