Use It or Lose It

This post is for those of us who are getting a little older. I hate the term 'senior citizen' and refuse to use it. Those of you who are younger will want to keep this in mind because your time is coming.

I see people my age who do as close to nothing as possible. They watch TV and eat. That's about all. My neighbor recently died in his sleep of a heart attack and that was what he did. TV and food were his only pastimes. He was fat as a pig, could scarcely walk and frequently was none too sure where he was. Again, all he did was eat and watch TV. And, I notice, this is pretty common.

The human body was not meant to be idle. Our muscles enjoy moving and become soft and ultimately useless when ignored. The brain is unhappy when idle and ultimately just quits working when ignored. There are complex physiological reasons for this and they can be summed up with 'use it or lose it.'

Now, all you folks know this, but how many of you pay anything more than lip service to these facts. If you find yourself growing idle and staring vacantly at the tube, you must get off your rear end an do something. It can be almost anything that is not illegal or ridiculously stupid. (I would not recommend bank robbery or drinking a quart of Scotch a day). Just make sure you are using your facilities.

You do not have to start spending hours in a gym, although if that appeals to you, go for it. Just taking a good walk or gardening or swimming, as long as you are moving your muscles around, is fine. If you have physical limitations, I understand, but you still need to move as much as you can.

Mentally, it is just as important to use that brain. You don't have to learn differential calculus or ancient Greek, although bot would be really cool, but you need to do something. Read a little, anything will do, or have a really good conversation, or maybe rediscover the seemingly lost art of letter writing/

You can combine the physical and mental. Learn a new skill. Woodworking, sketching, golf, anything that requires a blend of the physical and mental is wonderful.

Push yourself, within reason. There is no need to go until you risk physical or mental breakdown, but there is nothing wrong with tiring yourself out. That means you have had a good work session and, as a bonus, you will sleep better.

So, get off your backside, turn off the TV and, do something.

Get a Grip on Your Weight

Many of us are fat and, many of the rest are too darn thin. This causes a world of health problems and health problems create a loss in quality (and often quantity) of life. They are also expensive. So, the practical thing to do is get a grip on your weight.

We all do not have to look like super models or Olympic swimmers, but we all should strive to have a reasonable weight. If you are too fat, you are going to feel sluggish, stress your circulatory system and, especially as you age, have a bunch of aches and pains. I can certainly testify to the latter. I am, now a bit heavy. In the past, I have lapsed into obese and spent many years wavering between fat and chunky. I have arthritis and I am sure that my weight has contributed and, in recent years has caused unnecessary pain. I am now, slowly, getting rid of excess baggage. I stress slowly because losing weigh too fast is not a good idea and, even if it works, the results will be temporary. You cannot stay on a diet  your whole life, nor should you. You also, should stay away from any fad diet, all quick loss weight loss pills (they're usually mostly caffeine) and there is no need to send away for pre-packaged meals (they are expensive).

The answer is simple; eat less and exercise more. You lose weight when you burn more calories than you eat. It is that simple. You do not need to count calories; if you eat less and are still not losing weight, you need to eat even less or exercise more or both. You do not have to hire a personal trainer or head to the gym; walk more, ride a bike, do some old fashioned calisthenics, work in the garden, chase the family dog around the back yard, anything that gets you moving.

You will lose weight. It will be slow. You need to eat a balanced diet, with small amounts of each food group. Do not eliminate fats, carbs, or proteins. You need some of each, just cut the amounts. If you get a little hungry between meals, a small snack, very small, of nuts, crackers, cheese, fruit, yogurt are good ideas; just a bite or two. Note: if, during these hunger spell, you feel faint, shaky and mentally weird, you may be a bit hypoglycemic. Eat a high protein snack and get to a doctor as this may cause serious problems and may have underlying causes. If you go out to  dinner are a party and overdo things, do not beat yourself up. Just start back the next day and move on.

As for being underweight, I have no experience with that, but, everyday, I see people, usually young women, who are so thin they look sickly. Obviously, they should eat more but, I am told that they have body image difficulties and see themselves as fat. In those cases, there needs to be some sort of counselling available. If there is none, or, as is often the case, it is not affordable, I suppose the best thing is for family and friends to be supportive and loving and try to reason, gently, with the individual. I mention girls here because I see this extreme thinness most often in them and hear it mentioned more often as a female problem. I imagine there are males with the same problem and I would think they should be treated the same. In any case, the individual should see a doctor and make sure there are no underlying conditions.

We are a culture bombarded with images, in advertising and entertainment, of slender, athletic young men and women. You do not have to look like that but, for your own health and well being, neither should you look like Homer Simpson.      

Health Tip - Be Careful with Farm Raised Seafood

I think the idea of farm raised seafood is wonderful. The oceans are fished out and must be allowed to rest awhile and regenerate, yet many of us love seafood. Farm raising seafood is a great idea.

But, fish, shrimp etc. are easily contaminated, especially some that are often farmed. For example, catfish and shrimp both are scavengers and will eat anything.

Now, American and European aquatic farms are fairly well regulated and their products safe, reasonably. The same cannot be said of other countries. I have seen films of fish farms from various parts of the world and they are nightmarish. They are raising their fish and shellfish in a nasty mess of near sewage, they are far too overcrowded and, really, the only way they stay productive is by adding enormous amounts of hormones, pesticides and antibiotics.

I once got sick by eating tainted shrimp, imported from Thailand. I felt like the character in Alien who had the monster bursting out of his stomach and was sick for a week.

