Aging slowly means enjoying oneself to the hilt, not fighting Father Time. When we are young most of us know how to enjoy ourselves. It is the very thought of growing old (50, 60, 70, etc.) that depresses most people. The previously accepted inevitable difficulties associated with aging have been shown by science to be preventable, or at least delayed.

With proper lifestyle and the other recommendations presented in this book, high blood pressure, wrinkles, weight problems, aches and pains, heart problems, cancer and other worries can be prevented. The result is a longer and more fulfilled life.

Look Younger and Live Longer Naturally presents both the theory and a myriad of specific techniques to deal with life’s challenges associated with aging. I have drawn from the fields of gerontology (the study of aging), personal grooming, nutrition, exercise, biochemistry and alternative medicine to present the most accurate and useful information available about improving and retaining vigor throughout life. In Part One I present the theoretical considerations of aging and how our body and mind provides us with natural methods to slow down the this process.

My approach is holistic: all facets of life are necessary and work better together than they do alone. This book teaches you how to enjoy a longer and more fulfilled life, while raising your consciousness at the same time. I refer to this process as “youthing,” and Part Two details simple and inexpensive steps to look younger and live longer.

We will see how our bodies are designed to live to be at least 120, some say 140. The average age Americans live to today is only 75. By proper training and following nature’s intent, it is not difficult to see how we can add 45 (120 minus 75) to 65 (140 minus 75) years to our lives. My estimate of 25 to 50 years is rather a conservative one at that!

This book is very different from the plethora of books on aging in that it deals with an entirely natural approach. No drugs, surgery or artificial elements of any kind are presented. Secondly, I present a raising of consciousness mechanism to attain these youthing goals. In some cases you will see how we can actually reverse the aging process. Actual scripts of self hypnosis exercises to raise your consciousness are presented in chapter 13. Lastly, I lay out a comprehensive youthing plan that is easy to apply and is like no other you have ever seen or read. It will cost practically nothing but time to implement and will give you immediate results.

We will discuss the “Supernormals” who live to be well over 100 and lead vigorous lives. Just think of these famous people from recent history, Bertrand Russell, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, George Burns, Pablo Picasso, Grandma Moses, Arturo Toscanini, Konrad Adenauer, Pablo Casals -- these men and women retained their vigor and creativity well into their eighties and nineties. George Burns lived to be over 100!

Butch Cassidy said to the Sundance Kid, “Every day you get older -- that’s a law.” In the United States, it is estimated that at least 32,000 men and women are a hundred years old or older. Over ten percent of the population is over 65 in America. If Butch Cassidy were alive today he might just have to “eat his words.”

Some animals are unusually long-lived. The Galàpagos tortoise, for instance, can go on for well over 150 years, and may live into the beginning of a third century. Some trees of the arid American West are believed to have endured for hundreds, even thousands, of years. In the mid-1950s, Edmund Schulman of the University of Arizona’s pioneering Laboratory of Tree Ring Research began finding bristlecone pines in California that were nearly a thousand years older than the oldest known sequoias-until then rated the most ancient living things on earth.

To solve the problem of aging we must look at DNA (deoxyribonuleic acid). This double-helix in the nucleus of every cell is the master molecule of all life. All genes and chromosomes are made up of this DNA.

DNA is millions and millions of years old-yet shows no signs of old age. As far as we know, DNA is the only organic substance in the universe that possesses the information to ensure its own virtual immortality. DNA has the unique ability to duplicate itself, again and again, almost without limit-as long as there are materials available from which it can manufacture new copies of itself.

Our DNA is passed on to our children and to their children through the mother’s egg and the father’s sperm. We may die, but our DNA survives. Do we use DNA to keep our species alive, or does DNA use us as hosts for its eternal survival?

We will see that there is no unanimity among the experts as to what causes aging and what, if anything, might be done about it. In fact, the standard clichê used to be that there seem to be as many theories about aging as there are gerontologists. Despite this debate, gerontologists are beginning to show optimism and excitement about youthing.

