I wrote this book because I am seriously looking at the issue of aging. When I was 20-30 years old, I really did not consider aging a big deal, and in fact, as a young physician I rarely saw patients over 80. As time has passed, I see more and more patients living into their 80's and early 90's, and I see them encumbered by the "aging process." It seems to me that one should be able to have the wisdom and the opportunity for knowledge and introspection that aging can bring without the physical encumbrances of osteoarthritis, chronic heart disease, chest pain, and mental deficiency such as Alzheimer's and dementia.
Aging as we see it today often comes with the thinning of skin, lowered immune function, the inability to fight infections effectively, difficulty sleeping, frequent wakefulness at night, loss of eyesight, and loss of physical mobility. As I passed my 50th and subsequently my 60th year, I began to look ahead. Now I am asking: What have I done to help myself age without the negatives? In essence, I want "power aging." I want the ability to have a fruitful, productive, healthy, and physically active life. I desire a vibrant mentality, an active sex life, and the ability to ward off the ravages of age. I want to continue to blast off like a rocket and go full speed ahead until I eventually and suddenly "flame out!"
Recently I visited with a patient in his 80's noting that he had very few of the signs of aging and actually looked like he was at least 20 years younger than his age of 84. He promptly told me that the reason that he looks so young is that he never had a serious illness after the age of 50. He noted further that all of his friends who had major illnesses such as heart attacks or cancer after age 50 had experienced aging appearances that were at least 10-20 years older than their current ages. Looking around I realized that his observation was true. Also, there is a high frequency of young males in their late 40's or early 50's who have coronary artery disease and bypass surgery.
I had started to exercise when Dr. Kenneth Cooper's first book Aerobics came out in 1967 and had jogged on a fairly regular basis since that time. I built a fitness center as a wellness complex in 1980, but I realized that I was way ahead of the time when people would be interested in wellness or even know what the word meant. The fitness center became a model, however, of how optimum fitness centers should be done as far as helping people achieve wellness. Because of the stress of running the business, the finances, and a medical practice as well as supervising some 60 to 70 part-time and full-time employees, I did not publish the research that we did. What we found was that 80% of the people who were taking medication for high blood pressure were off their medication within six months if they exercised regularly, took the stress management course, learned how to relax, and begin to eat right. We also found out that people on medication would start to feel better and then feel worse because they were getting side effects from the medication. As we reduced the medication, the side effects went away until most of the people were actually off their medication. I also found that my patients with ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome and other aches and pains, many times got well just doing a wellness program of exercising, eating the right foods, and learning how to relax. Even though I consider myself an accomplished diagnostician, many times the diagnosis was not nearly as important as the treatment -- to help people get well. Also, during that period of time, I became the team physician for the United States Cycling Federation and went with the US Cycling Team to numerous national and world championships. I became a member and later Chairman of the Texas Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness.
After selling the center in 1987, I renewed my interest in nutritional supplements. I had jumped on the antioxidant band wagon in the early 1980's and realized that the antioxidant / free radical axis was a critical one to slow the aging process. Further, I realized there must be more to the foods we eat; therefore, the concept of phytonutrients ( which came around in the early 1990's) was a new and an exciting revelation to me.
Too often there is a tendency for a physician to confine himself only to what the medical schools say and to be totally blind to the information that is coming out about antioxidants, phytonutrients, dietary changes, and hormones such as DHEA and Melatonin. I chose not to be that way many years ago. Some of my colleagues describe me as being on the "cutting edge." Some of them say, "in the ether." Some were very critical of my building a fitness and wellness complex. I have learned that there is only one "cardinal sin" in medicine and that is "the sin of being different." Regardless, in these times of easy information access, I am choosing to help others with the information I have gained and am using . I heard a speech not long ago where a prominent physician, speaking on aging, said, "If I were 30 years old, I would not be rushing into the issues about aging because I would say, we can wait for the 25 year studies of large population groups to answer our questions. There are two problems with that. One, is that all the information could have changed in 20 years, and secondly, I am 71 and I do not have time to wait. Therefore, I have to go with the best information I can find today to lead me along the way." That is exactly what I am doing in this book. I am going with the best information that I have because that is the information I am using myself.
The great health myths are that (1) you can get everything you need from a healthy diet and (2) we all eat a healthy diet. These statements have been disproven in so many ways and yet I still hear registered dieticians, nutritionists, and physicians parrot them.
It is the purpose of this book to assist you in doing all the things you need to do to take care of yourself. Again, this is my story, and the research and the efforts that have surrounded it. It is my hope that this book will truly empower you to do the things that are going to make you healthy.
One of the issues that we are all concerned about is the quality of nutritional supplements, and it is important to realize that the cheapest is not the best and never has been. The information in this book will tell you how to check and see if your products are the best and the most bioavailable (available to the body). If you want to know what specific products I personally use, I would be glad to supply that information.
This book is about me. It is about you. It is about how you can enter into the period over 45 years of age as a new person involved in "Power Aging," aging with wisdom and without the negatives. I started my anti-aging program at age 33; the sooner you start, the better off you are going to be.
Ted L. Edwards, Jr., M.D. *Currently not in print
