CAM OPTIONS, INC.
Anthony Speroni, N.D., N.H.D., President
Dr. of Naturopathy ● Dr. of Natural Health
Board Certified

Hypnotherapist ● Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Consultant
Certified Advanced Biofeedback Technician ● Educator

Antiaging

Life Catching Up With You
Ofttimes, people visit my office complaining of the pains and aches, illnesses and degenerations, and weaknesses and diminished cognition they credit to and feel are naturally part of aging.  They feel that life's stresses, hard working, hard playing, and bad habits are all catching up to them at once; consequently, their quality of life is found rapidly deteriorating.  Physical degeneration and mental decline must be in their "genes," they figure; hence, their destinies are ones filled with misery and suffering -- after all, they frequently explain, they witnessed the same ugly things happen to their parents and grandparents, as old age caught up with those relatives. 

These folks ask me if there is anything they can take or do to ease the pain and relieve the misery of their aging and old age.  Perhaps, less than one-percent (1%) of the inquirers ever even think to ask if there is anything they can do to eliminate the discomfort and reverse the adverse effects they are experiencing.  Fortunately for all those who seek me out (the 1% who ask and the other 99% who do not), there is the opportunity for them to learn about alternatives to uncomfortably growing old in woe, while wretchedly surviving each day in wait-to-die state. 

History is filled with centenarians who remained active, healthy, and sharp-minded all their days of life.  Thus, it is only a myth that aging must bring along with the years pains, aches, illnesses, degenerations, weaknesses, and loss of cognitive abilities.  Traditional naturopaths and the majority of other natural health practitioners abound teaching the multitudes that there are alternatives to the mainstream default belief that mixes aging with compulsory misery.

Centenarian and Over-65 Statistics
United States Census Bureau figures for the year 1999 indicated that the population of 100-year-olds (centenarians) living in the United States of America was 66,000; in 2007, the figure was 80,000.  By they year 2040, the U. S. Census Bureau projects an increase in the centenarians' count to 580,000; by the year 2050, the number may very well be 1,100,000. 

When it comes to those of us living past age 65, we are also living during a time of amazing statistics:  In 1900, 75% of the people in the United States died before they reached age 65; in 2000, about 70 percent of people die after age 65.  This means that, since the year 1900, average life expectancy has increased by more than 50 percent, from a little less than fifty years to about seventy-five years.  Hence, the probability of a person still being alive at age 65 was 25% in 1900; today it is greater than 70%.

The questions naturopaths and other natural health professionals ask are not about, "How long can you live?"  We know the answer.  We have the statistics.  Rather, antiaging specialists inquire about how long can you remain active? keep your mental faculties sharp? and continue to enjoy a high-quality of life?  We believe the answer to how long a modern human being can sustain an active, healthy, enjoyable life is a number well-exceeding age 100; and living past 100 does not have to go hand-in-hand with misery, pain, suffering, loss of mental capacities, and disease; in fact, it can be quite pleasant.

Wrongly Accused
Many times, over the course of my professional career, people have wrongly accused me (as well as other natural health practitioners) of searching for the Fountain of Youth and/or being in pursuit of immortality through our natural health lifestyles, practices, and dietary preferences.  Although the thoughts about a Fountain of Youth and of immortality may be things interesting to ponder, I strongly doubt anybody in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or those who espouse a natural health lifestyle truly believes in the Fountain of Youth myth or even that she or he will live forever because of her or his natural health lifestyle, practices, and dietary preferences (beliefs about eternal life possibilities tend to demand supernatural, not natural, intervention).  Rather, what we, and I am speaking for the majority if not all of those of us who have dedicated our lives and careers to CAM options and natural health lifestyle living, are in pursuit of are good,  long, high-quality, healthy lives while we are living and, consequently, aging, complemented by comfortable closing periods at the end of our lives.

The measurement of biological changes and development in all living things, at least as made by humankind residing on planet Earth, is measured in years.  It seems that everybody wants to live long, but nobody wants to grow old.  Aging is a marvelous process that allows us to go from one phase of life to the next.  Without aging we could never become adults, grow taller, learn more, develop strong bodies, or even experience the universe around us.  Thus, in order to experience life to its fullest, one must age; but, does aging mean that one must grow old and decrepit?  The concern of natural health professionals who focus on antiaging technology is not based on their being against aging; rather, it centers around what one can do best to support the aging processes, in order to maintain a high-quality life experience, day-by-day, and thereby be able to enjoy life to its fullest, for each individual's potential longest possible time.

