Happy Life Healthy Aging
Chapter 1
The Secrets of a Happy Life and Healthy Aging Chapter 2 Happy Things To Do in Healthy Aging Chapter 3 Clean Out/Detoxify Your Body Chapter 4 Caloric Restriction Chapter 5 Physical Activity and Anti-Aging Chapter 6 Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Anti-Oxidants Chapter 7 Hormone Replacements Chapter 8 Fruits, Vegetables, and Dietary Choices Chapter 9 The Healthy Mind, Active, Happy, and Stress-Free Chapter Snippets Introduction A number of years ago a book called “Passages” was written. It describes the stages of life we go through as we pass through this beautiful earth of ours. Our time is only a fraction of a blink in the grand scheme of things. If you look at the universe and our Milky Way galaxy with at least one hundred billion stars like our sun, and there are at least one hundred billion galaxies, you start to grasp how miniscule our existence is. Our existence is finite and how we maximize our potential to get the full benefit of this earth is what this book is about. I want you to have a happy life and healthy aging. No one can guarantee anything in this life, but by using existing knowledge we can try to increase our chances to achieve that healthy aging goal. This is not a trial run, you have to think things through and plan what you want to do and implement that plan in the final trimester of your life. “Happy Life Healthy Aging” is my effort through all the knowledge I have accumulated through various degrees to put a cohesive plan together for you that hopefully will maximize your chances of obtaining that goal. Few things in this life happen by chance. You had to put in a lot of effort to get to the stage in life you are in now. In retirement the same rules apply. Having lived in Florida for a long time, I have seen many passages. The health and lifestyle choices people made in those passages made a huge difference in their ability to enjoy the fruits of their labor. My mission in life now as a semi-retired doctor, is to keep all of you healthy and as happy as possible. The principles laid down in this book, I believe, are vital in your quest for that “Happy Life in Healthy Aging” May you be happy, healthy, wise, prosperous, successful and in love with your life on this earth. Best wishes on your journey. Dr. John P. Lenhart “It is your responsibility to educate yourself on how you can prolong your healthy life and live longer” Chapter 2 - Happy Things to do in Healthy Aging "This chapter did not exist in the “Seven Secrets of Anti-Aging” book. When talking to retirees, I noticed that some did not have hobbies or interests outside of their work. Many professionals were so engrossed in their work that they had little time to develop other interests. By reading this chapter, you may get some ideas of things to try that will bring you pleasure in retirement and a happier life. We humans are creatures of emotion. We make major decisions based on emotion. Our religious beliefs, the partner we marry, our political affiliation and our career and leisure time activities all have an emotional component. When we retire we want to have as many positive emotions as possible and reduce or eliminate negative emotions. We start to focus on “living happily”. We accentuate the positives and try to eliminate the negatives in our lives." 14. Date Night –" Just as dating was important as you were raising children, dating is important in retirement. It keeps you engaged with your partner having fun doing activities you both enjoy together. Your date could be the traditional dinner and a movie or, an evening performance at the theatre or" 47. .....“The dedication and time required can make your brain grow younger. Mastering a musical instrument is as much of an anti-aging activity as dancing or walking.” 48. Choir or Choral group – My mother loved to sing in the church choir. In my area we also have the “Madrigals”, a choral group that sings old English Capella songs in the Madrigal style. If you love to sing, join your church choir or a choral group. 49. Wine tasting – Wine tastings are available in wine stores and at private clubs and restaurants. If you enjoy fine wine, like my uncle did, go and find your perfect dinner wine and wine for special occasions. It’s a good way to socialize. 50. Shuffle Board Club –" St Petersburg Florida was once world famous for its shuffle board courts. Guess what?" 75. ..... “On my transatlantic voyage I met Andy at the breakfast table. The man looked 68 years old. …………….…….“I drive around in my golf cart showing people plots of land and now and then they write me a check, Life is good” “I am 87 years old”. He was an amazing man to talk to, fit, sharp and full of energy. I couldn’t believe he was 87, he was in such good shape.” 