Ponce de Leon spent years of his life searching for the Fountain of Youth. Even today, countless people spend hours in the gym, thousands of dollars on natural remedies and surgery and try to survive on crazy diets to remain forever young. But what if, rather than chasing after miracle cures, someone told you that your very own fountain of youth could be found in your own refrigerator.

Cyril Smith is an ordinary man. He works hard and spends his time between Bermuda and Florida. But, he is also a man on a mission to reach others with the opportunity to maintain a healthy body and live a long, successful life. As a result, he has developed a ministry called Seek Ministry, and has been advertising to encourage people concerned with their health and well being to contact him. The answer isn't in a bottle, he says, but it does come down to what you put into your body.

"The original diet was fruits, nuts and grains," said Mr. Smith, looking back at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis. "Because of sin, God allowed them to eat vegetables."

It was not until after the flood, and partly due to the lack of available food, that God allowed man to eat flesh, according to Mr. Smith. And even then man was restricted in what flesh he could eat and God gave man a detailed dietary law in the book of Leviticus.

Today, many Seventh Day Adventists, like Mr. Smith, continue to keep those dietary laws. The hard work certainly pays off.

"Through what they eat, Seventh Day Adventists live ten to 12 years longer than other people," Mr. Smith said.

Through the help of a variety of writings, mostly by Ellen G. White, a founder and prophet in the Seventh Day Adventist movement, the strictest Adventists abide by eight key principles which allow them to live long, prosperous lives. Her writings, which date back as early as 1863, were compiled into the book in 1926 and then enlarged and named, "Counsels on Diet and Foods", in 1938 to serve as a foundational text for the Loma Linda hospital and medical training facility in Loma Linda, California. Most of Mrs. White's teachings were based on the Levitical dietary laws prescribed for the Jews in the Old Testament.

"She was like a prophet. She received messages from the Lord," Mr. Smith said.

These eight secrets have since been condensed into an easy-to-read booklet that Mr. Smith is offering to those who respond to his local newspaper advertisements.

Some of those tips include:

"Choose to drink six to eight glasses of water each day, and avoid all alcoholic and caffeinated beverages."

"Choose six to eight hours of quiet, uninterrupted sleep every night. Relax and change your pace one day in seven and one month in 12."

"Choose to develop a strong and positive relationship with family, friends and the Creator of life."

"Choose to eat six to 11 one-half cup servings of whole grains and legumes daily."

Some other denominations accuse Adventists of legalism in the pursuit of keeping the dietary laws of the Old Testament. One of the biggest sources of contention is a story about the disciple Peter, where God drops a cloth down filled with clean and unclean animals and tells him to eat.

"Now that wasn't talking about food, although it sounded like it," Mr. Smith explained. "If you read on, it was talking about Peter. Peter was rejecting some group of people, like the Gentiles. God was showing him, don't call any man common."

Following a rigorous diet may not be for some, but those who are interested are welcome to contact Mr. Smith directly at bigcsmithmsn.com or by phone on 737-5898.