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by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.
 There is a common misconception
that says, “If you suffer and
do those things that feel bad,
you get to live a long life.” Of
course the question arises, “If
you do this, why bother living a long life?”
Fortunately, however, the idea that suffering
is good is a misconception. Both clinical
experience and scientific research suggests
that what works best is to keep those things
in your life that give you the most pleasure,
while also giving your body what it needs to
stay healthy. It’s kind of like having a Ferrari;
you can drive it hard and have a blast with it.
To keep it going strong though, you need to
give it premium fuel and maintain it well.
I’ve got the pleasure part down. What do
I do to keep my body young?
If you actually do have the pleasure part
down, you are way ahead of most people—and that is great. To be sure that you are
indeed having fun, check how you feel every
so often. From a centered place, do you usually
feel good? If so, what could you do, think
or pay attention to that would feel even
better? If you don’t feel good most of the
time, then you don’t have the pleasure part
down yet. That’s okay. In addition to
teaching you simple ways to keep healthy
physically, we’ll also discuss how to get and
stay happy.
Keeping your body healthy and young
can be boiled down to five key steps:
- Feed it properly
- Maintain optimal hormonal function
- Use it
- Follow your bliss!
Tell me more about these five key
components.
Feed your body properly. We are now eating
what is called the “Standard American Diet”
or SAD—an appropriate acronym. The
average American now eats an extra 150
pounds of sugar per year. Another 18 percent
of our calories come from white flour. These
two factors alone result in a loss of approximately
one-third of our vitamins and minerals.
How would you function with a 33
percent pay cut? When you add the effects of
food processing and soil depletion, you have the recipe for dietary disaster.
To add insult to injury, the food enzymes
that are needed for digestion are also being
destroyed during food processing (to allow
for long shelf life). This is one of the major
reasons for the epidemic of indigestion and
malnutrition in the U.S. The chronic use of
medications that turn off stomach acid (e.g.,
Nexium) further worsens our ability to digest
food. Using plant-based digestive enzymes
(e.g., CompleteGest or Similase) and natural
remedies for indigestion, such as mastic gum
and DGL licorice, can eliminate indigestion
while improving nutrition. To learn how to
get off of acid blocker medications naturally
and easily visit my Web site.*
As mentioned above, your diet can be fun
and still be healthy. When you eat something,
see how you feel a few hours later.
You’ll find that sweets and/or caffeine taken
in excess may initially give you energy but
then cause you to crash several hours later.
On the other hand, eating chocolate in moderation
(get the best tasting and decadent one
that you can) will usually leave you feeling
better and can actually be healthy for you!
For some, being vegetarian will feel best.
Others will feel better on a high protein/
meat diet. Because we are all different, there
is no one diet that is best for everybody—despite claims, by people who would make
us all neurotic about everything, to the contrary.
As there is no one diet that is best for
everybody, I propose that you simply listen
to your body to see what feels good, and that
is what is best for you.
In addition to paying attention to what
feels good, we can also look at research that
shows us what our body needs. Studies show
that animals live longer when their body’s
energy furnaces (mitochondria) don’t work as
hard. The pattern seen in this research suggests
that antioxidants can be very helpful for prolonging
life. Oxygen is one of the most toxic
elements. In fact, when algae evolved to give
off oxygen, this killed off over 90 percent of the
species then living on the planet. Humans
developed to actually require oxygen, but
doing so was very tricky. It required antioxidant
systems to protect our body while using
the oxygen to make energy. Not having
optimal nutrition to make antioxidants can
then result in our “motors burning out more
quickly.” In addition, many other nutrients are
needed to supply energy (especially magnesium
and B vitamins at high levels) and to help
with tissue repair so we can avoid damage from
wear and tear (critical to staying young).
