The aging of America is a statistical reality: by 2050, the population aged sixty-five and over is expected to reach 84 million, nearly double that of 2010. The number of women will increase from 24 million to 46 million. Despite apparent strength in numbers, older women face challenges. Society glamorizes so much of what it means to be youthful, and young women are always projected as the ideal. If you see an older woman in the media, it is not usually in a positive light; it’s about incontinence, or dementia, or how to get your life insurance together. Instead of honoring a woman as she becomes wiser and more mature, it almost positions her to seem irrelevant, and that is especially true for senior citizens, who are given virtually no credibility for having anything left to put on the table that others should be interested in.
In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, the hero comes to an island near Japan, where a race has realized mankind’s dream of living forever. The irony is that these immortals all wish they were dead because, though they have lived hundreds of years, these have been miserable years, since they have all the infirmities of the aged, such as blindness, deafness, arthritis, and senility. Jonathan Swift’s satirical thrust can be applied today, when we consider the following facts: people are living longer than ever before, but many are unable to enjoy longevity because its potential pleasures are canceled out by the prematurely early encroachments of aging.
The idea that aging inevitably means gaining weight and having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and arthritis is widely accepted. Since so many people have these problems, we think of them as normal. Even doctors are likely to say that when we get to be a certain age, these conditions are to be expected and, since they are irreversible, accepted.
Fortunately, recent research has given us a better understanding of the causes of aging; in particular, several theories have led to new therapies offering women opportunities not only to improve their health but to actually slow down the aging process. We now know that it’s possible to live to a hundred and beyond and to stay healthy throughout our life spans, thus “rectangularizing” the aging curve.
Dr. Martin Feldman, a traditionally trained physician who practices complementary medicine, supports this stand. “We need to have optimum energy as we grow old, not accept the diminishment many find encroaching as they grow older,” he says.
Dr. Saralyn Mark, a geriatrician and endocrinologist, tells about the process of healthy aging. “So many people live to die,” she says, “and it’s such a horrible way to think about your existence.” Instead, Dr. Mark says, we should be highlighting the positives. “Every day is a gift,” she says, and we need to think about how to make each day special and how to take charge of our lives.
Dr. Feldman cites joint disease as an example of a condition that medicine has accepted as inevitable, a condition that is reversible. There is now an epidemic of joint disease in the United States. Osteoarthritis, the most common form, afflicts 21 million people in the United States, more than 15 million of whom are women. Conventional doctors call osteoarthritis a “wear-and-tear disease,” as if the joints wear out like the parts of a car. That sounds plausible, but it is nonsense. The disease is a product of deficiencies and occurs when the joint is not being nourished. A nourished joint will remain healthy. Dr. Feldman has seen marathon runners in their seventies and eighties who use their joints ten-fold or even fiftyfold more than a normal person does, yet their joints remain robust.
It is widely accepted that aging and degenerative diseases are the result of cellular damage brought on by free radicals, molecules that have become unstable after losing one of their orbiting electrons. The unpaired electrons make the molecules highly reactive, and in an attempt to restore balance, a free radical will steal electrons from other molecules, causing cellular damage and destruction.
Free radicals are produced through normal metabolism in the body, but increase with exposure to animal fat, alcohol, cigarettes, and other toxic chemicals. Dr. Christopher Calapai, a proponent of complementary medicine who has a medical practice in New York, gives an example of how this damage can occur: “Free radicals generated by cigarette smoke are huge in number. They steal healthy electrons from the lining of the lungs, thereby oxidizing lung tissue. When lung tissue is oxidized, cells break down and die. As hundreds of thousands of cells become oxidized and damaged, tissues and organs throughout the body are affected. Aging and disease are magnified.”
Stress is perhaps one of the greatest causes of accelerated aging in our society. “It affects every cell in our body,” Dr. Mark explains. “It affects our immune system. It affects the cells in our body that can help us fight cancer. Every day we’re exposed to environmental toxins and our body has cells to go out there. They’re sort of our soldiers on the front line to protect ourselves. To protect ourselves from the free radicals in the environment, from the toxins that we potentially might eat or drink.”
Dr. Mark shares what she has learned about aging through her work with astronauts at NASA. “When you go into space you begin to see changes in the body almost immediately that you see [over a longer term] with the aging process on earth. For example, bone mass declines. In normal aging, it’s 1 percent per year. In space it can be up to 1 percent per month. We see changes in the amount of red blood cells and white blood cells, and bone marrow suppression. We see changes in muscle and fat. What is really exciting for me is that we see these changes when you go into space, but when you come back the body adapts to the environment here and you basically get back to your state that you were in before you went. So in a sense it’s reversing aging. It’s very, very exciting. And we’re learning now how to do that even better.”
The thyroid gland located in the middle of the neck produces thyroid hormone, described by Dr. Mark as “a master hormone that helps keep our bodies in sync.” About 10 percent of women have antibodies to the gland that make it sluggish; this condition is known as hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism may cause people to feel tired and cold; develop dry, brittle hair and skin; gain weight; and have difficulty concentrating.
Low thyroid function can prompt diseases associated with aging. Dr. Ray Peat, a distinguished research scientist from Eugene, Oregon, says that doctors in the first part of the twentieth century were better informed than today’s doctors about the importance of correcting this condition. “Most of the basic research on the thyroid was done before World War II. Pharmaceutical companies came in after the war with what they thought was the latest word in understanding the thyroid. It turns out they were wrong. Until 1940 it was accepted that 40 percent of Americans benefited from taking thyroid supplements. After faulty tests were established, it was believed that only 5 percent of Americans needed or benefited from thyroid supplements. In the 1930s indications of hypothyroidism included such things as too much cholesterol in the blood, insomnia, emphysema, arthritis, and failure of the immune system. Many conditions now considered mysterious diseases were recognized as traits of low thyroid. Very often these conditions would simply disappear when thyroid supplements were given.
