I had not intended this being the next post, but the article I have been working on for the last six weeks is far from finished, and it’s turning out to be far more complicated than I ever envisaged, but as soon as it is completed it will be posted.
The numbers I am referring to in the title are the ones that change once a year on your birthday. The generation before my own born in the late 1930s and early 40s were basically conformists; they behaved in a certain way and dressed according to their age, and what was expected of them. Luckily for me and my generation that all changed, with the youth revolution of the 60s we found ourselves with more freedom than ever before. I am now 70 and I still love driving fast whenever possible, and love pushing the envelope in whatever I do. I don’t feel any different now to when I was in my fifties, actually that is not strictly true, when I was in my late fifties I was on a lot of medication for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and of course a statin for my cholesterol, and a lot of the time I felt like crap. Roll forward fourteen years, and I am 125 lbs. lighter with no medication in sight, and life has begun again, well almost I still have a leg problem to solve, which I am determined to do this year.
I have no intentions of putting any sort of restraints on myself; I still have too many things I want to do, and before you even think it, one of them is definitely not to climb Mt Everest, far too bloody cold, and if I wanted to go to 29,000 feet I would rather do it in a glider, at least you can wrap up warm. I know in my own case decline moved in rather slowly, I also had the tomorrow syndrome, you know you are gaining a little weight and not exercising quite as much as you should, but you are definitely going to do something about it tomorrow. The big problem with Tomorrow Syndrome is that when it becomes today there is always something more important to take care of and that can be as simple as your favourite show or film on the television. One that got me a lot was when the day takes longer than expected, and rather than cooking you decide to stop off for some fast food. The trouble with fast food is it usually has a bun with something in it, of course large fries followed by a hot apple pie, and possibly a chocolate milkshake, sound familiar. This meal will set you up for one thing, to flop into a comfy chair as soon as you get home, and as the sugar spike starts to drop crawl into the kitchen in search of something sweet to eat.
If you want to live long, but also live healthy you can’t afford to put things off until tomorrow where your health is concerned. With things like type 2 diabetes, it can be years in the making, and then suddenly bang and it’s got you, then things can really start to go downhill. I was talking to a friend when he had just been diagnosed with Type 2, and he said “I don’t know what all the fuss is about, it’s only type 2 so how bad can that be.” Type 2 Diabetes is a KILLER; given half a chance it will destroy you from the inside out. I have covered this in previous postings but what I will say is that if you are unlucky enough to be diagnosed with it, you will be told that it’s Chronic and Progressive, the prescription pad will come out, and you are already on the slippery slope. Type 2 Diabetes is a dietary disease and cannot be cured with pharmaceuticals, only by changing your diet. The reason I have covered this again is to make the point, if you are gaining visceral belly fat you cannot afford to wait until tomorrow. The article that I mentioned at the beginning of this post covers this topic, visceral fat, estrogen levels in men, and what I am having difficulty getting figures on is the link to prostate cancer, but as estrogen levels raise so does the incidence of cancer. That alone should be enough to make all you guys determined to rid yourself of that belly fat.
If belly fat is starting to build up you have got to make changes, and it’s going to hurt but if you don’t act it only becomes far more painful, and you can trust me on that because I have been there. You can easily find yourself in a situation where it’s like a runaway train, whatever you try and do diet wise it’s not shifting that visceral fat which is continuing to build. Now is the time to look at your diet and be totally honest with yourself, because what you are doing is NOT working. Two things you have to look at are, sugar and white carbs, mashed potatoes, white rice, pasta and bread, because these carbs convert to sugar rapidly and spike your insulin levels (the fat storing hormone). The recommended maximum amount of sugar for adult males is 30grms per day, and women 25grams and ONE average 330 ml can of soda has 36grams of sugar, and that is before you have eaten anything!!! Sugar is in everything, breakfast cereals, processed food, canned soups, and the obvious ones cakes and breads, and the worst thing is sugar isn’t always called sugar, there are 61 different names used in food labels. It doesn’t take rocket science to live a lot healthier, avoid vegetable oils, use single ingredients, eat meat from grass fed animals, avoid fast food as much as you possibly can, and if you are still following the low fat mantra, take a look at how much sugar is in it, you could well be in for a shock. Changing lifetime habits is never going to be easy, and if you are happy to get sick and die before you need to just keep doing what you do now, but if you want to live to a good old age and remain healthy you have got to make changes!
If you still need a little inspiration to go the extra half mile it’s not hard to find. Dr John Bergman in his video Arthritis Is Reversible shows pictures of a woman working out on the parallel bars, the only unusual thing here is that the woman is 96 years old, plus in the same video he shows a body building group where the minimum age to join is 75, and these guys are the real deal. Dr Caryn Zinn a New Zealand registered Dietician, who strongly believes in a Low Carb Diet and fasting for longevity, says she would be happy to die when she is 98, by being knocked off her mountain bike while racing through a forest, and why not, if you don’t accept restrictions. This guy is my favourite Dr Joseph Maroon a world leading Neurosurgeon, who at 71 is still taking part in high level Triathlons, and The Iron Man competition, and that has to be one of the hardest challenges you can put yourself through at any age, let alone at 71. The only way anybody can reach peak performance at any age is with the right diet; otherwise you will never be able to reach your full potential.
Dr John Bergman, Arthritis Is Reversible
Dr Caryn Zinn – ‘…On Fat and Fasting’
Dr Joseph Maroon – The Dr Maroon interview starts at 1:06:03 but if you have not seen this video before you should watch all of it.
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