The 100 Year Lifestyle: How to Live a Long and Healthy Life

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani.

Greetings to everyone today for our podcast. You're listening to the Living to 100 Club, and I'm your host, Joseph Casciani. You can find this conversation and all past conversations on our website, livingto100.club. In addition to my podcasting, I'm a public speaker and I present to community organizations and senior groups on topics related to aging well and managing setbacks. And on my website, you'll see options to sign up for one-on-one resilience coaching for anyone wanting more personal time to talk. I also provide consulting and training on clinical topics like depression and dementia. Now to our podcast where we discuss successful aging, staying positive, and making more informed decisions. Today's podcast invites as its guest Dr. Eric Plasker, chiropractor, educator, and author of the 100-Year Lifestyle series. If you knew you would live to 100, How would you change your life today? This is the topic we will be exploring. Our guest shares his successful approaches that have been adopted by as many clients around the world and implemented in over 100 chiropractic offices throughout the United States. First, a little background. Dr. Eric Plasker's 100-Year Lifestyle is a new model for living in a world of extended lifetimes. For over 35 years, he's directly helped thousands of patients create their personal 100-year lifestyle, focusing on self-care and healthcare instead of crisis care. Over 10,000 chiropractors from around the world have been trained by his company, The Family Practice, in how to be better doctors, better educators, and better communicators for their community practice. Eric, thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you for being a guest, Joe.

Thank you so much, and appreciate all you're doing as well, as, uh, we're kindred spirits realizing that this is an important topic that people need to hear. So I'm excited to be with you.

Great, great. Yeah, I think our messages are very much aligned. Yeah, so I always like to begin by asking our guests to tell us briefly about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Well, it's a journey I never— years ago when I got my first adjustment, I was 15 years old. My chiropractor, Ernie Landy, in Spring Valley, New York. I hurt myself playing football. I went to the hospital, got— went to the emergency room, saw the orthopedist, and he looked at me and gave me what at the time was an opioid-type derivative for pain and said, here, take this drug and, uh, don't play for 30 days. And I looked at my mother and I said, Mom, listen, I want to play. I mean, let's do anything. That's— I mean, that's the only thing. Let's do anything. I'll try anything. I want to play. So the next day she took me to Ernie, Dr. Landy, became a great friend of mine, and he adjusted me, and I played that afternoon without any pain. Never bothered me again.

Wow.

And from that moment I knew literally that I was going to be a chiropractor. I went to school young. I got in and just pursued it like a maniac because I wanted to help football players. And when I got to school, I realized that it was so much more than that, that we were helping babies and kids and families and generations of people. And the 100-year journey started when a 98-year-old man walked into my office. At the time, Joe, this is funny, at the time I was like, I'm gonna guess 28 at the time when Max came to see me. And I had never even seen a 100-year-old man before. I had no idea what a 98 or 100-year-old man was supposed to look like, but he was, he looked like that. And He was crippled, broke, and alone. Had no idea whether we could help him or not. Fortunately, we did. He started doing amazing. Never missed an appointment for a week. Started walking, moving, waving, eating, all these great things. And then one day he missed his appointment after a year, missed his appointment. He had never done that before. So we got concerned and turns out we had no idea where he went to. And then Out of nowhere, a year later, he comes back into the office without an appointment one day, looking like he was a man that was ready to go— tired, exhausted, suffering. And he had a tear coming down his cheek. He grabbed my hand, looked at me, said, 'Thank you, Dr. Plasko, thank you,' and died right in my office. And, uh, it just freaked me out. I was a kid. We had such great results with Patients, even Max, just started functioning better in his life. And just to make a long story short, I started asking people the question, hey, if you knew you'd live to 100, how would you change your life? And the answers were across the board. People would say, I don't want to live to be 100, are you crazy? And people would say, I want to live to be 100. I want to travel the world. I want to do this, that, and the other thing. And it just kind of opened up this big exploratory box that brought me to this day.

Yeah, we are certainly viewing the years ahead in a much different perspective from what we used to or what our parents or grandparents much more positive, much more uplifted outlook, and we see it so much more potential. And I love your series, the 100-Year Lifestyle series. Tell us, tell us more about it.

