staying healthy in the fast lanethe highest rates of obesity and heart disease anywhere in Japan.
These three-minute video clips show the causes and the answers
to our healthcare crisis and real healthcare reform in the United
States and world.
It’s not genetics or the need for a new medical discovery and
billions of dollars in research. It’s lifestyle: diet, exercise, and how
we relate to each other in community. And we already have the
knowledge and examples. We just have to do it. It is that simple! It
is not up to the politicians. Every bit of this is in your hands right
now! That’s right. I am calling each one of you out right now! You
know how to create individual healthcare reform right now. If we
all do it then the healthcare crisis vanishes and along with it, the
economic woes related to worker’s health, healthcare expense,
productivity, and our national economy.
What Does “Sar-co-PEE-nee-ah”
Have to Do with Healthy Aging?
There is a medical condition called sarcopenia. It means loss of
skeletal muscle mass and a reduction in the metabolic quality of
muscle in the elderly.^7
Sarcopenia begins around the age of forty-five, when muscle
mass begins to decline at a rate of about 1 percent a year.^8 The
amount of muscle mass lost in the elderly is directly related to the
loss of strength, which is the main cause of increased disability
in the elderly. Muscle strength is a critical component for walking
and balance. The high prevalence of falls in the elderly is directly
related to the reduction in lower-body strength.^9
The following excerpt taken from an interview I did with Dr.
Chad M. Kerksick, director of the Applied Biochemistry and Mo-
lecular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Health and Exercise
Science at the University of Oklahoma, punctuates the seriousness
of sarcopenia as a public health problem.
“...Over time my research interests have shifted from the en-
hancement of sport performance to maintaining skeletal muscle