When we were visiting my uncle in Prince George last month, he gave me a book to read. He's 73 years old, and in pretty good shape. They do lots of hiking, biking, and kayaking.
The book he gave me is called Younger Next Year, and I'm about half way through it right now. It was written in 2004, so it's been around for a while but I had never heard of it. I find it's a bit repetitive, and not really well written, but it's just written by average guys... the co-authors are a younger doctor, and an older guy.
It's the message that they are trying to get across that's important though.
It's written for men aged 50 to 65, and of course I fall right in the middle of that.
The general theme is that if you get out there and do some regular exercise you can severely reduce the affects of aging. Essentially, they say that you can "live like you are 50, well into your 80's".
And for the most part, I think that is totally true.
Average North American.
The chart above shows the decline of the health of the average sedentary North American as they age.
But with some regular and fairly strenuous aerobic and muscle building exercise, you can live the last third of your life like this...
Of course the steep drop off at the end will still be there no matter what... because every one of us is going to kick the bucket! But most of us can stave off 50% of the debilitating problems of aging by lifestyle choices.
Our daily readers know that Ruth and I try to get some regular exercise. And we are in pretty good shape aerobically. But we need to improve our muscular condition. I have an exercise kit in the motorhome...
But, we don't use it often enough. And for it to do any good, you need to use it three times a week. When we return to the motorhome next month, we are going to start doing exactly that!
And, pushing ourselves a little more with the hiking, biking, and kayaking. The idea is that you need to be active... strenuously active, six days a week! And I don't mean going for a stroll. Sure, walking is better than doing nothing at all, but if you're not making your heart beat to around 70% of it's maximum for at least 20 minutes, then it's really not doing the good that you want it to. It needs to be a steady fast paced walk that gets the heart pumping! You want to be sweating when you're done.
So, the book is a little bit motivational. It's really the kind of thing you want to keep in order to read it again if you start to slack off.
When this book became a best seller, they also wrote one specifically geared to women...
And of course you can also buy these books in Canada, but as with most things, they are quite a bit more expensive here...
An ironic side note... the doctor co-author died last year at age 57 from prostate cancer. Interesting, because they do have a paragraph or two in the book saying that all of this exercise still won't prevent a few people from dying early from some kind of disease. But, you will die very fit!
Nutrition is vitally important, too. Number one thing ... keep insulin levels low.
ReplyDeletehttp://jeff.gilbertson.info
Yes, of course... keeping carb intake low and avoiding sugars. Obviously it's a combination of things, but I was trying to keep things simple for the purpose of this blog post.
DeleteKevin, Beach and I have been using Dr. Peter Miller's "Hilton Head Metabolism Diet" off and on since his first book and the opening of his first clinic in 1984. He is a big proponent of good carbs (but no carbs with processed sugar or refined flour). He has clinical proof using the plan of lowering proteins (therefore, lowering fats) each day to a minimum and increasing amounts of fruits, vegetables, grains, cereals, and nuts, and it works well to boost energy and fine tune your digestive system. Since you eat 5 times a day, you always feel full. Problem is most people want more than 6 ounces of beef steak or pork on their plate each day with gravy. No one wants spaghetti without balls. Beach and I are both back on this HIGH carb regimen for the energy, but boy do I miss my gravy!
DeleteCorrection--I meant meatballs! Ha!
DeleteWhatever floats your boat Dee. Hopefully you're also getting enough exercise to get your heart pumping sufficiently. There are lots of people who believe different diets may or may not be beneficial, but you'd be hard pressed to find a doctor who says exercise is bad for you.
DeleteThat would be an excellent book. Me being in my 70th year walking every day 3-5 miles eating healthier some exercise and having lost 50 lbs. I feel a lot better than I did at 50 years old. If it was not for chronic back pain and arthritis I could do more.
ReplyDeleteKevin has certainly found it very motivational and we are doing most of the things that the book suggests already. The one thing that we know we need to work more on though is strengthening our muscles and that is what we will start to incorporate into our schedule once we get back to the motorhome, as well as keeping up on our hiking, biking, and kayaking.
DeleteKeep up the good work George! :-)
A family friend who is a MD recently told me "It's better to wear out than rust out."
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly the way we look at it. :-)
DeleteUse common sense with food and get out there and exercise. Works for us.
ReplyDeleteYep, it that works for us as well! :-)
DeleteI had completely forgotten about this book until reading your post, but I read it years ago (I think I read the women's version) and found it very motivational! We are 57 (me) and 64 (my husband), and we are very active -- riding bikes and walking every day, plus lifting weights 2x a week. We hope we can keep this up for a looooong time!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear that you have read the book as well, at least the women's addition. Kevin said the same thing, he has found it to be very motivational too, even though we are doing most of the stuff the book mentions to do but it also suggests a few things that we aren't doing so we will work on those things once we head back to the motorhome.
DeleteSounds like you are both doing it right and I am sure that you will be able to keep it up for a very long time! Same with us. :-)
Sad but true. You are both in great shape both physically and mentally due to your chosen lifestyle. You will probably outlive most of us so enjoy and do not worry.
ReplyDeleteWe like to think we are in good shape but we still need to do more. :-)
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