Well, the 100-Year Lifestyle came out in 2007 originally as a hardcover book. It was, uh, did very well. It was such a blessing. It was in every English-speaking bookstore in the world. It was before the world changed to become self-publishing, where everybody had to self-publish. So I was very fortunate. I got a nice arrangement with a publisher, again, in, in all English English-speaking countries, and, uh, it did really well. We were all over the media, all over the world, and it was inspiring. And then in 2010, we wrote— I wrote the 100-Year Lifestyle Workout book that became the number one fitness book the week it was released. Uh, we had great support from organizations like Gold's Gym and Precor and Les Mills, Body Pump, National Academy of Sports Medicine. Everybody kind of jumped on board with that bandwagon. And then In 2013, I wrote the second edition, which is still out and doing extremely well still. And then we did, in 2018, we put up 100YearLifestyle.com, which is basically an online magazine. It is just a constant stream of content from recipes to longevity conversations to mindset, finances. We literally cover every aspect that is a part of the 100 Year Lifestyle, which is vision, changing your life, energy, healthcare, mindset, uh, relationships, money, retirement, all of those, time, all of the things that are necessary to enjoy a quality life that would get you to want to live to 100 instead of being afraid of what would happen along the way.

Well, wow, great content. That's great content. So 100yearlifestyle.com, we'll talk more about that, uh, links in a little bit, but, um You've also developed a network of providers, other chiropractors network around the U.S. Tell us about the network.

Well, we're about 90% chiropractors. We have some financial planners that are listed on there. We have— we're accepting more of those people. We're excited to get their messages out there. We have Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, which is a great institute for natural healing for all kinds of serious conditions, as well as being an escape. And so we are, uh, we have a college people, and we have all kinds of different people that come to 100YearLifestyle.com because they like our audience of wellness-minded people. We get a lot of traffic, and, uh, and what's important about this network is, is they, they are aligned with our philosophy. And the philosophy is that, you know, we're not living on borrowed time. This is a really important concept in our world. We are not living on borrowed time. We need to stop blaming age for everything. It is not age's fault. It is not your genetics' fault. It is the way you are living your life that is your fault if you're suffering in most cases. Certainly, there's traumas. Certainly, there are other things that are extraneous circumstances. But, you know, as an example, for me, I'm a 59-year-old man. I'm going to be 60 years old this year. So, I'm about to enter my 7th decade of life. When I say that, it's a little nuts. But my dad had a heart attack at 49. And he was told, and we were told, all of us, my whole family, we were told, you have heart disease. Heart disease runs in your family. Well, I am 59. I am not on any medication. I have never taken any medication. My dad ended up— scared the heck out of him that he had that heart attack. And so he ended up getting on all the medication. He lost 30 lbs., started exercising, but he lived in fear for the rest of his life and he ended up dying at 78. With a healthy heart and no brain because he spent the last 10 years of his life, he spent all that time after his heart attack on statin drugs that destroyed his brain basically over time, wiping the cholesterol out of his brain. And so he didn't know his wife, he didn't know his children, didn't know me, didn't know his grandchildren for the last decade of his life. And it was so sad. And, you know, my brothers and I, we talk about it. They're also chiropractors, very holistic-minded. None of us are on any medication. We've all gone past that age of 49 without any signs of heart disease. And so, you know, we— it's important that people understand. And that's why I love what you're doing, trying to empower people and empowering people to get them to realize that we need to live differently in a world of extended lifespans. It's not borrowed time, it's birthright time.

That's a great message. That's a great message. It's, you know, the National Institute of Health talked about our longevity is only 30% due to genetics and 70% due to lifestyle. So that's a beautiful message that you're sharing. Yeah, it's, uh, so many, so many factors about our living well, living longer have to do with decisions we make and how we, how we live our life and what kind of diet we have and fitness and all those central ingredients. So that's such an important message.