“When the thyroid is low we have to rely on emergency systems—such as the production of adrenaline and cortisone—to adapt to stress. Cortisone and adrenaline are now recognized as factors that cause damage, setting degenerative diseases in motion and causing damage to the lining of blood vessels and brain cells, but very often people don’t realize that it is the thyroid that keeps us from relying excessively on these stress hormones.”
Another theory on aging holds that women have a built-in cellular “biological clock” that is set so that cells self-destruct after a certain amount of time. Dr. Lance Morris, a naturopathic physician from Tucson, Arizona, notes that since the theory was first described, the proposed upper limits for the clock’s running time have increased. “At this time,” he says, “there is a feeling that the top limit is pushing 140 years. Individuals have actually lived to that age, and even longer.”
Atrophy of the thymus gland, which plays a role in maintaining a healthy immune system and fighting infection, may also be involved in the aging process. As Dr. Morris explains, “When we are born, this gland covers a part of our chest. As we grow older, it diminishes in size, a process known as thymic involution. One of the theories of aging is that if we could stop thymic shrinking we could stop the aging process altogether.”
The late Dr. Hal A. Huggins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, highlighted another cause of premature aging, the mercury in silver amalgam fillings. According to Dr. Huggins, the mercury in your fillings does not just sit there—you inhale it and it goes into your lungs. Every time you eat and chew, minute amounts of mercury get into your stomach and digestive system and from there to cells in all parts of your body, where it can undergo oxidation, forming methyl mercury, a highly toxic substance.
Dr. Elson Haas, an integrated medicine physician, is director of the Preventive Medical Center in San Rafael, California, and author of The Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide, among other best-selling books. In an article on the HealthWorld Online website (www.healthy.net), he summarizes a few other theories of aging: errors in DNA, possibly caused by free radicals; alterations in brain function; imbalance in the hormonal and nervous systems; a breakdown in immune system function; and stress. His own theory, he explains, is that all these processes combine in various ways in each person to result in aging, with the key factor being “stagnation of bioenergy circulation and stagnation of the digestive tract and bowels.”
A variety of gradual bodily changes are associated with aging, such as an increased susceptibility to weight gain and fatigue. But there is no physiological reason why women should become obese or get tired more easily as they grow older: these are society’s, not nature’s, norms. It can be just as natural, for example, for a woman to eat and sleep a little less as she grows older, compensating for any slowing down of metabolic processes and thus maintaining stable weight and energy levels.
The risk of contracting degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease, and suffering from thyroid dysfunction, musculoskeletal problems, and gastrointestinal disorders, also typically increases with age. As women get older, they may suffer from elevated blood sugar, an increase in cholesterol and triglycerides, and other chemical imbalances. Decreases in memory, concentration, and sharpness may occur. Typical signs of aging also include changes in skin, hair, nails, and connective tissue. Again, it is not inevitable that these changes take place.
Aging well means being healthy and balanced from within. To check that all systems are running optimally, Dr. Calapai recommends a full spectrum of diagnostic tests, with special attention to adrenal function, vitamin and mineral levels, blood chemistry, pancreatic enzymes, and stool. “The adrenal glands produce our antiaging hormones. With age, some people start producing less. This can be from free radical damage, excessive stress, injuries, and all sorts of reasons. As a result we see changes in memory, concentration, skin, hair, hormonal fluctuations, and energy levels. We start to see problems with immune response and increases in blood sugar, cholesterol, and abdominal deposition of body fat. So we need to look at adrenal function.
“Certainly, tests should look at vitamin and mineral levels to check our digestive and absorptive abilities. Looking at the basic blood chemistry tells us how well we are absorbing protein. We need to look at the fat-soluble vitamins and cholesterol, triglycerides, and the ratio of good HDL cholesterol to bad LDL cholesterol, which can provide information about our fat absorption. I also recommend looking at enzymes of the pancreas to assess function and having a comprehensive stool analysis done to see whether or not there are too many undigested particles in the stool. If parasites are present, this can decrease our absorptive ability. These are some of the main tests we need to perform to get a thorough picture of the individual.”
A basic healthy diet will vastly improve the quality of life and reduce the aging process in women of all ages. This diet should consist of high-quality organic foods, reduced caloric intake, emphasizing complex carbohydrates such as beans and whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Adolescents, who are still growing, may need more of certain nutrients, and people in specific age groups may have specific nutrient requirements that can be addressed through supplements.
Anti-aging diets contain no animal proteins. Let me repeat that. Not a little bit, not a moderate amount, but zero animal products. Eliminate all pro-inflammatory food & beverage, i.e. pizza, deep fried food. What you do want are high-fiber foods, more organic raw food and juices. This means about 50 to 60 grams of fiber a day, soluble and nonsoluble. High-fiber diets help prevent common afflictions associated with aging, such as constipation, hemorrhoids, pressure in the intestines, ulcers, high blood pressure, colorectal cancer, and overall body toxemia. Reduce advanced glycation end products and eliminate all processed sugar.
