M ore th a n o n e-th ird of th e A m erican po p u latio n is chronically ill.
And th a t's an u n d e rsta te m en t, because it assum es th a t you're ill only at th e point of diagnosis of a classically defined disease. That figure d o e sn 't take into account th e idea th a t you can be 80 percent unw ell before th e first sym ptom s of disease m anifest.
It m ay take tw enty years for en o u g h tu m o r cells to show u p on an X-ray or m am m ogram . At th e tim e of th e diagnosis, you're at th e end stage of a healing crisis, no t th e beginning. Your arteries could be 90 percent occluded before you find sym ptom s of angina or som e oth er condition. It m ig h t take forty years for an occlusion to get th a t bad. You're told it w as caught early, w h en , in actuality, you got it at the end. So, w e've got a n o th e r 100 m illion people w alking aro u n d w ho are processing disease th a t is n o t yet diagnosed. Then w e have an o th er 50 m illion people, bringing us up to 90 percent of th e A m er
ican population, w ho have th e early stages of disease. These are our
24 Gary Null's Ultimate Anti-Aging Program
youth. Take a h u n d re d ten-year-olds at ran d o m , and you will find th a t 50 p ercent of th e m already have th e developm ent of old age disease. They already have th e b eginnings of coronary h e a rt disease, arth ritis, loss of sm ell, sound, or taste, du e to overstim ulated lives.
Those of you w ho are baby boom ers— forty years old an d over—
d id n 't grow u p exclusively on a ju n k -fo o d diet. You played outdoors an d got plenty of exercise, an d you probably had ju n k foods a couple of tim es a w eek, b u t n o t at every m eal. M ost of today's child ren eat ju n k food— or at least highly processed food— at every m eal. R ather th a n daily physical activity, m ost spend th e bulk of th eir tim e in sed en tary p u rsu its, w atch in g television or surfing th e In te rn e t. And they live in an overly excited, toxic en v iro n m en t. T h at's w hy their h e a lth is so m u ch w orse th a n those of us w h o grew up in earlier tim es— even as recently as th e 1950s an d 1960s— before fast foods and m icrow aveable m eals.
To p u t it in perspective, 90 p ercent of th e A m erican p o p u latio n co n trib u tes to a 1.3-trillion-dollar disease budget. We are increasing our h e a lth care costs a t a rate of alm ost 13 percent per year. In o th e r w ords, th e greatest single increase in o u r gross n atio n al pro d u ct is in m edicine. Trouble is, w e have little to show for it as far as cures.
Any im provem ents in h e a rt disease have been because of lifestyle im provem ents, n o t m edical ones. Sam e for cancer. People are m a k ing changes in th eir lifestyle th a t are helping th e m to prevent the disease. So prev en tio n is th e only vehicle th a t accounts for a change.
And still w e're increasing th e disease rate every year.
In th e 1970s an d 1980s, people becam e u pset w h e n skyrocketing defense budgets reached $250 billion. Im agine $1.3 trillion. T hat's six tim es the defense budget. T h at's m ore th a n all of our food, e d u cation, and m ilitary spending com bined. N ext year, it will be $1.5 trillion. A nd w ith in ten years it will be $2 trillion on disease. None of th a t goes tow ard prevention.
Only a tiny percentage of th e A m erican population is healthy.
And it is no accident th a t they arc healthy. They w ork at it. You have to w ork on being healthy, ju st as you have to w ork on disease. Both processes are based u p o n the choices w e m ake.
So, w h en will you change? You'll change w h e n you lose it all, w h en you realize one day th a t you've m ade the w rong choices.
Think of how m any tim es you changed because you lost everything.
Yet, w h en you had w arn in g signs along the w ay th a t w h a t you w ere
doing w a sn 't right, you d id n 't pay a tte n tio n . You h ad to h it b ottom before you w ere forced to change. Then you did so grudgingly.
"Okay, I guess I'll change."
Well, th ere 's no pow er in th a t. T hat's n o t a good m otivation.
Think of people in relationships. A w o m an w ho has been com ing to m y h e a lth support group on Fridays is in an abusive relationship.