This book, as it surveys current gerontological research and theory, will explore the obvious question about the prospects of slowing down or even abolishing old age, and of significantly extending the vigorous years of our lives. Eventually we will harness DNA and its genetic code to our own ends. We have already begun to do that. The chapter on Consciousness and Aging will no doubt surprise you. A final conquest of old age is in hand. Butch Cassidy would be proud of the techniques presented in this book. Afterall, there weren’t many laws he respected.

More people are beginning to understand and to believe that something can be done about the aging process, that we are not as a species forever doomed to undergo the ravages of senescence (aging). This realization is partly the causes and partly the result of a number of new books about the aging process, and the appearance of new organizations devoted to aging research such as the American Longevity Association (ALA), the American Foundation for Aging Research (AFAR), and the Fund for Integrative Biomedical Research (FIBER), not to mention the work and support of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) itself.

The NIA has shifted its previous research emphasis from the pathology of old age to focusing on a healthy old age. We may already have the means to live out long lives and yet escape both physical and mental decrepitude, according to the U.S. government.

My purpose in writing this book is to present you with solid scientific and clinical evidence of what you can and cannot do to look younger and live longer naturally. Secondarily, I provide you with the means by which you can retard the “normal aging” process every single day of your life.

Preventive medicine and its analogs (nutrition, gerontology) have become important to the lives of millions of Americans. Another positive aspect of alternative health care has been the emphasis on the contribution of the mind to the state of one’s health. The natural approaches presented here are simple and inexpensive measures that you can take to lead a better and longer life, with greater enjoyment and fewer illnesses. You will learn how to cope with today’s stressful lifestyle, and at the same time retard the aging process.

I refer to this extension of life qualitatively as “youthing.” My youthing program consists of:

• What you eat and drink.
• What you do with your body.
• What you do with your mind.
• Your environment and life style.

I am a scientist, with degrees in biology and chemistry, dentistry and counseling psychology. Since 1974 I have worked hard in establishing an international reputation as an alternative medicine practitioner. Having published a dozen articles in scientific journals, I am well aware of the scientific method. My own professional reputation goes behind everything I do and write. My own case history will be presented in chapter 14 to illustrate that I practice what I preach.

The breakthroughs presented in this book are many. Some of these are as follows:

• How to look younger immediately (chapter 8)
• How simple exercises will prolong your life (chapter 11)
• The “Antiviral Cocktail,” first developed for AIDS, that can help increase your immune strength (chapter 10)
• The dietary key to reducing the cellular changes leading to old age, and an eating plan to help you use it (chapter 10)
• The nutritional keys you can use now to decrease the aging of your skin (chapter 10)
• Simple techniques to boost your brain power and improve memory and concentration (chapter 10)
• A simple method to significantly improve your sex life (chapter 12)
• A specific nutritional plan to take you off the danger list for cardiac problems (chapter 10)
• A simple exercise guaranteed to raise your consciousness and add many quality years to your life (chapter 13)
• A step-by-step plan to reprogram the internal computer that may be aging you prematurely (chapter 13)

By following these recommendations and simple techniques, I can assure you of a longer and happier life. Ignoring these suggestions will unquestionably result in a shortened, less healthy, and far less productive life. When it comes to youthing, it is clear that the biggest differences lie in the choices we make many times each day: decisions about what we will eat, how we move, how we treat ourselves, even what inner tapes we play as we drift to sleep at night. Being around enjoying life in thirty, forty, fifty or sixty-five years means having a strong inner commitment to longevity, starting right now.

If you are 50 or so, you can expect to add 25 to 50 quality years to your life with this program. Those of you under 30 could see this figure swell to 45 to 65 quality years.

There is no single human study I can cite to support my estimates of longevity. We each are different from one another. It is far easier to obtain reliable information about the factors determining the health of guinea pigs or monkeys than of human beings, and I have relied to some extent on the studies made on these and other animal species.

It is my undying hope that you will find Look Younger and Live Longer Naturally to contain practical tips, fresh ideas, and most of all inspiration to encourage your empowerment.