Extending The Golden Years

If you fear the ravages of aging (as we all do), if you have nightmares about being warehoused in a nursing home or, worse yet, being a burden on your family, if you dread losing your independence and becoming an invalid — then you might be interested in the Cenegenics Medical Institute.

This organization, based in Las Vegas, is in the business of “age management medicine,”  a treatment program that takes a holistic approach to battling aging and includes an exercise regimen, healthy diet, hormones and other supplements.

Robert Willix, a former cardiac surgeon and chief executive of Cenegenics, says, “We’re going to age, but if you’re 70 or 90 and you’re vigorous, then you’ve managed your aging.”

The 66-year-old doctor finds most of his clients among men 50 and older, 25 percent of whom are also doctors. He starts with a seven-hour evaluation that costs a healthy $3,000. He screens for cholesterol, triglycerides and blood-sugar levels, oxygen levels and body fat, bone density and arm strength and other health and conditioning barometers.

The session concludes with a low-carb lunch, including a choice of grilled lemon olive oil chicken breast, seared yellowfin tuna, orange balsamic grilled shrimp, or edamame (a preparation of baby soybeans in the pod). Desert consists of fresh berries and roasted almonds.

This healthy lunch introduces the clients to the diet regimen they will be following.

If you continue with his program, which includes the services of a nutritionist, fitness specialists and periodic consultatations with the good doctor himself, annual fees run about $10,000.
Expensive — yes — but if you want to be hitting that golf ball long and strong in your 90s, the cost is less than your annual fees at most top-shelf country clubs. Also, you will re-coup much of the investment by reducing doctor bills and the cost of medicines and drugs.

There are those who would argue that longevity is to be found in the genes rather than at the gym, but this observer believes that our lifestyle and diet will dictate whether or not we decline in that fateful 70–90 corridor. The sins of our youth start catching up with us in our fifties. A lifetime of obesity, lunch at McDonalds, a pack of cigarettes a day and lack of exercise — start taking their toll.

The Cenegenics program is but one of many that are designed to reverse the damage done by a lifetime of abusing our bodies. Of course, there is much you can do without the help of a specialists on aging. You can purchase a good bicycle for a couple hundred dollars. A membership at a local gym runs around $40 a month — or you can join the YMCA for less.

There is an excellent magazine, Life Extension, which catalogues and sells dietary supplements and other health aids. These products, found in nature, can restore calcium to our bones, rebuild cartilage, enhance blood flow, aid digestion (flax seed oil does wonders), all of which help to augment what nature is gradually taking away.

I might add that the magazine you are reading — 55 PLUS — is designed to serve the same function, and that is to extend active life. Our generation did not know that smoking, overeating and eating the wrong foods, lack of exercise and ignoring our immune system would shorten our life. We can no longer hide behind that ignorance. To ignore all of the health research, drugs and dietary supplements, available today to enhance and extend our lives is almost a selfish act for those who will have to care for us should we become indigent.

Take it from somebody who is in that 70-90 corridor — it is tempting to give in to the aches and pains and let it happen. Most do. This is the fork in the road, the time at which you must decide whether or not you want to stay in that easy chair or break out of your sedentary life-style.

Taking the road to extend your active life is not easy. Taking part in programs, such as Cenegenics, requires discipline, dedication, and a dose of PMA (positive mental attitude). My program of physical fitness, dietary supplements, and activity is somewhat less involving than Cenegenics (which is beyond the financial means of most people anyway), but it seems to be working for me.

Every time I think of slacking off, I look around at our friends and contemporaries: it scares the hell out of me — and we continue to pursue, extending the Golden Years.