69. Homemade racing boats - Friends of mine built small 8 foot race boats that competed with highly tuned 10 horsepower engines on local lakes. There is a large variety of classes of small boats you can race, just like there is in car racing. Chapter 3 - Clean out / Detoxify your body “We all want to be active, energetic, mentally alert, and healthy when we grow older. We want to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. However, with the gradual poisoning of our bodies, that dream may not be obtainable. Where is my proof? My proof is the number one and number two killers in the USA, Heart Disease and Cancer. They are not infectious diseases. They are self-induced diseases, either voluntarily or involuntarily, by deposits placed in your body by environmental exposure to” “Herbal teas are even being used to pass drug tests. If you look on the Internet, you’ll find several companies that have various herbal tea products that cause you to urinate and detoxify any drug residue left in your body, allowing people to pass drug tests. As noted in the above examples, herbs are potent detoxifying agents. For a zinger of a detoxifying tea, you may try the” “Remember, garbage in equals garbage out. If you put in too much garbage willingly or unwillingly, you are going to have an immunologically frail body, rich in calories, poor in nutrients and loaded with toxins. We do not want to be like the Falcons in Shenandoah National Park, slowly becoming extinct. Detoxification and cleaning your body out is the first secret of healthy aging.” “Fasting has been used throughout the centuries as a method to purify the body. There are numerous biblical references to fasting going back thousands of years. Many religions have used fasting as a purification before their major holidays. It was not just self-sacrifice for which fasting was used. Fasting was recognized as a means of cleansing the body of impurities. A number of years ago, when I was studying for my first doctorate, I developed an interest in fasting and” Chapter 4 - Caloric Restriction “Why do I have a chapter on caloric restriction? Caloric restriction is so important in longevity that copping out of it because it is difficult to do would be a great disservice to you, the reader. Original studies on caloric restriction were conducted in 1935 by Dr. Clive McCay, who was able to extend the life of rats 50% by severely restricting their caloric intake. Fifty percent. That’s 50 percent. That’s a lot” Chapter 5 - Physical Activity and Anti-Aging “Maintaining health is a perpetual ongoing process. It is a process at which we have to continuously work. If you want to live healthy into your old age and not be “old” when you’re old, you need to plan ahead. Nature has certain basic laws that need to be followed. There are no quick fixes, no operations, and no magic pills. What effort you put into your” “Physical activity, along with caloric restrictions, requires the greatest amount of self-control and self-discipline. Since I am a specialist in rehabilitation, this is a topic dear to my heart. I have produced twenty-eight specific rehabilitative exercise videos (VCR exercises) to restore joint mobility and strengthen surrounding muscles. I also lectured to international physicians interested in integrative medicine at” “We live in a society of instant fixes. We want everything now. We want youth now. We want fun now. We want money now. We want things now on credit. We want self-gratification and self-indulgence now. Well, I hate to break the bad news to you, but it just does not work that way. You can’t cheat nature. The rules of nature have been laid down over millions of years. You must be physically active to maintain joint function, muscle tone, mental acuity, hormonal function, and crucial metabolic pathways, including blood sugar transfer from our blood to our cells. If you cheat nature, you cheat yourself. Movement is life. Every atom in the universe” “At the end of this chapter, I’ll give you the Lenhart Physical Activity Formula for Anti-Aging, derived after considerable research and analysis of hundreds of research articles, as well as personal experience through observation of patients and neighbors” Chapter 6 – Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Antioxidants “This reminds me of my favorite aunt in Germany who is in her eighties and a pharmacist. Her husband is also a pharmacist and so is their daughter. My aunt was always a botanist and proponent of natural teas and herbs for the treatment of various diseases. She used to know just about every plant that grew in the meadows and forests, and their health-healing properties. I saw Aunt Eva recently and she is still sharp as a tack. She had a great influence on me in looking to nature for cures in human ailments. Her garden was always full with numerous different plants that I never heard of. She would use them for medicinal purposes” “In Nature, everything affects everything. If you take one component out of the system, the entire downstream process is affected. Nature has created a balance through millions of years of adaptation. If that balance is disrupted our biological ecosystem gets thrown out of orbit and starts to self-destruct. Sometimes our bodies can compensate and sometimes they can’t. The ability to compensate is based on our genetic makeup and our diet. The male deer in Shenandoah National Park get selected by the females for breeding by the size of their antlers.” “So, what would you take? How about Coenzyme Q-10? Have you ever considered that? Coenzyme Q-10 is one of the components in the energy transfer cycle in our body. This coenzyme may be an important factor when you start running out of steam and body parts start wearing out. Getting enough