Fit at 50 and Beyond – Aches & Pains

My wife and I went out for dinner for our anniversary at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Before the meal, they serve up a big bowl of very tasty corn chips and home made salsa. This is followed by a meal rich in fat, starch, oil, and many calories. But we don’t eat like this everyday, so why not!

We then drove to a nearby lake-walk area and took in some sights (on foot) and rode in one of the horse-carriage rides. We must have spent about 3 hours walking around, and I would bet we walked several miles if not more on the very nice lake-walk, enough to even burn up much of the calories of that super-duper meal. And it was on the lake walk that I noticed something:

Nearly every one of the people that we walked by was very trim and fit! There were older people and very young people, and people of different races, but almost all were trim.

So what does that say? People that make a point of getting in some regular exercise, even when on vacation (and there were a lot of vacationers here) will stay trim. They will never get fat!

I observed something else this night as well: Right before going home my wife wanted a small ice-cream cone (she did not eat nearly as much as I at dinner) so we stopped at a local Dairy Queen. As I looked around, what did I see? Fat people. Really fat people. Of course not all were fat, but there were a fair number.

My conclusion: If your lifestyle (including your vacation) incorporates regular exercise and physical activity, then you are very unlikely to get fat. Conversely, if your lifestyle has frequent periods of eating very fattening foods (like on vacations and holidays) in the absence of physical activity, then you will put on the pounds.

It is all about lifestyle.

In the fall of 2009 I started taking a regular Calcium and Vitamin D supplements. And as you can see from the photo, these are (very inexpensive) generic equate brand supplements. Since that time, I have noticed the following:

• Lower right side back and hip pain is gone. It disappeared shortly after I started taking these supplements.
• My sleep problems seem to have vanished. Read my sleep problem posts to see what I am talking about here.  No stiffness in the mornings. No early morning aches or pains to wake me. No problems sleeping on my shoulder.
• Little or no back pains of any type. And I have done some sort of foolish things (for a 51 year old) in the last 6 months, like play full-court basketball with 16-year old kids for 2+ hours or move a tree weighing hundreds of pounds by myself. We will see if this holds up over the summer.

Interestingly enough, I recently read an article in Reader’s Digest titled 5 Vitamin Truths and Lies where the only vitamin they suggest has any merit as a supplement is vitamin D. I disagree with their conclusion that Vitamin C has no value in preventing colds as Vitamin C continues to help me avoid colds that every other member of my family of 7 gets. It is almost 3 years now that I have observed a greatly reduced frequency of colds coinciding with my taking Vitamin C in both natural and supplemental form. I would agree with the article’s conclusion that taking mega-doses of Vitamin C after one already has a cold is fairly useless since I had tried this myself with no success years back in my “sick days”.

My recommendations: Take a Calcium and Vitamin D supplement daily. Also, exercise daily, eat healthy, take a multivitamin, and keep swigging down the orange juice.

I was at a store where a former student of mine from a few years back works. In greeting me he exclaimed how I got thinner. I was a bit surprised to hear this. I knew that I had lost a little weight, but now it was becoming noticeable? Sure enough, I weighed myself and I had lost another 4 or 5 pounds or so since my last post about the Secret to Weight Loss in mid February, about a month and a half ago.

The thing is, I am not trying to lose weight. Nor am I suffering from an illness. And furthermore, I really don’t watch what I eat during the day other than the few items I have targeted (see below). But, the two things I have done almost religiously are:

• I have targeted several regular foods I eat almost daily and have made replacements in those items to reduce calories on a daily basis.
• Exercise daily after the evening meal. Every other day, I exercise quite hard, running 3.75 miles at a fairly good pace (7-8 min/mile). On the days I don’t run, I will simply do some lighter exercise like a walk or working around the house for about an hour to an hour and a half. This speeds up my metabolism for the evening, burning off any fat and perhaps then some.

I have a light snack just about every evening because generally I am a bit hungry. Usually it is popcorn and my diet root beer, but I might also have a half sandwich and my diet root beer. That’s it. That is my stealth diet. I love it because it is not really a diet. And I hate diets!

Normally, in late February, the pants start to tighten up around the middle because I spend more time indoors and am less active. But this year, I am as trim or trimmer than I was at the beginning of summer. After weighing myself last night, I believe I am about 5 pounds less. And I think I know why. Read on.