One of the principles of longevity is eating to the point of being not quite full. As we get older, it is advisable to eat small servings more frequently. I’d rather see you eat three small servings a day than one big meal because your body requires energy throughout the day and if you only eat one meal, your body is not going to be able to sustain its energy. You’ll think it’s normal to be fatigued about four hours after you’ve eaten your meal when what’s happening is your blood sugar level is simply low. It takes you twice as long to digest food when you’re older because your whole metabolism is slowed down.
Many senior citizens suffer from dehydration because their intake of fluid is inadequate. Dehydration adversely affects the body’s electrolytes, which carry electricity and are important for normal functioning of the nervous system. You should drink at least ten 8-ounce glasses of liquid daily. I don’t want you drinking tap water. It’s too polluted, no matter what your public health official says. I’ve done so much work showing what’s in a glass that you can’t even see. In addition to water, either filtered or distilled, you should be drinking juices. There is a proper way to take the juices so you don’t overwhelm the system. Start with one glass of juice per day for the first month. Then add a glass a day per month until you reach six glasses a day at the end of six months. The juice floods the body with phytochemicals and chlorophyll, which are really important for healing.
The first thing to look at as a means of reversing the symptoms of aging is supplements. Many people do not understand the effective use of vitamins and minerals as dietary supplements. Basically, you must follow the law of compensation. If you are a woman who smoked, and used sugar, caffeine, or alcohol; if you were an angry person who held in your anger; if you have not honored the life force; if you have not exercised; or if you have felt unfulfilled, you must work to compensate for these deficiencies.
One-a-day supplements are the easy way out. I have met people who say, “I eat meat. I eat sugar. But it’s all right because I take my one-a-day vitamin.” My friend, that does not work. The body cannot be lied to. After thirty or forty years of the body being debilitated by an unhealthy lifestyle and environment, a little pill will not do the trick. You need to detoxify and cleanse the body.
You have to know what your bodily state is and plan accordingly. I would suggest one level of usage for healthy women who know they are healthy, and a very different level for those processing diseases. A person becoming conscious of her health will need to consult a nutritionist who can design a personalized supplement program to meet her individual needs.
The reason that supplements are even more crucial as we get older is that as we age, certain fatty acids, amino acids, and members of the main groups of nutrients are lost. Scientists looking into this issue already know that choline, tyrosine, glutathione, cysteine, vitamin E, zinc, and chromium are poorly absorbed and defi-cient in older people. Meanwhile, as these substances grow scarce, there is a buildup of heavy metals, such as aluminum and lead. These metals can be removed from the body through a process known as chelation. Vitamin C and zinc are also useful in flushing them out. Most importantly, all the nutrients that are lost, for whatever reason, must be restored for optimum physical and mental functioning.
At the same time, the free radicals in our bodies, which grow in number as we age, have to be fought. Remember, when you eat meat, drink alcohol, and are exposed to pollutants, the body creates free radicals. They cause the skin to wrinkle in the sun, and they foster cancer, arthritis, and heart disease. However, antioxidants, such as beta-carotene and vitamin A, are able to neutralize the effect of the free radicals, slowing down the aging process.
Dr. Morris calls aging a catch-22: “Oxygen is the great substance that sustains and gives life, but unfortunately it is also the substance that destroys us through oxidation.” For this reason, antioxidants are essential. Here are the most important ones:
VITAMIN E—400 to 1,600 IU, taken at the largest meal. Women with herpes, chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis, and even AIDS have dramatically improved after taking large doses of this vitamin on a regular basis. Vitamin E is best in its natural form (as a mixed tocopherol or d-alphatocopherol). Synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha) should be avoided.
BETA-CAROTENE—25,000 IU per meal. Beta-carotene can be obtained in all the green, red, and orange fruits and vegetables. They help slow down aging and lessen cancer risk. They are nontoxic, since the body converts beta carotenes into vitamin A and will not convert more than it can use.
VITAMIN A—5,000 to 10,000 IU per day. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin essential for healthy bones, skin, eyes, digestion, and immune function. Blood tests will determine whether or not a woman is getting too much vitamin A, which can be toxic.
VITAMIN D3—5,000 IU per day.
SELENIUM—100 mcg once or twice a day. One cause of premature aging and even death, particularly in professional athletes, is cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart. This is usually associated with selenium deficiency. Adequate amounts of this critical nutrient are needed to help the body produce the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which is on the front line of aging defense.
ZINC—15 to 25 mg daily. Zinc feeds more than one hundred enzyme systems in the brain, as well as various systems throughout the body. It is essential in the formation of stomach acid; without sufficient zinc, malabsorption syndrome occurs. Malabsorption is the failure of the body to absorb at the cellular level the nutrients that have been ingested. Most older people are zinc-deficient.
VITAMIN C—The single most important dietary supplement is vitamin C. I generally suggest people start at 1,000 mg a day. Then, in divided doses of 500 mg several times a day, you start to gradually take yourself up to 10,000 mg a day. This process takes several months. To really fight disease, you may have to take 200,000 mg daily via intravenous drips, under medical supervision of course. The benefits of this vitamin are multiple. Vitamin C is important for the skin, giving it youthful elasticity. This is because it produces collagen, a type of connective tissue that holds the muscles and skin together. It helps the body produce interferon and increases white blood cell disease-fighting activity. It aids the thymus gland, the liver, and the brain, and acts to prevent arthritis, cataracts, and heart disease.
At the Healing Center of New York City, drips of vitamin C and other nutrients are used to counteract the aging process. Dr. Howard Robins points out that toxins and free radicals are stressful to both the body and the mind. A body in pain, fatigued, and under attack from heavy metal and other pollutants is weakened, and the mind is adversely affected. Dr. Robins asserts that intravenously administered vitamin C cleanses the body. The Healing Center also uses drips with other nutrients, such as EDTA (ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid) to cleanse the heavy metals from the body, and destroy viruses and keep them from replicating. These drips will also help boost energy levels.