Vitamin E is difficult through a normal diet. Since Vitamin E is such an important antioxidant, I would probably sneak some E along” “Some were very old and had a large number of pressure sores and ulcerations around their bodies. The open sores left the patients exposed to massive infections, which would lead to death fairly rapidly. These people were sent to the rehabilitative center after being in a regular hospital and then progressively getting worse because they had no nutrient reserves. Whenever they were laid on a bed, their skin broke down and became ulcerated. The standard treatment at the time was” “When Dr. Harmon came up with the theory of free radicals and described it in detail, vitamin C started taking on a very important role as an antioxidant and nutrient. As we get older, we slowly shrivel up and bake ourselves to death, like a plum in an oven that becomes a prune or a chicken that turns brown as it bakes. Our skin slowly gets browner, gets more spots, discolors, gets cancer cells, and shrivels up” “Tretinoin helps the skin renew itself. It has been used to treat acne and for the reduction of fine wrinkles and mottled skin discoloration. Rough facial skin can be made to feel smoother with tretinoin. Ask your dermatologist” “I emphasize B6 because it is important in the manufacturing of neurotransmitters and the maintaining of mental function as you get older. Memory has been improved in elderly individuals who were given 20 mg of B6 for three months. B6 has also been used in the treatment of autistic children.” Chapter 7 – Hormone Replacement “doesn’t do you any good to hear a bunch of scientific names that have absolutely no meaning to you other than gibberish. I’m making every effort possible to limit the information to the most promising supplements that I feel have potential longevity benefits. If you look at the hormones and all their precursors, you could end up with hundreds of individual hormones that each has specific effects. However, taken together they work like a football team, trying to establish balance in your endocrine system and through that balance influence a host of biological processes throughout your body. Believe it or not, the thing that starts it all is cholesterol. We have heard so many things about cholesterol, but it is essential for our hormone function. I have a sneaking suspicion” “And what stimulates a cascade of hormone production from cholesterol to pregnenolone to DHEA, on and on and on, to estrogen and testosterone?" "Sexual activity is a natural stimulant for hormone production, just like physical activity." "Recently I saw an 82-year-old female patient that truly impressed me with her charm, keen interest in life, wit, energy and sultry sexuality. She looked 25 years younger, and the skin on her belly was smooth and soft like a 40 year old, her face looked like a young sixty year old. She dressed attractively and in a subtle way flirted with me and her much younger companion who had a keen interest in her. To me this 82 year old lady was sexy. She was more charming and flirtatious than most 45-year old patients that I have seen. I wondered why this lady was so different from the others? After I finished my extensive history the reasons for her youth were clear, she has been taking female hormone replacements since 2 months before her hysterectomy at age 42 and also taking lots of natural vitamins and is constantly physically active. The hormones, vitamins, and physical activity kept her young physically, sexually and mentally” “Barbara Sherwin, a Canadian researcher, noticed these findings and began giving memory tests to women before their gynecological surgery, while they still had adequate estrogen levels. She re-tested them again after their ovaries were removed. She found that after the surgery, the women’s mental skills declined. However, those who were given estrogen replacement regained their mental skills to the pre-surgical state. The mental skills of those who did not receive the estrogen remained declined. What you see is a common problem of aging, decreased mental acuity” “A recent study at the National Institute on Aging, women were given estrogen replacement and found there was a 50% reduction in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Other researchers found that estrogen exhibits antioxidant, as well as anti-inflammatory, activities and helps neuronal growth, which in turn increases neurotransmitters, which are important for brain communication. I have talked about the Use It or Lose It Principle with brain stimulation. Here we have another example” “Throughout my medical career, I have been a proponent of the natural approach toward maintaining health. Whenever there was a non-drug alternative that had potentially the same benefits as that of a proprietary drug, I told my patients to use that alternative first unless a drug was absolutely necessary to treat a massive infection and so on. You’ve heard of people dying of Pneumonia because they refused to get medical care. Traditional medicine, sometimes, is the only way to go.” “Pregnenolone is a precursor to DHEA, as I mentioned previously. The good thing about it is that it is a great hormone to be taken in stressful situations and in situations where you have to be mentally sharp since it is a neuro-enhancer, as well as a mood enhancer, and it just makes you feel good. The best thing about it is that it is extremely safe compared to” |
