Late starters can live longer if they get moving.

A recent study shows how to cut risk of death by 40 percent within 4 years.

Even in middle age, adopting a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk for heart disease and premature death within years of changing habits, researchers have recently reported.

Middle-aged adults who began eating five or more fruits and vegetables every day, exercising for at least 2 1/2 hours a week, keeping weight down and not smoking decreased their risk of heart disease by 35 percent and risk of death by 40 percent in the four years after they started.

Low levels of testosterone may increase the risk of death in men over the age of 50, US research suggests.A study of 800 men over 50 found that those with low levels had a 33% increased risk of death over an 18-year period than those with higher levels.

Whether you know it or not, your body could be sensitive to one or more of many common foods in the modern diet.

If you've spent years dealing with unexplained headaches, persistent low energy, ongoing mild flu-like or hay fever-like symptoms- these are classic symptoms of food sensitivities.

What's the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity? With food allergies, your body's reaction to the allergen is usually immediate and obvious-itching, hives, tingling in the mouth, difficulty breathing, abdominal cramps, vomiting or even anaphylactic shock are clear signals you need to avoid that food and seek medical attention quickly. In contrast, food sensitivities are more difficult to identify because the symptoms of the food sensitivity are rarely severe and might not show up for days or weeks after you've eaten the food.

If symptoms of food sensitivities occur with such long delays after exposure-and the symptoms you experience masquerade as other common illnesses- how are you supposed to identify what you're sensitive to? The simplest method is to eliminate the most common allergens. If your mystery illnesses disappear, you know you're sensitive to something. I recommend avoiding most common allergens as a long- term strategy, since sensitivities can develop over time with continued exposure. You also have the option of re-introducing what you've eliminated slowly, one item at a time-this way, you can get a better picture of what the culprit food is. There is specialized blood testing available to determine food sensitivities as well.

The Usual Suspects: Common Allergens to Avoid

Corn

This relatively new addition to the human diet causes an allergic reaction in some people and sensitivities in many more. It was only introduced a few hundred years ago and our bodies haven't evolved to effectively digest corn.

High-fructose corn syrup-one of the most health- damaging derivatives of corn-is frequently used in sport drinks and other processed foods requiring a cheap sweetener. In fact, you'll find corn derivatives in up to 90 percent of processed food. Avoid high fructose corn syrup.

Corn is the source of such non-corn-sounding ingredients and additives as: maltodextrin, dextrose, glucose-fructose, invert sugar or modified starch. With all these forms in common use, if you're eating processed foods, corn and its derivatives can be a challenge to avoid.

If you find you are not sensitive to corn, there is no need to avoid whole food corn (such as fresh corn on the cob).

Wheat and Gluten

Gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye, kamut, spelt, barley, and most oats, is difficult for some people to digest. High levels of gluten are not historically natural to our diet-they are a modern creation introduced by the hybridization and genetic modification of wheat. No longer a natural food, today's wheat has been tinkered with to produce higher yields in industrial farming; the trade-off in these higher yields is a much higher gluten content.

Celiac disease (gluten intolerance) is more common now than ever-but even if you're not completely intolerant, a gluten sensitivity can result in symptoms ranging from a general sub-par feeling to mild or severe digestive problems.

Wheat-or a wheat derivative-is found in nearly all processed foods. You can avoid gluten by substituting it with any pseudo-grain like quinoa, spelt or amaranth. If you discover you are not sensitive to gluten after using the elimination method and want to re- introduce it, switching from and avoiding standard wheat in favor of the less-modified grains spelt or kamut is a positive long-term strategy. Breads made from sprouted whole grains are also a better option.

Dairy

Cow's milk comes from a lactating cow. Natural unpasteurized milk from a mother cow is an ideal source of nourishment-for the calf. When humans eat dairy, that milk is no longer being used as it was intended.

