Just to let you know I shall be away for about three weeks, so blog posts are on hold. See you when I get back.
The Old Biddy
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
LIVING ON IN STYLE: Benefit Number Two
I’m sure that at some time, or with great regularity, we have asked and do ask ourselves how long we have on this planet earth? Naturally, none of us can come up with any kind of answer unless we are in the unfortunate position of knowing, because of a medical condition.
Our second benefit in this series is to realize that if we lost weight we would no doubt add a greater number of years to our lives.
Of course, we don’t want the extra years if they are not quality years. But we can strive for quality as well as quantity. To accomplish this, we must again turn our minds to not only watching our diet, exercise, and movements, but also we must keep the brain as active as it can be. We wont get into a discussion as to the type of tricks our memory can play on us as we age – we all know about that. But we are not just concerned with memory, we are concerned with attitude and the activity of the mind.
If we keep an active mind we will maintain a positive rather than a negative attitude. A positive attitude will encourage us to do the things we should be doing to remain fit and healthy in preparation for the many years ahead. In my case, the positive mind set seems to have created a desire to train to become an Olympic athlete, but the old body is definitely not having anything to do with that idea. A negative attitude will not help us at all; we will then be much more inclined to take to the rocking chair and never leave it!
Guess what? If we are carrying around a lot of excess baggage on our bodies, then we are going to have problems unless we can encourage ourselves to try and moderate our current lifestyle and chuck some of those pounds. To encourage ourselves, it helps to have a healthy mind, so look for exercises for the brain on the internet, (and there are plenty of them), do crosswords several times a day and challenge ourselves with some new and interesting activity. After this the attitude will go up and the pounds will go down.
Positive attitude = weight loss = quality of life = additional years in our lives.
© Old Biddy Susan Lancaster
Keywords: Living on In Style, years to our lives, quality years, brain as active, memory, positive attitude, rocking chair, negative attitude, current lifestyle
Our second benefit in this series is to realize that if we lost weight we would no doubt add a greater number of years to our lives.
Of course, we don’t want the extra years if they are not quality years. But we can strive for quality as well as quantity. To accomplish this, we must again turn our minds to not only watching our diet, exercise, and movements, but also we must keep the brain as active as it can be. We wont get into a discussion as to the type of tricks our memory can play on us as we age – we all know about that. But we are not just concerned with memory, we are concerned with attitude and the activity of the mind.
If we keep an active mind we will maintain a positive rather than a negative attitude. A positive attitude will encourage us to do the things we should be doing to remain fit and healthy in preparation for the many years ahead. In my case, the positive mind set seems to have created a desire to train to become an Olympic athlete, but the old body is definitely not having anything to do with that idea. A negative attitude will not help us at all; we will then be much more inclined to take to the rocking chair and never leave it!
Guess what? If we are carrying around a lot of excess baggage on our bodies, then we are going to have problems unless we can encourage ourselves to try and moderate our current lifestyle and chuck some of those pounds. To encourage ourselves, it helps to have a healthy mind, so look for exercises for the brain on the internet, (and there are plenty of them), do crosswords several times a day and challenge ourselves with some new and interesting activity. After this the attitude will go up and the pounds will go down.
Positive attitude = weight loss = quality of life = additional years in our lives.
© Old Biddy Susan Lancaster
Keywords: Living on In Style, years to our lives, quality years, brain as active, memory, positive attitude, rocking chair, negative attitude, current lifestyle
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Public Enemy Number One
When I started this blog, I wanted to provide some amusement in these posts, but also I hoped to get a discussion going on the odious subject of weight loss, and how this kind of excess baggage will have an awful and insidious effect on our lives as we grow older. Too many of us, both men and women are overweight. My favourite people, the media, seem to focus their comments and support for people from teenagers to those in their 50s. They seem to have forgotten there are people over 60. For the media’s information, the needs of the 60+ are just as important in the matter of weight loss as those of the teens, 20s, 30s, 40, and 50s.
What about the huge and ever expanding group of 60+, which includes some of the baby boomers? People in this age group are battling overweight problems compounded by decreasing metabolic rate and increasing problems with mobility. Note that mobility doesn’t just encompass exercise, it is everything we do in the way of moving our bodies.
We were given arms and legs and this fantastic organ known as the brain to enable our internal and external body functions; but in order for them to operate we were meant to move, and move and move. Overweight does not kill outright, but it offers a spiralling downward plunge into the miserable world of disability from which, in our vintage years, we may not recover. We all accept that different diets work for different people and there is a myriad of movements (exercise) on offer, so we can choose the one most beneficial to us.
Whether you want to diet or just eat sensibly, just do it. Walking, gardening, housework, swimming – it doesn’t matter, just do it and with regularity. To prove my point, when I had a dog to walk, we walked every morning. Not a huff and puff race walk, but a slow, steady one. Now, there are no dogs and I’ve put on 10 lbs. Worse still, the mobility of one leg has ground to a stand still. Ignoring movement and exercise is so easy to do, but ignore it at your peril. I know there are many of you who may rightly argue that I could still have walked. Would you do it every day in the pouring rain? With a dog, you have no choice.
The next few blog posts will be about weight loss and the need for the 60+ to enjoy quality of life. After each post, I will list one of thirteen benefits I see as the result of losing even 5 lbs. and what it could mean for you.
Think about this first benefit: Weight loss will relieve the pressure on our skeletal system. Wouldn’t it be great to get those old bones working with greater ease?
All feed back or examples of your own situation is welcomed.