GRAPESEED EXTRACT—100 mg per day and up to 200 mg per day for people in a disease state. This is a bioflavonoid, a water-soluble substance that ensures the strength and proper function of the capillaries, helps manufacture collagen, and protects the cells against attack and invasion by viruses and bacteria. It has the highest known antioxidant properties of any nutrient.
SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE (SOD)—This important antienzyme nutrient is produced by the body. It is not effective when taken orally unless it is entericcoated. According to Dr. Haas, manganese and copper, together with zinc, support the action of superoxide dismutase.
Dr. Richard Ash has talked to his large New York City radio audience about the revivifying power of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which is a key ingredient underlying the normal functioning of the adrenal gland. He tells us that when the body is under stress, the adrenal gland requires higher amounts of cortisone and adrenaline. If these hormones are overused, they will become depleted, as will DHEA, their precursor.
An eighty-year-old woman may have only one-twentieth of the DHEA she had at age twenty. According to Dr. Ash, this can result in all sorts of negative consequences for the immune system, leading to a weakened capacity to fight diseases. One of the earliest signs of DHEA depletion is an inability to get REM sleep, which can lead to insomnia and chronic fatigue. An uninformed doctor may prescribe sleeping pills for a patient with insomnia, which will not get at the root of the problem. Other symptoms of low DHEA levels are hyperglycemia (an excess of glucose in the blood), palpitations, sweating, confusion, poor concentration, and the inability to cope with everyday stress.
Another effect of low DHEA is a reduction in salivary IgA, an antibody that fights infection in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. When IgA is depleted or absent, there will be more antigen penetration in this area as well as increased sensitivity reactions to foods and chemicals. There may be inflammation of the GI tract, a condition called “leaky gut,” in which certain foods and chemicals are not absorbed but pass out into the bloodstream. When the body tries to defend itself against these unexpected intruders, autoimmune disease may arise. Dr. Ash notes that by administering DHEA and building back up salivary IgA, we can diminish food sensitivity, lower toxic load, and repair the GI tract, restoring normal immune system functioning by treating the cause, not the symptoms.
Dr. Eric Braverman, director of the Place for Achieving Total Health (PATH) in New York and Philadelphia, and the former chief clinical researcher at the Princeton Brain Bio Center, has found that counteracting the aging process has to be undertaken on an individual basis. His treatments are personalized on the basis of each patient’s specific hormone balance, brain function, attention span, memory capacity, and cardiac and exercise capacities. Once these have been evaluated, the patient’s nutritional needs are assessed. He recommends natural yam extract, which contains progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone (PET), the three hormones he considers essential. Progesterone has anticancer properties and helps calm the brain. Estrogen strengthens the bones, has anticancer effects, especially in the colon, aids memory, and gives cardiovascular protection.
Testosterone reduces the side effects of other hormones, and helps keep the sex drive vigorous through a person’s fifties, sixties, and beyond. For a woman, the ovary produces all three of these substances, but, as Dr. Braverman puts it, “If the ovary dies, you must resurrect it. If you permit an organ to die, you allow yourself to die. We must stop this if we want abundant life. We replace depleted hormones with PET, and missing adrenal with DHEA.”
Another invaluable supplement group is the citrus bioflavonoid complex, which can be obtained from lemons, plums, and oranges, among other fruits. With an orange, one can cut open the skin and right below is the nutrient, the bioflavonoid. Another good bioflavonoid is rutin, which comes from buckwheat. To take the bioflavonoid in pill form, I recommend 300 mg per day for a healthy woman, while someone in poor health should take 500 to 1,000 mg. As for the rutin, the proper dosage for a healthy person is 25 mg per day, while the ill person may take up to 50 mg.
BLUEBERRY AND RED CABBAGE EXTRACTS—Blueberry extract is good for the eyes. During World War II, the Royal Air Force gave this to its pilots to improve night vision and strengthen the immune system. Red cabbage extract is also important. There are cultures that lack a variety of foodstuffs, but those people eat cabbage and obtain its antibacterial, antiulcer properties. Cabbage, eaten juiced or steamed, is very healthful.
CALCIUM—Calcium protects against osteoporosis and colon cancer, is important for strong teeth, and helps energy production as well as heart and nerve function.
CHROMIUM—Chromium supports glucose tolerance, decreasing the craving for sugar, and plays a role in preventing atherosclerosis by helping to lower blood cholesterol.
COENZYME Q10—200 mg daily. Every cell in the body needs this coenzyme to create energy and build stamina.
CYTOKINE SUPPRESS WITH EGCG—300mg.
RESVERATROL—200mg.
GRAPE SEED EXTRACT—200mg.
PYCNOGENOL—200mg.
GREEN TEA—If you lived in China, you would probably be drinking green tea and taking green tea extract. We know it has anticancer properties. It is an immune system stimulator. Decaffeinated green tea is very beneficial.
GLUTATHIONE—Glutathione is good for the immune system, but it is not easily assimilated by the body, so it should be taken with something that produces it in the body, such as N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC). Generally you need 500 mg of NAC and 500 mg of reduced glutathione.
L-CARNITINE—L-carnitine, a nonessential amino acid involved in fat metabolism, may help reduce fat and weight.
