The rules of longevity and health are simple and quite obvious. But for some reason this does not help us follow them. And it would be worth straining ourselves.
A healthy lifestyle guru and a staunch opponent of official medicine, Ivan Neumyvakin formerly headed the department of medical support for space flights at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. While inventing treatment methods for Soviet cosmonauts, he asked himself: what is a healthy person? The result is about 60 popular books and thousands of grateful readers. He himself was convinced that the body is a self-regulating system, the reserve forces of which exceed any problem by 80%. Here are his health rules:
Water is the number 1 food
You need to drink at least 1.5 liters per day in winter and 2 liters in summer. The goal is to flush the body of toxins and leave a good reserve “so that the cells bathe” in water, which works as an electrolyte in vital biochemical processes. Water can be melted, filtered, purified by electrolysis, or even tap water — settled overnight and then brought to the stage of “white boiling water.” The most important thing is that the pH of drinking water is 7.4 plus or minus 0.15. “This is the ideal pH of blood, the only indicator that should not change throughout life,” explains Neumyvakin. “Under such a condition, a person will never get sick, protecting the body from “acidification” and activation of pathogenic microflora.” Water from coolers and bottles does not provide guarantees (who checked its pH?), and spring water is definitely not suitable for a healthy life — at least in the capital region. You need to drink on an empty stomach: one or two glasses of clean water 10-15 minutes before any meal. If there is not enough water, the blood thickens and it becomes difficult for the heart to pump it around the body. The first organ that suffers is the brain: irritability, headaches, problems with concentration and memory occur. You cannot drink liquids during and after meals, so as not to dilute the gastric juice: this slows down digestion and creates conditions for the formation of toxins. “If you ate porridge, you can drink only after an hour, and if meat – then after at least two,” explains Neumyvakin. Coffee, tea and soda dehydrate, and a glass of water with lemon and a spoonful of honey when waking up maintains the correct acid-base balance.
Eat in moderation. Always.
“We eat four to five times more than we need to stay healthy,” Neumyvakin is convinced. “And excess, unprocessed food is waste.” Secondly, “food should not be swallowed, but drunk. While we chew, the brain signals the body to release the necessary amount of enzymes and hydrochloric acid to break down the food to the molecular level.” Finally, our food should be 75% “alkaline” (pH greater than 7) and only 25% “sour” (pH less than 7). It is important to remember that dishes are not divided into “sour” and “alkaline” by taste: a classic example is a sour lemon, which is an absolutely “alkaline” product. Apples, plums, cherries, peaches, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, green peas and green beans, watermelons, melons, zucchini, radishes, horseradish, carrots, and liquid fermented milk products also have excellent alkalizing properties. And the most “acidic” are considered to be all fats of animal origin, meat, fish, eggs, cheeses, sausages, confectionery, bakery and pasta products, and sugar. It is better to exclude milk: it accelerates the aging process, since with the end of infancy the body stops producing the required amount of lactase, an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar. An acceptable solution is fermented milk products with no more than 1% fat.
Keep to the routine
After 7:00 PM, insulin secreted by the pancreas processes the dinner eaten within two hours. And by 9:00 PM, the body should switch to producing melatonin – so that we go to bed no later than 11:30 PM. From this time until 4-5 AM, natural mechanisms are in place to restore what has gone wrong in the body during the day.
Drink wine
But in moderation. When digested, food is converted into carbon dioxide, water and glucose – sugar, from which the body itself produces some amount of ethyl alcohol. If this is a natural reaction, then why not drink 30-50 grams of something stronger in the evening? For example, if we are talking about a strong horseradish tincture with honey or red wine. But white grapes, except for glucose, do not give the body anything. In any case, when going to visit or to a bar with friends, do not forget to drink a couple of glasses of the same clean water.
Fight toxins
Diseases do not exist. But there are conditions associated with slagging of the body. Their main cause is refined, canned, fried food, sweets and smoked products, for the processing of which a lot of oxygen is needed. As a result, the body constantly experiences oxygen starvation, the immune, enzymatic and hormonal systems are weakened and normal microflora is replaced by pathological ones. The main “cleaning agents” are, of course, water and fiber-rich foods.
Breathe correctly
Breathing can help regulate the oxygen content (ideally 4%) and carbon dioxide (6–6.5%) in cells. Normally, a person should take 12–16 breaths per minute. A short inhale and a long exhale is a natural rhythm laid down by nature. After exhaling, try not to breathe for a minute. There should be at least 30 such minutes per day, and if you get an hour, you will be healthy!
Don’t overload your heart
The heart is a fluid-pumping engine, and it should not take on excessive weight, “puffing” for the entire body. There are more than 500 muscles in the body, the work of which promotes blood circulation. The main ones are located below the navel – everything should work there. Sit on the floor and walk on your buttocks, do a hundred squats with a straight back, do Nordic walking. Warm up in the morning, and it is better to postpone serious loads – for example, vigorous running – until the second half of the day. The main thing is to run with pleasure, not “to overcome”: the pulse can increase by 30-50% maximum.
Clear your mind
Do not do to others what you would not want done to you. Damage to the soul inevitably leads to illnesses of the body. Negative energy of emotions works against you. But the more good a person gives, the more he receives. Live with pure thoughts, and what you can give, give.
P.S. Ivan Pavlovich Neumyvakin passed away at the age of less than 90, on April 22, 2018 (born July 7, 1928). A man who masterfully dealt with any health problems, could not cope with the loss of a loved one.