The Life Plan (2 page)

By the end of 1998, at age 60, I had my after pictures taken and then submitted an essay about how the Body-
for
-LIFE program had helped me. A week or so later, Bill Phillips’s mother called me and told me I was one of the finalists in my age category. Then, on Monday, December 7, I got a call from Porter Freeman, the 1997 winner in my age category and the new director of the program. Porter immediately asked me, “What would you do, Dr. Life, if you were the winner?” I thought he was just jerking me around until he told me the real news: I
was
the winner.

I hung up and still didn’t believe it. I sat there for a few minutes, and then suddenly the phone rang. It was Amy, Bill’s assistant. She said, “I am calling you so I can make arrangements for you to fly out to Denver.”

After just 19 weeks of eating and training right, I had become a Grand Champion in Bill Phillips’s 1998 Body-
for
-LIFE contest. The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming. Bill knew I had gone back to school to study nutrition and exercise science, and he came up to me during the awards dinner and asked me to be a contributing writer for
Muscle Media
magazine. I wrote a monthly column titled Ask Dr. Life, which I happily did for the next four years. This marked the beginning of my writing career.

After winning the Body-
for
-LIFE contest I immediately started incorporating my new lifestyle into my medical practice. Previously, I had doctored my patients the same way most physicians did: Almost all the care I provided centered on treating existing disease. But once I realized how much better I felt when I took a proactive approach, I began to change my focus to disease prevention and attempted to get my patients to start improving their health through better eating and exercise. It was truly an uphill battle, but I persevered. My patient population was typical of most Americans: They just did not want to do much in terms of improving their health and well-being.

I continued to train consistently and ate pretty clean. But a few years later, I began to notice that I was losing ground—gaining abdominal fat and losing muscle mass as well as strength, plus my energy and sexual function were also taking a hit. It was frustrating, to say the least. I knew I had a predisposition toward diabetes and heart disease because of my family history, but my regimen hadn’t changed: I was training as hard as ever with Ernie, but not seeing the same results. I was actually getting worse.

I realized that everything was becoming more difficult, whether it was getting up and practicing medicine, going to the gym, or making love with my wife. Then, in 2003, I came across a brochure for a medical meeting in Las Vegas regarding the role nutrition plays in preventing disease. The sponsor of the meeting was Barry Sears of Zone Diet fame. I signed up and headed out to Las Vegas. I met several Cenegenics Medical Institute doctors, as well as Dr. Alan Mintz and John Adams, the founders of this national medical practice. I learned then that they promoted an exercise and nutrition program in combination with correcting hormonal deficiencies, an entirely new concept for me. I signed up that day for the Cenegenics physician training program in age management medicine. The soonest opening available was going to be in August.

I went back to Pennsylvania and began wondering about my own hormone levels. I decided to get my levels checked at my local lab and learned I had major deficiencies in testosterone, DHEA, and growth hormone. That explained my losing muscle mass, strength, and endurance—and why I also was accumulating body fat and battling low energy levels, sluggish thinking, and even depression. I knew I had been getting viral infections more often, but guessed it was due to the fact that as a doctor I was constantly exposed to illnesses. But in reality, my immune system had significantly declined. The diminished hormones also explained the other major wall I had hit: a decrease in sexual function.

Enough was enough. I called John Adams and asked if there was any way I could start my age management program before I came out in August for my training. John was able to find a specialist to work with me. I became a patient of Cenegenics in June 2003.

Two months later, when I flew to Las Vegas to meet with John and Alan and begin my professional Cenegenics training, I had already noticed profound changes in my physique and energy levels. My physician had corrected my hormone deficiencies and had me continue a low-glycemic/low-fat nutrition program, the right exercise, and key supplements. I went from exhausted to exhilarated as I started getting my strength back. Once again I was losing body fat and gaining clarity in my thinking, and my sexual function came back as well. Cenegenics had helped me regain what Bill Phillips had given me—and what aging was taking away from me.

