Longevity, we would all like to live long healthy lives avoiding the ailments and diseases that seem to plague the elderly. The images of elderly people bent over, limping, on walkers, and in wheelchairs is depressing, especially if that person is a person very dear to you. But what can we do, that’s just part of getting old. We have no control over the aging process, Right ? Actually that’s not entirely true. We do have control over the quality of life we experience as we get older. And a higher quality of life often translates into a longer life span.

Aging, what’s that all about anyway ? As we get older our bodies have a tendency to wear out. The human body is like an automobile. It has a large number of moving parts working in unison. And as we all know, an old car does not run as well as a new car. The same holds true with the human body. The body’s moving parts consist of the heart, liver kidneys and many more. As the body gets older, its organs become vulnerable to destructive molecules called free radicals. Free radicals have a tendency to damage and erode our organs making them prone to illness and disease.

One of the best ways to fight free radicals is to eat healthy. Nutritious organic foods are the foundation of a healthy disease free way of life. What we consume in the form of food and liquids goes a long way in determining how healthy we are in our later years.

The old adage "You Are What You Eat" is seriously true. A study revealed that American centenarians (people 100 years or older) eat 2.5 times more vegetables than seniors under the age of 99. And 5 times more vegetables than 40 year-olds. It was also revealed that people who ate lots of fresh organic vegetables, didn’t smoke or drink excessive amounts of alcohol, have higher antioxidant levels in their bodies and subsequently live longer. What you consume and abstain from consuming plays a major role in determining the quality of your health and ultimately your longevity.

Eating healthy organic foods are fine but there’s another equally important aspect of healthy living we should address, and that’s supplements. There’s compelling evidence that a combination of the amino acid L-Carnitine and the antioxidant Alpha-Lipoic Acid has a revitalizing effect on a person’s energy level. They are safe and have no side effects. However, people who have diabetes or have a seizure potential should avoid these two supplements. You don’t want to avoid Vitamin C, Resveratrol, or Magnesium however. Vitamin C enhances the immune system and reduces inflammation. Resveratrol stimulates the SIRT-1 Gene (The Human Anti- Aging Gene). Magnesium helps fortify the length of the protective tips of our chromosomes. All three of these supplements promote longevity and are safe to take. Excessive amounts of Vitamin C can cause diarrhea. What is excessive depends upon the individual so consider this. If, for example, three caps give you diarrhea, take two and enjoy the added bonus of having regular bowel movements.

You can be disease free, be in tip top physical condition, and it will mean absolutely nothing if your brain is not functioning properly. Your brain is Mission Control for your body. Do not, I repeat, do not underestimate the importance of maintaining a healthy brain. If it is not functioning properly, it can cause a multitude of problems. Every bodily function is controlled by the brain, keep it healthy at all costs. If you don’t, you could spend your senior years wasting away in a nursing home.

Let’s take a look at some of the steps we can take to prevent the deterioration of our brain cells. This is a subject with which I am intimately familiar. My mother suffered irreversible brain damage resulting from a stroke. I took care of her at home and watched her quality of life slowly slip away. It was heart-breaking to watch knowing there was nothing I could do to stop her regression. I vowed, in my mother’s memory, to help as many as I could to avoid a similar situation.

Senior moments, we’ve all heard that phrase, what does it mean ? As we get into our later years, our brains, like some of our other organs, don’t function as efficiently as they did when we were younger. We misplace items, forget the names of people we know, and sometimes walk into a room and ask ourselves "what did I come in here for ?" Those situations are what we call senior moments. We can minimize or even eliminate senior moments by taking a supplement called Phosphatidyl-Serine (PS). It’s a molecule containing the amino acid serine and essential fatty acids located in virtually every cell membrane. During our younger years our cells had an abundance of PS, all we needed. As we get older, however, our PS levels decline. PS is important because it stimulates the area of the brain responsible for memory, concentration, vocabulary skills, and the ability to learn. PS also has the ability to alleviate the symptoms of dementia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and the damaging results of stress. As of this writing, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease but PS helps ease some of the symptoms of the disease.

PS has a twin called Phosphatidyl-Choline (PC), It’s also a brain boosting supplement which supplies the body with choline. PC is a major component of Lecithin which has proven to be a major memory enhancing supplement. Needless to say, the consumption of PC and PS combined would enhance ones memory potential considerably.

Exercise has long been associated with brain connective function in senior citizens. But please don’t wait until you are a senior citizen to start an exercise program. Do it now because exercise increases blood circulation to the brain and all areas of the body. If you have limited mobility, go for a walk. If you haven’t exercised in a while, start slowly than increase the tempo gradually. If you are walking, try to walk briskly for 30 minutes 5 days a week.

As we age we are consistently loosing muscle mass. That is often an indirect cause of the many falls seniors experience. A senior can maintain, even increase, muscle mass through diet, supplementation, and weight training. If you decide to include weight training into your regiment, adding protein would definitely be a good idea. Protein not only enhances muscle mass but also contains much of the tissue of our internal organs. A good choice of your protein supplement should be Whey Protein.

Whey Protein Promotes Longevity

Research has uncovered a disturbing fact with regards to our senior population. It seems as if 45% of our seniors in the general population and a disturbing 85% to 100% of our seniors in care facilities are malnourished. This is caused by poor appetite resulting from drug side effects and a variety of other serious but avoidable situations including patient abuse and patient neglect.

Another contributing factor is an insufficient absorption of a high quality protein resulting in a reduction of muscle mass, a reduction of strength, decreased bone mass, delayed recovery from surgery, decreased immunity, and a host of other bodily malfunctions. A combination of these problems will inevitably lead to the ultimate senior problem, frailty. Whey protein can possibly prevent these problems. Whey is a high quality protein supplement highly recommended for the aging population. It has a rich source of Branch-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) to fortify protein synthesis and prevent protein breakdown. Also Whey produces calorie restriction benefits. So how does this translate into terms of longevity ? Today’s life expectancy is 78.7 years. If a person were to start a Whey program at midlife, they can expect to add 9.5 years to their lifespan.

Research has proven Whey to be superior to other protein supplements when it comes to the repression of the development of cancer cells. Further research has shown that Whey’s tumor prevention capabilities are accompanied by its heightened glutathione levels accompanied by the component Lactoferrin which intensely inhibits tumor formation.