L-CYSTEINE—This amino acid, which scavenges free radicals, protects the tissues from chemicals and aids detoxification, partly by helping the liver produce and store glutathione. Most often it is taken with vitamin C to prevent the formation of kidney stones of cysteine, which is produced when cysteine is metabolized. Take 250 mg with a gram of vitamin C twice a day. When you take L-cysteine on a regular basis, you should also take a formula that contains the other amino acids the body needs.
DIGESTIVE AIDS—Lactobacillus acidophilus, along with other intestinal bacteria, may be needed occasionally to support the balance of bacteria in the colon. Similarly, supplements of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes aid digestion and metabolism of food, and thus prevent both nutritional deficiencies and freeradical formation due to food reactions.
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS—Essential fatty acids, such as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), diminish the risk of cardiovascular disease. Omega-3 fatty acids, derived primarily from plant oils, help regulate blood cholesterol and promote the health of the immune, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. Flaxseed oil is a superb source of omega-3. Omega-6 fatty acids, which come from fish oils, are important for blood clotting and constriction of blood vessels.
FOLIC ACID—Folic acid also helps in RNA, DNA, and red blood cell synthesis.
MAGNESIUM—Magnesium supports the cardiovascular system and decreases nervous tension.
L-CARNOSINE—1,000–2,000 mg daily.
MOLYBDENUM—Molybdenum is a trace mineral that may help prevent cancer.
NIACIN—Niacin, a form of vitaminB3, decreases cholesterol and helps improve circulation.
NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)—Also known as coenzyme 1, NADH is a naturally occurring substance in the body that supplies energy to the cells, allowing them to live longer.
RNA—RNA, taken in blue-green algae, spirulina, chlorella, and wheatgrass (all of which are also rich in chlorophyll), can decelerate the aging process.
SEA ALGAE—This is high in trace elements, antioxidant cofactors, flavonoids, and carotenoids.
THYMUS EXTRACT—Pure oral thymus extract enhances immune function and helps reverse the aging process.
TYROSINE—Strengthens the thyroid and adrenal glands, protecting against stress.
VITAMINB12—VitaminB12 boosts energy and protects the fatty sheaths that cover the nerves. It is involved in synthesis of red blood cells and DNA and RNA, which are needed for important rebuilding processes.
Herbs are an important part of any anti-aging nutritional protocol, and can be taken as capsules, powders, teas, or tinctures.
CAPSICUM—This stimulates elimination, and circulation, and its mild diuretic properties help cleanse the kidneys.
FO-TI—Fo-ti rejuvenates the endocrine system and is an excellent digestive tonic.
GARLIC—This is antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. It boosts energy but— unlike coffee—helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Garlic also stimulates liver and colon detoxification and may have anticancer properties.
GINKGO BILOBA—The ginkgo tree has survived for hundreds of thousands of years due to its powerful immune system. An extract of the leaf of the tree improves circulation to the microcapillaries of the brain and heart so that needed nutrients and oxygen can get to all the tissues.
GINSENG—Ginseng is the best-known longevity herb. For centuries, the Chinese have revered ginseng for its rejuvenating effects. Research has shown that ginseng can stop the free radical damage associated with aging. It helps people focus better when under stress and increases overall energy levels.
GOTU KOLA—Gotu kola is useful for increasing vitality and endurance, and may lower blood pressure.
HAWTHORN BERRIES—Hawthorn berries support circulation and cardiac function.
MILK THISTLE—Milk thistle protects liver function. The liver releases toxins from the body, promoting health and youthfulness.
YAM—Wild yam supports adrenal gland production of DHEA, a building block for the development of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisols, which decrease with age. As an adaptogen, wild yam balances the body’s hormonal functions. It has been shown to ameliorate numerous chronic conditions, including heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and autoimmune diseases. DHEA is extremely safe, with no known side effects.
The more toxic we are, the faster we age. Cosmetic changes such as face-lifts and hair dye may temporarily make women appear younger, but they do not make a real difference. To keep youthful and healthy, we must address what is happening inside.
“Everyone needs detoxification,” says Susana Lombardi, founder and president of the We Care Health Center in Palm Springs, California, and author of Ten Easy Steps for Complete Wellness. “I am vegetarian, and I take care of myself. Do I still need detoxification? Yes, because the air that we breathe is polluted, the water that we drink is full of chlorine, the clothing we wear is made of artificial fabrics and chemicals, the lotions and shampoos that we use all contain chemicals. Once these chemicals are inside us, we never fully eliminate them unless we go through a detoxification procedure.”
Lombardi recommends rejuvenating the system from the inside out by, once a week, limiting food intake to fresh raw vegetable juices. She and many other practitioners also recommend the following simple, yet effective, detoxification therapies.
Juice fasting gives the digestive system a rest and speeds up the growth of new cells, which promotes healing. (If you have any medical problems, do not fast without medical approval and supervision.)
On a juice fast, a person abstains from solid foods and drinks juice, water, and herbal teas throughout the day. “We should be drinking every half hour to an hour,” advises Lombardi. “If we go for long periods of time without drinking anything, then a little glass of juice will not be able to sustain us. But if we are constantly drinking, the day will go by very smoothly.”
Lombardi recommends a combination of the following:
CARROT JUICE—High in the antioxidant beta-carotene and full of wonderful enzymes.
CELERY JUICE—High in sodium, not the artificial type poured from the saltshaker, which is bad for you, but the good, natural kind that promotes tissue flexibility.
BEET JUICE—Beets nourish the liver, one of the most important organs in the body, with hundreds of different functions. If your liver is functioning well, most likely everything else in your body will too.
CABBAGE JUICE—Cabbage juice is high in vitamin C.