Yeah, it is true. And I think what is important that, you know, again, why I appreciate what you're doing and why we're having these conversations is so important for your listeners is, is that the amount of marketing and advertising of really, really bad ideas, whether it's bad food, bad healthcare, uh, dangerous healthcare, symptomatic-only healthcare that ends up getting you on a medication for 10, 20, 30, 40 years with those medications have never been tested for that length of time ever. And we're learning more and more today that the consequences of that are devastating to quality of life. Because, you know, we hear the craziest thing. When I started asking that question, Joe, if you knew you'd live to 100, how would you change your life? People would say, I don't want to live to be 100. And people would say, I want to live to be 100. It was like 50/50. And I saw after a while, when I started to read the statistics, the same statistics that you studied, that it's the world's fastest-growing segment of the population percentage-wise. And I started to realize I said, you may not have a choice. You say you don't want to, but you may not have a choice. You may get there whether you want to or not, whether you like it or not. You may get there. So you better think carefully about your lifestyle and your choices because you may get to a point where you're not able to choose anymore.

That's right. That's so true. That's so true. And now that we have these extra years, we need to really be more educated. And there's so much information. I agree, there's a lot of misinformation, but there's so many studies and good solid research and programs that do promote the, the better decisions and how to, how to live longer. So that's, that's so important. So in, in all of your experience, Eric, I'm curious, what do you think is behind the person who says, no, I'm not gonna make these changes, it's too hard, it's too difficult, I don't believe it? What is that resistance all about?

Great question, and I would say it is different for everybody. I don't know that there is one answer to that question, but what I have found in my own research and my own time working with people is that if you don't want to live to 100, and there is that, we have a formula actually. It is on our website. It is called Your M-PYR Formula. It is M-PYR, and it stands for your minimum Potential years remaining. It's one of our trademarks that we have been using for a decade now. That is, it can be a game changer for a lot of people, and it's a very simple calculation. What you do is you— I ask people, what is the age of the oldest grandparent or parent in your family that has ever lived or is still living? So that we can get a handle on your personal family tree. What is the personal history that you have? Not mine. What's yours? And so the answer could be, you know, my grandma lived to be 94, great-grandma lived to be 105, uh, grandpa lived to be 70, everybody died at 70, whatever the number is. So let's just use the number 90. And then we ask, what's your age? And let's just use the number 50. So your minimum potential years remaining minimum based on what we know about your family history is 40. 90 minus 50. So what's really interesting about this number, Joe, is that some people go like this, like, wow, that's great! And some would be like, holy crap, yeah, yeah, I can't even imagine 40 more hours, never mind 40 more years. And then you realize, okay, well, that has nothing to do with the number. It has to do with how you are living your life and if you are happy and excited and you are healthy, you are probably excited and if you are sick and you are suffering or in pain, then you probably can't even fathom living longer. So, then the next issue that we address is, OK, so then that means that if you have that in your family history, unless you are going to jump off a bridge, if you want quality of life, you got to make some changes. So, the 100 Year Lifestyle is really about change and then the next question we ask is, Okay, so what are the changes that you know you need to make? Because most people, if you ask them, so what do you think you need to do? Well, I need to eat better. Okay, you're right. Well, what do you think you need to stop eating? I need to stop eating this. Oh, okay, you're right. And what do you think you need to start eating? Well, vegetables. Okay, you're right. Uh, and what do you think you should stop eating? Processed food. You're right. And most people actually know. Well, what else do you think you need to do? I need to start Moving. Okay, you need to get out of the chair. Okay, you are right. So, then it comes down to, so, we have these 3 life-changing principles that we teach people. They are the life-changing principles of the 100-Year Lifestyle and it is, the first one is the Magnet Principle. Change is easy. Thinking about change is hard. The second one is change comes one choice at a time. Think progress, not perfection. That is the Persistence Principle. And then the last one is the compelling principle is choosing a vision with your ideal 100-year lifestyle in mind so that it'll get you off the roller coaster and it'll drive you to want to live quality life for as long as you're here. If it's 75 or 80, 95 or 100, hopefully you'll be having so much fun you won't ever want to check out.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, I like that. 3 principles, um, thinking about it.

Change is easy, that's easy. Thinking about it is hard.

