The Bahamas Anti-Aging Medical Institute
West Bay Street
Nassau , The Bahamas
http://www.bahamaslllt.com
Like every physician, Dr. Norman Gay loves to see his patients get healthy, but changing lives one by one has never been enough for him. As the Bahamas’ longest-serving minister of health (from 1984 to 1990), and the three time Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Pan American Health Organization, this anti-aging pioneer remains involved in the effort to improve public health not only for his own country, but for the world. In his spare time, Dr. Gay is also a champion bodybuilder and still competitive at the age of 67.
Dr. Gay has long promoted a holistic approach to health, despite encountering many roadblocks along the way. He is still active in his country’s public health affairs and currently participates in a pilot project aimed at helping to establish a national nutrition and fitness education program for the Bahamas.
Of the relationship between traditional and complementary medicine, Dr.Gay notes, “Over 90% of our health care budget is spent on disease processes, with less than 10% devoted to the other side of the equation, where people have their health and want to keep it.” He believes the staggering escalation in world health care costs cannot be sustained. It is estimated that every 8 seconds an American turns 65 years old. In the next 10 years there will be 60-70 millions of those who are 65 years or older. "Any system that fails to consider this increase in the aging population is doomed to fail,” he says. “We must spend time helping people take responsibility for and assisting them with their own health so they can hold on to what they have. Why should we give people new hearts when we can help them keep the ones they have?”
Dr. Gay credits his mother, a Seventh-Day Adventist, with setting him on the path to “healthy living, a healthy body, and a healthy mind,” including his early dedication to physical fitness. That dedication continues to this day. The 1982 Bahamas and Southern States “Masters” champion in his weight class, Dr. Gay is preparing for yet another bodybuilding competition. He is past president of the Caribbean Bodybuilding Federation, the Bahamas Olympic Committee, and the Bahamas Confederation of Amateur Sports, and was until 2008 the chairman of the Bahamas Boxing Commission.
Dr. Gay became a member of the International Academy of Preventive Medicine in the 1970s and a member of the Life Extension Foundation in the 1980s. “I’ve been a follower since reading Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw’s book, Life Extension,” he says.“It was a real eye-opener. It showed me how to provide the body with raw materials it needs to perform its many tasks, such as strengthening the systems, especially the immune system. A strong immune system can combat the ever increasing environmental challenges and to protect against prematurely ageing.”
When seeing new patients, Dr. Gay begins with a lengthy first meeting, in which the patients learn about his medical philosophy and responsibility for their own bodies and health care. Dr. Gay emphasizes nutrition, supplements, exercise, bio-identical hormone restoration, and weight loss (when needed), healthy lifestyle practices, and the power of positive thinking. Dr. Gay believes that by employing a comprehensive, integrative approach to restoring youthful health and vigor enables an individual to attain longevity.
