Adding Years to Your Life

I have been writing this weekly blog now for many years and, as those of you who have followed my blog know, the main theme is me being a coach and a leader directing people to make their own fortune. And, of course, the key or formula to making millions is pretty straight forward, as you no doubt have seen in my writing and, hopefully, have implemented and gained big profits from over the years.

But you may have noticed that I wander off the financial theme from time to time. The issue of “great health” has filled many of my blogs. Maybe it’s just me, but the older I get and the more money I make, the more I can’t help but take a hard look at the health issues. They are so very critically important to all of us.

I mean, think about it … if you make a billion dollars, does that money keep you from kicking the bucket or having terrible health? Oh sure, you can go to the best doctors in the world with all your money but there is a lot more to good health than going to the doctor. So, yes, money is important but without good health money doesn’t mean near as much as when you have millions AND great health.

In my daily planner I have two pages with two lists of good advice and healthy habits that are frequent reminders to me to take the best roads to great health and longevity.  The first list, which I put together back in 2002, has the title “20 Ways to Add 20 Years to Your Life”. Now, I want to share that list with you, hoping that it becomes a good reminder to take great care of your health:

20 Ways to Add 20 Years to Your Life

1. Eat salmon often, not beef, and take one gram of fish oil daily
2. Eat unrefined whole wheat bread.
3. Be wise don’t supersize. Replace protein with lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and small salads.
4. Exercise 3 to 5 days a week, even if it’s just taking long walks, but always remember that it’s food that’s the big factor for weight control vs exercise.
5. Scientific studies have proven that mice that are fed a lot fewer calories than the control mice lived much, much longer and had healthier lives. It can and does have a similar effect on humans.
6. Be happy. Smile a lot to other people and even to yourself in the mirror. That smile helps release the good brain chemicals of dopamine and serotonin.
7. Get a good night sleep. Go to bed and get up at consistent times.
8. Learn to love cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and other vegetables.
9. Use olive oil instead of butter.
10. Laugh, dammit. Laughter releases those good brain chemicals which helps you relax and even boosts your immunity.

Okay, I know I said that the title of the list that I have in my planner and I look at several times a week was “20 Ways to Add 20 Years to Your Life ” and I’ve only listed 10. Well, the other 10 will be covered in my next post, plus I’ve got another note on a few signs and habits to give you longevity.

Death’s Loving Lesson

This past weekend, on September 30th, I was both celebrating and grieving. That day is my daughter Kristin’s birthday. She would have been 49 but she tragically died many years ago, at the tender age of 16. Yes, I do want to celebrate her birthday but it is a day of mourning and tears at the same time. I don’t always visit her grave because it makes me grieve more but this year I did, taking red roses that I placed on her grave.  Think how much more death would hurt all of us if some of us never had to die. Like that’s going to happen… NOT!

I do think it’s so very interesting that there are lessons that can be learned from a good friend or loved one’s death. I know when my Kristin died it made me a much, much more caring and empathetic person. I wanted to be there, to help, support, and love my friends and family more than I ever did before. From that day on I became so very caring and I really could feel and share other people’s pain and sorrows when they lost someone close to them or even had other problems and difficulties in their lives.

When I was young I had the crazy belief that I would never die since there would be a second coming of Christ and no one would suffer death. I sure remember how so many people, back in 1999, really believed that a second coming would happen as the world moved from the year 1999 to 2000! Well, that didn’t happen.

Let’s face it, death is an absolute fact of life and no one can get out of this life alive. As we age, most of us feel that time moves faster and faster although we’d love it to slow down since we have so much more living we want to do. I think we’d pay almost any price if we could buy an extension on our lives.  Years ago, when I turned 60, I used to joke and say to guys that were in their 30’s, “Hey, if it were possible for us to switch ages and you become 60 and I got to be your age, would you do it if I paid you a million dollars cash?” Believe it or not, about half the young people I asked that question to said yes. Wow… I sure would do it if it were possible, but I heard a rumor that it’s not.

However, we have options – we can take care of ourselves. We can eat good, healthy food, keep our bodies moving, and stay well connected with social groups which will extend our lives to a degree.  Plus, we can concentrate on living every day to the max – it’s a give more and live more concept.  We can love our friends, neighbors, and family as much as we are conceivably able to, including going out of our way to be there for them, helping them when they need us, and bringing more joy and happiness to them which, in return, will bring the same to us.

