Aging Well

Did you know that September is “Healthy Aging Awareness Month”? It’s a great idea and I never knew that it existed. I do think, that all 12 months of the year should be healthy aging awareness months.

Healthy aging practices will improve your life expectancy as well as the quality of your life. This is more important than ever. The growth in the number of older adults continues to accelerate. In 2014, 14.5% of the US population was age 65 or older. This will rise to 23.5% of the United States population or 98 million people over the next 40 years.

There are a few basic Healthstyle tips that are easy to follow which will provide great dividends over time. With regards to diet, listen to your mom and eat your vegetables. Particularly raw vegetables. They provide a myriad of health benefits including improving your gut flora and they act as an antioxidant which may counter the aging process at the cellular level.

Eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids such as fatty fish. Eat beans and nuts. Substitute olive oil whenever possible. Avoid all processed food and processed carbohydrates and processed meats as well as sugar. Obviously avoid tobacco and if you drink alcohol, try to average less than one drink per day for women and less than two drinks per day for men.

When we are young, we so often I think of aging as only a few years down the road. To truly have a long healthy lifestyle, you need to have a long-term mindset of more than 30 years. This maintain means maintaining your posture, strength and flexibility throughout your life by doing strengthening and flexibility exercises as well as protecting your back joints, skin and organs.

Live a healthy and active life today for a healthy and active life tomorrow.

Stay well!