Larry Miller - comedian - Thoughts on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! ...

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life . . you BECOME 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21... But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling.

What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 ... You MAKE IT to 60... So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE IT to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70!

After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime and it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92. "Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

American Academy of Antiaging Medicine
Comedy aside, antiaging is a serious discipline distributed between and serviced by both mainstream and complementary and alternative medicine.  In 1997, the American Academy of Antiaging Medicine (AAAM) was established to serve conventional medicine as a review board and to oversee professional certifications.  By 2008, the AAAM represented more than 12,500 physicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals from at least 73 countries worldwide.  Antiaging discipline aims its research and practices at the early detection, prevention, treatment, and reversal of age-related decline.  The work of antiaging professionals is well-documented, since the early 1980s, in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals as well as a host of published books and  papers available over the Internet.                        

Hence, antiaging is all about that which exists objectively in medical science; it is not about infinite energy, perpetual pleasure, ageless bodies, or immortality.  Whereas conventional (allopathic) medicine attacks aging through a system that includes early (and sometimes invasive) detection processes, disease prevention, pharmaceutical agents, and select invasive procedures, the practitioners in complementary and alternative medicine focus on identifying risk factors, prevention, natural solutions that boast zero side effects, and lifestyle adjustments that support the reversal of pre-existing adverse health issues while maintaining a long-term, sound, health-wise approach toward well-being.  The natural health approach supporting antiaging uses strategies filled with countermeasures to inward and outward causes of aging, disease, and weaknesses, with emphasis on the body's innate ability to heal itself, and education about how to safely and naturally help the human organism rejuvenate.

Although we may like to hear people tell us that it is never too late to start a good health program or antiaging campaign, the reality is that such declarations are just not true.  It is possible to abuse and damage the human body to a point it is no longer capable of repairing itself.  It is also possible to ignore the inner cries and needs of our bodies to a point when there is nothing left to do about helping ourselves.  For these reasons, the sooner one initiates his or her own natural health antiaging campaign, the better one's chances are that he or she will reap the benefits of a natural health lifestyle for a long time and, consequently, enjoy a productive, high-quality life that remains rich in health, energy, clear thinking, mobility, pleasure, and diversity. 

How One Can Join the Healthy and Happy Centenarian Group Through Natural Health Practices
The human body tends to wear out in direct proportion to how it is abused.  Conversely, the human body tends to restore itself to optimal function status in direct proportion to how it is well-treated and highly-respected.  Longevity is the result of sensible, natural care and maintenance of the body.  Optimal health is achieved through natural support tools, such as water, air, diet, and exercise.  A traditional naturopath treats each person with the respect a unique, valuable, and important individual deserves, while using consultation time to educate about what risk factors are affecting present health and potential long-term well-being, the art of employing natural substances and products for healing ills when needed, and the use of noninvasive methods to monitor and achieve customized goals oriented toward health and wellness.

The way things are today is not how it has to be in your future, according to the science and statistics behind antiaging as practiced by CAM professionals.  Today, conventional practices and care have many of the advanced-aged persons terribly troubled with disabilities, illnesses, mental incapacities, and stresses that plague their daily lives.  Nearly fifty percent (50%) of those over age 85 are disabled (defined as inability to use public transportation).  Some forty-five percent (45%) of those over age 85 need help with one or more basic activities such as shopping or meal preparation.  About twenty-two percent (22%) of those over age 85 live in institutions or nursing homes. [Hayflick, page 91.]  Moreover, about twenty-percent (20%) of persons over age 85 have severe mental impairment and require constant, long term care. [Ibid. p. 93.]

The leading causes of death, today, in people age 65 and over are heart disease, cancer, and stroke. [Ibid. p. 98.]  Healthily breaking the century mark is an attainable goal for many people, according to most CAM and natural health experts.  How to do it is something easily conveyed from the professional to virtually every man or women who is seriously interested in getting the most out of life, for as long as possible, in a happy, positive manner.  Strengthening the immune system and conditioning the body through measures that significantly diminish the possibilities of  heart disease, cancer, and stroke are an excellent starting point and can help to immediately eliminate the top three risk factors that make senior living experiences horrible.  CAM professionals discuss incorporating anti-heart disease, anticancer, and anti-stroke strategies with many longtime proven, safe, well-established, and widely-accepted antiaging methods and practices, which include but are not limited to the following:

• Living an active life, both physically and mentally.  This does not mean one has to be an exercise nut or return to college.  It simply involves the goal to keep moving:  bicycling, golfing, jogging, ping-pong, swimming, walking -- anything that puts a body in motion at all is good; complemented by the goal of brain exercises:  backgammon, billiards, card games, chess, debating, learning new things (like songs, languages, use of tools), painting, puzzles, reading, teaching and tutoring others -- anything that keeps the brain active and mind calculatingly occupied. 

