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deficiency affects 13.8 million men. Yet fewer than 10 percent of these men were receiving treatment.
    THE LIFE PLAN’S THREE SECRETS FOR HEALTHY AGING
     
    1.
    Do some form of exercise every day.
    2.
    Make sure that everything you put in your mouth helps you instead of hurts you.
    3.
    Make sure you do not have hormone deficiencies.
     
    An August 2008 study demonstrated that Metabolic Syndrome, which includes obesity (especially abdominal obesity), diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol problems, have a common denominator: testosterone deficiency.
    Correcting testosterone deficiencies along with other hormone deficiencies in men can reverse Metabolic Syndrome and greatly improve health in many ways, from improving bone mineral density, sexual function, libido, and body fat composition to reducing risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. An optimal level of testosterone can actually decrease or eliminate erectile dysfunction.
    This is particularly important because erectile dysfunction (ED) is a window into your total health. Erectile dysfunction can be an early warning sign of underlying vascular disease and diabetes. Research reveals that many men experience erectile dysfunction four to five years before having a heart attack. Research published in 2009 from the Mayo Clinic shows that men with ED had an 80 percent higher risk for coronary artery disease. You’ll learn more about all of this in Chapter 10. So if you are considering hormone therapies to improve your sex life, know that you are taking care of every aspect of your health at the same time.
    However, let me make one thing crystal clear: hormone therapy is
not
the reason that I look as good as I do. In fact, it is just one integral part of my program. While they certainly help me maintain my muscle mass, it’s really the combination of my diet and exercise program along with this therapy that keeps me looking fit. Together, these three aspects of the Life Plan allow me to feel younger, healthier, and sexy. There is no shortcut to optimal health, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that hormone therapies are the “secret” to big muscles or a better physique.
    The Time Is Now
    Whether you are 26 or 76 or anywhere in between, it’s not too late to get with the program. Let’s get started on the Life Plan right now, by reevaluating your diet and seeing if there’s room for improvement. You’ve got nothing to lose except the extra pounds that are slowing you down and ruining your quality of life.
     
    CHAPTER 2
     
    The Life Plan for Healthy Eating
     
    A s a physician, I’m fully aware that the foods we choose to eat profoundly affect our physical and mental health, our athletic performance, and how we age. Researchers are continuing to uncover the direct links between food choices and the frightening increase in diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Yet as a man, just knowing that certain foods will make me sick, and certainly make me look and feel older, is often not enough to stop me from eating things I know are bad for me.
     
    Nutrition has always been the toughest aspect of my own personal health journey. I accomplished my health goals in spite of my bad habits and my tendency to make bad decisions about what I put into my mouth. Before my transformation, I ate too many of the wrong foods all the time, and way too much of them—breads, white rice, French fries, ice cream, any and all chocolates, all kinds of sweets, lots of red meat, fried foods; the list goes on and on. Like most men, I’m still battling with a borderline consumption disorder, and it doesn’t end with food. I’m the first to admit that I can easily drink way too much. The potbelly and added pounds I was carrying thirteen years ago were directly linked to eating too much poor-quality protein, starch, fats, and sugar, and drinking too much alcohol.
    Even to this day, if I start eating the wrong foods it isn’t long