John, Alan, and the staff were very impressed with me and what I had accomplished. On day two of my training, they offered me a job. In January 2004, I became a Senior Institute Physician for Cenegenics and moved out to Las Vegas.

Six years after I won the Body-
for
-LIFE contest, I decided to get some pictures taken of myself without a shirt to show my patients I still was living the lifestyle I was preaching. In late 2005, a freelance writer was doing a story for
GQ
magazine on Cenegenics. When he was interviewing me, he noticed my picture on the wall and asked if he could use it in the article.

In early 2006, the article came out in
GQ
, and I was inundated by hundreds of phone calls. Not long after that, the Cenegenics marketing firm thought it would be a good idea to use my picture in one of its ads. Later my wife, Annie, got the idea of placing it in
US Airways
magazine to help me promote my own practice at Cenegenics. This proved to be a very successful marketing strategy. To this day Cenegenics continues to use my image in the majority of its marketing materials and campaigns.

It has now been 13 years since I began this journey. What’s so exciting to me is that not only do I feel great, I’ve been able to actually improve my physique over the years. I have been able to stay lean, reduce my cholesterol levels, reduce internal or “silent” inflammation, reduce blood sugar levels, and avoid diabetes. I have stopped the progression of heart disease that started when I was in my 20s. I have mental focus, clarity, and sharpness like I never had before. I am more productive and creative than ever, and I’m stronger and have more muscle mass than ever. At 72, I love being married to Annie, building my medical practice and website, writing my book, training for my black belt in martial arts, riding my Harley, playing with my grandkids, and learning more about exercise, nutrition, and preventive medicine. I love being energetic, lean, fit, and muscular. I love training with people half my age and continuing my education surrounded by 20-year-olds. In the summer of 2013, I will have earned my executive MBA degree from Auburn University.

My cardiologist and I both strongly believe that had I not entered into this journey back in 1998, I would not be here today. For that reason alone, my mission is to share this new paradigm with as many people as possible. Helping men take charge of their health and work proactively toward their goals, not to mention witnessing their own transformations, is hugely satisfying both personally and professionally.

Now it’s your turn. I have taken everything I’ve learned on this journey and put it into this book so you can begin yours.

To me, the very word “aging” conjures up certain images: an old man who has no sex life, no physical energy, a flabby body, no muscle tone, weakness, slowed thinking, fragile bones, stooped posture, debilitating disease, hospital stays, nursing homes—basically, an end to life. You might already be experiencing some of these signs and symptoms. Your doctor may notice them as well, but is probably writing them off as “typical aging.” Stop right there. You don’t have to accept that aging is synonymous with declining health, or that becoming a shadow of your former self is a reluctant rite of passage. I’m here to tell you that as you age, you don’t have to get old. Instead, you can get better. Don’t just take my word for it: Study after study shows that the right lifestyle interventions can eliminate, prevent, delay, or even reverse aging and age-related diseases. But you have to know the rules and the secrets of healthy living. That’s what this book is all about.

I was once taking a walk with my then 70-year-old father, who had retired to Florida. He was just poking along and finally said, “Jeff, you’ve got to slow down.” It surprised me because I was walking at a leisurely pace. He would become short of breath—and not because of a heart condition or obesity, but because he was deconditioned. He actually thought that deconditioning was an inevitable part of the aging process, so he reluctantly accepted it.

Even then I realized I couldn’t accept aging if that was what it meant for me. My dad never got his heart rate up above 80: Exercise just wasn’t part of his life. No wonder his body was stiff and slowing down to where he couldn’t even enjoy a casual walk.

In all fairness, his attitude was typical of his generation. Exercise, for all intents and purposes, was to be avoided. Retirement was all about not working, and this meant doing next to nothing. When my father retired at 65, he sat in his La-Z-Boy most of the day. He may have lived to his 80s, but certainly not with the quality of life he could have had.

