The RealAge Makeover: Take Years off Your Looks and Add Them to Your Life

525 Pages·2004·1.55 MB·English

by  Michael F. Roizen

TheRealAge
®
Makeover
take years off
your looks and
add them to
your life
Michael F. Roizen, M.D.

A completely revised and
®
updated edition of RealAge
This book is dedicated to my family, for their enthusiasm for RealAge and their patience
with the project. They not only help me stay young but are the reason I want to be
young. I also dedicate the book to Marty Rom and Charlie Silver, my partners in
introducing so many people to RealAge; and to all who enjoy RealAge, including the
fifty or so Makeovers who inspired this work and are living younger. May you always
have the RealAge you desire.
All case studies portrayed in this book are based on real people. Details not sig-
nificant to the use in this book have been changed to protect the identities of
the individuals involved. In some cases, two or more similar stories have been
combined into one story. Only references to my father, my daughter, and myself
should be considered clearly identifiable. Any other likenesses are purely coinci-
dental.
In certain instances, I have listed products, such as medications, by their brand
names, because that is how they are commonly known. On occasion, I have also
included the names of companies and products if I thought such information
would be relevant for the reader. To my knowledge, I have no connections to
any of the companies or brand-name products listed in this book, with the ex-
ception of RealAge, Inc., the company I helped establish for the express purpose
of developing the RealAge computer program. RealAge and Age Reduction are
trademarks and service marks of RealAge, Inc., which currently directs the Real-
Age website (www.RealAge.com).
This book is intended to be informational and should not be considered a sub-
stitute for advice from a medical professional, whom the reader should consult
before beginning any diet or exercise regimen, and before taking any dietary
supplements or other medications. The author and publisher expressly disclaim
responsibility for any adverse effects arising from the use or application of the
information contained in this book.

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
1 Look Younger, Live Longer
Give Yourself the Energy and Looks You Had Ten or
Twenty Years Ago 1
2 What’s Your RealAge?
Test Yourself to See How Young You Are 16
3 Get Younger Every Day
Plan and Commit to Be as Young as You Want to Be 59
4 Keep the Blood Pumping
Reverse Arterial Aging: The Easiest, Fastest Way to Gain Energy 91
5 The Immune System
Your Personal Bodyguard Against Disease 126
6 Live Smart in the Aging Environment Around You
Choices That Can Give You a Daily RealAge Makeover 153
7 Stress Less
The #1 Most Important Way to Grow Younger 205
vi Contents
8 Eat Real Chocolate!
The Fifteen Food Choices Proven to Make You Younger
and More Energetic 238
9 Three Workout Choices to Age Less
How to Reduce Stress, Look Younger, and Get Measurable Results 296
10 Vitamin Power
Why Just Any Multivitamin Won’t Work 348
11 Daily Dose of Goodness
Five Habits That Can Give You More Energy 399
12 A Doctor’s Note
How to Get the Best Medical Care 422
13 Be Eighty, Feel Fifty-Two
Eight Not-So-Secret Steps to Stay Young and Have the
Energy You Want 467
Key References 475
Index 495
About the Author
Other Books by Michael F. Roizen
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Acknowledgments
F
irst and foremost, I would like to thank the patients, the many
physicians, and thousands of people who sent questions,
notes, cards, and e-mails, and transformed themselves with
Makeovers. They inspired me to write this book, encouraged further develop-
ment of the RealAge ideas, and motivated the passion that created this book. I
hope the book will help them live younger longer. That would be the best re-
ward any physician could have.
I am grateful to the many, many other people who contributed to this book.
Some deserve a very specific thank you: Candice Fuhrman, for making it hap-
pen; Elsa Hurley, who rewrote and edited more than sixteen editions of each
chapter; Pauline Snider, my editor for over twenty-five years, for keeping the
English crisp and the grammar and style appropriate and consistent; Elizabeth
Stephenson, my partner in the first RealAge book, who encouraged this work;
Tracy Hafen, who taught me a tremendous amount about exercise and wrote
descriptions of the exercises in Chapter 9; Sukie Miller, whose passion for the
project proved to be the consistent encouragement I needed; Anita Shreve, for
saying the RealAge book was possible and that the chapters were just what she
wanted to read; the many gerontologists and internists who read sections of the
book for accuracy; Mehmet Oz, Jack Rowe, Jeremiah Stamler, Linda Fried, and
the many investigators of the Iowa Women’s Health Study, the Nurses’ Health
Study, and the Physicians’ Health Study, for invaluable research and advice that
improve the science in this book; others on the RealAge scientific team who
helped analyze the research, especially Keith Roach, a consistent partner in this
work since 1994; those on the RealAge team who helped validate and verify the
content, including Shelly Bowen; Michelle Lewis, for her endless patience and
viii Acknowledgments
good humor in producing the manuscript; Charise Petrovitch, for improving
the charts and slides; Anne-Marie Prince, for doing so much so well, and for do-
ing it so calmly in the midst of a constant storm; Sally Kwa, Arline McDonald,
Tate Erlinger, Linda Van Horne, Jeremiah Stamler, Mark Rudberg, Mike
Parzen, and especially Axel Goetz and Harriet Imrey, for their roles as scientific
partners in evaluating the data and scientific content of RealAge; Leo Vivona,
Dr. Robert Genco, and Dr. John Vasselli for educating me about gum care and
air pollution; Sidney Unobskey and Martin Rom, who inspired the process and
named it; Charlie Silver, who funded the research and assembled the innovative
RealAge team that continually evaluates and updates RealAge and its website;
and especially Megan Newman, who believed in this book. I owe a special grat-
itude to Kathy Huck who repeatedly told me how to improve each chapter; she
made each chapter better, and not just a little, and not just once. She conveyed
her excitement to me and to the book. I would not passionately believe that
RealAge could change the health of the world without her excitement and en-
couragement about the project.
Finally, I would like to thank you my wife, Nancy, for her constant love and
support, and my children, Jeffrey and Jennifer, for their encouragement and pa-
tience. The book is dedicated to them, to my partners who founded RealAge,
and especially to the millions of people who use the RealAge ideas to improve
their health. Thank you for keeping the passion burning. May you be inspired
to have the RealAge you desire.