Long Walks On Leafy Streets

4/27/2013 Old Pali Hwy, Honolulu, HI

I would not be overestimating by much when I say that the three and a half miles I walk to work in the morning thrice a week is the highlight of my week. As I start my walk I am greeted by the lively chirping of birds that has been getting louder with each passing spring morning. The ubiquitous oaks of Washington are now more fully clothed. The budding leaflets are now almost grown leaves with a reddish tinge and I feel welcomed by their flapping in the breeze. It is as if the heavens had opened up and a wave of euphoria passes through me. This is a welcome release from the pressures and responsibilities of daily life.
One evening as I was walking home from the bus stop the lattice like structure of the branches of a tree caught my eye.
The intricate pattern with branches of decreasing girth arising gradually until they fill up the whole space above the tree, at the same time providing the leaves with the configuration for getting the most sunlight made me marvel at the intelligence of nature. There is an underlying intelligence in nature, whether you want to call it divine or something else, that exists in the activity of each cell and each atom of the universe.
With every passing day science discovers more aspects of this intelligence. Whether it is in the amazing ability of plant cells to manufacture food or the ability of our own bodies to fight disease, we continue to learn and draw inspiration from it. We all have this intelligence in us that is apart from the superficial ability for reason. For logic and reason themselves come from this underlying intelligence.
In my own life I try to listen to my body when it comes to deciding what to eat and when to rest and when to be active. I also try to let the body fight diseases on its own as much as possible. Although science has told us much about how nature works, we still do not know all the connections that exist between the different systems in the body. Medicine should be used only as a last resort, I believe. I discovered this after years of taking statins to reduce cholesterol levels in my body. I was taking them after failing to reduce it through diet and exercise, and because doctors told me it might be hereditary. But I learned that statins have many side effects, because they work by stopping one chain of biochemical reactions but in the process disrupting others that are essential to the body. So I stopped going to doctors and taking statins altogether, changed my diet further and after several years of this my cholesterol is now back to normal.
Even though the cholesterol is back to normal, over the past few years I have been noticing an increasing sluggishness and fatigue, short-term memory loss and I am becoming more prone to catching infections. I attributed that to age and increased stress levels and also to not eating well. I even started questioning my longevity. But even after eating more and exercising more the problems persisted. Then recently I saw a video by Michael Mosley posted on Facebook by our friend Steve Seuser. It talked about new research that shows how calorie restriction really slows down the aging process. I have heard about this before and been skeptical of it but apparently now there is a better understanding of how it works. Basically it slows down the growth and reproduction of the cells. When we get old, we are like an old car. It shouldn’t be driven aggressively like a new car.
Intrigued by this, I started reducing the portions of my meals. I now eat only when I am really hungry and then I eat only just enough to stop the hunger. Instead of feeling weak and tired as I was afraid I would, I started feeling more energetic. It feels like the cells in my body have been liberated from the stress of processing food and reproducing and now can devote themselves to fighting disease and taking care of themselves. My memory has improved and I can concentrate better for longer periods of time. I sleep less but more soundly, wake up feeling energetic, and stay alert better throughout the day. I am doing much better on the standing on one foot test, proving that I am not aging as fast as before. My immune system seems to be doing much better and my weight has been dropping fast to more healthy levels.
So life is better for me because my body is doing what nature built it to do. Another thing our body is built for is walking and running long distances, as our early ancestors in Africa did. As I walk on Fifth Street past Buchanan Street I come across an elderly black man on a wheelchair. I see him there often on these walks. I greet him with a quick smile and he smiles back, a gentle and quiet smile as unobtrusive and peaceful as the waving of the leaves in the wind.

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