Since there are dozens of critical nutrients
that are lost in food processing, I found that it
was getting both confusing and overwhelming
for people who wanted to get the supplements
they need. My job is to make it easy for
everyone to get optimum health so my first
step was to make an excellent powdered formula
that replaces 25–35 supplement tablets a
day with one capsule and one good-tasting
drink. It is called the Energy Revitalization
System.** This can easily, comprehensively
and affordably supply optimum and outstanding
nutritional support for everyone. In
addition, getting the nutritional support you
need is confusing because everybody is trying
to sell you something. There’s nothing wrong
with making money—I simply do not want it
to get in the way of your getting well.***
Besides needing vitamins, minerals, energy
cofactors, antioxidants and adequate protein,
we also need a large amount of good quality
water. Most of what Americans drink is loaded
with sugar and caffeine and often acts as a
diuretic. As a society, we walk around chronically
dehydrated—so much so that we don’t
even notice it. I do not recommend that you
annoy yourself by counting the number of
glasses of water you drink. Simply occasionally
pay attention to your mouth and lips. If they
are dry, you’re thirsty and need more water.
Maintain optimal hormonal levels. Although
each of these hormones can be the subject of a
full article (and will be discussed in more detail
in an upcoming article), let’s look at the key
hormones, how to tell if you need them and
how to get them. Specific nutrients are also
critical but the vitamin powder noted above
will generally take care of these.
A. Thyroid. This is your body’s gas pedal. If
your thyroid is low, you’ll be tired, achy, cold
intolerant and gain weight. You don’t have to
have all of these symptoms to deserve a trial of
natural thyroid hormone (Armour thyroid—by prescription). Unfortunately, the thyroid
blood tests are horribly unreliable and miss
most of the people who benefit from thyroid
hormone (see my book From Fatigued to Fantastic! ).
B. Adrenal. This is your body’s “stress handler.”
If you tend to crash with stress, get hypoglycemic,
or simply have a lot of stress, you
probably will benefit from adrenal support. To
note whether you’re hypoglycemic, simply ask
a friend or spouse if you have periods where
they realize that they have three minutes to feed
you or you’ll kill them. If they rapidly shake their
head up-and-down, you have hypoglycemia.
Adrenal glandulars, licorice, etc. can help stress
and your adrenal. I recommend a product called
Adrenal Stress End.**
C. Growth hormone and DHEA. These are
called the “fountain of youth hormones.”
Many people take growth hormone by injection
at a cost of over $12,000 per year. I do not
recommend this because of the expense, the
medical risk and because there are more effective,
less expensive and safer ways to raise
growth hormone. The three best ways to raise
growth hormone naturally are deep sleep, exercise
and sex (see below). In addition, most of
the effects of growth hormone are caused by
DHEA (growth hormone stimulates DHEA production),
which I do recommend. More is not
always better, however. Like growth hormone,
DHEA may be theoretically associated with an
increased risk of certain cancers. Because of
this, I recommend that DHEA (and most hormone
levels) be kept at around the midrange
of normal for a 29-year-old (to stay feeling like
a twenty-nine-year-old). For DHEA dosing,
check only a DHEA-sulfate (not a DHEA level,
which is too variable) and keep the DHEA—sulfate level at approximately 150 mcg/dl for
females and 400 mcg/dl for males. If your
doctor will not give you a lab requisition to get
the test, you can get one for this (and other
tests—at no charge); check on my Web site.*
I would note that for years my nephews
thought that I was occasionally dying my hair
back to its original color (which I would never
do—I like the salt and pepper look). It turned
out that when I was taking DHEA, my natural
hair color would return. When I stopped the
DHEA, I again got the silver color back in my
hair!
D. Estrogen and testosterone. For decades
holistic doctors have been telling people that it
is insane to take pregnant horse urine (e.g.
Premarin™). Traditional medicine has now
realized that people die sooner if they take
Premarin. Instead of simply switching people
to the natural hormones, they now try to scare
people about all hormones. I suspect that
using the natural hormone Bi-Est (by prescription)
and natural progesterone, one can stay
healthier and younger after menopause. Bi-Est
is a mix of the natural estrogens estriol and
estradiol. My reading of the scientific literature
suggests that estriol actually decreases the risk
of breast and other cancers. In addition, the
large majority of the studies I’ve seen suggest
that if a man has low testosterone and he
brings it up to the midrange of normal, he can
decrease cholesterol, diabetes and angina while
leaving him much younger and healthier (as
opposed to the body builders who may be
taking five to 10 times a normal dose—which
is very dangerous).
