Tuesday, December 9, 2008

"Age Management: or how to have a great bod after 40

If you want to keep your 30 year-old body well into your 40s, 50s and even 60s, then Dr. Jeffery Life is the man for you. His face is that of a distinguished-looking grandpa; his head is balding, and what hair there is is white. But his 69-year-old body looks like it belongs to a muscle-bound 30-year-old.
The photo regularly runs in ads for the Cenegenics Medical Institute, a Las Vegas-based clinic that specializes in "age management," a growing field in a society obsessed with staying young. Life, who swears that's his real last name, also keeps a framed copy of the photo on his office wall at Cenegenics.
While athletes have been using HGH and steroids for years to improve performance, the drugs are now being used much more by people who want to look younger and healthier and who claim that diet and exercise aren't enough.
Says Ed Detwiler, one of Dr.Life's patients; "He's the man!" Detwiler, 47, has been Life's patient for more than three years. In that time, he has adopted the regimen that his doctor also follows — drastically changing his exercise and eating habits and injecting himself each day with human growth hormone. He also receives weekly testosterone injections.
He does it because it makes him feel better, more energetic, clear-minded.
He does it because he wants to live a long, healthy life.
"If I were stooped over and bedridden, what kind of quality of life is that?" asks Detwiler, a real estate developer in suburban Las Vegas who says he's doing this, in part, for his wife, who is nine years younger. "If I can get out and be active and travel and see the world and be able to make a difference in other people's lives, then yes, I would want to have as long an existence as possible."
Detwiler, Life's patient at Cenegenics, is not looking for the appearance of youth. He's looking to extend his youthfulness, and his life.
He knows about human growth hormone and its controversies in sports. But this, he and his doctor insist, is different. While it is illegal for these kinds of hormones to be dispensed for anti-aging purposes, he takes relatively low doses prescribed for "hormone deficiency." The idea is to bring his levels back up to those of a young man in his 20s.
"My friends say, 'Oh, Ed's on steroids,'" says Detwiler, who has watched as muscle has replaced fat on his belly and elsewhere. "No, I'm not. Look at me. Do I look like I'm on steroids?"
He holds out his arms to indicate that his body is fit-looking, but not monstrous. "I'm not. I'm on hormone therapy," he says of a regimen that costs him more than $1,000 a month.
Besides human growth hormone, testosterone, and an adrenal hormone known as DHEA, his diet now largely consists of things like hard-boiled eggs, fruits, nuts, Greek yogurt, salads and palm-sized pieces of fish, chicken or low-fat beef. He also exercises regularly, alternating between intense cardio workouts and weight-resistance training.
"I can't tell you in words how great I feel," says the man who used to crack open a Pepsi to get him through the day.
Of course all this isn't cheap,in addition to the $1000 a month Detwiler claims to spend there are up front costs that run in the thousands of dollars. The initial one-day $2,995 evaluation at the Cenegenics, has already attracted a handful of unnamed Britons.

After the initial evaluation, clients spend up to $13,000 on exercise and diet regimes, supplemented by vitamins and, in most cases, hormone replenishment such as testosterone.
Approximately 20 per cent are also prescribed injections of human growth hormones if they are diagnosed as demonstrating adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD).
Most who get the "treatments do so because they feel societal pressure to look younger than they are. Wow, what a shock it's society's fault that I'm putting this into my body, I'm just a innocent guy or gal who can't make my own decisions, society makes them for me. What a crock...
Quotes from the AP and from Steroid Nation

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

diet & exercise ARE enough, if you put the time in.

supplements are one thing, i take a ton of herbal supplements..........NEVER juice though ever, it will eventually kill you!!

besides, that photo looks like photoshop

LOL!

CowboyJoe said...

I'm going to play devil's advocate;
HGH is a natural compound that everyone produces and the reason they are taking it is because the body isn't producing the amounts at 40 or 50 or 60 that it did at 20 or even 30. Not only does HGH improve overall muscle tone and muscle mass, it also gets rid of wrinkles, improves eyesight among other benefits. HGH also has more research behind its possible effects than herbal supplements do. So what is the real difference between taking HGH and herbal supplements? Especially if you take in HGH in small doses?

Anonymous said...

herbal supplements have been used for centuries. they are all natural, can absorb faster & are easier on your system then HGH.

they are like eating a vegetable that's how easy they absorb. HGH doesn't do that....lutien improves eyesight too and is all natural. i would never take any sort of synthetic supplement. my vitamins are even herbal. it's all a matter of them digesting & being absorbed easier. as for wrinkles, got get some clinique, it works wonders ;0

CowboyJoe said...

I don't take anything, I just try to eat healthy and get some exercise.
My wife takes a bunch of herbal stuff, I'm not sure how much any of it helps, we are all blessed or cursed by our genes.

Sophia Jason said...

Age management can be that much easier with the right help and right technique. Hormone replacement and lifestyle management techniques help to restore youthfulness and maintain wellness. Hormone therapy can include growth hormone, Estrone, Testosterone, Progesterone, and Thyroid and several others. Consult Dr. Royal and the staff of New Hope Medical Center to rediscover health and vigor http://alternativemedicines.tv/doctor_index_4958.html