I am happy there are FRiends interested in good health.
I appreciate the good comments and have no problem with snarky comments. No, I am not selling anything. I am happily retired.
Congrats to poster Gffrig...you got it FRiend!
First, let me list some side “ingredients” which I do use as “supplements”..
Multi-vits one every other day
80 mg aspirin every other day
sprinkle cinnamon powder in my coffee or tea every time
half orange every day (not processed juice, fresh fruit only)
any other one fruit in season, one every day
1/3 cup of yogurt every day
2 whole wheat toast every day
2 dried plums every day.
All above ingredients are not expensive.
Y’all probably use these anyways.
Before I tell you about my magic ingredient we should talk about how our bodies are made. We are evolved from our human ancestors going back over million years. Every organ and every part of our body carries genes of our ancestors. Therefore our bodies work best when we emulate how they lived and survived. Did out ancestors eat anything processed? No! Were they farmers? Not for almost a million years. Farming is only 15000 years old, just a small fraction of a million years. Did our ancestors have access to anything made in factories? Nope. But before farming, our ancestors lived by hunting whatever animals/birds they could capture or kill. And they supplemented that diet with fruits and berries. Our genes do not change in a few hundred years or even a few thousand years. So, if you want to stay healthy, emulate our ancestor’s lifestyle. The critical requirement in their struggle to live was ability to hunt wild game. That was main source of protein. There were no crops of soyabeans, or any kind of beans. If they got lucky they might have found eggs. So what was the single most necessity to have the ability to hunt wild game? Stamina! How did they acquire stamina? By walking many miles every day. Without that exercise our bodies have a tendency to deteriorate. So my magic ingredient is walking every day. I am fortunate to have a treadmill at home. Weather is not an issue. I do only 20 minutes on a slight up-incline adjustment. So long as I force myself to that chore, I seem to be able to indulge in all my favorite foods. I love bacon. I like juicy hamburgers. And pecan pie. And cheese cake with chocolate. I will admit, I keep portions reasonable. The point is, I indulge in all tasty foods. So my magic ingredient is 20 minutes of walking at reasonably brisk pace. All it requires is a pair of good gym shoes.
Best luck and health to all!
Bicycling is also a good way to build stamina and check out the world at a more leisurely pace. Smell the roses and all that.
For a while I thought you were going to talk about the paleo diet our early ancestors ate. Their entire job every day was to find food to eat and maintain shelter. Once fire was discovered there was wood to collect to cook and stay warm.
Between their diet and active lifestyle; they never got fat. Of course they didn’t live very long back then either but that’s not the issue here.
our ancestors died early...despite their stamina and exercise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
Thanks!
My doctor told me to do a 20 min. mile every day. I try to. It’s about the pace of a brisk walk.
I agree with your prescription to walk, which I do 5 miles a day.
It’s also interesting how you tie it in to our hunting days, which I also agree with. But not just hunting... carrion scavenging.
First of all thank you for your reply and it appears that we pretty much on the same page. I am heading towards eighty myself, and as far as exercise is concerned my favorite mode of transportation always has and continuous to be swimming one mile each and every day along with pushing weights. In years past it included walking, hiking and my favorite, ice hockey.
As far as foods are concerned I never had much of a sweet tooth to begin with and in later years pretty well stayed away from anything containing sugar, such as cakes, pastries, ice cream etc. and of course pop. What little sweetener I use is XYLITOL which can be easily researched on the Internet.
I contribute my overall good health to taking Aspirin ever since I was about seventeen due to a problem with my vertebras in my neck which would dislocate quite easily and result in headaches. What I considered to be more of a mechanical problem than anything else. In later years this condition improved but I continued taking Aspirin if for no other reason, that it is an anti-inflammatory agent and most problems seem to originate with an inflammation either here and there and before you know it they can become chronic and then it may avalanche in to something rather undesirable. And yes I am fully aware that Aspirin also acts as a blood thinning agent causing platelets being less sticky, along with bleeding issues upon any injuries.
In order to counteract this potential problem I load up with a variety of green vegetables (K- Vitamin) which I happen to love anyway along with the fermentation of same.
I also indulge in a variety of other substances I believe help my overall health, with most of them bought in bulk, such as turmeric, magnesium, MSM, the whole spectrum of the B –group of vitamins along with zinc, kelp and several others just to mention some of them. And of course I try to get sunshine each and every day, as without it we may exist but never thrive.
My weight is about the same as when I was about twenty-two and some of the benefits are; that I still outswim most anyone in my age group and a lot of them only half my age.
My philosophy always has been to learn as much as possible what is beneficial to one’s health and so far it has paid off rather handily as I consider the most important things in life to be Health, Finances and Politics as if anyone of them flounders you are going to encounter problems.
All I can say is that the positive results speak for themselves as I am planning to keep it up until I drop as my intentions are to run through the finish line instead being pushed through in a wheelchair. Time will tell……….
Go take a hike!!
Your biggest health secret is eating prunes?? What a let down!!!
Nonsense. I am glad you enjoy your life and your walks. You have omitted the MOST essential ingredient for long life in general....have good genes. Your life expectancy is largely influenced by your genes. You can screw that up but your theory that living and eating like cave men is silliness.
Balance in all things
A lot of useful thoughts here. Eating at least 1/2 your food raw is an excellent thing to do. The Paleo diet and exercise make sense. I am lazy, but my kitchen is in the basement, and my living area is on the third floor, so I force myself to get exercise that way. On the whole I avoid refined carbohydrates and desserts, especially if I am indulging in bacon and meat. I either eat antioxidant foods or take antioxidant supplements. After loosing my husband in 2005, I am now with a wonderful man and happiness is good for health. I am in better shape now than 10 years ago. My hair was white, but now is gray. Weight is a mild problem, but I was glad to hear that mild overweight in otherwise healthy older people is not as much of an issue as they once thought. Last checkup, good blood pressure, heart, lungs, etc. Good luck all.