Like the physician who tells the patient, you need to lose weight or you need to stop smoking. Oh yeah, I'm going to lose weight, but that is so hard to do that we know that changing behavior is very difficult. So I like your point about progress in small steps. We're not looking for an end goal that's, you know, massive. It's like going from A to B instead of going from A to Z. That's— I had a conversation with another guest just a few weeks ago about that. We take—

but let me add something to that though. Yeah, the challenge of the small steps, which of course we know that's what you have to do. I mean, it's not the first cookie that made you fat, it's all of them. It's not the first cigarette that gave you lung cancer, it's all of them. It's not the first adjustment that healed your spine and nervous system, it's all of them. And on the other side of the coin, it's, you know, if you understand that, but people get so full, they don't see the big picture. And if you don't have a compelling vision for your life, that is a process, not an event. You have to create it. You have to decide by exploring yourself. But if you can create that compelling vision, it gets you off the roller coaster. It takes you off the ups and the downs, huge ups and downs, and it keeps your eye on a prize rather than just your head down. I got to get through the day.

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. We do need that vision, and we need to imagine how we're going to feel when we reach that goal too. That's an important part of the change because like the downhill skier, I'm going to feel so-and-so when I get to the bottom of my best run. And that vision really helps to put the person to be the success rather than wanting the success.

I love what you said, to be the success. Absolutely.

Yeah. And, you know, I always talk about small steps because this is where we get the kind of the confidence and the motivation, because when we make the small steps, maybe weight loss, You know, it's not like I want to lose 20 pounds, it's how much did I lose from last week to today. And those are the small— because that's what builds the confidence and the, what I call, self-efficacy, right? Where we're seeing that what we're doing is actually making a difference. Yeah.

And so much of this is a mental game. And I'm— so I was in 2002 60 pounds heavier than I am now. Um, I had a lot of things that were happening to me early on. I got married young, I had a business, my Oldest son was born healthy, had an accident, left him paralyzed. Thank God, you know, chiropractic care and the things that we knew about the brain and development helped him heal. And now he's 32, practicing chiropractic today in Oregon, uh, doing amazing. And, you know, I— and then I had an old lady drove her car through my office at 40 miles an hour, hit patients, and, you know, and I got sued. I didn't do anything wrong, but you don't have to get sued. I was, I was a baby, honestly, in life. I was a baby in life when all of this was happening. So You know, you put on 4 pounds a year for 15 years of marriage, first year, 15 years of marriage, I'm 60 pounds overweight. I never asked for that. I never intended that. And there were so many times, Joe, that I said, all right, I'm gonna lose weight, I'm gonna lose weight. And then I started to look at the psychology of this roller coaster that I was on with the up and down of gaining and losing weight. And I said to myself, I said, Eric, listen, you've never wanted to lose at anything and you're waking up every day wanting to lose Wait, why don't you just change your life? Because you don't want to gain it back. You don't want to find it again. So I decided, literally, I changed my language. I changed my conversation. I said, that's it. I'm gaining life. I'm getting my life back. I'm changing. I'm not going back. I'm not going to find it again. It's not mine. People say to me now, they say, Eric, you lost a lot of weight from a long time ago. I said, I didn't lose anything. It was never mine. So I just changed my life.. And when you do that, I said, you know what, listen, I want to be able to have grandkids one day. I want to play with them. I want to follow them around. My wife's grandfather, Papa Hai, lived to be 100. And my favorite thing was watching— and he was healthy. He was, he ate pretty healthy. He was fairly fit, active. He had his faculties up until he passed away, like 100 years and 9 months old. And I would love watching him, Joe. I would love watching him. We'd go down to Florida with our grandkids. And my kids would be chasing the duckies and Papa Hai would be chasing my kids.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah, you know, and I was like, you know what, if I'm gonna do that, if I want to be able to enjoy that, then what I do today is going to affect my quality of life to determine whether or not I'm going to be able to do things like that. And it turns out too, the things that you need to do to make you healthier today are good for you when you're 100, and vice versa.

Sure.

So it all— everything builds on everything.

Yeah, yeah. So it's like becoming that, that end goal, as you say. Take the focus, take the spotlight off of losing weight, and imagine the lifestyle that you want without that extra weight, and you engage in that behavior. Because I used to, you know, working with a lot of nursing home patients over the years We talked about people who were depressed, and I would ask the patient, you know, you're depressed, how will you know when you're not depressed? And he or she would say, well, I know tomorrow I'd get up if I wasn't depressed, and I'd open the blinds in my room, and I'd eat my whole breakfast. And it's like the behavior changes the emotions rather than the other way around. And I— a lot of people disagree with that, you know, mental health professionals will talk you know, in therapy sessions about changing your emotion. But to me, it's changing the behavior. It's engaging in the behavior, and that's going to bring about the change in attitude in your outlook.