Last summer I posted how I started drinking a low calorie root beer to cut down on my sugar intake.  And indeed, in the process, I cut my sugar. Previously, just about every night, I was drinking about 16 ounces of sugary pop, containing about 10 packets of sugar, or about 130 calories (13 packets in 16 oz). So this new 30 calorie (per 16 oz) root beer was saving me 100 calories per day, every day! In addition, I was replacing 1+ tablespoons of sugar on my morning oatmeal (I like it sweet!) with sweet-n-low. At 45 calories per tablespoon, that amounted to around 45 calories per day, every day except Sunday. On Sunday we have pancakes and I still pour on the syrup! At any rate, I was saving 100×7 + 45×6 = 970 calories per week. Multiply by 52 and that makes 50,440 calories per year! Actually, that would amount to about 14 pounds of fat lost per year!

The key to my secret are the words every day.

You see, I was able to cut calories at a rate of over 50,000 per year without sacrificing a thing in my diet otherwise! What I also do, and have done for years now, is make a points to get 30-60 minutes of some sort of exercise daily. That can be a walk, cleaning the garage, shoveling some snow, or any of the many chores waiting to be done around the house. I get this exercise in after my evening meal. And later I have a small bowl of popcorn (with a little butter and salt) and my root beer – that’s my routine.

So what you need to do is target some foods or snacks that you routinely eat and make a substitution in that food to save calories. Do you have a piece of toast each morning? Perhaps substitute something of lower calories for the spread. Just a switch from whole milk to 1% can save you 100 calories per day (and you will hardly notice). And stick with that substitution daily. Also, make a point to get the after dinner exercise daily.

This plan works, it is easy, it is safe, and it hardly costs a dime. And it will make you healthier, probably saving you a lot in health care costs down the road.

Calcium - Get It!

As a precaution, I have been taking calcium supplements along with my multi-vitamins. And in fact, I read at www.calciuminfo.com that after age 75 one half of all osteoporosis cases are among men! I chose to take the generic supplement, as I believe it is probably as good as its pricier name-brand counterpart.

Since I have been taking this supplement, I have noticed that the lower right side back pain I had all summer and into the fall has virtually disappeared! This may be coincidental since I have been doing less of the kinds of work around the house (like digging and gardening) that seemed to set off this pain. Or, perhaps the calcium supplement is preventing my body from robbing calcium from my bones, as suggested at the calciuminfo.com site mentioned and that was somehow connected. The site states “When men don’t get adequate amounts of dietary calcium, their bodies meet their calcium needs by stealing the mineral from their bones.” So maybe the calcium supplement is helping with the lower right back pain, maybe not. But at any rate, I will keep taking it for other very good reasons.

Face it, if the swine flu, also known as H1N1, is going around, it can be virtually impossible to avoid exposure, especially if you have kids in school. So you will be exposed. And this flu is frightening in that people in low risk groups, like teens and people in their 20’s and 30’s, are dying!  So what can you do?

Vaccines are not the answer. Mostly because vaccines for H1N1 Swine Flue are not even widely available yet. And a vaccine won’t do you much good after the flu season is almost over, will it? Also, there is some speculation as to the risk of the vaccine itself.

Vitamin C to Protect Against Swine Flue

The best thing you can do is keep your immune system in tip top shape. People that are dying from Swine Flu are suffering from both the H1N1 virus and a secondary infection like pneumonia or a bacterial infection. The combination of the virus and infection sometimes proves to be too much, even for an otherwise healthy and young person. Get plenty of Vitamin C from natural sources if possible and eat a balanced diet. Then supplement with a daily vitamin, just to be on the safe side. In our house I have appointed myself as Chief Vitamin Police – my kids get asked daily if they have been drinking their juice and taking their multivitamin.

Since I have religiously obtained a minimum of 200% of my daily requirement of Vitamin C via juice and a multivitamin (started almost two years ago), my colds are few and far between and only last a few days as opposed to a week or more. Also, I have suffered ZERO sinus or respiratory infections. And preventing those infections while being struck with H1N1 Swine Flu can be the difference between life and death!

Arthricream Rub

While in a pharmacy, I noticed a product called Aspercreme, which is an odorless analgesic rub that also features anti-inflammatory ingredients from aspirin. So you can get the stimulating effect of the rub along with the anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin without the stomach damaging effects of aspirin or ibuprofen. Then, I noticed that there was a generic form of this product called Arthricream at a little over half the cost. So I thought why not give it a try.