Yes, death of a loved one is tough but there are lessons to be learned from it and it can make you a better person which is a blessing to everyone, including yourself. Next week I want to tell you what happened that brought tears of great joy right after I posted a picture of myself putting those roses on Kristin’s grave.

The Unparalleled Importance of Health

Eight years ago, when I began writing this weekly blog I pretty much focused on just one subject and that subject was how to make lots of money and end up with a great fortune. As time passed and as I made more discoveries about life and living, I began to see more clearly how money is very important but not the most important part of our lives.

As I said in my last week’s blog, a billion dollars would not make your life perfect if you lost or didn’t have a single friend or loved one. The same goes for the huge, unparalleled importance of our own health. We don’t, unfortunately, have complete control over our health but we certainly can do a lot to greatly improve the odds of having good and even excellent health.

Let me list just a few things this week that we all can do to be and stay healthy. Here’s my list of foods, vitamins, and supplements that have greatly helped the mental and physical health of many people and can even extend your lifespan.

Foods

These foods can increase the feel-good brain chemicals of serotonin and dopamine as well as help your physical and mental health.

1. Fish–Salmon
2. Eggs
3. Tofu
4. Cheese
5. Pineapples
6. Nuts and seeds
7. Turkey
8. Apples
9. Blueberries
10. Red beets
11. Bananas
12. Strawberries
13. Kale
14. Oregano oil

Supplements

These vitamins supplements are mood lifting.

1. Fish
2. Vitamin B complex
3. 5HTP
4. L-Theanine
5. Vitamin B12
6. SAMe
7. Turmeric
8. Vitamin C
9. Melatonin
10. L-Tryptophan

And here’s one more supplement that has shown promise in reducing the risk of cancer, among other things—resveratrol. Consider eating the above foods and adding these supplements to your new year’s resolutions for a great positive and healthy start to your new year.

How to Live to be 142!

You no doubt have heard the rumor that all of us humans will die someday. Of course, I don’t believe every rumor I hear and this one sucks. I just don’t want to believe it! So maybe I’ll call for a huge boycott. You know, get a bunch of us older people together with big signs saying “We are boycotting death!” or “We refuse to die!” or “Death sucks and we won’t participate!” Well, it’s a nice thought but it probably won’t work. Oh yes, if we did it in front of a TV station they might put us on the news so everyone could get a big laugh out of it, but I don’t think that will help us avoid death or even prolong our lives by much.

However, there are things we can do to postpone the inevitable and live longer, stronger and in great health. In fact, there are some researchers that are “inching toward the seemingly impossible: a cure for aging,” according to the February 23, 2015 Time Magazine article. Maybe you saw that issue. On the cover was a picture of a cute baby with the headline “This Baby could Live to be 142 Years Old”. That headline certainly grabbed my attention and yes, I read every word of the several stories covering what the researchers have discovered and what we can do right now to postpone our own demise.

The main story was about “Mouse UT2598″ and the discovery of a compound called Rapamycin which seems to dramatically slow aging, at least in certain cells. If this compound works for humans it could increase lifespan to around 142 years. The research going on at the Jackson Laboratory and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, is in its early stages and researchers don’t recommend that humans start popping Rapamycin pills just yet says David Harrison because there are some down sides they have discovered at this point in their research. But the good news for me at age 71 is that they have seen that, “Rapamycin is also neat because it works even when you start quite late in life”.

So if this compound isn’t for humans just yet what can we do about it now? The obvious answer, at least to me, is to do everything in my power to stay healthy, in hopes that science figures out how humans can safely take Rapamycin. And the most effective and proven ways to do that is by eating the best foods which, according to the researchers in the Time magazine article include fish, fruits, veggies and extra virgin olive oil as well as calorie restriction, periodic fasting and consistent exercise with maybe a bit of yoga and meditation.

Do all that and you will have a significantly better chance to live longer and maybe hang in there until they perfect Rapamycin for humans. If doing all those things that you can do and should do sounds like a tough challenge, then listen to the words of William James. What he said many years ago has helped me to better my life when I could see that I needed to make changes and knew that it was going to be a big challenge. “If you change your mind, you can change your life”. I have that burned into my brain and hope you do the same.