Do you want to live a healthy life? Then don’t burn your midnight candle searching for ways from the Internet. You can’t find them there. Don’t fall for things like:
– Foods that Lower Cholesterol Naturally,
– Super Foods that Help You Live Longer,
– Walking may Reduce Cardiovascular Disease by 50% and many others.
They don’t work any more than I become a Caucasian by dying my Asian hair black. Here’s why:
1. Old age brings a lot of medical issues. Nothing in the world can make you healthy if you are afflicted with any of them. You can only cope with them if you want to enjoy life.
2. But if you are healthy at your age, nothing can make you any healthier than you already are.
Don’t change anything, just temper them. Changing your lifestyle is stressful and restrictive. It will rob you of the pleasures and joy of old age.
Health is not purely about healthy eating:
Good health for seniors is not just about nutritious foods. There are more important things that make one healthy.
For example, the leading causes of deaths among people 65 years old and above are heart disease and cancer. While these figures are irrefutable, saying that improper diet is one of the major causes of these diseases is going to polarize the health community.
Some will insist that food is crucial to good health, while others won’t. And both sides will present voluminous data to support their stand.
Joshua Rosenthal, founder, and director of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and author of the book Integrative Nutrition will not be on either side.
Mr. Rosenthal says,
“Eating well helps, but don’t expect it to work miracles. It can fill you, but it cannot fulfill you.”
Then he adds,
“If we are not physically starving, other dimensions of human experience are much more important than what we put in our mouths. The foods you eat are secondary to all other things that feed you – your relationships, career, spirituality and exercise routine. All that we consider today as nutrition is really just a secondary source of energy.”
To emphasize the point that nutrition, alone, cannot make you healthy, Dr. Mark Hyman, chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine and author of the book Blood Sugar chimes in by stating:
“95 percent of all illnesses are caused by or worsened by stress… it can disrupt almost all your body’s processes, making none of our organs immune to its effects. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension, depression, ulcers, headaches and chronic anxiety are all scientifically linked to chronic stress.”
Then he adds, “…the health of your mind and spirit and your sense of connection to your community has an immense impact on the health of your body, In fact…the biggest predictor of longevity is psychological resiliency – being able to roll with the punches life throws at us.”
My take on this…
Two weeks ago, I had chest pains in the evening which forced me to see a doctor the following day. After some examinations and questions, he said that it was not a heart attack.
However, he said that chest pains must not be taken lightly and told me to have some lab tests. He also cautioned me against my smoking – not for cancer because even non-smokers can get cancer. But it is a risk factor for heart attack or stroke at my age.
Towards the end of my consultation, I mentioned in passing that I regularly go for long drives or an overnight stay in beach resorts. He said, “That, too, contributes to good heart health.”
Nobody knows your overall health better than you. You, alone, know what is good or bad for you, what works or doesn’t work. And by this time you must have learned to do what is best for you and do things your way.
Note: All my lab tests were good, i.e., blood chemistry, ECG, and Treadmill.
Please share with other seniors to brighten their day – and do things their way!
~oOo~
