Monday, March 26, 2012

How much degradation should we except in our body?

At age 65 I can expect some bodily degeneration and loss of mobility and functionality. But I wonder how much is too much and can some of this be reversed or forestalled.

About 5 years ago at around age 60 I was taking a shower one night when I noticed it was getting more difficult to reach my feet to wash them one at a time while standing in the shower. Also, just bending over to tie my shoes was getting uncomfortable. At first I dismissed this as a normal part of getting old. But after thinking about it a while I said, "NO! BullShit! This sucks and I won't have it!!

 So, I started to practice lifting my foot up higher while standing in the shower to improve at least that bit of mobility. It worked. When I related the experience to a friend she said "Wow! You can balance on one foot in the shower? That's not easy!"
With this bit of encouragement I gradually began to improve other things also. I stopped drinking beer (more or less) to reduce the beer belly that made it uncomfortable to tie my shoes. Rats! The beer belly didn't want to go away. Eventually my wife discovered the Paleo diet which I decided to try just to keep peace in the family and guess what? The beer belly started to fade away. I have sense found that what I had called a beer belly was actually wheat belly. Or gluten belly.
The most amazing thing is that now I am finding other symptoms are starting to fade also. Joint pains, Acid reflux, Pollen allergy, Head ache, Depression, Irregularity, Over weight. These are some of the things Cathy and I are leaving behind as we get older simply by changing our diet. No drugs.

What is this "Paleo diet"? We now eat more vegetables and fruits than anything along with meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and nuts. Conspicuously absent from this diet now is grains, legumes, and most dairy. What? no breads you say? OK that was not easy at first but now it is just part of a more healthy life style. Some of our friends and neighbors think we are nuts doing this but we are very happy to leave behind all the drugs and pain meds that we were on before.

Good health to you.
Ken.