Menu, Week 24

The End of Illness

Had a great weekend, in case you wondered.  Friday we made the long drive to picturesque Midway, high in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.  Though it’s always a wrench to leave home, we love these trips to Midway.  Likewise, when it’s time to return home, it’s hard to leave lovely Midway. 

The last trip we came for a wedding.  This time's a work trip but I brought a new book recommended by a friend, titled The End of Illness.  The point of the book, I learned, is that just as we conquered last century’s pandemic of infectious diseases, we maybe could also conquer our current killers, the chronic diseases. 

The infectious diseases (influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox, etc.) had existed in history but were made suddenly worse by Industrial Revolution crowding of people into cities.  These people had once lived close to Nature—and Nature’s food supply—in farms and villages.  Now they lived in crowded cities without sanitary water or systems of waste removal, separated from fresh foods and dependent on processed foods whose only virtue was a long shelf life. 

The infectious diseases were the short-term result of these changes and were conquered by developing clean water and waste removal systems (vaccines came later).  I shouldn’t say conquered; it’s more accurate to say they were prevented by the rise of public health works.  Unfortunately, the food supply kept getting worse.

The chronic disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke, were the long-term result of industrialized life, and factory food.  They take decades to develop and are the plagues of our time.  A large part of medical research today is directed towards finding a cure for these diseases.

It’s the theme of this blog that prevention also offers our best chance of surviving the chronic diseases.  So imagine the encouragement of reading a book that advocated just that—prevention of chronic disease, through better diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and becoming your own doctor.  (The author shares my caution about vitamin pills and supplements.)

Because the author is both researcher and doctor, The End of Illness posits that science can offer better treatment through research into the million or so proteins triggered by our DNA.  The idea works like this:  The proteins in a drop of your blood can identify whichever chronic disease(s) you’re developing and guide you to a healthier lifestyle. 

A current example of protein testing is the PSA test for prostate cancer, the usefulness of which has been recently questioned, after several decades of use.  So I’m doubtful about how easy it is to innovate and implement such tests.  Besides, one lesson from writing this blog is an appreciation of how hard it is to change one’s lifestyle.  It’s easier to start down the right path than change it after you’re ill, though course adjustment could come from the protein testing advocated. 

The Wasatch Back Ragnar relay

Saturday morning, as I came outside to enjoy the morning air, a runner jogged by, followed by others.  These weren’t your regular Saturday joggers because they carried numbered tags.  I realized our home was on the route of the biggest relay race in the country, the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay.  Did I say “relay race”?  I suppose it is, but it’s more a mutual encouragement marathon.  The Ragnar is basically 197 miles with thousands of runners encouraging each other.  It’s the most positive thing I’ve ever seen.

All day long on Saturday runners and team vans, creatively decorated, passed by the house.  There appeared to be several thousand teams, each team composed of 12 relay runners and two support vans.  So, I’m guessing, 2000 runners, 4000 decorated vans and 24,000 cheering team members, mostly thirtyish moms.  There were guys too, but the Ragnar is really a women’s race.

I stayed outside all day Saturday, reading The End of Illness, looking up as runners passed, or enjoying the sun on my back as I took breaks to weed flower beds.  Picking up on the spirit of the race, I also spent time at the front gate, giving encouragement to the runners.  Despite their exhaustion, a few runners would glance over and then shout back as they passed, “Love the house.” 

You couldn’t watch the Ragnar and see all the cheering and encouragement that accompanied the hard running without just feeling great.  It was infectious.  At the end of the day I told the beautiful wife I’d never felt more positive about the chances for food reform in our society.  Sunday was Father’s Day.  It was the greatest weekend.

Please comment:  In you've run in the Ragnar relay, please share your experience.

This Week’s Menu

Monday—leftovers from Sunday.

• Chuck roast, cooked with potatoes, onions, and carrots
• Green salad

Tuesday

• Skip’s Vegetable-Cheese Sauce Casserole au gratin.  I’ll have to share the recipe but we had some cheese sauce left over so I cooked it with steamed eggplant, bell pepper, onion, and carrots and then finished it with a breaded crust.  The first time I made this it was great, this time I didn’t use enough cheese sauce plus the eggplant was undercooked.  My bad.