Chapter 8 - Fruits Vegetables and dietary choices
“Hippocrates said “Let food be they medicine and let medicine be they food”. You have to ask yourself is the food we eat today really food? This Chapter on fruits vegetables and dietary choices is important. It nudges you towards making wiser choices in what you eat. It is good to know why you are doing something instead of just taking some magic pill that you know nothing about. Every human body is slightly different. This is the only body that we have, so we better make sure we give it the best building blocks possible in order for it to grow healthy and repair itself when things go wrong. After listening to the Shenandoah Park Rangers give their talks, I noticed that topics they covered in Nature had direct implications to this book.” “Did you ever wonder why “Low T” has become such a big business? Are men really producing less testosterone nowadays? Through the science of epigenetics how is this going to affect our great, great, grandkids? The food we eat today does have an effect on future generations. That research was done in Scandinavia where they kept accurate records of past generations. This chapter on Dietary choices is important because it gives you guidelines on how to select healthy foods that may affect your health in the future” “Yes, my ladies and gentlemen, it all starts with the water. Our bodies are made up of between fifty and seventy percent water. If you have a lot of fat, it is closer to fifty percent; if you’re lean, it’s closer to seventy percent. Water is an essential component in every cell in our bodies. Water is required for nutrient transfer to our cells. It is important for our brain cells to work, our lungs to work, and our entire absorption system of foods. Our muscles, including our heart, would stop working without adequate water. Because we lose water through respiration (breathing) and” “unacceptable high levels of Lead in the drinking water of several buildings, they were trying to find the source of this toxic heavy metal. Do you know what’s in your water? One interesting thing, substances such as chlorine and fluoride are added to water, which are known to cause major health problems. Chlorine is added to kill off dangerous bacteria. However, when chlorine is combined with organic substances, you end up with chlorinated hydrocarbons, a toxin to the body, which may cause hardening of the arteries, heart attacks, and” “People are fortifying their immune systems with paper houses. Any wind that comes along will blow that house over. More and more people are becoming aware of the dangers of pesticides, chemicals, heavy metal toxicity, GMO’s (genetic engineered foods), and are demanding organically grown foods” “It took a lawsuit in 2015 from a 100 year old scientist Dr. Fred Kummerow, a University of Illinois professor to finally get the FDA to put a ban on these products. He has been researching trans fats for 60 years and warning about their dangers in clogging arteries. He was able to develop arterial sclerosis in rats by giving them trans fats. When the trans fats were removed from the rats diet” “When I was in Sopot Poland recently, the doctor at the local clinic after prescribing antibiotics, also prescribed vitamins and healthy probiotic bacteria to replenish the ones destroyed by the antibiotic. Now that’s progressive integrative medicine” “Yellow. There are a number of vegetables that are yellow. Squash and beans are high in choline, essential in building the neurotransmitters (acetyl choline) that help keep our nervous system in tune, along with the B vitamins. How about bananas. Did you know bananas contain melatonin, which boosts our immune system and helps us sleep better? Onions contain selenium, which works together with the antioxidant vitamin E” “Did you know that papaya and pineapple also contain bromelain, which reduces inflammation and enhances immune function, fighting allergies and other inflammatory immune diseases?” “large variety of all his vegetables fairly rapidly and the blended variety makes it taste very good. Through his ingenuity, he found a practical, useful solution to keep himself healthy. By the way, he is eighty years old, walks over a thousand miles a year and dances a couple of times a week, a clever man” “In societies where diets are rich with soy products, there is a lowered incidence of cancer of all types. Soy is a complete protein, just as meat, and contains” “Essential fatty acids are used to manufacture cell membranes, which act as coverings for our cells and keep them from falling apart. The stronger the covering, the more impenetrable it is to invading organisms” “In 2005 researchers in Poland discovered that Polish Female immigrants to the USA were experiencing a breast cancer rate three times higher than those living in Poland. They knew that the cause had to be environmental. After careful” “Since the first edition of this book a great deal of interest on gut bacterial flora composition (microbiome or biome) has developed in the microbiological science world. Older estimates of