The Secret To Healthy Aging Is Balance
MIAMI (CBS4) - Staying healthy as we age is something that may seem hard to do, but a Harvard educated best selling author said there are some tricks if you want to be successful.
Dr. Andrew Weil, a 'rock star' when it comes to integrative medicine, recently spoke to a group of about 600 at a University of Miami Hospital Sylvester Institute event.
Weil started off by telling the gathering that medical schools needed to re-write their teaching methods and there was 'no way to make healthcare affordable without integrative medicine'.
"Integrative medicine really is the future and you really want it here in Miami. It's the medicine that works economically and what doctors want to practice," Weil told CBS4's Cynthia Demos.
So what is integrative medicine?
"It's the intelligent combination of conventional and alternative medicine," said Weil.
Weil said it's also a balance of taking what doctors learn in medical school and mixing in a healthy dose of nutrition, exercise and not over-prescribing drugs. He pointed out that people take ten times more medicine today than they did 50 years ago.
Weil said, "We treat everything as if it's a crisis."
However, it's best, according to Weil, to treat pain with alternative treatments before popping a pill.
"Doctors aren't going to prescribe that so readily," said Weil. "Because they are not trained to do so and they are under pressure from pharmaceutical companies and from patient demand to give medication."
"Another thing you said we really need to focus on is our food. Is that amount or type of food," asked Demos.
"It's both," replied Weil. "The way we've changed it is driving up the diabetes epidemic. Our food habits have really deteriorated in the past 50 years."
Weil said this generation of children may live a shorter life span than their parents. It's a result of the obesity and type two diabetes epidemic. When it comes to today's nutritional habits, Weil has one word to describe them – Stop.
Stop eating refined processed and manufactured food and eat real food learn to cook simple things."
Weil said the bottom line here is 'get up off the couch, exercise, eat right, use traditional medicine when needed and try alternative approaches for less threatening problems'. Balance your life and Weil said you too can age gracefully.