Yeah. And if you could make a decision even ahead of time, if you're listening to this, and you have to decide whether you want to change behavior or not. It's a decision. I think so much of it starts with that decision. My mom, God rest her soul, she passed away 2 years ago, 2 and a half years ago now. I can't even believe it's been that long, in a freak accident. Was a car accident. And so she was 78 years old, and she had just written a book a year and a half before called, uh, Simple— it was called, um, Simple Ways to Change Your Life. So I forget the exact name, but now it'll come to me.

Sure.

Um, but it was fantastic. Oh, Life Lessons from— Lessons from a Late Bloomer. So she called herself a late bloomer, and I love that because she, she was Brilliant woman. She had a PhD in adult education. She, uh, she was like you. She did a lot with fall prevention and, uh, things like that. She was an educator, really, like I said, really brilliant woman. And her email address was becoming, becoming.

Oh God.

And so she always felt like even at that stage of life, at 70 and 75 and at 78, that she was becoming. And she honestly was just becoming into her own and when she sadly passed. You can still get her book on Amazon. Barbara Plasker is her name and she was a really special lady and she was a very insightful woman. So, we had lots of talks about this and about mindset and about change. We need to hold ourselves to, I think, higher standards of what is possible. This principle that we went over of birthright time versus borrowed time. A lot of people, the reason why that is important is people get to the age of 65, this retirement concept. Which was a whole entirely made-up concept by the financial industry to get all your money socked away and then, you know, put so much pressure on you to, to retire and like, okay, you're done at 65. Well, that's ridiculous. Do you know a new study came out? You probably know about this, in the New England Journal of Medicine. Um, do you know what the most productive years of life are according to the New England Journal of Medicine?

Yeah, I'd say our 70s.

Okay. So the 60 to 70 is the most productive decade.

Yeah.

The second most productive decade is 70 to 80.

There you go.

That's the second most productive decade. And so the third most productive decade is 50 to 60. And so if you're 40, you're in kindergarten. If you're 50, you're just starting to figure a few things out.

Just kidding.

Why would we, when we finally find our lane, and maybe we get some momentum, or maybe life has given us some really hard knocks and we have to regroup with wisdom. Why put your wisdom on a shelf? Why not take it out for a test drive and contribute? You know, actors and actresses are taking on roles at 70, 80, and 90 years old. Betty White just recently died. I think she was 99. Clint Eastwood is over 90, still working. Politicians still working in their late 70s and 80s. Some of them need to go, and retire, but they're working. And we see CEOs running sports teams in their 70s and in their 80s, and they're running sports teams and they're having the time of their life. And so what is it that would give you— make you happy? And what could you pursue? And what wisdom do you have, no matter what your age? And that's a great lane for you to start pursuing for your 100-year lifestyle.

Yeah, I love that. You know, it's like whoever was doing all the marketing to change the— get rid of that ageist stereotype because we always thought retirement is all downhill and, you know, dark and dependent and helpless. So, whoever— obviously, there are a lot of people that talk about the upsides to celebrate aging. And that's what you're referring to, Eric, because there are so many people that are so productive in their senior years and much more productive than people in their 40s and 50s. So that's the beauty of all this, that we now see all the upside, we see all the opportunity here that we never looked at, that our parents, my parents, never envisioned, you know, that super, you know, content lifestyle in their later years. So it's, it's finally, um, it's turning, and that's great. I had a guest on a podcast recently, and he talked about the whole notion of unretirement, that people don't You know, when they retire, it's, you know, it changes our perspective. But to think about unretiring, unretiring means to reconnecting, re-engaging with the world and finding some new meaning, some new purpose that helps us get up every morning with a smile on our face and something to look forward to.