Wednesday

• Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup—well that was the plan because I wanted to work on a recipe but I got busy preparing for a trip to Midway and didn’t get it done.  My bad.  We ate leftovers but we do need to clean out the refrigerator before the trip.  Ditto for Thursday.

Friday

• Café Rio salad and pork enchiladas.  We were traveling and had lunch at the Cedar City Café Rio.  We ordered enough to have leftovers for dinner.

Saturday

• Egg omelets with vegetables cooked by the beautiful wife—a common Saturday dinner.

Sunday (Father’s Day)

• Salmon marinated in a spicy Thai sauce and pan-fried.
• Baked potato
• Cole slaw

Stretching

Wengen, Switzerland; photograph courtesy of Andrew Bossi

The quick answer:  A muscular lifestyle, including regular stretching, ensures a healthy body.
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A Village Too Beautiful

Did I mention the beautiful wife is half-Swiss?  She is, which may explain how she avoids fights yet never surrenders.  A while back we thought it would be good to visit picturesque Wengen, birthplace of her great-grandmother.  The village, perched above an alpine valley and reached by cog train, is more beautiful than words can describe.  If you haven’t been there, put Wengen on your bucket list.

Despite the Alpine beauty, what I remember most about Wengen is the fitness of the people.  It’s a walking town—there are no cars.  Everyone walks; the walking paths are either climbing or descending.  People of all ages are fit and trim with muscular legs.  I don’t recall seeing anyone overweight and they had wonderful pastries.  A culture where people eat sensibly and live vigorous, muscular lives is a wonder to behold.  Which brings us to the subject of this week—exercise, with emphasis on stretching. 

Exercise

Exercise is the subject of four Healthy Changes—that’s how important it is.  The post referred to below called for 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week—a minimum of 2 hours.  A prior post, Not Quite Jack LaLanne, shared our family experience with exercise.  This week’s post will discuss stretching exercise.  Later this year we’ll discuss weight lifting, and then aerobic exercise.

To be healthy you must eat well, but you must also use your muscles.  Strong muscles build strong bones—they work together.  Note the cross-section picture showing muscle and bones for a 74-year old triathlete, equivalent to the bones of a 40-year old.  Note also the thin bones of the 74-year old sedentary person.  (In the picture, starting from the skin, fat is white, muscle is gray, and bone is black.)  This post also lists some of the life-extending benefits of exercise.

Flexibility and Aging

Have you observed how you become increasingly less flexible as you age?  Maintaining flexibility—through stretching—is one way to slow down the aging clock.  One study, reported in this N. Y. Times article, revealed a connection between the suppleness of your body and the flexibility of your arteries, including the coronary arteries critical to heart health.  Flexibility, like the touching of toes, is a marker for artery health. 

Here’s are common stretching benefits:

1. Increases flexibility
2. Improves circulation
3. Improves balance and coordination
4. Reduces lower back pain risk
5. Can improve heart health
6. Reduces the tension of stress
7. Improves energy

How to Stretch

The beautiful wife, depending on her stress level, can get painful muscle spasms in her back.  Stretching seems to help and we’ve had the intention for some time to add this to our exercise regime.  Time went by and we never got into a regular routine, though we bought books and yoga DVDs.  A few days ago, with a wedding coming up, we decided to get serious and made time in the morning after her walk, but before breakfast.  It seems to be helping so we’ve made a commitment to continue, daily at first, then 3 times per week.  Stay tuned; we’ll report back later in the year.

Women are better at stretching than men—I think it starts in the head.  Yoga is a favorite method, but there are other ways to stretch.  You don’t need to buy anything to get started—you can find resources on the Internet.  Go to YouTube and search under exercise.  You can even enter the part of your body you want to focus on.  Be cautious—an injury can delay your progress.  If you have concerns, check with your doctor.

Healthy Change

Please comment: Share your experience with stretching exercise.  How often do you do it, what do you do, and what's the benefit.

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Working Out

The quick answer:  For a long and healthful life, work up a regular sweat.

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Labor-Making Devices

In the beginning, there was a direct connection between work and food.  Do you recall the charge in Genesis, “By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”?  For millennia this was true—people worked hard for their daily bread.  Until the 20^th century, this hard work was a sharp check against overeating. 

Then came the Industrial Revolution, with its laborsaving devices.  You could make a long list of the inventions that eliminated the use of muscles.  Your home is likely full of them.  The problem is what we don’t use we lose, and muscles are essential to health, longevity, and appearance.