• Implementing and maintaining a regular stretching program focused on flexibility, in order to support our need to keep active, feel good, and protect against common injuries.

• Continuously doing things that support muscle health, such as lifting weights, climbing stairs, and moving objects in order to build muscle and prevent osteoporosis.

• Keeping social connections with family members and friends, as well as participating in local community activities and consistently making positive contributions to society.

• Maintaining ideal weight range.

• Drinking enough pure water, at the right times, every day.

• Avoiding all adverse risk factors, while employing noninvasive technology to monitor the functional statuses of internal organs.

• Developing a personalized organ cleansing routine.

• Building a well-diversified, customized personal menu plan that focuses on good, all natural products and incorporates specialized food items (common foods, herbs, seasonings, and drinks) that are known to protect one from health decline and, actually, reverse illnesses and unfavorable health conditions.

• Combining one's personal, customized menu plan with an environmental setting that favors long-term well-being and supporting transcription factors (proteins) that are intimately involved in the regulation of gene expression in ways that help delay select, repressor (shutting off) "bad" gene actions and encourage select, "good" gene activations (turning on).

• Consider the possibility of actually reprogramming and repairing damaged DNA structures.

• Using essential vitamins, minerals, select herbs, organic foods, natural health products, and a wide-array of other nutritional supplement options to boost the immune system, support organs, regulate hormones, rebuild tissue, cleanse blood, rejuvenate dying cells, balance the body's bioelectromagnetic and biochemical systems and functions, and maintain a positive energy force.

• Eliminate unnecessary stress, as it shortens your life; and productively manage the unavoidable stress factors in life.

• Practice healthy breathing techniques.

• Manage the internal environment's pH ranges.

• Enjoy the proper amount of sunlight.

• Remember:  it is only a myth that one must lose her or his mental edge and quick thinking, health, energy and stamina, joy, and her or his endurance as she or he gets older -- only a myth!    

Naturally, the above outline represents the most common steps CAM experts teach about, when a person plans on mounting a serious antiaging campaign.  I believe that before any antiaging program is initiated, one needs to decide on how he or she wants to spend his or her senior years.  If that decision circles around good health and joy, then, one must commit to a plan, pay attention to self, and enter into a compact with a professional who can help him or her monitor his or her progress and ongoing steps.  Begin with these steps and then incorporate into one's life the items outlined in the list above, and a person can immediately start to tell others how much better he or she feels, how one is planning to do one's best with his or her own customized campaign to live a long, healthy, positive, joyful, and productive life henceforth and beyond age 100. 

Making It Happen
I recognize that in this era of world history, many of us face time constraints, and busy lifestyles that do not always permit starting and keeping up with an antiaging campaign to be an easy effort; financial challenges also commonly exist.  Nonetheless, I work with people in creative ways, using cost effective strategies, to develop a realistic, workable plan that emphasizes ease and comfort while targeting success.  Together, you and I will begin with a comprehensive consultation geared at helping you understand your actual present state of health; the real functional statuses of some of your main internal organs; the estimated pH ranges of your internal terrain; and your  primary, secondary, and tertiary risk factors posing possible threats to your health.  We will discuss your options on how to restore a sense of wellness, rebuild damaged body parts, recover from illnesses, surmount chronic conditions, regain a hormone balance that is closer to youthful levels, and how you can start to perform better, with improved energy, stamina, and mental clarity. 

The best time to begin is when one is young.  The younger you are, the better your chance is of establishing long-term well-being and avoiding devastating diseases.  Age notwithstanding, consider beginning your own customized, professionally-developed, antiaging campaign today, regardless of your age, rather than some day in the future.

Once you are more focused, and feeling healthier, I will work with you to establish a lifestyle of health that suits your preferences and individual needs.  Starting to really experience what it means to be enjoying the rest of your life as well as taking advantage of the opportunity to create a professional, serious, comprehensive antiaging campaign is only a phone call away. 

Contact Me Today
Voice phone:  (407) 349-5100 or e-mail me at Contact Me Via E-mail, and then, you too may well be able to start counting like a kid again:  "If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'" and give your age using numbers that include fractions.