Mix the juice from each vegetable in equal proportion and drink this combination throughout the day. A little cayenne, which increases circulation, sending blood to every corner of the body to promote healing, can be added for flavor. Lemon juice in water and different herbal teas—some good ones are parsley and dandelion tea for the liver and kidneys and pau d’arco for blood purification—can be added for variety. “Any herbal tea free of caffeine will be good,” Lombardi says. “Since you need to drink on an hourly basis, you don’t want to drink the same thing over and over.”
Other juices that I recommend, not necessarily as part of a fasting program but important to your daily health regimen, include tomato, watermelon, cherry, blueberry, and raspberry. These contain phytochemicals, such as lycopene and anthocyanin, the blockbuster antioxidants that protect against cancer, heart disease, and other ailments.
Dr. Martin Dayton, who is board-certified in family medicine, chelation therapy, and clinical nutrition, says that chelation therapy has multiple benefits, and long life is one of them: “Dramatic increases in life span are found with chelation. While there are no longevity studies per se, this conclusion is implied indirectly by studies that show a lessening of killer degenerative diseases. In fact, chelation favorably impacts all four major causes of death in the United States [heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and lung disease].”
During the chelation process, many beneficial changes occur at the cellular level. A synthetic amino acid called EDTA is administered to the patient via intravenous drip. Once in the bloodstream, EDTA attaches itself to heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury and holds onto those toxic substances until they exit the body through the urine. Dr. Dayton explains why removal of these substances is vital to good health: “The toxic material prevents normal function and repair. For example, lead prevents normal enzymatic processes so that the body cannot function properly and repair itself. This leads to premature aging and the premature development of disease. Removal of toxic material through chelation keeps the body functioning optimally.”
Dr. Dayton notes that even an excess of iron, which is necessary for life, accelerates free radical production and causes harm: “Periodic purging of iron from the body via menstrual bleeding is thought to protect women from hardening of the arteries. However, this protection is lost at menopause with the cessation of menstruation. At this time, arterial clogging accelerates. Chelation removes this excess iron.”
Since modern people are overwhelmed by pollutants, Dr. Dayton recommends chelation therapy for anyone over the age of thirty. “Lead is found everywhere, in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food supply. It is even found at the North Pole. Lead and other toxic pollutants are hard to avoid in today’s world. As a matter of fact, the concentration of lead found in the human skeleton now is several hundred times greater than that found in our preindustrial revolution ancestors. In one study, where lead was thought to be involved, in eighteen years following chelation therapy a ten-fold decrease in cancer death rate was found for those who had the treatment versus those who had nothing.”
Aside from its overall benefits, chelation therapy specifically helps aging individuals by improving brain function. Dr. Dayton cites the following evidence: “Research shows that circulation improves greatly in the brain and to the brain. One study of fifteen patients who had twenty infusions of chelation therapy found that fourteen out of fifteen demonstrated significant cerebral blood flow. Some showed dramatic improvement in cognitive abilities. In another study thirty patients with carotid blockages were given thirty chelation treatments over a ten-month period. The carotid artery extends from the chest through the neck to the brain. It is the brain’s main source of blood flow. Blockage decreased between 20 and 40 percent.
“Unclogging carotid blockage is vitally important because the American College of Physicians states that patients with an obstruction of 70 percent or greater are at a high risk for stroke. People who have carotid artery disease improve as their arteries open up. I see this happen over and over again.”
Colon cleansing is an ancient and time-honored health practice for rejuvenating the body; it was used in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago. Later, Hippocrates taught these procedures in his health care system. The large intestine is restored to its natural size, normal shape, and correct function.
Colon therapist Anita Lotson explains the procedure and some of its physical and psychological benefits: “There are several stages of therapy. The first segment involves cleansing, a thorough washing of the large colon. The colon is irrigated by a technique whereby water is gently infused into the large bowel, flowing in and out at steady intervals. Through this method, water is allowed to travel the entire length of the colon. The walls of the colon are washed and old encrustations and fecal material are loosened, dislodged, and swept away. This toxic waste material has often been attached to the bowel walls for many, many years. It is laden with bacteria, which set up the perfect environment for disease to take root and entrench itself in the system, wreaking havoc. As this body pollution is eliminated, many conditions—from severe skin disorders to breathing difficulties, depression, chronic fatigue, nervousness, severe constipation, and arthritis—are reduced in severity, providing great relief, especially when augmented with dietary changes and other treatment modalities.
“The next phases are healing, and finally restoration of a healthy colon, functioning at maximum efficiency for the final absorption of nutrients, and the total and timely elimination of all remaining waste materials. During the healing phase, we begin to infuse materials into the bowel that will cool inflamed areas and strengthen weak sections of the colon wall. Flaxseed tea, white oak bark tea, and slippery elm bark tea all soothe, lubricate, and introduce powerful healing agents directly into the large intestine. These herbal teas may be taken orally as well. Simple dietary changes have been made by now, such as the addition of water. This simple measure spells the difference between success and failure in alleviating many bowel conditions. I ask all my clients to double their intake of water.
“I love to see people’s change in attitude from the time they come in to the time that they leave. Sometimes people are very irritable when their bowels are backed up. They’re often depressed, and sometimes nasty. By the time they leave, you can see a smile and a bounce in their step. It’s a different person altogether.”
Nina Anderson, author of Over Fifty, Looking Thirty: The Secrets of Staying Young, attributes slow aging to sufficient enzyme levels: “Many scientists say that people get old before their time due to enzyme exhaustion. Some people are old at forty because of the lack of enzymes, while others are young at eighty because of an abundance. Above all else, I would advise anybody who is trying to avoid looking and feeling older as they get older to take supplemental enzymes.”
