... down the decades every year summer leaves, my birthday's here and all my friends stand up and cheer. "Man, you're old!" If you're really an "old" hippie, then sooner or later there comes a time when you realize that you simply cannot disregard your health like maybe you did when you were in your 30's or 40's. Earlier this year I looked at myself naked in the mirror and realized I had more junk in the trunk than ever before in my life. I had less energy than ever before. I had to do something. So I've become a semi-fanatic about diet and exercise. I read food labels scrupulously now, checking for fat and sodium, mostly. It's amazing the absolute shit that passes for food in the grocery stores. I've even taken up jogging, although what I call "jogging" probably would make most younger people laugh. But I don't care. I figure if I'm outdoors and moving, it can't be bad. So what about you other lovely gray folk? What do you do to take care of yourselves these days?
hi granny longerhair.. you are so right about the importance of reading labels. Back in the day the hippy folk in europe heard about the wonders of brown rice at the same time we heard about the wonders of lsd! I'm one of the ones who stuck with all these years, & I feel a deterioration in my health when I move too far away from fresh foods, unrefined grains etc..
It's my 60th birthday very soon and I have to say that I feel 100% both mentally and physically. I do have problems with a fucked knee but it doesn't get me down and I know that if I gave up my "kamikaze pilot" lifestyle it would be so much better! :seeya:
hi Etherea.. I had a f**ked knee too.. had keyhole surgery.. you're living your life to the full though, so good for keeping up your spirits..
Yep, brown rice and lots of other things, too. The list of "super foods" is longer than I ever would have imagined 30 years ago, everything from blueberries to sweet potatoes to spinach, and lots more. Yes indeed! You can almost hear this little voice from your body after you've had, say, broccoli for dinner ... "thank you, thank you!"
I have lots of issues with lack of energy. I know it's time for me to give up cigarettes. I'm much to young to feel this damn old!
Probably but I couldn't bear the timeout that I would have to take! Stupid I know, but I also know my condition very well and know that with normal behaviour it is totally bearable. Own worse enemy and all that I can feel when I've probably done too much but never ever give it up until it's too late and I have to rest for days. Idiot or what?
But seriously apart from that I'm still all singing all dancing from the minute my feet hit the floor. My partner, who isn't at his best in the morning, really can't cope very well at all I have a good role model though. My father is 92 this year and is as right as rain physically and as bright as a button mentally.
good for you. being a glass half (or 3/4?) full person makes all the difference.. hi Aerianne.. do you smoke a lot? it's a bitch trying to break the habit.. I found it helped that I didn't live near any shops that were open & i simply wouldn't venture out on winter evenings, & I realized the craving passes in a few minutes, but not at time of big stress..
I gave up smoking about a year and a half ago. One way to go for me only. Just stopped doing it and never looked back. I had been thinking about it for a while though (40 years ) and one day the time was right.
i got massive major dental work done a few years ago, imagine the worst, shittiest teeth... it was like that- if that was much much worse. so now i am very very healthy!!! ....other than eating a fucking dangerous amount of pork/beef/fried-food, and washing it down with unbelievable shit-tons of beer. i run miles, and bike miles miles+ every day - just to MAINTAIN my shitty body.
you can still do all that stuff at age 32 & get away with, but as granny longerhair said at the beginning of this thread it's a very different story in your 60s.. you have to eat & live carefully just to be able to function.. it's well worth learning how to look after yourself when your still in good shape..
At 62 I'm doing well. I try and work out with a dumbbell at least four days a week and take occasional bike rides. I eat lightly and my weight is very good, I have always avoided salt. I have cut back on caffeine lately. I have never smoked and although I drank a lot in my youth, seldom take a drink now. A couple weeks ago I took my twenty something year old niece backpacking in the Appalachian mountains. She runs marathons and obstacle courses so I was a little worried. All the relatives were taking bets on how long I'd last. We did 17 miles in one day in 92 degree weather with 30 pound packs..and she gave up and called it off. I was tired but ready to go, so I was pleased with myself.
I'm in my late 60s. I had a "health event" about 6 years ago and it was touch and go for awhile - critical care, vent, fucking tubes everywhere. A few months later I crapped out on a short backpacking trip (17 miles in a day Me Again!). Following that I started working out in a gym - cardio and weights 30 minutes 4 x week. I'm pretty active through the days. A year or so later I did an epic hike in the Wind River Mountains. I backpack several times year now. I eat a decent diet - low salt, low fat, etc. and my BMI is within normal limits. I take medicine for BP, cholesterol, etc. - and I take my meds religiously. I take increased care with substances. For example, in a couple of days I'm going to a 3 day gathering where I don't know a lot of people and don't know anyone well. So, given my age and the risk for heart problems, I decided to not take mdma (though I was so ready). I'll save it for when I'm with good friends I know I can depend on.
Ouch! thismoment! Glad you seem to be doing fine. I don't do any drugs but a baby aspirin a day. Quite everything else. Not even vitamins. On the backpacking trip, I had planned a ten mile first day but we got to our destination early so my niece wanted to push on. I tried to tell her that water would be hard to find and we might need to go at least another five miles or have a dry camp, but she wanted to keep going, so we went. We were only carrying one water bottle each. We had an opportunity to camp at about 14 miles but she didn't like the water, a small little puddle. But we had pills and I have drunken worse water in my time. So we kept going. I kept telling her that the last five miles are much worse than the first ten. Anyway at fifteen miles she started lagging behind and complaining and as we were still on a ridge I told her to call my wife for a pick up at a road two miles away as I knew once we hit the road we'd have no reception. So we bailed at the road. Remind me to tell you about the time I was hiking alone while doing one of those little pieces of paper and got captured by the Boy Scouts.
