I introduced my friend Arthur in a previous blog about living long and aging well. Here he is again, almost 96 years old, shopping for fresh fruit at his local Publix supermarket. That big, fresh papaya he's holding in his hands isn't exactly representative of the diet he has followed for the past 90-something years, though. No, Arthur has always been more of a fan of good old-fashioned American home cooking. Meat, potatoes, and gravy, with some canned fruit and frozen veggies on the side, is a fair description of his usual eating style.
When Arthur's beloved wife Gert passed from this life several years ago, his son David moved in with him. David is the author of Eat to Beat Prostate Cancer, a cookbook that features fresh fruits and vegetables, no red meat, and lots of soy foods. David researched and wrote the book during the first couple of years following a late diagnosis of prostate cancer. That was eight years ago. When he moved in with Art three years ago, he brought his own diet and new eating habits with him, and the two have been balancing their individual tastes every since.
I thought about Arthur recently, when Ray Kurzweil's and Dr. Terry Grossman's new book, Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever, landed on my desk. Arthur is living well and he appears to be living forever. I wondered how many of Kurzweil's and Grossman's theories have played out in Arthur's past and present life.
The word Transcend, in this case, is an acronym for the nine components of Kurzeil's and Grossman's program for living long and staying healthy while waiting for some major medical breakthroughs they anticipate are forthcoming in the next several decades. Meanwhile, here are the key components of the Transcend Plan and how one ninety-something man has lived them out (or not):
Talk to your doctor. Throughout his entire adult life, Arthur has had regular check ups and screening tests and taken advice from physicians. As a result, he has benefited from early detection and immediate treatment of the medical problems he has encountered. And over the course of 95 years, he has encountered many!
Relaxation: According to the Holmes-Rane Social Readjustment Rating Scale reprinted in Kurzweil's book, Arthur has experienced four of the top 10 life stressors with a score indicating a relatively high health risk. Included in this list are the untimely death of his first-born son some twenty years ago and, more recently, the loss of his wife. According to Kurzweil and Grossman, Art's ability to maintain close, interpersonal relationships, and share his feelings with family and friends may have helped shield him from the devastating effect these events might have had on his health. It also helps that he has never depended on massive amounts of food, alcohol, or tobacco to reduce stress.
Assessment: In the Transcend program, assessment includes prevention in the form of physical fitness and early detection of disease. Arthur has maintained a healthy weight all these years by eating in moderation and always getting some form of regular exercise. And again, while regular visits to his physicians have not prevented him from developing medical conditions, his problems have been detected and treated at very early stages so he is living well into his nineties with both heart disease and cancer.
Nutrition: When Arthur eats out, he enjoys his cold cut sandwiches and meat-with-gravy platters. At home, however, where his son David does the cooking, Art is more likely to be nibbling on a chickpea burger, savoring broiled salmon, or enjoying a tropical fruit salad combination of fresh pineapple, watermelon, and strawberries. He seems to have struck his own healthy balance, and these days his diet more closely resembles the fresh seafood-poultry-produce plan outlined in the Transcend program than it might have in the past.
Supplementation: While the authors of Transcend believe that some supplements are universally beneficial, and they may well be, Arthur takes no supplements at all.
Calorie reduction and weight loss. Just about all experts would agree that anyone who is overweight will benefit one way or another from losing their excess and maintaining a healthy weight. Luckily for Arthur, it has always been a non-issue. He never gained excess weight so he never had to struggle with losing it.
Exercise: The authors of the Transcend program say "Live 10 Years Longer with Exercise" and they explain why. Arthur personifies why!
New technologies: The authors make no claim to being able to forestall death forever, but they heartily believe in taking advantage of every current technology available to help maintain health until new technologies, particularly in the field of genetics, are perfected that will help us live longer than anticipated. Arthur's pacemaker, along with his regular trips to the doctor for any and all required testing, represent some of the current technology he has employed to keep himself going.
Detoxification: The authors believe in earth-friendly living as a means to good health. They define that as clean air, clean water, and limited exposure to electronics and heavy metal. Arthur now lives in Florida, where the air is clear and the water clean. He has spent only limited time on computers, and he has never owned a cell phone.
So it looks like, with the exception of supplements, Arthur's habits model the Transcend plan pretty closely. He is most certainly living proof that we can outlive our life expectancies.
Susan McQuillan is the author of Breaking the Bonds of Food Addiction and Low-Calorie Dieting for Dummies.