Many people-especially adults-experience digestive problems from dairy products (cow, goat and sheep's' milk included) due to difficulties digesting lactose. While severe lactose intolerance is easily identified by the immediate-often violent-reaction following dairy consumption, milder dairy sensitivities show up as general digestive unrest, difficulty losing weight, inflammation, respiratory congestion (dairy is mucous-forming), unexplained skin issues, chronic reduced energy or impaired immunity. Eliminating dairy from your diet can drastically improve your sense of wellness.

Soy

Soy has traditionally been eaten in Asia as a condiment, not as a main course. With the recent adoption by the Western world of soy as a meat substitute, soy has found its way into our diets on a large scale.

The irony of this wholesale embrace of soy in the otherwise positive shift away from meat comes from the fact that many health-conscious people who choose soy-alternatives fail to experience the vitality of a plant-based diet as a result of an unrecognized soy sensitivity. Soy sensitivity-like most food sensitivities -builds up over time, so years of drinking soy milk, eating tofu burgers, TVP (textured vegetable protein) and tofu stir-fry can leave you feeling less than energetic (an all-too-common-and unnecessary- reason given for abandoning a vegetarian diet).

If you discover you're not sensitive to soy after experimenting with elimination, there's nothing wrong with eating organic tofu once a week, if that's your only source of soy (watch for it in processed foods-like corn and wheat, soy-derivatives are in almost everything). I recommend soy as a tasty condiment instead of your main meal or protein source.

Active Yeast

There are two categories of yeast: inactive and active.

Nutritional yeast is inactive, meaning that it is no longer growing. Active yeast is living and needs sugar to survive once in contact with moisture.

Used to make bread dough rise, active yeast is a standard ingredient in most baked goods-the problem when you eat products made with active yeast is that the active yeast is not completely destroyed in the baking process. Once active yeast enters your body, it feeds on your body's sugars, multiplying, often causing systemic yeast over-growth and candidiasis.

Your body may not be susceptible to this yeast. If you don't develop bloating and mild flu-like symptoms after eating yeast-leavened breads, it's perfectly fine to eat them-just choose ones made from whole sprouted grains.

Peanuts

Peanut allergies and sensitivities are on the rise in North America, affecting children most severely (though 20 percent will outgrow this allergy). Reactions to peanuts range from mild to severe anaphylaxis-some people are affected by the mere presence of peanut-containing foods in the same room, thanks to air-borne peanut particles. Peanuts are also highly susceptible to mould growth (a factor suspected as a cause of peanut allergies).

If you're sensitive to peanuts but miss peanut butter, sunflower seed paste makes a good alternative.

The best way to determine food sensitivities and allergens is to have specialized blood testing done so that a diet that eliminates these allergens can be used to eliminate the symptoms.

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery into the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, after showing that boosting testosterone levels in the body can lower levels of a toxic brain protein linked to the development of the crippling condition.

Preliminary results from a clinical trial of West Australian men, presented at the prestigious Royal Society of Medicine in London, show that not only does the use of a testosterone cream lower the protein beta amyloid but importantly it appears to improve memory. Professor Ralph Martins, of the Sir James McCusker Foundation for Alzheimer's Research at Hollywood Private Hospital, said from London that he was excited by early results from an ongoing trial of healthy men aged 50 to 72 who had a testosterone deficiency and only mild signs of memory loss. They have been treated at Perth's Well Men Centre using a WA-made testosterone cream, and the trial follows an earlier study of guinea pigs which showed the treatment reduced their levels of beta amyloid. Professor Martins said that it was the first real evidence of cause and effect. "In the past we've shown an association, so when you lower testosterone, you raise beta amyloid levels, and we've also shown an association with people at higher risk of getting Alzheimer's, but we wanted to see what happens in the brain," he said.

This three hour workshop video will provide the participant with practical methods that can be used starting the same day, which if incorporated into their daily life, will promote healthy aging.

If you are interested in viewing the workshop video or the workshop notes, visit my website today. A six month subscription to the Member Center is only $99 and includes unlimited viewing of the workshop video, the workshop notes and e-booklets that you can read and download on many topics in Age Management Medicine.