At the dawn of the 21^st century there’s a new goal:  Invent ways to regularly use your muscles.  This isn’t just about the recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise—though that’s the starting point for this post—it’s about using your muscles all day long in varied ways and going to bed physically tired. 

The photos above are MRI scans from a recent study comparing the muscle mass of active vs. sedentary subjects. Scary, isn't it?  Bottom line, whether 40 or 74, you're better off if you use your muscles. 

Benefits of Exercise

1. Heart disease is the #1 killer in the U.S. but this doesn’t have to be—regular exercise protects the heart.  This is generally known but, sadly, not widely practiced.  Way back in 1953, to the surprise of many, a health study of London bus operators found twice the risk of heart disease among drivers, who were seated, versus ticket takers who moved about the double-decked buses.  Since then a plethora of studies have confirmed the value of physical activity.  Researchers estimate that 2-1/2 hours weekly of brisk walking could save 280,000 heart-related deaths a year in the US.  Warning:  Consult your doctor before starting an exercise program.
2. Longevity is improved with regular exercise.  There are many benefits, including protection of the mitochondria that produce energy in muscle cells.  A N. Y. Times article, “Can Exercise Keep You Young?” summarized the dramatic longevity difference between mice that exercised versus sedentary mice.  If you’re older, consider this article: The Incredible Flying Nonagenarians.”  Experts say regular exercise adds 6-7 active years to your life.  (Yeah, I did the math, you’ll spend one of those years exercising, a small price to pay.) 
3. Exercise reduces the risk of certain cancers and even extends life after a cancer diagnosis.  One report noted how exercise (2-1/2 hours weekly) reduced the risk of dying from breast cancer by 40% and the death risk from prostate cancer by 30%.  Check here for guidance and precautions.
4. The brain is greatly aided by aerobic exercise.  This makes sense; though just 3% of body weight, the brain consumes 20% of the oxygen supply.  The hypothalamus (where short term memory is stored) shrinks with age, as does its memory capacity.  A recent study had a group of sedentary people, aged 55 to 80, start a walking regime (3 walks of 40 minutes duration weekly).  After a year the walking group had reversed hypothalamus shrinkage with a 2% growth.  A control group had shrinkage of 1.5%, even though they did stretching exercises.  There’s something healthful about sweating. 
5. Osteoporosis risk is reduced with exercise.  Because they're attached to each other, strong muscles make for strong bones.  You can see this in the picture above—the dark circle with white interior represents bone. 
6. Maybe it’s vanity, but another benefit of exercise is improved appearance.  It’s not just that you feel better—you also look better.  Which leads to other nice happenings.

Scientists are cautious if they don’t understand the exact mechanism for a benefit, like exercise.  In truth, we don’t know exactly why using our muscles makes us happier and healthier, it just does. 

Healthy Change #5

We begin with the minimum exercise recommendation: regular workouts, working up a sweat doing whatever works for you.  I walk or jog up a nearby hill three days of the week and cycle on alternate days.  The beautiful wife takes a vigorous morning walk with her friends, where they discuss all the news of the day.  The best exercise is the one you keep doing. 

Please comment:  Share the exercise that works for you, and tell how you’ve benefited.  We’ll return to the subject of muscle building three more times this year, addressing resistance training, stretching, and ways to live the muscular lifestyle.  It’s good to be strong!

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Heart Health

The quick answer:  Don’t die of a broken heart—live a muscular lifestyle and eat a whole foods diet.

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The subject this week is heart health.  Have you been with someone during a heart attack, or held a friend’s hand before they entered the hospital cath lab for an angiogram, or visited someone after coronary artery bypass surgery?  It’s pretty scary, isn’t it?  In that moment, we would give anything to have lived better.  Our lives depend on us caring for our hearts.  In the last post we discussed five steps for doing this.   They’re worth repeating:

Based on #1 above, the Healthy Change for the week says: Resist laborsaving devices—incorporate muscular activities into your life.