That's so, yeah, it is so important. And you know that there's that expression, I think it's either in the Bible or somewhere, people say it all the time. I don't know who gets the credit, but whoever gets the credit, I'm giving you the credit. I just can't think of it right now who gets the credit. But where there is no vision, the people perish. And so having a vision is extremely important and a compelling vision. And if you're able to listen to this podcast, you are able to create a compelling vision. You have no excuses. And so when you do, it changes things. So going back to the changing your life, if you, I mean, in our area, and I think I've traveled around the world and I speak around the world and In the United States, more than any other country, we have assisted living centers on every corner in almost every community. And so we have bought into the fact that that's the destiny of senior years and older age is ending up in a home with no brain, no health. You don't know your family. And I'm telling you, that's not happening in every other country. Uh, I went to Iceland, uh, a couple of years ago with my wife, and we were talking about it. There's no assisted living centers. It's like none of them. And they have a higher life expectancy than the United States. And there's no assisted living centers. And here's the other thing that was crazy— there's no organic food. There's no organic food. You know why there's no organic food? Because it's all organic. They have— they don't have to name it. It's all food. And so if you understand that, and you understand that if we're— you're in the United States, you have to understand what you're up against here. And you have— you're being sold a bill of goods that is degenerative. That is harmful in so many ways. And we have 90%— we take, I think it's, we have 50— take 50% of the world's medications, but we have 10% of the world's, or 5% of the world's population. This is not a good thing. This is not a good thing. When you see like Dopesick, that movie Dopesick, that docudrama Dopesick with Michael Keaton, and it's— everybody should watch that. And it shows the pharma playbook, like what is the intent of the pharmaceutical companies and how do they work and what's the business model of that. And you see, you know, nobody wakes up one day and says, I think I'm going to be an opioid addict today. Nobody wants to be a Xanax addict. Nobody wants to be an addict on all of these pills that are out there. And it was interesting, my wife's father recently passed away at 88, about, uh, just under a year ago now. It's like 11 months and a couple of days ago. And when hospice came in, uh, he was at his condo. And when hospice came in, the woman who was the hospice nurse— sweet woman, nice woman, does this for a living— she went in and she grabbed this box of pills that he had been prescribed by all the different doctors who had no idea what they were treating. They ended up treating the side effects of all the different medications. It was a shoebox full of pills, and she was angry about it. Because she said she was like, you could see she was exploding. She said, I said, is that common? She says, all the time. I see it all the time. It's disgusting. The hospice nurse says, disgusting what is happening. And we, as if we are conscious enough to listen to this and we look at our aging parents and grandparents, we have to be brutally honest with ourselves enough to make different choices and understand our path based on our choices.

Yeah, well, uh, a personal opinion is that I think the medical community has not been held accountable for all of the overprescribing. That's another, that's another conversation. But let me ask you, one, one of the issues that I talk a lot about is not just successful aging, but we know it's not a smooth road. We do hit the potholes, we do hit the obstacles, a stroke, a fall and a hip fracture, and people can sometimes just say, I'm done, I can't go on, I can't, I don't have the strength in me, I'll not be the same, I'll never get control of my right side again. So what do you say to, what do you say to that person, Eric, that says I just don't have it in me anymore.

Well, uh, it's, uh, like I said, we, we all— there are traumas, there are challenges, there are issues. And, um, I think one thing that is important for people to understand is to— I think a lot of times accepting the reality of what is and also not beating yourself up about it or being depressed about it. If you can accept the reality and realize that there is hope to be happy. There's hope to be fulfilled. There's hope finding new meaning in other ways. We have people that have come in that, you know, I'm going to go back to my son when he was a baby and he had that brain injury, fell, landed on his head. We were told he would never walk, talk, or use his arm.

Wow.