Retailers are required to mark where farm raised seafood was grown. Please, do yourself a favor and buy American. It is far safer, and besides, it is a good way to support American businesses and workers.

Health

One of the most practical things anyone can do is keep themselves as healthy as possible. Illness and injury cost a lot in terms of treatment and time lost from work. Also, as I have learned, problems you have when younger, injuries and sicknesses alike, come back to haunt you as you age.

Of course, you cannot control everything and all of us will, here and there, get sick or injure ourselves, but, you can minimize those incidents without not too much effort. First let me say that I, in no way, think that people should obsess over health. That can be worse, All you have to do is use a bit of sense.

If you are doing any sort of work, follow basic safety rules and read and follow the instructions an every tool you use, especially power tools. This means wearing safety glasses, appropriate gloves and masks. It means not standing on the top steps of ladders and unplugging power tools before you do maintenance on them. It means using chemicals only as directed and measuring carefully. In short, do all of the things I was brought up ignoring. Back in my younger days, it was somehow considered unmanly to take safety precautions. Guys ( not many women did these things back in the old less enlightened day) cut wood with no protection and many, like me breathed in mountains of toxic sawdust and spent much time washing that dust out of our eyes. No one measured chemicals. In fact, if the directions called for 6oz, we generally made that 8, because more must be better, right? Well it isn't as we learned when we sloshed caustic cleaners on ourselves or had acids over react and foam up all over our clothes. We were idiots and it is somehow miraculous that some of us are still around.

Diet is vital to health.  That is obvious but, having worked in a school cafeteria and a semi-fast food restaurant, I can tell you that we still eat foolishly. At school, when we served nachos, we always also offered vegetables. We wasted our time with that but, what is worse, the majority of the kids did not even want the meat with the nachos. Most just ate chips and cheese, or worse, just chips. At the restaurant, 2 side dishes came with most meals and, very, very often, instead of a vegetable, folks, adults, would order fires and mac & cheese or a double order of fries. Folks, you do not have to be a health fanatic. There is no reason to live on egg whites and wheat grass and, actually, there is plenty of reason not to do that, but you really do need to eat a balanced diet, at least most of the time. Use your head and eat a bit of meat or fish, some veggies, some fruit, and a little bit of pasta, rice, bread. You can indulge yourself here and there with no problem as long as you get right back to basics. Also, since none of us are perfect, taking a decent 1-a-day multiple vitamin is likely a good move.

Get your sleep. How much? Well, honestly, that's hard to say. Doctors seem to disagree. I have known folks who needed at least 8 hours a night and others who did great on 4. All I can say is, find out what suits you. Sleep as much as it takes to wake up rested, no more and no less, but make sure you sleep enough for you.

The human body has to move about. Exercise is vital but, you do not need to spend hours in a gym lifting ridiculous amounts of weight, nor do you need to run for miles or waste hours on a treadmill. Walking at a good brisk pace for a half hour a day will do fine. If, for some reason you want to build muscle, carry something when you walk. Stop and think; for millennia, our ancestors walked and carried things and were reasonably lean and muscular. Why should we need special equipment and personal trainers. Also, do some house and yard work. Working around your home or in a garden works muscles you may not use a lot and will certainly give your body a good stretch. By the way, frequent stretching is great; just watch a dog or cat when they get up from a nap and stretch yourself like they do. Exercise is a must, but you absolutely do not need to overdo it.

Be moderate in your personal habits. Having written that, I realize that is pretty vague, so let me be specific. Do not over do with any chemicals you put in your body. Too much of anything, be it coffee, tobacco, alcohol or marijuana, is bad, but there is no reason you have to completely abstain. I would emphatically urge you to abstain from any of the more serious drugs. There is no safe level of amphetamine, cocaine, or heroin use, and, personally, I would recommend that you reconsider that marijuana use (unless for legitimate medical reasons). Weed is not seriously harmful to the body but, contrary to what some say it does mess with the day to day functioning of your mind when used too often, If you just have to smoke the stuff, make it minimal and certainly do not smoke every day. Trust me, I know the subject from much personal experience.

Basically, all the keys to good health simply involve common sense and moderation. Use both and then don't worry. A last note: I have never been much for doctors but, if you are having any persistent problem or any sudden change in your health that you cannot explain, get yourself to a doctor immediately. It is far easier for them to treat your problem before it gets out of hand. Stay healthy

The Practical American

Americans are going through some rough times. Despite what many economic reporters say, the economy is at best shaky. Any slight thing, trouble abroad, somestic scandal, natural disaster, even a run of bad weather in the farm belt, will cause the whole thing to sink into a downturn that will make our last recession look like a party.

I have lived a good while now and have had periods of affluence and periods of poverty. I know how to get along with little money. I worked doing building maintenance and learned how to fix darn near anything. I have worked in kitchens and know how to cook almost anything. And, I had the good fortune to be born into a family whose roots go back to the country where people had to  be largely self-reliant. That is how they survived the Great Depression.

I also have spent some time gardening, both as a hobby and as part of my work. There is little as satisfying as eating vegetables and fruit you have grown yourself.

I have also, through research combined with practical necessity learned a good bit about how to stay healthy. I never did care much for doctors and, on the whole, find that the more I avoid them, the better I feel.

I have decided to write this blog to try and help some of my fellow Americans through the rough times facing this Nation. There is no reason to suffer if you know a few tricks to ease your way along. I hope you find my tips useful. Feel free to comment and/or ask questions.