Living Longer Means Living Healthier

Living Longer Means Living Healthier

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
- Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965)

Of course I want to live longer than my parents and grandparents.

With the exception of one grandfather who could not cope with financial tragedy during the First World War, so ended his own life, my parents and grandparents lived reasonable lifespans. For their times.

Their times were not my time, our time, your time and mine. Whereas those folks in the past were lucky to live beyond 80 years (most were lucky to reach age 40), my neighbours consider that anyone who dies before age 88 "died too young." That may be peculiar to where I live.

Many people who have reached and passed age 65 today expect to live to 100, some even well beyond that. A Canadian competitive swimmer of 105 years has forced competitive swimming organizations to create a new age category for people 105 to 109 years. Otherwise he would have to stop competing in competitions and he does not want to do that.

My parents both died of cancer. There was no cancer in our family before they died. My sister died too young, also of cancer. One of my grandmothers died of cancer. Cancer is now considered to be a voluntary disease. That is, you can avoid it if you know how, if you adopt an appropriate lifestyle. It can even be cured, though many still die from it because they don't know how to cure themselves or will not change if they do know. Some of us are devoted to our bad habits.

One of my grandfathers died of Alzheimer's. Another disease considered by many who study good health to be a voluntary disease. Although it has been shown to have a genetic component, that component can be overcome with diet and the right mental exercises. Bad health habits increase the risk hugely.

One grandmother died of heart disease. Another disease now considered to be voluntary. Heart disease is avoidable. Not with an unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits.

Why do doctors, hospitals and drug companies focus so much attention on these diseases, but have so limited success at curing them? Because their livelihoods depend on these people being repeat patients, regular customers. Is that cynical? Not when you consider the very real possibility of conflict of interest. The busier these people are, the more money they make. Doctors are small businesses and business depends heavily on a regular income stream.

Though only one of my immediate ancestors died by choice, the others all died because they did not know how to avoid practices that were, on reflection today, bound to give them an unhealthy lifestyle.

It could have been different for them if they had known how. I am determined that I will live longer than they did because I do know how.

One of the main causes of death in elderly people is that the gene strings (telomeres) get shorter with repetition over a long period of time and this means that genes intended to fight off various health problems may no longer be strong enough to do that. A good diet can actually help to lengthen the telomeres, perhaps extending life in the process.

Here's the catch. If I tell you, I could be legally liable for dispensing medical or health advice without an approved licence. Am I afraid of being sued, of being attacked by the medical establishment of my country? Frankly, yes. It's that bad. Medical associations and their Big Pharma supporters are constantly in court fighting those who want to dispense good health advice and cures for diseases.

I will tell you that the information you need to live longer is available on the internet. I will tell you that you should stick strictly with foods that grow in the ground or from plants that do. I will tell you that you will surely shorten your life by taking drugs, either prescribed by doctors or the bad illegal kind. Yes, there are good illegal kinds (illegal in some countries, not all), but you need to find that out for yourself.

The choice is yours. Of course you don't have time to research this stuff now. You are too busy. But you will have time when you are dying and unable to do much else but suffer.

If you don't mind a simple observation, that's too late.

When my time comes, I want to die of "natural causes." I want those natural causes to strike much later than they did for my immediate ancestors. And they will. Because I took the trouble to learn how to delay them. You can too.

Bill Allin is the author of Turning it Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems, a book of simple and cheap solutions to major problems. Yes, dying too young is a social problem and being feeble for the last decade or more of your life is another one. Healthy people do not have that problem.
Learn more at http://billallin.com