The Longevity Code: Your Personal Prescription for a Longer, Sweeter Life

We're all interested in living a long life, but few of us are willing to sacrifice everything to attain that longevity. After all, what good is living an additional decade at the expense of enjoying the previous ones?

In this remarkable book, Dr. Zorba Paster -- host of the public radio show Zorba Paster On Your Health -- takes a detour from the traditional negative, abstinent approach that addresses only physical factors. Instead, Dr. Zorba introduces us to the five "spheres of wellness" that encompass all aspects of life: the physical, of course, but also the mental, kinship/social, spiritual, and material spheres. He reveals well-documented research that indicates that you must address and balance all of these areas, and not just the physical, to achieve optimal longevity -- and also your greatest enjoyment of that longevity.

Within each sphere, Dr. Zorba pinpoints the most threatening "busters" -- those lifestyle aspects that will, sooner or later, kill you. And for each buster, he recommends the most advantageous "boosters" -- habits that will counteract the buster and extend your life. Many of these boosters will come as a complete surprise. For example, even the most diet-conscious, performance-oriented athlete may be at risk for heart disease and stroke by ignoring all the other spheres: mentally, with chronic depression; socially, with limited, distant relationships; spiritually, with an uncaring attitude; and materially, with an unsatisfying, underappre-ciated job.

To tailor this remarkable booster-and-buster system to you, The Longevity Code includes in-depth exercises to isolate your most urgent needs. Once you've identified the busters you must overcome, you can clip out the booster cards -- summaries of each of the 76 boosters -- to help you focus on your personal prescription for living a longer, sweeter life.

DR. ZORBA PASTER, a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, has practiced family medicine for more than twenty years at the Dean Medical Center. His weekly call-in radio program, Zorba Paster On Your Health, airs in more than one hundred markets. He appears regularly on CBS-affiliate WISC-TV in Madison, Wisconsin, in his Doctor on Call spot and is also the editor of TopHealth, a national newsletter. Dr. Paster lectures extensively throughout the country and internationally on health and wellness. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Penelope.

SUSAN MELTSNER is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, including Hidden Agendas: What's Really Going On in Your Relation-ships, and has contributed to Cosmopolitan and Business & Health, among many other magazines. She lives in central New Jersey.