She goes on to explain that enzymes allow nutrients to be used. For example, you have enzymes in the heart that allow magnesium to be used. Without those enzymes, magnesium cannot get to the heart: “Enzymes are molecule catalysts found everywhere in your body. In fact, there are over thirteen hundred different ones. They make everything happen. In my book I use this analogy: minerals are the building blocks of your body. They are the nose, eyes, ears, bones, all the things that hold you together. Something has to build this. Enzymes are the construction workers that facilitate everything in the body going together.”
Anderson recommends that women eat more raw foods, mineral supplements, and digestive plant enzymes to increase enzyme levels. Raw foods are loaded with enzymes. Fruit and vegetable juices are filled with enzymes. When food is processed, the first things taken out are enzymes. Why? Because the enzymes are what allow the food to ripen. However, if the food becomes too ripe, it rots. To stop it from ripening and rotting so that it can be sold longer, these enzymes must be destroyed. But if you destroy the enzymes, you lessen the food’s life force. It will have proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats, and minerals, but less life force.
“The mineral supplements to take,” Anderson adds, “should be in crystalloid form, with electrolytes. The crystalloid form goes right into the cell walls. This fortifies your body.
“Plant enzymes assist in the digestion of food right on through the intestinal tract. You want to help the digestive process for the whole length of the digestive tract. With supplemental enzymes, you won’t have an upset stomach anymore or feel bloated and exhausted after a big meal. The skin will start to improve too. The skin manifests everything that happens inside. If your inner organs start to degenerate, if they are not functioning properly, this kind of stress shows up on your face. The first thing people do when they start getting older is look in the mirror and go, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got wrinkles.’ They spend millions trying to get rid of them. But what they have to realize is that wrinkles start from inside. You have to work on the inside to get the outside to reflect that good health.
“Without the proper enzymes, none of the other good things you do matter. For example, the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K require fat for absorption. That fat has to be broken down by an enzyme, lipase. If lipase is not present in sufficient quantities, that fat will not be broken down. If the fat isn’t broken down, the vitamins will not be released. Therefore, you can spend a fortune on vitamin pills, and if you don’t have the proper enzymes to release those vitamins into your system, they are just going to be flushed out.”
Enzymes can be used externally as well as internally for youthful effects. Anderson explains, “There are amazing enzyme treatments for the skin. Papaya enzymes are wonderful. Or you can mix a plant enzyme powder and put it on as a mask. Not only does it take the lines out of your face, but it fills them in and builds up collagen. It can also get rid of age spots and shrink moles. When you use enzymes as a mud pack when you come in from the sun, it fights free radicals that otherwise might foster melanoma.”
When we exercise, we detoxify as we sweat through our skin and exhale from our lungs. Some good exercises include jogging or daily brisk walks, yoga stretches, and jumping on a minitrampoline, which exercises every cell in the body. Exercise slows down the aging process because it stimulates detoxification.
Recent research supports the connection between exercise and a longer life, more stable moods, and decreased risk of disease and injury.
Breathing exercises combined with physical activity increase the action of lymphatic cleansing. Detoxification expert Susana Lombardi explains: “For lymphatic cleansing, you want to synchronize your breathing with the movement of your legs and arms. When you are walking or jumping on the trampoline, inhale four times and exhale four times. Move your arms and legs each time you take a little breath. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your nose or mouth.
“This breathing technique was learned from the Taromaro Indians, who live in the northern part of Mexico. They are famous for their fantastic health. They have less need of hospitals or homes for the elderly. They have less disease.”
“In my personal opinion, the single most important factor influencing aging and disease is stress,” says Dr. Morris. “We need to control emotional anxieties and tensions, and learn how to not let life get to us. It is important to learn to let go and enjoy life.” Methods Dr. Morris and others suggest to overcome stress include deep breathing exercises, Reiki, skin brushing, saunas, and magnetic healing. Tai chi, yoga, meditation, qi gong, massage, biofeedback, and the Feldenkrais method are also recommended.
Since exercise increases oxygenation, it also has the potential to foster free radical damage. To prevent undesirable effects, women may want to combine exercise with sufficient amounts of antioxidants in the diet and/or as dietary supplements.
Reiki is a type of massage therapy or bodywork in which pressure point techniques are used to move energy through the body, achieving balance and harmony. Reiki therapist Nilsa Vergara reports below on her clients’ experiences with Reiki therapy.
“My first example is a fifty-nine-year-old woman who came to our healing circle feeling old and tired. She suffered from aches and severe pain in her neck and knee from car accidents. She was also going through job changes, and was estranged from her adult son. Each week she received a fifteen-minute session, and she quickly began feeling better. She released a lot of emotional toxins via crying and verbal expression of what she was feeling. She decided to take a Reiki class so that she could give herself daily treatments. Within a month, her changes were quite dramatic. She had a tremendous increase in energy and vigor. She told me she now feels like she is twenty-eight. With the Reiki, she now has very little pain. She feels emotional and vital. Her attitude has changed. She feels selffulfilled and in control of her life. Her relationship with her son has greatly improved. To quote her, ‘I feel like my whole life is as it should be.’
“My next client is a sixty-five-year-old woman. When she first came to see us, she was depressed. She had been in therapy for years, but nothing seemed to lift the depression. She felt tired all the time and would catch colds easily. Emotionally, she felt like a victim, and others treated her like one.
