As a 58 year old Baby Boomer, having always been very aware of growing old and having lived in one of the most prosperous and technically advanced times the world has ever known, I am absolutely abhorred to see how many of my fellow Baby Boomers appear to struggle with their health and weight when I walk in the shopping centres and streets of Brisbane, Australia.

Many of us seem to overlook the fact that bad health and obesity really speeds up the aging process and makes you look many years older than you really are!

Since serving in the Dutch Royal Marine Corps Special Forces as a young man, I have always looked upon life as a never ending battle; a battle of the mind over the body and vice versa.

Fighting the aging process in the body is also a never ending battle and demands time, effort and common sense. In the Special Forces courses of the SAS, Royal Marines SBS and Navy SEALS it becomes very apparent that the only way you are going to ever pass the course is to teach your mind to control your body. The other way around and you are sure to fail the course. The same principle applies in every day life!

Our body and our mind are intricately linked through our energy or meridian systems; when either one is weak or out of balance the other suffers. In fact, our emotions are so strongly connected to our physical being that they can elicit tangible physical responses and vice versa. (And this becomes very evident in the SBS/SEAL training as explained in my book).

Richard Gerber (1988), author of