When I was about 8, I remember trying to listen to make sure my mom was still breathing. I wanted to make sure she hadn’t somehow died during her noon nap. Having heard her breathing (and or snoring), I’d go out and play.

Paranoia? Well, it’s a possibility. Then again, I had a few reasons to be worried about my mom--reasons such as stroke, high blood pressure, arrhythmias, type 2diabetes, congestive heart failure, end stage kidney failure, kidney stones and duodenal ulcers, just to name a few. As you can imagine, a body can't stand up to so many diseases for without breaking down. It was the eve of her 70th birthday when her body finally gave up. It was just a day before we had been planning to celebrate her life and there we were bemoaning her death.

In a time when a woman’s average life expectancy is about eighty, this was too short a life. Sometimes I find myself wishing I could hop into a time-travelling DeLorean, rev up to 88mph and, with a trail of flames, take my knowledge of the human body back 15 years ago when it could have helped my mom.

That won’t happen, of course, so I seek recourse in reality, helping my patients in a way I can’t help my mom. These patients are 70, 80, 90, 100 years old, ill and debilitated in very complex ways. There are limits to what I can do, but contrary to what Depeche Mode used to say, everything counts even in SMALL amounts.

Still, as the faces and fragile bodies of my patients remind me of my mom, I see the power of well-timed prevention efforts. Yeah sometimes I can fix bodies, but why should they be broken? The saying goes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s true enough but I think the analogy is an order of magnitude off. An ounce of prevention isn’t worth a pound of cure, it’s worth a TON of cure.

At work, I see people dying almost on a daily basis. What went wrong and when? My question often leads (literally) to a trail of crumbs. Cake crumbs, chip crumbs, pastry crumbs…it’s usually a lifetime of poor food choices and an inactive lifestyle. Sadly, this usually starts early. In fact, one study found that the fatty plaques that clog your arteries are evident as early as grade school!

That’s a reason to worry, no doubt. But it’s not a reason to give up. In the world of birds, the dumb Dodo birds gave up. The wise old Owls learned to adapt. There’s plenty of very basic things you and I can do to keep what happened to my mom from happening to ourselves, our children or family and friends.

It’s a simple as this: we NEED to exercise and eat right. It’s not an option. All the money ever printed won’t do a dot of good if you’re too tired, depressed, sick or dead to enjoy it. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to live healthfully and get the word out to all of you. It’s never late to make things better. And it’s never too early either.

1. Because 2008 was soooo 1999. All those things that weren’t good for you in the previous year should go out of fashion like Aqua-net plastered bangs. Just apply the rule for handling clutter: if you don’t need it, don’t want it and can’t use it, throw it away! That goes for bad habits too.

2. Because Jack Lalanne (the Juiceman) said: “if a man made it don’t eat it” and “if it tastes good, spit it out.” Now I wouldn’t be so extreme. Even Jack Lalanne can’t put down a good hummus dip, a slice of watermelon, or a nice juicy buffalo burger. Point is, though, most people can change their eating habits and the new year is a natural time to do it.

3. Because you are what you eat. Okay, this is very much like point number two but it’s THAT important. The new year is time to feel clean and lean. You’re going for the trim polished look of a celery stick. You don’t want to look deep fried and oily and you wouldn’t want Jack Lalanne to spit you out.

4. Because when the boogie man goes to sleep he checks the closet for Chuck Norris. And Chuck Norris WILL get on your case if you don’t start some kind of exercise program.

5. Because, at the age of 70, while shackled and restrained, Jack Lalanne propelled himself using his own two hands and two feet for 1.5 miles through the ocean while pulling 70 boats with 70 people in them. Alright, if you’re under 70 you just can’t let Jack show you up like that.

By the way, the pic at top right isn't me, it's Jack Lalanne. I'm personally not too fond of one piece jumpsuits, even the glorified yellow jammies Bruce Lee used to wear.

It seems that now you can keep your brain and use it too. At least that’s what researchers are saying about exercise and Alzheimer’s disease, the number one cause of dementia and the number six cause of death in the U.S. Although the results are preliminary, a number of studies suggest the exercise can help to prevent or even slow down Alzheimer’s by decreasing the amount of cortical loss associated with the disease. Translation: staying fit may keep your noggin’ from shrinking.

No one knows exactly how this works. It’s not even clear whether exercise simply prevents Alzheimer’s, decreases its impact, or both. There may even be some mysterious 3rd variable involved—perhaps better educated people are more likely to exercise their bodies AND their brains. This could account for both higher levels of fitness and lower rates of dementia. Kind of throws the “dumb jock” myth out the window, doesn’t it?

The evidence isn’t limited to humans. Laboratory mice that hit the gym more often have been shown to develop increased growth in the hippocampus, one of the main memory centers ravaged by Alzheimer’s.

As with everything worth knowing, the answer is usually that it’s "all of the above." Exercise and education about its benefits go hand in hand, that’s for sure. But exercise can also increase blood flow to the brain and keep that 3lb oxygen glutton happy…and a happy brain is a non-shrinking one.

Those of you who exercise know that it also keeps you happier. You also have the energy and drive to and are thus more likely to do things like Read, wRite, and do aRithmetic. That’s the “Three R’s” that educators say we can’t do without. Maybe those educators are right after all.

So this Sunday I dedicated my workout space. My plan was simple: do P90x, take a shower, go to sleep. Well, what happened wasn't so simple. I think I ended up in a kind of walking coma after 30 minutes of non-stop pushing and pulling. After I finished coughing up my guts, Tony Horton (via the video) told me in his sweet maniacal voice that we would rest and repeat. REPEAT? This was beyond surreal.

A few bouts of nausea later, I finally finished. "Wassup now Tony, Wassup?" (taunting tone). No seriously, though, the guy is a beast. But hey, I'm on day 3 and he's on day 10,000 or something. That's gotta be like the equivalent of a triple grandmaster, 50th degree blackbelt.

Well, that's it for now cause even my fingers are a little tired. I'm just gonna end with a little message for Tony: I'm here buddy and I'm not going away. P90X is mine!