Don’t let age define you!
Health and Fitness at Any Age
Healthy aging isn’t easy but it is possible and it is important since aging is inevitable for all of us. What we can control is our approach to it and out health and fitness. People often let age define them and use the excuse of ‘age’ as being the reason they’re out of shape or overweight and unhappy with their fitness level and appearance. Rather than looking into realistic ways of how to stay fit and age healthily.
While age is a contributing factor and can make it harder, as muscle mass naturally begins to decrease as we age, which can throw off your balance as well as slow your metabolism, it doesn’t make it impossible. We just have to work harder and make adaptions if we have any limiting factors.
Porridge and strawberries to start the day well fueled
Healthy Aging | How to stay fit and make health and fitness a part of your life always
Look at healthy aging and staying fit as an opportunity to help ward off chronic diseases, control excess weight and stay active for life as more motivation to exercise and to achieve results. By being conscious of what we eat, think, do and consistently making smart choices in our lives and forming healthy habits it’s much easier to maintain results for life.
Don’t believe me?! I asked someone who is the perfect example of aging fit and healthily. I’m fortunate to have my own gorgeous, fit and healthy Mom who is not only a grand-mother, but a great-grandmother. She’s a shining example of making health and fitness a lifestyle and not feeding into the instant gratification society of diet fads or magic pills.
I asked her a few questions on how she’s stayed in shape all of her life not just in her youth. Here she shares her lifestyle and keys to success for the longterm.
What’s your earliest memory of being health and fitness as well as body conscious?
我年轻时在加工食品和现成的饭菜were a rarity in the UK. All of the meat and vegetables were sourced fairly locally, and would probably be labelled “organic” now. The schools I attended instilled the importance of regular exercise, every student had to participate in physical training, dancing and a variety of sports. I took all these things for granted until the age of 15 years, when a pre-nursing course helped me make the positive links between health, nutrition and fitness. By then, a growing interest in boys escalated my own body consciousness!
What do you do to keep fit and make health and fitness part of your lifestyle?
Lots of walking helps me keep fit, I use the stairs instead of elevators whenever possible (until recently my work office was based the 8th floor). Even on holidays I walk wherever possible. Zumba classes are my latest passion, as I love music and dance, this is an enjoyable way for me to maintain energy and fitness levels.
Use the stairs instead of elevators whenever possible.
What does your average day of consist of nutrition wise?
I usually have 3 meals a day and rarely want to snack between these.
Porridge made with water is my ideal breakfast, I never get bored with this, I do sometimes add strawberries or blueberries when they are in season.
Lunch tends to be a multi-grain bread sandwich, salad or oatcakes and cheese. I find it useful to keep a supply ofoatcakeswith me for when I’m on the go, and miss lunch.
My evening meal comprises of lots of steamed vegetables with fish or meat, unless I have salad. I rarely have a dessert due to a food intolerance to dairy cream.
When going grocery shopping do you plan your meals ahead and write a shopping list or ad lib?
I found it helpful to have a shopping list when I first started to cook, to avoid forgetting items I needed for the meals planned for the week. Now I have more experience I no longer need a list (except when I have guests or host dinner parties). This has freed me to a more flexible way of shopping to maximize the usage of good local fresh and seasonal produces.
What’s your favorite meal/food?
Lobster salad. Tomatoes. Yes, even porridge and oatcakes! (Eve:I definitely get my my clean eating tastebuds from my Mom).
What do you wish you were better about doing for your health and fitness?
I have rarely found it easy to relax, but am working on this by taking up art classes and joining a book club.
How do you dress to flatter your shape and make you feel good?
I have always liked to dress fashionably, so have not constantly chosen clothes wisely to suit my shape and coloring. However it has been such fun experimenting. I doubt whether I get it right all the time, but I feel happy when I wear an outfit to suit the occasion.
Feeling good in clothes, for me, requires the whole package this includes accessories, hair and when someone you care about says
“Oh, you do look lovely”. (which she always does, my Mum’s super glam)
- Take good care of your skin, cleanse, moisturize, and protect from the sun.
- Remember to exercise your mind as well as your body.
Do you take any supplements or vitamins to stay fit and healthy?
As I have a reasonably healthy lifestyle I did not start taking supplements until advised during my first pregnancy to take iron tablets. However, on reaching middle age I began takingGlucosamine sulphatecapsules daily, to maximize maintenance of healthy joints.
Alas, as I approached my sixties, I decided nature needed a helping hand as my usually healthy looking hair, had started to thin and my nails had become brittle. I now take oneMulti-Vitamintablet daily. These tablets contain a range of micronutrients including vitamins, B-Vitamins and Biotin to maintain healthy skin, and minerals selenium and zinc for healthy hair and nails.
Who inspires you most and why?
At various stages of my life different people have inspired me to fulfill ambitions that firstly shaped and helped shape a career in nursing and later to provide me with the confidence to diversify into rewarding social work.
If I had to name one person it would be Florence Nightingale as my inspiration to do nursing. Florence Nightingale…
“was a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a manager of nurses trained by her during the Crimean War where she organized the tending to wounded soldiers. She gave nursing a highly favorable reputation…” (Wikipedia)
Eve:如果你有任何问题你想问我的妈妈about health and fitness at any age, aging or how to stay fit please leave them in the comments below and we’ll be happy to get back to you.
I don’t let my age define me, but the side effects are getting harder to ignore.
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