Use your body. With cars and television, we’re now living in the land of the couch potato. I am not recommending that you eliminate either of these two.
Do, however, find activities that are fun and give you a good workout at least three times a week. Besides protecting your bones and decreasing your risk of heart disease, studies show that exercise is as effective as Prozac™ in preventing depression. Fortunately, exercise does not cause Prozac’s sexual dysfunction.
On that note, another important part of
using your body is to have great sex. This is a
natural function and is healthy for you. In fact,
researchers found that people who have sex
three times a week look 10 years younger.
Don’t you just love science?
Rest your body. This means getting at least 8 to
9 hours of good sleep nightly. A hundred
years ago, the average American was sleeping
nine hours a night. We’re now down to six
hours, which is not adequate for tissue repair
(needed to stay young) or to recharge our
batteries. This lack of sleep contributes to
chronic pain and fatigue as well as growth
hormone deficiency and premature aging.
Unfortunately, excess stress can actually suppress
our ability to sleep, causing the paradoxical
combination of fatigue and
insomnia. There are many natural things
that you can do, however, to improve sleep, if
you have insomnia. My favorite is
Revitalizing Sleep Formula,** a powerfully 5
effective mix of six herbals. Start, however, by
making the time.
Follow your bliss! As important as feeding your
body is to feed your psyche and soul. My new
book, Three Steps to Happiness! Healing Through
Joy, can teach you how to do this. Having spent
the last 25 years researching effective treatments
for crippling illnesses, it amazed me how developing
a positive attitude to life contributed not
just to joy but also to health. Sadly, not having
truly lived at all is a bigger problem in our
society than dying young.
For psychological health, the three steps to
happiness can be summarized as:
- Be authentic with your feelings
- Let go of blame, guilt, and fault
- Keep your attention on what feels good.
Three Steps to Happiness! Is a short and fun
book that will teach you how to get a life you
love.
If you doubt that joy has anything to do
with health, observe when you feel good and
again when you feel poorly. You'll find that you
feel energized when you feel happy and
depleted and closed down when you feel
poorly. What you are feeling is the life force and
energy that keeps us vital and healthy. As you
notice this more and more, it will become
increasingly obvious that health and vitality
flow naturally from doing, and keeping your
attention on, what feels good. Follow your bliss.
Summary:
To have a long, healthy and joyful life, simply do the following:
- Drink more water, avoid excess sugar (chocolate is okay and Stevia is a good natural sweetener), eat what makes you feel good, and take the Energy Revitalization System Powder and B-complex.**
- bE physically active in ways that are fun. Sex is a good start.
- Optimize hormonal levels. This is best done with the help of an holistic practitioner.
- Get at least eight hours of deep sleep a night. Natural remedies such as Revitalizing Sleep Formula** (a mix of six herbals) and calcium taken at bedtime can help dramatically.
- Follow your bliss. Only do and keep your attention on what feels good from a centered place.
Author's note: *Information on how to get off of acid blocker medications naturally is available on my Web site. Visit www.vitality.com and click on useful articles then click on eliminating chronic acid reflux and indigestion. Also available at no charge are lab requisitions for DHEA levels and other tests. Readers can also find a referral list of excellent holistic practitioners.
**The Enzymatic Therapy products mentioned above can be obtained at health food stores nationwide or through my Web site.
***I have a simple policy; I do not take money from any company whose products I recommend. I fund my own research and 100 percent of my royalties for the products that I make go directly to charity.
Jacob Teitelbaum M.D. is medical director of the
Annapolis Research Center for Effective Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Therapies
(supplying effective treatment for CFS and
fibromyalgia patients from all over the world, 410-
266-6958.
He is author of From Fatigued to Fantastic! and
Three Steps to Happiness! and senior author of the
landmark study, “Effective Treatment of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia—a
Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled
Study.” See www.vitality101.com for the full study
text and more information.
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