So this was in 1990, 1990 when this happened. And at the time, we thought at the time that the brain stopped developing at that moment. And so we didn't think that, but that was what we were told by our medical community that we went to. You know, I feel very fortunate because from a chiropractic perspective, we, we learn about the body's ability to heal itself. We learn how to optimize that. Uh, we understand the healing capabilities of the human body and, some of my mentors who were not chiropractors were, for example, Glenn Doman out of the Better Baby Institute, the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential. Back in the '90s, it was really hot. They had a Better Baby Program. They also had an injured child program, injured brain, injured child program. And they were talking about this concept and principle called neuroplasticity. Actually, it wasn't even named that back then. Didn't even have a name. I don't know what they called it back then, but it wasn't neuroplasticity. Well, we— when I went to school at Life University in chiropractic, we— it was all about neuroplasticity, which is what we learned from those earlier programs that we applied to my son, who ended up healing with still some residual issues. And just understanding the difference of that— it doesn't work ever again versus neuroplasticity That's a very important concept. He, my son, ended up having a specialty in what's called functional neurology. Life University has a program on functional neurology where they train, uh, the Emory doctors have followed them around like, what are you doing in this place? The guy who developed it, Ted Carrick, he's now at Harvard because of this work. And the chiropractic industry has embraced functional neurology really well, which is working with the body to develop, to develop new brain pathways. Because we have a saying in the 100-Year Lifestyle that your innate intelligence The same intelligence that if you got that injury, sadly, that is still keeping your heart beating, that it's still digesting your food, probably. You can't use your arm and your hand maybe, or your leg the way that you could, but you still have an innate intelligence that is doing all these things that you don't have the mental capacity or never had to control with your mind. They're happening innately, as we say. And so the saying that we have in The 100-Year Lifestyle is that your innate intelligence will organize around your thoughts, your choices, and your lifestyle. So in that moment of injury or trauma, there's certainly grieving that takes place of the loss of a limb or function or the form of life. And if you can accept your current state and start to think from a neuroplastic perspective, you might be amazed at how little wins, little wins of function can make a difference for you. Like for example, we had a person that couldn't stand up, started adjusting them regularly, started doing some of this functional neurology type of, uh, training and movements with them, and they stopped falling when they were going to the bathroom because they had better balance and they didn't need anybody to take them to the bathroom. Yeah, you know, like, so there's, there's wins that can happen if you understand this concept of neuroplasticity and you give yourself some hope.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's an important point because, uh, the little wins make all the difference. But a lot of it has to do with how we label, how we interpret these events, how we explain them to ourselves. Is this something that's gonna, you know, limit my, my functioning the rest of my life, or is this something that It's a tough hit, but I'm going to have to dig deep and pull myself forward. You know, it's that half full or half empty. It's, it's, it's a trite example, but I think it says a lot that how we, how we explain these events is really going to color how well we cope with them.

Yeah, and you know, and, and just to your point about labels, labels drive me crazy.

Yeah.

Is don't put me in a box. And nobody should put you in a box. There, there's always somebody somewhere that overcame. And so I remember when we got that prognosis of your child— I'm sorry, Dr. and Mrs. Plasker, but your child will never walk, talk, or use his arm. I cannot even tell you how bad, how mad I got. It's like, how do you know? You don't know because you have this degree and you're this God, so to speak, you're going to give us this prognosis? She said, what do you want to do? You want us to put us in— put this child in? I'll tell you another story. When, uh, one of my patients from a long time ago, his name was Kyle Maynard, and he was born without arms and legs.

Yeah.

And you know, what is it— what does a doctor tell a parent with no arms and legs? You sure you want to take this kid home from the hospital? You know, what kind of life are you going to have? Well, this kid ends up wrestling. He ends up becoming a wrestler in high school. Never wins a match his first year wrestling. He ends up in his senior year, he makes it to the state championships. And they asked his opponents, I love this story, asked his opponents, these kids that have to wrestle him. So Kyle, what's it like to— excuse me, opponent of Kyle, Mr. Opponent, what's it like to wrestle a kid with no arms and legs? And the response is, it's mind-boggling. The response was, well, it's just not fair. There's nothing to grab.

Yeah.

And so Kyle ends up winning. And I love it. I love the metaphor of this. How crazy is it that the kid with no arms and legs has the upper hand?

Yeah.

And now then he goes and gets his own Nike commercial. And they, you know, they told him he'd never have a life of any substance, you know. So I mean, I think that's true for any age. There's a great story. You probably know Ida Keeling, 103 years old now. Have you heard about Ida Keeling? So she was 67 years old and she started running because her kids were killed because of drugs in the streets. So she takes up running at 67. At 103, she wins an ESPY Award.

There you go.

At 103.

Yeah.

So it's all a matter of choices, decisions. And I hope this inspires you because if you're listening to this, you got a lot left inside of you.

There, there is so many, uh, there's so many inspiring stories. Roderick Sewell, you may know, the first double amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon. Edith Merway starts powerlifting at age 91, and she wins the world's award as the, you know, she lifted the most weight, 150 pounds at age 98. You know, so to start powerlifting, weightlifting at age 91, That's right.