TV Watching

What’s the exact opposite of muscular activity?   Watching TV—being a couch potato.  There are some terrible TV statistics: By the time the average child turns 18, I’m told, they’ve seen 40,000 murders.  In four hours of Saturday morning TV a child will see 200 commercials glorifying junk food, according to one study.  (Yes, the food corporations slip around the parents and go straight for the kids; they’re the #1 advertiser to children.  There ought to be a law.)  How’s a mom going to compete with that?  No surprise that there’s a correlation between TV watching and obesity. 

We had a wary relationship with the TV when our kids were growing up.  If our TV broke, it might be years before it was replaced.  For a few years we had a Laundromat coin meter attached to the TV and the kids had to earn quarters to watch.  Another time we had a key-controlled switch.  The kids were bright and figured a way around it but they were careful to only do it when we were out.  After a Friday night out with the beautiful wife I’d come home and touch the TV to see if it was warm.  It’s OK, you know, to let the kids think they’re getting away with something now and then. 

I never found time to implement my best idea:  An exercise bicycle with a generator attached that the kids would pump to make electricity to power the TV.   The idea was they should be outside playing and only get enough TV to stay culturally connected, so they wouldn’t grow up weird.  It worked I think, they’re good citizens and all look pretty healthy.  The little girl who drew the hearts above doesn’t have TV service in her home.  Good parents place strict controls on TV watching.

Sodium and Potassium

You read a lot that we eat too much sodium, or, sometimes, that we get too little potassium.  Together they’re medically important so scientists look at our ratio of sodium to potassium.  A recent study looked at 12,267 adults, comparing their sodium-to-potassium dietary intake to the chance of dying.  Turns out that mortality is 46% higher for those with the highest vs. lowest ratio.  Worse, the risk of dying by heart attack is more than doubled.

So how can we eat less salt and more potassium?  Here’s where you mainly get sodium: eating food someone else cooks for you.  Table salt is 40% sodium but we get it from processed foods—fast foods, commercial snacks, and restaurant meals.  If you mainly cook at home using real food, you likely don’t have a sodium problem. 

Where do we get potassium?  From plants, especially nuts, seeds, and legumes, but potassium is found in all fruits and vegetables.  So if you eat a whole foods diet, you get plenty of potassium.  What we discover here is that the sodium to potassium ratio is a marker for processed food vs. plant foods in your diet.  Eat whole foods and you shouldn’t have a worry.

Single Adults

I spoke to some single adults the other night, about nutrition.  They have a tough problem, I think.  They mostly live alone, they work hard all day, and it’s hard to prepare a good meal when you’re the only one eating.  One explained how it’s a lot cheaper to pick something up than buy groceries for just one person.  I don’t think that’s true, but it’s been a long time since I lived alone.  You’d laugh if I told you what I ate during the college years.  Does any group eats worse than college kids?

Lots of kids today weren’t taught to cook when they were growing up.  The group I spoke to seemed like really good people, but they didn’t look healthy.  Driving home I wondered how this blog could be more helpful to single people.  Couldn’t we do something more—to inform, or inspire?

Please comment:  Please share your ideas.  How do you control the TV in your home?  Or, how can people living alone eat healthy?  Thank you for your comments—they make this blog work. 

Healthy Hearts

The quick answer:  Better to learn how to care for your heart then have the doctors “repair” it.  See the seven steps below.

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The motto of this blog, that we all "eat smarter, look better, and live longer" requires us to squarely face the greatest threat to longevity: the chronic diseases.

Chronic disease is a natural and preventable consequence of the mismatch between our biology and the modern lifestyle, especially our diet.  The good news is that while we can’t change our biology, we can change lifestyle.  “Chronic” suggests that symptoms develop slowly over years, even decades.  Dental cavities are an early warning of a diet gone awry.  Our sugary intake leads to other symptoms: high insulin levels, inflammation, insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome (discussed here). The end result may be an autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, this week's topic.

What Causes Heart Disease?

If there were a single cause for heart disease, we would have fixed it by now.  Sadly, a generation of time was wasted on the now-discredited “saturated fat-dietary cholesterol theory.”  The simplest answer is that heart disease has multiple causes, including the following lifestyle factors:

•  Smoking is a significant risk factor.

•  Excessive sugar intake leading to elevated insulin and triglyceride levels is an important cause.  See Gary Taubes’ book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. 

•  Chronic infection is a risk as shown by the link heart disease and gingivitis.

•  Central obesity (fat around the liver and other internal organs) is a special risk, even in people of relatively normal weight.