Studies over the past decade have shown that the “old man” excuses are way off. We may inherit genetic potential, but we definitely don’t inherit genetic certainty. Lifestyle changes—like the ones I’ll share with you—can dramatically reduce your mortality risk and slow your aging process. You can get better as you get older. I turned 72 in 2010, but my body looks and feels much younger. My energy levels are every bit as good as when I was in my 30s and are actually, in many ways, better. I’m not telling you this to brag, I’m telling you this to get you to change the way you think about aging.

Now, I can’t promise you’ll live longer, but you’ll certainly add a lot more life to the days, weeks, and years you have ahead. I want the same thing you do—an energized, active lifestyle even into my golden years, not the restricted shadow of a life my father’s generation blindly accepted. The best part is that I know we can have it. We now have the knowledge and technology to make it happen. I’m living proof that anybody can follow and succeed with this program.

My reasons for writing this book are many, but topping the list was a desire to help others get out from underneath America’s reactionary approach to medicine—one that negatively affects the aging process—and guide them into a different realm of thinking. What is laid out in this book is a new paradigm, one that defines those later years as robust, embodying the very definition of life: energy, movement, change, adaptation, and growth. It’s the same paradigm that works for me and continues to work for my patients. When you follow this program, you will be able to achieve exceptional health, fitness, and vitality, and will see a significant improvement in your sexual function.

Part One helps you identify what your current health status is so you can get right to work. You’ll learn how to manage the current medical system so you can get the help you need from your current doctor, or learn what type of doctor you should be seeing—one who understands the importance of preventive care. You’ll also jump right into my eating program so you can take your health into your own hands and begin to reverse and eliminate disease right now. This is not your wife’s diet, nor your girlfriend’s. This diet was created by me, specifically for men.

Part Two outlines my unique exercise program, which incorporates every facet of physical fitness, including cardiovascular workouts, resistance training, balance and stretching exercises, and my favorite, the martial arts. No matter what level of fitness you are currently at—even if you haven’t exercised in years—there’s an entry place for you to start, and a clearly outlined level of progression. There are also dozens of photographs so that you can follow the directions and watch me complete the exercises so you can make sure that you are using correct form every time. I’ve also included a method for you to track your progress for the entire Life Plan. Plus, there’s expert advice to keep you motivated and silence that nagging voice inside you that insists you can’t succeed.

Part Three lets me practice medicine my way: sharing the most recent scientific breakthroughs in age management medicine. You’ll learn about the importance of correcting hormone deficiencies, and when it is really necessary. You’ll also learn new ways to increase your hormone levels naturally, without medical intervention. I’ll teach you about my favorite supplement choices and explain in detail why they are necessary for specific health issues. You’ll learn what’s on the horizon: the latest science that has clinically shown that we can actually reverse aging on the cellular level. And you’ll be able to discuss all of this with your doctor so that you can get the healthcare that you deserve.

Join me on this journey, which is supported by hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies. You can become your own health advocate, taking charge of your medical needs and creating lifestyle interventions that will work in a program tailored just for you. I know that if you do, you’ll enter a dimension of fitness and well-being you never knew existed. In fact, you should start noticing changes in the first two weeks. All it takes is making up your mind to do it.

It is my hope that this book will help you begin to feel like yourself again. Let’s get started.

E
very day I witness firsthand how our current medical system creates obstacles that keep men from receiving the best care possible. Instead of preventing disease, traditional medicine can actually interfere with and even delay proper treatment and diagnosis, ultimately lowering the quality of our health. If you let today’s medical system make decisions about your health, you have little or no hope of living a higher-quality life with optimized health and reduced risks for disease. Now more than ever you have to take charge of your own health, become better informed, and act as an advocate for your own well-being. These are the tenets of my kind of medicine: where disease prevention based on a treatment paradigm and sustained quality of life are my primary missions.