NICK NOLTE is shocked he's still alive after the crazy adventures he's been on.

The 61-year-old star admits that he's used and abused his body and now he's determined to treat it like a temple. He says, "I've done just about every degenerative thing a human being can do - while managing to stay alive.

"I could have died any number of times. I did a lot of very stupid and dangerous things in my younger years. I used drugs. I drank so heavily, I ended up face down in the gutter more than once. " He continues, "Now I take hormone replacements every day. I also eat raw asparagus for breakfast and take 60 vitamin pills a day. " (MB/TS/PDD)

Source: WENN