Ni - Secrets of Longevity: Simple Steps That Add Years to Your Life

SIMPLE STEPS THAT ADD YEARS TO YOUR LIFE

DR. MAO SHING NI

Text copyright 2010 by Dr. Mao Shing Ni.
Compilation copyright 2010 by Dr. Mao Shing Ni and Authorscape Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-8118-7695-7

Designed by Laurie Dolphin Design
Illustrations by Patty Wu

Secrets of Longevity, Ask Dr. Mao, The Natural Health Search Engine and Second Spring are registered trademarks of Ask Dr. Mao, LLC.
Tao of Wellness is a registered trademark of Tao of Wellness, PC.

www.askdrmao.com

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
http://www.chroniclebooks.com

NOTE TO READERS

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book.

Natural remedies and supplements can have side effects, both alone and in combination with other remedies or conventional medicines. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

This book is dedicated to those who seek to live
healthy and long productive lives in order to
build and leave a meaningful legacy.

This book shows you how to apply the secrets of longevity to your lifestyle, one healthful habit at a time. The material in this book comes directly from the healthful habits of centenarians from around the world.

Set up as an 8-Week Longevity Program, this book will give you new healthful habits to integrate into your life. Every day, try these new habits and then write in this book, which will help you track your progress and your experience with this life change. Each week, you will be given five new healthful habits to practice. At the end of the week, you will select one of these habits to continue to practice for the duration of your 8-Week Longevity Program. If you follow our program, by the end of 8 weeks, you will have eight new lifelong healthful habits to call your own!

To attain optimum health and longevity, you must approach wellness with a whole-body perspective, taking into account all aspects of your life, including what you eat, how you heal, where you are, what you do, and your connection with spirituality. Each week, the new habits will reflect the five most significant factors for preserving your well-being and longevity:

1. Diet and nutrition

2. Herbs and supplements

3. Environmental surroundings

4. Physical exercises

5. Spirit and connection

For example, in Week 1, for the diet and nutrition area of health, you will be asked to drink eight glasses of water every day. Meanwhile, for the herbs and supplements area, you will be prompted to select a detoxifying herbal tea to drink every day. For environmental surroundings that week, you will buy a plant. And thus, you will be satisfying all areas of health and wellness each week.

While the time to create a new habit varies from person to person, generally, for a simple activity, it takes 14 to 21 days to ingrain a new habit, provided the activity is simple and you practice it consistently.

It is also important to be very specific about what habit you want to develop and in what situation. For instance, if you decide you want to take a 20-minute walk every day, you choose a timeperhaps one hour after dinnerthat you do it every day. This repetition over time creates a mental association between the action (walking, for instance) and the situation (after dinner). When the situation is encountered, the behavior is performed automaticallythus, a new habit!

This workbook will help you be specific and track your consistency. Over time, creating a habit will begin to happen more easily and take less effort.

I have included sections in the back called Recommended Health Products and Resources that will further assist you with your health aspirations. These sections provide you with my recommendations for products and sources that will support you in your pursuit of health and longevity.

In this 8-Week Longevity Program, you will find healthful, lifelong habits that are adapted straight from the time-tested traditions practiced by centenarians all around the world, and I can say with certainty that these habits will transform and rejuvenate you!

Twenty-five years ago, while in a postgraduate residency in Shanghai, I took note of the thousands of seniorsa good number of them centenariansmeeting up in parks each morning to practice tai chi. I was truly amazed by their grace and agility, sharp minds, and overall state of health. This discovery began my journey into the secrets of longevity. I began studying the diets and lifestyles of centenarians and examining literature on antiaging therapies. Combining these discoveries with my own background as a 38th-generation practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, I have fused the best of East and West to develop the activities that appear in this journal.

There is no limit to how healthy and how energized you can feel. Like the centenarians I have come across in my longevity studies, you, too, can enjoy vibrant health for years to come! It is my belief that our own human behavior is our greatest obstacle to longevity. You might ask, what about genes, disease, or natural disasters? Arent all of these the primary predictors of longevity? Of course they are. But the one thing we can control is probably the single greatest determinant of how long we live and how healthy we are, and that is our own behavior and habits. Your body was designed to be a hundred years oldso get out of the way and let your body do what it does best: live!

The habits and lifestyle we have today are the cumulative result of all our past choices. The question is, are your habits preventing you from achieving health and well-being in your life? Most of us have developed routine behaviors that limit our true health potential. But dont let your bad habits of the past discourage youit is never too late to make new choices! What you did in the past can be changed, and your body will respond in kind. What matters is what you do from this moment forward. You can positively affect your longevity and create new healthful habits starting right now!

Remember, when you repeat your new behavior for 14 to 21 days, it forms a pattern in your brain and becomes automatic. As you develop new healthful habits, they will begin to replace the bad ones. By focusing on the positive, you eliminate the negative.