Staying Fit and Healthy Aging

The aging process starts from the day we are born. You may not realize it but we need to work on staying fit and healthy everyday. In the end, you’ll feel and look younger all during the aging progression.

I will try to give you lots of ideas on how to stay fit and "turn back" the aging clock here. Your diet, however, is probable the most important thing affecting your aging and health. Make sure your diet contains the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients you need to stay healthy.

Get yourself into some kind of exercise program. Walking is a great program to get involved. Start out walking gradually and work your way up to 12 to 15 miles by walking two or 3 times a week. Walking brings up the heart rate making it do its work. You can loosen the tight and stiffness in your legs and besides loosing weight with diet it will help to tone your muscles. Combined weight lifting with your walk agenda but don’t over work yourself because it will make your muscles sore. Along with your new walking and weightlifting program trim down your diet and take supplements to make up for the vitamins you are cutting out. Exercising will burn up some of your vitamins too so make sure you take enough but not too much of the supplements. If you are not sure about the amount to take, consult you physician.

As you build new activities, you will be meeting people and that always gives you something new to talk about to help keep the depression away. You will need encouragement and support throughout your goal to stay healthy. Seek support from family, friends, or people with the same goals.

As we grow older high cholesterol becomes a health issue with most of us. Your new walking program is a good start to lowering your levels.  2 miles a day, 3 times a week will help you to lower your cholesterol by helping you lose the excess weight you’ve put on in the last couple of years. If walking doesn’t seem to be helping to level out your cholesterol, try eating seven nuts. The combination of both will sometimes bring it to a balance. Be sure your doctor knows what your doing as these things continue. Fat is good in nuts, avocados and olive oil etc. (non-trans fats please!!) to help lower the blood pressure and blood sugar as well. Try changing your diet and eat more whole grain foods while you cut back on the meat you love so much. Instead of using, spreadable fats use olive oil and canola margarine. As a snack…sneak in those nuts:

Has your blood pressure gone up in your older years? Try adding three servings of low-fat dairy products to you diet. Calcium, magnesium and potassium are good to help lower that blood pressure.

Cancer, as many of you know, is something extremely personal to me, and is always a threat to us young or old so we need to start early on trying to help prevent it. Vitamin D is vital-make sure you are getting it from sunshine (not too much-melanoma!) and from your food and milk. Watching your diet and taking vitamins, helps reduce the risks of getting colon, breast, or ovarian cancer. 

Ovarian cancer for women is very common, yet women have the power to lower their risks. Green and black tea 2 times a day or even eating an apple or grapefruit will help.  Anything that is high in antioxidants is good. 

Mixing your foods to cover everything daily is a good idea so you don’t get bored eating the same things all the time. Mixing up what you eat in a recipe or on your plate the nuts, maybe some black-eyed peas, whole grain wheat bread or cereal and add a little peanut butter on that bread.

Changing your foods that you eat may not stop you from getting cancer but it is known to lower the risk and help prevent it.


Most importantly make sure you are seeing your doctor regularly-and stay with the same doctor if possible as he will know you and your history and be better able to compare your health over the long-run.