Put Old on Hold

by Barbara Morris, RPhSoft cover, 152 pages
(Image F/X Publications, Escondido, Calif.)

Barbara Morris challenges readers to have an "independent, tough, contrarian mindset" about aging. And at age 73, she's an expert! She calls her book a "crash course for boomers and others who want to be young forever."

The fact that she is also working full-time as a pharmacist gives authority to her message. If you take responsibility for your health now through an optimum diet and lifestyle and an informed regimen of dietary supplements, she says, you won't be sucked into the trap of relying on medication to keep you feeling well!

Morris holds both conventional and unconventional views on drugs. "You can't 'put old on hold' if you take a lot of unnecessary medication," she warns. "Poor health is not due to aging. You stay in good health by aggressively taking care of yourself. Chronological age has no relationship to ability or state of health, which is how well the body maintains itself over time. You have enormous control over that."

On the "conventional" side, Barbara believes there are some acute conditions that respond only to medication. To balance that, her "unconventional" side is forever influenced by her father's drugstore of 50 years ago, where he dispensed his own herbal combinations, tinctures, syrups and elixirs "of every description to treat everything from syphilis to sore throat." They worked! People learned to cope without "medical crutches." They took care of themselves. It was not until the discovery of penicillin, followed by hundreds of more powerful antibiotics (anti-biotic means "anti-life") that highly complex chemicals, often with unexpected and bizarre side-effects, came into common use.

"Adverse reactions to drugs cause the demise of 200,000 people a year in the United States," she warns. "That shouldn't happen!" Yet, in both Canada and the US, most people over 50 take unnecessary medications daily, and drug dosage is "trending down to ever-younger ages."

Barbara's "insider information" to readers is that drugs do not cure. They simply relieve symptoms. "People get trapped in a cycle of food abuse and prescription drug relief--and then complain they still don't feel well."

Putting old on hold, however, is about more than drugs, diet and lifestyle. Attitude and a refusal to accept society's norm for aging are everything, says Barbara. She dismisses the popular acceptance of "retirement" and says she plans to work indefinitely because working keeps her "sharp and aware--both highly youthful characteristics." Her job also forces her to always look her best, and it gives her the opportunity to work with younger people in what she calls "multi-generation exposure." History supports her conviction that society does not thrive best when age groups are segregated.

"My job gives me an intimate view of the behaviour, thinking and lifestyles of people of all ages. It confirms my theories about aging and reinforces my resolve to keep doing what I'm doing.

"Reaching the mid-century mark legitimizes the barrage of negative advice addressing every possible need imaginable, from 'retirement planning' to 'retirement housing.' It's not just a social phenomenon. It's a huge industry that's not going to go away."

Morris sounds a trumpet call to sensible survival in the 21st century--for all ages. I like it! And I like her. Using the tools and advice at the back of the book is your guide to positive living and determines how successfully you will "put old on hold." It's a life of discipline. It resists the present culture, but it pays off in vigour, mental, emotional and physical wellness, and an extended lifespan.
Good counsel for the beginning of 2003.