Her boyfriend has been n o th in g b u t a living hell in h er life. At one point, he th reaten ed to kill her, slam m ing h er up against th e w all ju st because she w as late com ing hom e. We told h er to re tu rn to class only if she w as w illing to change, b u t she w as n o t ready for that.
A nother person in th e class, Joel, has changed. He finally started to u n c lu tte r his life. This after tw en ty years of being aro u n d m e w ith little progress an d grow th. Finally, I told h im directly, "Today you've got to change, Joel. I d o n 't w a n t you here for a n o th er tw en ty years doing n o th in g ." So, he w en t ou t an d shaved his beard an d cut his hair, w hich is som ething he h a d n o t changed since h igh school, despite suggestions from m an y of u s at th e center. He also cleaned an d organized his a p a rtm en t an d u n c lu tte red his life.
Breaking old p attern s of behavior takes courage. You have to stop th in k in g about everything else th a t's a distraction. O therw ise, you have a th o u sa n d exits along your p ath . You keep reaching for th e exits in stead of going forw ard. Now Joel is going forw ard.
If Joel could do this, w hy c o u ld n 't th e w o m a n go hom e an d tell h er boyfriend th a t he w as n o t to be in h er life any longer? She co u ld n 't do th a t because she d id n 't w a n t to. It w as n o t th a t she couldn't. Can't shows no choices. H er choice w as to need him in her life. T hat's the choice she m akes, know ing th e consequence.
W hen she rejoined us later th a t evening, did she n o t say she w as shaken? She said, "I ju st w e n t hom e, an d he slam m ed m e up against the door. He raised his fist to m e. I ra n ou t past him . And he said, 'I'm going to kill y o u .'" I told h e r to go to the police an d have this m a n arrested and to get a restrain in g order on him . But she w o u ld n 't do it. She said, "H e'll be helpless. He w o n 't know how to survive."
Think of how m any tim es you've m ade a n excuse for som eone else's toxic, negative behavior or lifestyle. You felt you w ere red eem ing yourself th ro u g h suffering by acting as a chronic caregiver, know ing th e o th er person w ould th e n create a codependent rela
26 Gary Null's Ultimate Anti-Aging Program
tio n sh ip w ith you. A toxic codependency never becom es positive.
You're only going to get h u rt. A nd th e o th er p erso n 's n o t going to change if you're going to be responsible for him . If you're going to cook his food an d give h im a free hom e an d free clothing, w hy should he change?
So, here w e have a situ atio n w h ere Joel w as finally w illing to take a step out of his m alaise an d depression an d start to do som e
th in g w ith his life. One evening of doing th a t w as w o rth m ore th a n tw en ty years of com ing to m y talks.
You've got to do som ething, no t th in k about it. W e're a society th a t overthinks. W e're all w aitin g for som eone to provide us w ith an an sw er so th a t w e can act u p o n w h a t w e k n o w w e should do, in stead of looking for th e answ ers ourselves an d th e n acting.
B etter to act on som eth in g th a t d o esn 't w ork out th a n w ait for th a t one correct answ er. E verything is a learning process; th ere is no perfect an sw er in life.
Perfection does n o t exist an yw here in th e universe. E verything is im perfect.
We in ten tio n ally b lu r th e difference b etw een w h a t w e need to see and w h a t is there. Therefore, w e can alw ays dream about w h a t w e feel is perfect w h e n it is not.
Joel is now in th e process of changing. He has tak en th e first step, an d th a t gives h im confidence to take th e second. He w as step ping in his m ind, b u t he never actualized it. Now he is.
But th e w o m an in th e group h a s n 't actualized change. She has b ro u g h t only toxic m e n into h e r life for the past ten years. That prevents h e r from getting on w ith h er career. W hy does she do th at?
Because as long as she con tin u es to believe th a t she needs to help these people w ho d o n 't deserve h e r help, she can say, "M y life is w o rth som ething; I suffer for o th er people." W rong choice. But as m u ch d e te rm in atio n w en t in to saying, “ No, I w o n 't get this person out of m y life," as th ere w ould be to get th a t person o u t of h er life.
These are n o t m in d fu l decisions. They are reactionary decisions.
I now challenge you to m ake th e m in d fu l decisions to m ake the changes in your life to grow younger, no t older, w ith each passing day.