Your chronological age is your age in years, whereas your “real age” is how old your body cells are in terms of their physical and functional state of health. Your real age is also known as your “biological age”. In those people who follow a healthy diet and lifestyle, the biological age can be as much as 20 years less or “younger” than the chronological age — wouldn’t it be nice to get mistaken for a 40 year old if you are really 60!

Most people want to look as good as possible, but it’s also important to feel good and have a good quality of life. Feeling energetic and optimistic; sleeping well and having good cognitive function all help to make your life more enjoyable and productive. Maintaining muscle strength, flexibility and not suffering with aches and pains are other signs that you are young for your chronological age.

Here are my top strategies for delaying aging:

1. Take care of your liver

The liver is the largest and hardest working organ in the body. According to the Chinese, the liver is the “General of the Army of the Body” and stores the energy or “chi”.

It is true that the liver acts as a receptacle for an enormous amount of blood, which it must cleanse and detoxify. In reality the liver is a large filter that is continually removing dead cells, toxic chemicals, drugs, excess fats and microorganisms from our bloodstream. This is a vitally important function because it prevents these dangerous things from returning to our heart and thus circulating throughout the body where the immune system will then have to cope with this toxic onslaught. One could say, “the liver is the protector of the immune system”, because if it is working efficiently, the immune system will not become overloaded.

In this day and age where many forms of pollution have become part of our everyday environment the liver is working harder than ever before in the history of planet earth. Virulent infections such as the hepatitis C and B viruses, which attack the liver, are increasing rapidly because of poor hygiene and soaring rates of international travel.

A healthy liver is also vital for controlling fat metabolism and is a fat burning organ. If it fails to control fat metabolism, problems such as fatty liver, obesity and high blood cholesterol can easily occur. Modern day developed countries have a very high incidence of obesity, which is associated with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a shortened life span. If you keep your liver healthy you can prevent these problems from occurring, and that is why the state of your liver has a lot to do with how long you will live and how well you will live. Indeed that is why we call it the liver!

To support and enhance liver function I recommend that you follow the dietary and lifestyle principles found in my Liver Cleansing Diet book. This is a healthy way of eating whether you have a liver condition or not. It will help to prevent you developing one!

One of the important principles to help liver function is to ensure that 30% of every meal consists of raw vegetables and fruits. It is also important to eat unprocessed foods high in B vitamins, minerals and natural sulfur containing amino acids.

Livatone Plus contains nutrients to improve the detoxification pathways in your liver. These things will help to cleanse the liver filter. They enable the liver to break down fat soluble toxins into water soluble forms, which can then be eliminated from the body via the urine, bile and sweat.

Drinking at least 8 to 10 glasses of pure water daily is also essential for the efficient elimination of toxins, and saunas and regular exercise aids elimination of the toxins through the skin. Foods that are high in natural cleansing sulfur compounds are cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower), the onion family (onions, garlic, shallots, leeks) and free range eggs. MSM Plus vitamin C powder is an excellent source of sulfur.

2. Nurture and protect your immune system

Your immune system protects you against inflammatory and degenerative diseases, infections and cancer and is your greatest health asset. Strengthen it with anti-oxidants such as vitamins A, C and E and the mineral selenium. Many parts of the world have selenium deficient soils, therefore a large number of people are deficient in this important mineral. Selenium helps to protect the DNA in your cells from damage.

Use natural antibiotics regularly to fight potentially dangerous microorganisms that may be lurking in body cavities or in the skin, waiting to attack you when you become run down. Effective natural antibiotics are raw garlic, radish and ginger and the herb Olive leaf.

Practise good dental hygiene and floss your teeth regularly as bacteria in the teeth & gums can invade the blood stream and damage the heart valves.

Quit smoking and avoid passive smoking, as this will damage the immune system severely.

3. Look after your heart

Heart disease is one of the biggest killers in most parts of the world today. The fact is that many cases of cardiovascular disease could have been prevented. Your heart is composed of muscle that never rests. If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’d better spare a thought to your hard working heart.

The biggest enemies of a healthy heart are stress, sugar, refined carbohydrates and industrial vegetable oil high in omega 6 fats or trans fatty acids. Therefore I advocate a diet high in vegetables, salads, good fats and protein. Examples of healthy fats are avocados, olive oil, macadamia nut oil, raw nuts and seeds, coconut oil and oily fish.

Co enzyme Q10 is an excellent antioxidant that helps to keep your heart young. It keeps your heart healthy in several ways; it helps to protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation, helps assure circulatory health, and supports optimal functioning of the heart muscle. Coenzyme Q10 may also help support the health of artery walls. For more information about keeping your heart healthy see the book Cholesterol: The Real Truth.

4. Balance your Hormones

Women who take natural estrogen replacement, given in tailor-made small doses, can have a biological age as much as 8 years younger than their chronological age.

