Young Forever: The Secrets to Living Your Longest, Healthiest Life (The Dr. Mark Hyman Library Book 11)

by Mark Hyman

1. Reduce toxic exposures. Do your best to eat organic food or regeneratively raised food. Use the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen as a guide to which fruits and vegetables are the most or least contaminated (ewg.org). Filter your water, ideally with a reverse osmosis filter, and get an air filter for your home. The ones I recommend can be found at drhyman.com/filter. Eliminate high-mercury fish. Use the Environmental Working Group’s Consumer Guide to Seafood. Eliminate toxic household cleaning products and personal care products. Use the Environmental Working Group’s guides (ewg.org). 2. Enhance your body’s detoxification systems. Drink 8 to 10 glasses of filtered water a day. Have one to two bowel movements a day. If you are constipated, try magnesium citrate, buffered vitamin C, probiotics, and fiber such as flaxseeds and chia seeds. If you are still struggling, see a functional medicine doctor for further evaluation. Sweat daily with exercise, saunas, steam, or hot baths. 3. Upregulate your detoxification pathways. Consume detoxifying foods daily, including 1 to 2 cups of cruciferous vegetables, garlic, onions, artichokes, watercress, beets, avocados, lemons, green tea, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric (see Chapter 7 for more on food and detoxification). Take supplements that support detoxification. The liver has many pathways for detoxification that require vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. The B vitamins, especially folate, B12, and B6; s...