the number of distinct gut organisms were……… produce a neurotransmitter called GABA. Behavioral conditions such as mood and autism have been correlated with the composition of the gut bacteria microbiome” Chapter 9 - The Healthy Mind, Active Happy and Stress Free “She loved to sing, dance, have fun, get together with people, and volunteer her free time to whatever was needed. She made people feel good. On lectures at adult living facilities, I could always find people such as her. They are the ones smiling, attentive, bright, bushy-tailed and cheery-eyed. They are interested in life. They have keen minds. They can follow my lectures and ask intelligent questions. They smiled a lot. They made my trip to their retirement home worthwhile. These were people in their late eighties, nineties and even over a hundred” “Jessie, a spry 94 year old that I recently interviewed in Newfoundland told me “don’t sweat the small stuff”. When I met this thin, attractive, well-dressed lady at the level 1 adult living facility that she lived in, I was impressed by all the stacks of large print crossword puzzle books she had next to her rocking chair. She said “you’ve got to keep your mind going, because without your mind you have nothing”” “By now, you must be saying, “Dr. Lenhart, this isn’t a motivational book. This is a book about healthy aging” Guess what? This is one of the secrets of healthy aging. Your mental attitude, how sharp your mind is, what you do with your mind determine how well and how long you are going to live. It also determines your quality of life, how happy you are. If you’re not happy, get out there and” “Remember when I talked about the Kids ‘n Kubs, the St. Petersburg baseball team where these men are in their eighties and playing baseball with vigor, running well, catching and throwing the ball well” “You can improve your mind. I remember seeing a story about an eighty-nine year old woman who got a degree from Harvard. It took her sixteen years to get, but she got it. Even at age eighty-nine, you can still sprout new dendrites by stimulating your mind. You don’t have to forget where you left the keys or whom you talked to five minutes ago. You can stay mentally alert and sharp just by exercising your mind. It’s a potent anti-aging tool” “On my transatlantic cruise, many of the people I talked to were in their 70s and some in their 80’s. They were sharp and fascinating to talk to. I ended up teaching the ballroom dance classes on the ship because the instructors missed the ship. There were people in their 60’s to late 70’s learning ballroom dancing and loving it. We switched partners every couple of minutes and everyone was laughing and having a good time” “When I retired, I went back to college and learned how to program and develop a website. I learned all the ins and outs of a web sites HTML programing and design. It was another area of my mind that was not developed and I forced myself to learn new things. You should be doing the same thing, constantly adding data to your memory banks, constantly increasing the RAM inside your brain. By increasing the RAM, you will increase your processing speed and you will be able to make connections” “Throw in a good attitude and a loving heart and you will have a winning combination for the happy mind. By constantly stimulating you mind you are protecting your neurons. You are keeping them from atrophying. You are also producing something called brain-derived growth factor” “You’re probably asking, “How do you select people as friends? How do you get out of this rut of people doing the same thing with the same people?” You do it by taking charge of your actions” “On lectures at adult living facilities, I could always find people such as her. They are the ones smiling, attentive, bright, bushy-tailed and cheery-eyed. They are interested in life. They have keen minds. They can follow my lectures and ask intelligent questions. They smiled a lot. They made my trip to their retirement home worthwhile. These were people in their late eighties, nineties and even over a hundred. We have many of these people around in the St. Petersburg/ Tampa Bay area because people love to come to the warm climate to retire. When I ask Activities Directors about them, they tell me these men and women have the best health and the least amount of ailments. They told me that many times those over” “Those stems have very small branches coming off them, and those branches have even smaller branches coming off of them called dendrites. The more densely packed your dendrites are, those tiny little twigs coming off nerve cells, the greater your ability to make connections” “A great musician can play music well into old age. Music is a mental stimulant and is very important in our anti-aging program. I believe it has something to do with the pleasure sensors in our brain. When you” "You have to be willing to change your environment, reduce stress, constantly challenge your mind, hang around positive people and have lots and lots and lots of fun. When you put everything in this book together, what do you have? The secrets of a happy life in healthy aging. I want all of you to be like my healthy elderly patients, active, fun-loving, alert, having the best time in their lives ever." |