Yeah, it's so true. And you don't have to set a world record if you're listening to this. Nobody started with a world record. Nobody started with a world record. Change is easy. Thinking about change is hard. Make a decision. Change comes one choice at a time. Think progress, not perfection. Keep at it every day. Don't get discouraged. And if you do, wake up again inspired and do it again. And have a compelling vision.

Yeah, that's a good point. That's good. We don't need to set records. We just get out there and push ourselves a little bit further than where we were yesterday, right? Yeah.

And there'll be a personal record for you.

Yeah. Not compare ourselves to anybody else, but where we were yesterday or last week or last year. Eric, I love your message. I love your message. You know, it looks like we're running out of time here, but let me ask you, what, what's the takeaway for the audience here? What would you want our listeners to take away from today's program?

Well, um, first of all, the fact that there's at least two of us talking about this, Joe, and there's a lot more than the two of us. This is something to take seriously. This is something that, you know, whether you like it or not, want to or not, you're probably going to live longer than you ever thought. So why not get there in style with health and vitality rather than rotting away? And especially with what's happened in the last couple of years, we're very committed to helping people not live in fear. Um, you know what, it's coming out now where in this post-COVID craziness that we have just gone through. We wrote an ebook called Becoming the Least Vulnerable Person. We're giving it away for free on 100YearLifestyle.com. What we learned is, is that, um, the deaths were severely overexaggerated from just COVID. 100-year-old people were healing from COVID The people— only 10% of the people that passed away were just COVID. Everybody else had more comorbidities.

Sure.

And so comorbidities are under your control. We call them vulnerabilities. And so we have listed in this ebook all of the different ways that you can go from being a more or most vulnerable person to becoming a least vulnerable person. There are like 21 steps for you to do it. And again, it is on 100YearLifestyle.com. We are giving it away for free. Things like weight, polypharmacy, your nervous system, neuroplasticity, diet, nutrition. And when you make those changes, we talked about small steps. You take one of those things at a time, Joe. You start making yourself less vulnerable, you get more confidence, things start to look brighter, you get more inspired, you start seeing a little progress, get some hope, and then all of a sudden, next thing you know, you're having the time of your life.

Yes, good, good. The momentum builds and it keeps growing. Yeah, that's great, that's great. Well, uh, it looks like we're out of time for today, but before we wrap up, I just want to remind our listeners about our co-sponsor. For this program, A Mighty Good Time. Are you looking for ways to engage and stay active? Check out amightygoodtime.com. It's a one-stop shop for events and activities for those 50 and over. It's free to search and it's free to post. amightygoodtime.com. And be sure to visit the Living to 100 Club website to sign up for weekly podcast announcements and monthly newsletters. And while you're there, be sure to download a free copy of my 9 Tips for Living Longer. Lastly, pick up a copy of my book, Living Longer Is the New Normal, all about maintaining a positive mindset in all we do. It's on Amazon as an ebook or hard copy. We've been talking today with Dr. Eric Plasker. Eric, for those who might want to contact you, what's the best way to do that?

The best way to do that, central place is 100YearLifestyle.com. From there, it'll take you to our podcast, it'll take you to our YouTube channel, it'll take you to, uh, free eBooks, great information on everything from nutrition and neurology and mindset and goal setting and finances and literally relationships, every aspect of living your ideal 100-year lifestyle and how to get there step by step along the way. So, we would love to see you. You are in great hands with Joe over here, and we are definitely kindred spirits. Um, so you're doing good being a part of the club, and, uh, we're excited to be a part of your life now as well.

I love it, Eric. Thanks so much. That's a lot of great resources you have on your, on your website, 100yearlifestyle.com. Thanks so much for being a guest today, and thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. Hope to see you next time.

Hey everybody, Jared Sebaste here, host of Retire Repurposed. This podcast is dedicated to help people transition into fulfilling and purposeful retirements. Retirement is a big life change. In fact, the two most dangerous years of a person's life are the year they were born and the year they retire. Few people could just flip the switch from working a career 30 or 40+ years, retiring on Friday, without methodical steps to living what we call a repurposed retirement. To listen now, search Retire Repurpose on your favorite podcast platform, Senior Resource, or Life Audio.