Staying Young In Mind & Body

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We want to live long, healthy lives and we think we know how to do it. Thanks to Dr. Bruce West, author of Health Alert, it was brought to my attention that the things I thought were primary to longevity were actually not even the top three. An eight decade-long study that dates back to 1921, The Longevity Project (1) discovered some shocking data about healthy longevity.

The Keys To Longevity

The main keys to increased healthy longevity are conscientiousness (top of the list), productivity (a close second) and taking responsibility for yourself! Who’d a thunk it? Given the “nanny state” that politicians sell us, these days, to get votes and ensure their own longevity in power, it explains why Americans are living for fewer years. In fact, it has already been estimated that our children will not live as long as we will. Conscientiousness can be summed up as doing what you say you are going to do. To live a long and healthy life, take responsibility for yourself and your family. Be conscientious with your life and your work, which will bring about productivity, and then enjoy the glow of those feelings as your morale stays high as a result. Now that the top three are out of the way, let’s look at the next seven. After you get all bogged down with how much you have to do to stay young I’ll share a couple of quick fixes that will give you a big bang for your buck.‘

1. Stop bad habits like smoking, drinking, etc.
2. Maintain proper weight. Several past articles from this column address best ways to achieve this.
3. Exercise – and this includes weight lifting for everyone, regardless of age.
4. Keep prescription drugs as a treatment of last resort and drug use to a minimum. There is no drug treatment that does not have side effects. Once two drugs are introduced, most doctors cannot extrapolate the interrelated side effects; with three or more, the situation is impossible for anyone to understand. Remember: properly prescribed prescription drugs are the fourth leading cause of death!
5. Do not consume synthetic vitamins. These can tax the body and cause nutritional imbalances and deficiencies.
6. Drink 32oz. of pure water daily for every 50 lbs. that you weigh.
7. Maintain proper digestion. After age 35, our production of digestive enzymes starts to decrease especially with processed food diets. Raw foods such as fruits and vegetables have enzymes inherent in them that break them down, but cooked foods tax one’s digestive system. What many of us think is acid reflux is actually undigested food that has putrefied, fermented and gone rancid in our gut. We use antacids, which temporarily ease the pain but actually make the underlying cause of the problem worse. I recommend Standard Process Multizyme and Zypan for keeping your digestion young. Drs. Lopez, Williams, and Miehlke call Enzymes: The Fountain of Youth, in their book by the same title. R. M. Williams, M.D., Ph.D., co-founded Cancer Treatment Centers of America in 1989. From his intro to this book, “…the heat of…cooking, refining of foodstuffs and pasteurization will kill the enzymes in foods. If we do not help by eating properly, the digestive glands, and sometimes the thyroid, work extra hard day after day and eventually become enlarged and less efficient…Scientists feel this shortfall in metabolic enzymes contributes to some of our modern society diseases, such as degenerative disorders (osteoarthritis, emphysema, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal disorders, Alzheimer’s, etc.) and to some autoagressive diseases (collagen vascular diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, etc.) and to cancer.”

This leads me to the quick fix that I promised. Take with meals the above-mentioned digestive enzymes that include cooked foods and add a probiotic such as acidophyllis or Standard Process Prosymbiotic to your regimen to ensure proper function of the lower bowel. The overexposure to chemicals of all kinds and, most specifically, antibiotics kill these very fragile little bacteria that are essential to keep one’s bowel healthy and to support the immune system. You can find out more about these enzymes by visiting my Whole Food Supplements page.

Download & Print this article as a PDF: Staying Young In Mind And Body.