•  The Stress Theory posits that cortisol, the stress hormone, contributes to heart disease during chronic stress.

•  Lack of exercise is a significant risk; a 1996 study found that even 15 minutes a day reduced risk by almost half.

•  High homocysteine level, a result of vitamin B deficiency, is also a risk factor.  For more on homocysteine, see the N.Y. Times article, “The Fall and Rise of Kilmer McCully.”

•  Trans fats, from hydrogenated vegetable oils, are another cause.

Heart Disease Treatments

The intent of this blog is to provide fresh insight into the power of diet to prevent disease, and not to repeat what you’ve already heard.  You likely know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women as well as men, that women display different warning signs, and that women are slower to seek emergency help.  For more on women and heart disease, go here.   

Though the incidence remains high, deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) have declined since 1980.  Reasons include better emergency and secondary care, more attention to high blood pressure, and the cutback in smoking.  The result is that people are living longer with heart disease and treatment has become an enormous business for drug and device companies, doctors, and hospitals.  Good business doesn't mean good medicine; the following therapies are getting a second look:

• The campaign against dietary cholesterol has not had a significant benefit, and Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, questions the evidence for cholesterol-lowering drugs, in books like Fat and Cholesterol are GOOD for You.

•  The survival benefit of coronary artery replacement, is now questioned.  See also, “Is Heart Surgery Worth It?”

•  The use of catheterization to expand or stent coronary arteries, except to reduce persistent angina, may not be the best treatment. 

Preventing Heart Disease

Pioneering doctors have demonstrated that lifestyle improvement, including diet, and appropriate pharmaceutical support may be the best way to treat heart disease.  Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the prestigious Cleveland Clinic was among the first to demonstrate that lives could be saved through diet and other changes.  His book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, tells the remarkable survival story of 17 patients who followed his protocol.  On the West Coast, Dr. Dean Ornish has a similar program and also a book.  Other doctors have followed these pioneers.  If you Google “preventive cardiology” you get a million hits, a sign of progress.

Here is a short list of preventive measures against heart disease:

1. Develop a muscular lifestyle.  Forget laborsaving devices.  Walk everywhere you can.  Care for your own yard.  Exercise at least 30 minutes most days.

2. If you smoke, stop.

3. Eat a healthy diet of vegetables, whole grains, fruit, nuts, fish, dairy, eggs, and a little meat.  Avoid highly processed foods, especially trans fats.  Keep intake of added sugar below the AHA level.

4. Avoid protracted stress.  Pick your battles wisely.

5. Get plenty of sleep.

6. Have fun—smell the roses, laugh a lot, enjoy friends and family.

7. Get regular physicals but take ownership of your health in partnership with your doctor.  Keep a health log with regular checks of waist circumference, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose, etc.  

You could add, “maintain a trim waist,” to the list, but this should naturally result from following the seven lifestyle steps.

Budget wisdom:  I have always thought it wasteful to pay for both an exercise club and a gardener.  Cancel the gym membership and buy a hand mower, or plant a garden.  Rediscover the pleasure of long walks.  Without endangering your safety, save a little gas by riding a bike.  (Read about four women who rode across the US to promote preventive cardiology here.)  Try grinding wheat by hand, it’s a good workout (though it does take time).  Wash your own car, and your neighbor’s too.  Take up swimming.  Give your spouse a backrub, and a little loving.  It’s all good—the best things in life really are free.

Please comment:  How is life made more enjoyable by using your muscles?

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Three Things

First, I promised to sum up this week’s exercise comments.  Two things impressed:  how you are all so different, and second, how you are so the same.  The differences are expressed in the creative ways you work exercise into busy lives; what is the same is the earnest determination to take care of yourself despite all obstacles.  You really are good people.

Some people like goals, like the daily 10,000 steps, or preparing for a 5K; others like music, using an iPod when walking or running; some have company, others grab the spare moment alone.  Some have the luxury of a gym and babysitter, others workout at home with a DVD or NetFlix while the kids nap.  There’s also Zumba, exercise with a Latin beat; the Couch to 5K plan; or the challenging P90X.  A buddy helps, whether girlfriend(s), spouse, or the dog.  Exercise is where you find it; you can park in the distant corner of parking lots (not at night, please), or you can do an upper body workout using the steering wheel of your car at stoplights.  Whatever or wherever, you feel better when you exercise. 

