Miami - Does it sometimes feel like the cocktails and hors d'hoeuvres never stop in the Hamptons? Even when it's just you and the neighbors? Even when it's just you? With holiday excesses behind us and summer's endless cocktail parties ahead, perhaps now might be the time to try out a little self improvement with your sunshine.

The Pritikin Center was originally a medically-oriented program for heart health.

The Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami - as elegant and social as the charity events that land you there - has just moved into Miami's newly renovated Doral Saturnia Spa. More than just a world class resort, Pritikin is a modern day Florida fountain of youth. It'll get you back in shape and turned from temptation upon return.

The Pritikin Center was originally a medically-oriented program for heart health. Today, although that program remains its heart and soul, it's a more all purpose health retreat. With three formal sit down gourmet meals (How does grilled lobster, pumpkin ravioli, mushroom risotto, roasted bison and chocolate mousse sound?) and two snacks a day, it feels like a luxury vacation. The diet: unlimited whole grains, whole foods, vegetables, and fruits; limited seafood, chicken and lean beef, is the kind you stay on. No wonder there are groups of friends who earmark the same two weeks a year to rendezvous.

"What separates Pritikin from other health/weight loss spas are the results," said President Paul Lehr, whose father, cardiologist David Lehr co-founded the Miami Center in 1978. "In the last 30 years, the Pritikin Center has published more than 115 studies in the leading medical journals detailing what our guests achieve. These include preventing or reversing heart disease, eliminating medications for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol, and improving certain risk factors for cancer."

Groups of friends earmark the same two weeks a year to rendezvous.

Who goes there?
Gregory Peck, Carl Reiner, Caroline Rhea, Buddy Hacket, Anne Bancroft, Richard Dreyfus, Bobby McFerrin, B.B. King, Adrienne Vittadini, famed conductors Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilsin Thomas, and foodie Tim Zagat have all passed through Pritikin's doors.

Ditto the Forbes 400, Nobel Prize Laureates, congressmen, senators – and, of course, me. One CEO put together an entire board during his Pritikin stay.

What Do They Know?
"If you wait until your body gets sick and broken down to start treatment, it's usually too late to cure," longtime Pritikin Nutrition Research Specialist Jay Kenney, PhD, RD, told me. During my stay, their specialists paid attention to the minor medical markers my regular doctors ignored, and told me how to prevent problems down the line.

Pritikin has moved into Miami's newly renovated Doral Saturnia Spa.

"I've met at least 20 different billionaires working here," my lab technician told me, as he lovingly x-rayed my arteries. "They're so nice, but they are not accustomed to hearing the word, 'no.' If someone asked for an elephant in their room, I would just tell them, 'It has to be a small elephant.'" Indeed, I have never experienced better service – from doctors to trainers to waiters – than at Pritikin.

The #1 reason an American is admitted to a hospital is heart failure.

I also never experienced better medical care. You name the ailment, they had the specialist. Foot gets numb on the elliptical machine? Biomechanical Evaluation Consultant Linda Musumeci knew what caused it, when a doctor at Special Surgery did not. Bone density fears? Dr. Danine Fruge told me what tests to take, when my fancy New York doctor only offered the generic pill.

The Pritikin team wants us to know: aging doesn't mean becoming diseased, immobile, or out of shape. Correct what's out of whack before it corrects you. Whether it's smoking or salt, red meat or red wine, you're going to have to change bad habits eventually.

The #1 reason an American is admitted to a hospital is heart failure. Forty-three percent of Medicaid expenses are for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure. The easiest way to keep hospital costs down - preventative education. Does health care pay for that? Not yet. But you can, and enjoy the process.

What You Might Not Know

Pritikin Will Teach You:
 • SALT - "Second hand salt" kills more people than second hand cigarette smoke. For example, there is more salt in corn flakes than potato chips. Salt causes high blood pressure. High blood pressure not only causes heart attacks but 62 percent of all strokes. Blood pressure medicine is not always effective. Lowering salt intake is. Pritikin advocated against salt for 40 years. Mayor Bloomberg got on the band wagon last year. "What I've been saying for 30 years is now mainstream," said Kenney. "Perhaps I can retire." You can change your taste buds in a few months. A week eating Pritikin's gourmet cooking gives a great start.

"Aging doesn't mean becoming diseased, immobile, or out of shape."

 • HEALTH CARE COSTS: Kenney told us the #1 reason an American is admitted to a hospital is heart failure. Forty-three per cent of Medicaid expenses are for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure. The easiest way to keep hospital costs down - preventative education. Does health care pay for that? No.

 • READING LABELS: Most "fat free cookies" qualify for that label by doubling up on sugar to reduce the proportion of fat to calories.

 • MEDICINE vs. DIET: Taking statins doesn't mean you can still eat fatty, calorie dense foods. Belly fat not only produces and releases chemicals that injure the arteries; inner skin, but releases hormones that increase blood pressure and sugar. One hormone even makes us more likely to gain fat, creating a vicious cycle. Statins do not address the root of disease - unhealthy living. Half of all heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels.

 • NUTRITION: The average body can only absorb four oz. of animal protein at a time.

 • EXERCISE: Your body has no flexibility memory - stretch every day. To gain strength, do weights before, or in between, cardio. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate, and the more calories you burn, even at rest.

 • POSTURE: Tom Ellison can transform your appearance and life attitude with posture awareness. When I tense up or slump, I can still hear him say: "The shoulders do....nothing," and (for head and neck alignment) "Kiss their lips with your eyes."