The Metabolic Plan
A Review of Stephen Cherniske's Plan to Stay Younger Longer
A very readable book puts the latest research on aging into perspective, giving us simple and clear guidance about what will help us to age optimally.
Anti-aging is impossible; we all age. The real question is, “Are we aging well?” Are we getting better in as many ways as possible? Is the loss of capabilities occurring at the lowest possible rate?
Stephen Cherniske, in his small book, The Metabolic Plan: Stay Younger Longer, lays out a simple set of ideas that puts into perspective the changes experienced by those of us who are over 30.
When he’s giving a talk, Cherniske often asks an audience to name their physical problems. People call out arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Then he asks, “How many of you had those same problems when you were twenty?” His point is that the primary disease for most of us is dysfunctional aging. The chronic ailments that we think of as disease are symptoms of faulty aging. So the solution to many chronic problems is to age better—more effectively.
The central idea of Cherniske’s book is that aging is a cellular process. To “stay younger longer” we must improve the ways that our cells:
- take in nutrients
- get rid of waste
- reproduce
According to Cherniske, 35% of aging is genetic so we can’t influence that part—but 65% is under our control. We can avoid the Standard American Diet (SAD); we can eat fresh, organic foods and avoid sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. We can use supplements that make it easier for our cells to take in the nutrients and get rid of waste. We all know that our bodies need to detox; so do our cells.
We’ve all seen photocopies that were hard to read because someone had made a copy of a copy of a copy. The same thing happens with the cells in our body that are reproducing constantly. Past a certain point, the cells divide and the copies aren’t quite like the originals.
Take a look at your hands and the hands of a two-month old baby. The skin on your hands is exactly the same age as the skin on the baby’s hands--about 35 days. What’s the difference? Our middle-aged cells don’t reproduce as perfectly as they did when we were children.
Now that science has unlocked the human genome, we can supplement our diet with natural products that use genomics--that actually improve the way that our cells reproduce. Creams and surgery give only temporary improvement in our skin. To make real—and long-term—improvement we need to change from the inside, give our cells the biochemical support they need to make efficient copies of themselves.
There are many other lifestyle factors that influence aging. You can improve many or all of these. Exercise, rest, posture are all important. Avoiding toxins when possible and adding antioxidants to our diet so we can fight off those toxins we can’t avoid. Avoid coffee and carbonated beverages. Carbon dioxide is a waste product of the body; you don’t drink urine, you don’t need to drink carbon dioxide either.
Having a spiritual basis for life that brings joy and contentment is critical to having a healthy immune system. That’s right—joy actually improves the immune system. A strong immune system will reduce illness and less illness will improve the quality of life in middle age and thereafter.
Cherniske’s book, while very readable, is packed with facts about all aspects of improving metabolism, optimizing our weight, and aging with energy and health. It’s a must read for baby-boomers who are noticing that life isn’t quite as energetic as it used to be.