Second, did you see Oprah this week?  Two guests with different takes on diet appeared on her show: one a “veganist” promoting her lifestyle (and a book), the other a serious student of nutrition and a journalist, Mike Pollan.  I like Pollan, rather than vegetarian he is a flexitarian, someone who eats whole foods with just a little meat—as in “sparing”.  Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, was the first nutrition book this blog endorsed.  One good advice came out of the program:  Be sensible with lifestyle improvements, make change step-by-step, "lean in" was the phrase used. 

Third, you likely noticed the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 finally came out.  These are reissued every five years.  I was slow to see this, but the guidelines are actually government, scientists, and food lobbyists working as a committee to write their own Word of Wisdom.  Remember the joke, that the giraffe is the horse designed by a committee?  Same way with the Guidelines—the topics with strong lobbies, like fat and oils, are a mess.  Topics without strong lobbies make sense—for example, the guidelines ask Americans to:

• Eat at least half of their grains “whole”,

• Double their intake of fruits, vegetables, and seafood,

• Get more vitamin D and fiber.

• Drink more water; avoid sugary drinks.

At the end of the 52 Healthy Changes, you all will have surpassed the USDA’s guidelines.     

Not Quite Jack LaLanne

Got a healthy exercise program that makes you sweat?  Great!  You can skip down to the comment section and tell what you do.  Don’t have a program?  You have two choices: start one now, or plan on a shorter life, maybe seven years shorter.  Another fact:  exercise will do as much to prevent breast cancer as good diet. 

Jack LaLanne, founder of the physical fitness movement, famously stated, “I can’t die, it would ruin my image”.  It was a good line but he died the other day, at the ripe old age of 96.  Both his life and his death model the benefits of exercise: he had a long vigorous life, followed by a brief illness (pneumonia).  Jack made a good exit.  The benefits of exercise are too numerous to mention, but in sum if you exercise you not only look better, you feel better, live longer, avoid a long list of diseases, ward off dementia and depression, and have better . . . well, better everything.

More than we realize, we are the shark that dies if it stops moving.  Yet the form of our society frees us from the need to move.  The more we prosper, the more moving is an option.  Several years ago I became busy and stopped regular exercise.  There were health consequences: I gained weight and my blood pressure went up.  Concerned, I got a physical and made a plan to restore my health by natural means. 

To avoid injuries I started slowly—walking.  We live near a beach so I would walk down to the beach, then hike to the top of a nearby hill.  In the beginning it was hard.  Months passed.  One day a neighbor jogged past as I walked.  Later, when no one could see, I tried jogging up the hill.  In less than 100 yards I was out of breath, my legs turning to rubber.  Over the course of a year I jogged a little farther each time, with the goal to reach the hilltop.  A gazelle I’m not, but I’m getting better.  Later, I saw someone doing push-ups on a flat rock.  When the coast was clear I did as many as I could, just ten.  So I added push-ups to my routine, inspired by a friend who daily did his age in push-ups. 

As time passed, I expanded my workout, covering the triad of aerobic, strength, and stretching exercises.  Later I added bicycle riding on alternate days.  I lost weight.  My blood pressure came down.  There were other improvements.  After reading about the importance of sunshine as a natural source of vitamin D, I moved my workout from the morning to midday.  Some days it’s hard to get out, but it always feels good when I’m done.  And when I exercise, I want to eat better.

My wife walks with her friends for an hour each morning.  They’re very faithful in their exercise, even walking with umbrellas in inclement weather.  Her goal is 10,000 steps each day.  She wants us to add yoga next.  A son prefers to get his exercise at a gym, with a little help from a trainer.  A daughter goes to a rigorous early morning workout called “boot camp”.  Our son-in-law rides his bike 30 minutes to the train station, as part of his work commute.  Another friend prefers to do laps at the community swimming pool.  Wouldn’t ballroom dancing lessons be fun?  Jack LaLanne celebrated his 70^th birthday by swimming a mile and a half—with his hands handcuffed and towing 70 boats carrying 70 people.  Yeah.  There are a lot of ways to exercise; each should find their own kind of fun. 

Please comment and share your experience with exercise.  What works for you? 

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

(photo from The NY Times, you can read more about Jack LaLanne here)