The results were just amazing! Stiffness and lower right back pain simply vanished! And there was no heavy odor that one normally associates with an analgesic rub. Also, I found that the effect of the rub was fairly long lasting through the day and into the next. Take note of all warnings on the product package, do not take if you are allergic to aspirin, and see a doctor if your condition persists for more than 7 consecutive days. This generic form of Aspercream costs as little as $3 or $4 a tube and is available at most any pharmacy section where equate products are sold.  More information on Arthricream is given here.

asics running shoes

This has happened a few times now: I get to the point where my running shoes are worn to a frazzle and I find myself getting all sorts of back problems, aches and pains after running. And then, as soon as I get new shoes, the pains and back problems subside or go away completely! How soon I forget that pounding on pavement for nearly 4 miles is not the greatest for an aging back.

So I went to Athlete’s Foot and got another pair of Asics running shoes. Cost about $100, but well worth it. I have tried other shoes in the past like Nikes, New Balance, and Saucony, but Asics work the best for me. I need a fairly wide shoe to prevent tipping and uneven wear and Asics makes one of the wider running shoes.  I am thankful for the Athlete’s Foot store in our area! See The Athletes Foot for stores near you.

So if you are a jogger that is experiencing back problems (or knee problems) and your shoes are a bit worn, start by getting a new pair of quality running shoes. It might go a long way toward helping your situation. And if you have minor foot problems, many athletic shoe stores now have diagnostic machines to diagnose problems like pronation. If you are having severe foot problems, see a podiatrist.  See Foot Problems for more info.

I love sugar! I could almost eat is straight from the shaker. In fact I might have even done just that a few times. But sugar is just plain awful! It has empty calories to make one fat, along with other theorized harmful effects. So I decided to cut down by searching for some sugar substitutes. Examples of reducing sugars are given in this post.

One product to help me cut down my sugar is some soda my wife brought home by accident, pictured on the left. This pop is called Lo-Cal Root Beer, made by Sprecher. I drink this in place of my 16 ounces of pop I used to drink with my nightly bowl of popcorn. It has just a little honey and natural sweetener, along with saccharine, to make it taste naturally sweet, without the usual yucky diet soda after taste. And, it has only 30 calories per 16 ounce bottle. I absolutely hate zero or 1 calorie diet drinks but I love this root beer. In fact, I can not drink regular pop any more as it tastes too syrupy.  If you are a pop drinker and hate diet drinks, give this product a try. You can order it online at Sprecherbrewery.com or find a local store that sells it. We get ours, of all places, at a Menards Home store. And I did some research on saccharine – it has been around since 1878 and has been confirmed as harmless. And it is certainly less harmless than the 10 or 12 packets of sugar it is replacing. Pop is loaded with sugar!

After realizing that saccharine is not all that bad if it is combined with a small amount of sugar, I started using Sweet ‘N Low on my breakfast cereal. I cut my sugar in half and throw in a packet of Sweet ‘N Low saccharine sweetener. The result is cereal that tastes just as good as before.

There are many theorized harmful effects of refined white sugar like waste in the brain and cellular death. I don’t know if I believe in the validity of these claims, but I know one thing for certain: I am cutting out 200-400 calories per day without any effort. And in fact I enjoy my pop more now than ever before!  And I might be imagining, but it seems my memory is better. I am remembering names, codes and passwords better than usual – I will have to look into that more.

15 ft Above Ground Pool

My wife and kids bugged and bugged me to get an above ground pool. Living in northern Wisconsin, where it routinely freezes 10 out of 12 months, I opposed the idea, but finally relented. We bought a 15 ft above ground pool and after a week or two of preparing a site and setting up (twice!), it was ready to roll. This pool has 42″ deep water and is 15 ft in diameter. There is just enough water for an adult to swim around the perimeter, yet the pool is small enough that the water heats up fairly quickly. In fact, with the solar pool cover I got, the pool is swim-able on days where the temperature only gets up to 70 degrees!

So on the days I don’t jog, I am out in the pool swimming circles for 15 minutes or so doing the breast stroke. It is a nice workout that places no additional wear and tear on my knees or back! So I am the one using this pool, more so than even some of my kids! Unfortunately, about mid September I will have to take this pool down.