As we get older various glands such as the pituitary, ovaries, testicles, thymus, thyroid, and adrenals slow down and do not produce the abundant hormone levels of youth. This can accelerate physical and mental aging and cause us to slow down in many ways.

Thankfully all the bodily hormones can now be replaced with natural replicas of themselves – these are known as “bio-identical hormones” and the body cannot tell the difference between them and its own natural hormones. Replacement with natural hormones can slow aging, and reduce the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease. Natural hormone replacement can also improve the mental state and restore youthful libido and reduce the risk of dementia.

5. Keep a positive state of mind and reduce stress

No matter how difficult problems may seem, try to trust in the process of life, and love and approve of yourself. Do not live with depression as modern day medicine has effective treatments for this common malady. Chronic stress will cause exhaustion of the adrenal glands and reduce peripheral circulation, which can age the skin. Taking extra magnesium can reduce the physically damaging effects of chronic stress. Magnesium is wonderfully calming to the nervous system. I call it The Great Relaxer.

To reduce stress cultivate good social and family relationships, and utilize stress-reduction techniques such as hobbies, meditation, yoga or tai chi. Become a life long learner because those who remain intellectually active throughout their lives have a biological age several years less than their years.

6. Look after your skin, so that you look young on the outside

The look of your skin is an accurate reflection of how healthy you are on the inside. Redness, itching, rashes, acne, blemishes and premature wrinkling are all indicators of poor health. Sugar, dairy products, gluten and refined vegetable oil can all have detrimental effects on your skin. Sugar in particular has a very aging effect on your skin because it promotes the formation of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). This means that sugar causes cross-linking of the collagen fibers in your skin, leading to a loss of elasticity.

Apart from keeping your intake of sugar to a bare minimum, it is important to follow a diet high in antioxidants and good fats. I am a big advocate of raw vegetable juices because they are easy to digest and are a natural, concentrated source of nutrients. Making your own bone broth is another way to improve the quality of your skin.

Bone broth is rich in collagen, which are the proteins found in connective tissue. Skin becomes smoother and more supple when there’s an abundance of connective tissue. Drinking bone broth was much more common a few generations ago. It is a time consuming process, but slow cooked broth, or stock is full of flavor and minerals.

7.Take charge of your own Health

People who are pro-active about seeking good quality medical care can have a real age many years less than their chronological age. Have a thorough annual medical check up to detect functional problems before they manifest themselves as diseases. You should do this even if you feel extremely well. For example a slightly high fasting blood sugar level can detect the very early stages of diabetes, before full-blown diabetes with all its complications sets in. Similarly slightly elevated or intermittently high blood pressure levels can be intercepted before your blood pressure becomes permanently elevated and causes hardening of the arteries.  This enables you to change your diet & lifestyle before permanent damage to the blood vessels and bodily organs has been sustained.

Know your blood pressure, as a person with low blood pressure (around 120/70 mm Hg) is as much as 20 years younger than a person with high blood pressure (over 140/95 mm Hg). Knowing your blood pressure is more important than knowing the amount of money in your bank account, as it buys you time in the investment of life on this planet.
Always get several expert opinions before committing yourself to major surgery or long-term drug use. Consult a doctor who practises holistic medicine and you may find that nutritional medicine can solve your problems. Take charge of your own health and ask your doctor plenty of questions about alternative treatments.

8. Exercise regularly

This is one of the best ways to reduce your biological or real age. Even a small amount of exercise – for example a 30-minute walk every day — can reduce your biological age by as much as 5 years. It is ideal to have an exercise program which uses all muscle groups such as swimming, weight lifting, some aerobics, some recreational sport and yoga. Exercise will reduce cardiovascular disease, weight excess and osteoporosis. Regular exercise will also stimulate the production of growth hormone from the pituitary gland, which will increase muscle bulk, reduce body fat and exert anti-aging benefits.

9. Ensure adequate sleep

During deep sleep the immune system and pineal gland are reprogrammed to produce different hormones that are necessary for repair and regeneration of body cells.

To enhance deep and restful sleep –

Make sure your bedroom is well ventilated and keep an indoor green healthy plant in the bedroom or nearby. This plant will make fresh oxygen from the carbon dioxide that you exhale all night, and will help to keep your blood oxygen levels high.

Do not watch violent or action packed movies just before retiring and avoid eating large amounts of food within 3 hours of retiring.

Some people find that eating some pure protein such as tuna or crabmeat one-hour before sleep, will allow them to have a deep restful sleep.

Avoid stimulants such as sugary foods and coffee just before retiring. If you have difficulties falling asleep, melatonin can help. If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, magnesium should help.

By adopting these general habits over your lifetime you can make your biological or real age up to 20 years younger than your chronological age. This will not only give you more years to live but also give you a much greater quality of life to enjoy. In this 21st century we have achieved large increases in the average human life span. It is incredible to think that at the beginning of the 20th century the average life span of a woman was only 48 years – it is now over 80 years.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.