“After her first fifteen-minute session she felt immediately better. She knew that something powerful was happening. She returned and eventually studied Reiki. Today, she reports feeling much healthier. She has more energy and an optimistic outlook. She no longer feels like a victim, and if anyone tries to put her in that role, she is no longer afraid to set limits. In addition, she is much more able to tolerate cold weather, which indicates that her body has improved its oxygen intake.
“One of my students has an eighty-three-year-old mother who fell and broke her hip bone as well as bones in her wrist and arm. She decided to give her mother Reiki regularly, and her mother responded quite well. She began feeling stronger and stronger. Within four weeks she was out of her cast, walking with just the aid of a cane, not a walker.”
Using a natural brush on dry skin removes dead cells and leaves pores open, so that more toxins can be expelled. Lombardi explains why this is so important: “We are supposed to eliminate toxins through the pores of the skin. Due to pollution, smog, the creams we use, the clothes we wear, and so forth, our pores are more closed than open. Always brush toward the heart.”
The sauna is a good follow-up to dry skin brushing because it pushes toxins out through the skin. The main thing to remember with saunas is to be prudent. You want to perspire but not remain there for too long. Nor do you want too much heat. “Follow the directions,” says Lombardi. “And wear a cooling drape on your head. You don’t want to heat up the brain area.”
There are multiple benefits from sauna detoxification, explains Lombardi: “You will look and feel better. Your skin will be clear and you will not have constipation. Your nails will improve as well as your heart and digestive system. It will clear your mind and improve concentration. Nothing will de-stress your body like a sauna.”
Susan Bucci is a holistically trained nurse who has spearheaded the development of magnetic healing products. “Magnets oxygenate tissues and allow cell walls to absorb more oxygen,” she explains. “They promote mental acuity and normalize pH balance by increasing alkalinity. Restorative sleep is enhanced. Therapeutically, they stop pain, fight infection, and reduce inflammation and fluid retention. Over time, fatty and calcium deposits dissolve and the circulatory system opens up. Put that all together and you’ve got enhanced health. Take that a step further: if you achieve optimal well-being, you can actually live a long, productive life.”
In addition, magnets can eliminate many specific signs and symptoms of old age. Bucci reports these antiaging benefits from her own use of magnetic healing techniques: “My energy level has increased. I used to have chronic fatigue in the worst way, but now that’s gone. My immune system is functioning much better, so my susceptibility to viruses and colds has decreased dramatically. Allergies are basically gone, and there are no more killer sinus headaches. My circulation has improved so that I withstand weather a whole lot easier. Wounds heal quickly, and my spider veins have disappeared. Also, I was headed for an early menopause, but now my menstrual cycle is very much on track, very regular.
“Hair, skin, and nails have definitely improved. My hair grows faster and has a much better quality to it. Within two weeks of using magnets on a daily basis, I was able to see new, thick, dark hair growing. My grays started falling out and disappearing. I was going to color my hair about four years ago, and I still haven’t touched it with an ounce of anything. My skin definitely looks and feels younger. And my nails grow so well that if I break one, it doesn’t upset me. I know that it will grow right back.”
How can magnets do so much? Simply stated, magnets confer a wide range of benefits because we are magnetic beings who derive energy from the earth’s magnetic field. Magnets create overall benefit by restoring internal harmony.
It is important to realize that not just any magnet will do. The negative pole restores health and good energy to the system, while exposure to the positive pole is detrimental. This has been proved repeatedly in studies where a variety of creatures, from earthworms, mice, and chickens to larger animals, live longer as untested control groups when exposed to negative field magnets. Bucci recommends unipolar magnets, marked by the Davis and Rawls system with an N or the word negative and a green label. “That’s the healthy side, and that’s the one we face toward the body.” Negative field ions support biological systems, which help the body to heal itself. “The body is an amazing machine with a remarkable capacity to cure itself,” Bucci says. “Give it a boost in the right direction and it does the rest on its own. The negative field is completely safe and risk-free.”
Bucci finds that magnets work best when worn on a daily basis. During the day she wears a magnet over her heart to improve circulation and oxygenation. “It keeps the heart open and flowing and sends all that wonderful oxygen throughout my body,” she says. At night, she takes the magnet off and sleeps with her head on a magnetic mattress pad. She does this because the most important benefit while sleeping is increased melatonin production from the brain’s pineal gland: “People are running out to buy melatonin, but guess what? We can encourage our own melatonin production.
“People ask me how long magnets should be worn. Generally speaking, the longer you wear them, the more healing takes place. You can wear them all night and during the day. Generally, the body will tell you when it has had enough. It also will tell you when a condition has healed, although you should check with a physician just to make sure.”
An increasing body of scientific evidence is showing the benefits of natural modalities to overall health and well-being. Following is a sample of recent peerreviewed literature in the area of aging.
A 2012 Life Extension Magazine article cited numerous studies indicating that supplements of the coenzyme PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) protect against mitochondrial dysfunction, heart degeneration, brain injury, and cognitive decline, among other degenerative conditions. Reports in 2010 and 2012 in the Journal of Bioscience, Journal of Neurotrauma, and Journal of Biological Chemistry, for example, cited evidence of PQQ’s neuroprotective effect, its versatile role in biological processes, and its ability to activate cell signaling pathways that have the potential to reverse cellular aging. In a 2014 study published in Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, researchers from the University of Warwick reported that sulforaphane in broccoli and quercetin in onions are capable of increasing movement of Nrf2, a protein that regulates antioxidant response and is important for cellular health. Caloric restriction has now been established as the one provable antiaging therapy.