© Old Biddy Susan Lancaster
What about the huge and ever expanding group of 60+, which includes some of the baby boomers? People in this age group are battling overweight problems compounded by decreasing metabolic rate and increasing problems with mobility. Note that mobility doesn’t just encompass exercise, it is everything we do in the way of moving our bodies.
We were given arms and legs and this fantastic organ known as the brain to enable our internal and external body functions; but in order for them to operate we were meant to move, and move and move. Overweight does not kill outright, but it offers a spiralling downward plunge into the miserable world of disability from which, in our vintage years, we may not recover. We all accept that different diets work for different people and there is a myriad of movements (exercise) on offer, so we can choose the one most beneficial to us.
Whether you want to diet or just eat sensibly, just do it. Walking, gardening, housework, swimming – it doesn’t matter, just do it and with regularity. To prove my point, when I had a dog to walk, we walked every morning. Not a huff and puff race walk, but a slow, steady one. Now, there are no dogs and I’ve put on 10 lbs. Worse still, the mobility of one leg has ground to a stand still. Ignoring movement and exercise is so easy to do, but ignore it at your peril. I know there are many of you who may rightly argue that I could still have walked. Would you do it every day in the pouring rain? With a dog, you have no choice.
The next few blog posts will be about weight loss and the need for the 60+ to enjoy quality of life. After each post, I will list one of thirteen benefits I see as the result of losing even 5 lbs. and what it could mean for you.
Think about this first benefit: Weight loss will relieve the pressure on our skeletal system. Wouldn’t it be great to get those old bones working with greater ease?
All feed back or examples of your own situation is welcomed.
© Old Biddy Susan Lancaster
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Truly Canadian Olympics
The outstanding Olympics, the fantastic Olympics, the Olympics that bonded and forged a new national identity in Canada; what a glorious two weeks we have enjoyed. Before the Games opened, I recall finishing my previous post with “…and hopefully to provide many gold medals for Canada”. Who could possibly have foreseen 14 gold medals, the most won by any country since the games started again in 1924.
It was totally unbelievable – everything, including me, a dyed in the wool anti-winter sports viewer who had never watched the Olympic Games and had no interest in them whatsoever, sitting in front of the television set watching all the action day after day. Not quite all; I refused to watch the final hockey game because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand the tension and excitement. Did I think they would win? I did more than that, I believed.
I think it was the feeling of secret anticipation that something very special was going to happen with these Olympics. Even at home, the feeling of pride for the Olympic team was pervasive. We were a nation celebrating these games together, if not in Robson Square or Whistler, all of us glued to our TV sets. As the Games progressed, so we progressed from not just watching, but getting together, talking about and celebrating these events at home, over coffee breaks, at work, in the pubs, on the buses and at Robson Square and finally Yonge Street in Toronto and various places in the Maritimes and across the Prairies.
In the end we showed our heartfelt feelings of sorrow to the family of the young slider who was killed and to the people of Georgia; we had plenty of snow on Cypress – as John Furlong said, the score was the Blue Jackets 1, Cypress Bowl nil; we slammed our critics, particularly the British and Foreign Press, we overcame protesters by the sheer joy of our enthusiasm; trampled over all negative thoughts and we won. What a victory for Canada and the Olympics. Long may this unity last.
It was totally unbelievable – everything, including me, a dyed in the wool anti-winter sports viewer who had never watched the Olympic Games and had no interest in them whatsoever, sitting in front of the television set watching all the action day after day. Not quite all; I refused to watch the final hockey game because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand the tension and excitement. Did I think they would win? I did more than that, I believed.
I think it was the feeling of secret anticipation that something very special was going to happen with these Olympics. Even at home, the feeling of pride for the Olympic team was pervasive. We were a nation celebrating these games together, if not in Robson Square or Whistler, all of us glued to our TV sets. As the Games progressed, so we progressed from not just watching, but getting together, talking about and celebrating these events at home, over coffee breaks, at work, in the pubs, on the buses and at Robson Square and finally Yonge Street in Toronto and various places in the Maritimes and across the Prairies.
In the end we showed our heartfelt feelings of sorrow to the family of the young slider who was killed and to the people of Georgia; we had plenty of snow on Cypress – as John Furlong said, the score was the Blue Jackets 1, Cypress Bowl nil; we slammed our critics, particularly the British and Foreign Press, we overcame protesters by the sheer joy of our enthusiasm; trampled over all negative thoughts and we won. What a victory for Canada and the Olympics. Long may this unity last.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Onions and Carrots Galore
I had the pleasure of talking recently with my step-son in the UK. He is quite a guy; a person able to make goals and stick to them in the face of adversity. But, back to today. Iain and his wife, Suzanne, recently moved into another house which requires a lot of TLC and a lot of money to get the TLC on the table. Suzanne is a great decorator and I know when the house is finished it will look superb.
They also acquired an acre of land with the house, with two dog runs dominating the landscape. The previous owner, I understand, was a dog breeder. With a mind to cut the cost of living, which is prohibitively high in England, Iain and Suzanne decided to turn one of the dog runs into a sort an allotment plot. In the middle of house renovations, and work, Iain makes the decision to rent a rotavator to transform the one dog run into a viable piece of land on which to grow veggies of all sorts, sizes and descriptions.
Iain, being Iain, had done all his ‘market garden’ research thoroughly before committing to this plan, including price comparisons with what was available in the supermarket, and the best growing facilities for the produce. In some cases, buckets will work! I was getting so enthused with his descriptions, I pictured myself running out to buy buckets to grow various vegetables!
Then came the crowning announcement. He had bought 3 packets of carrot and onion seed, hoping that it would be enough. When he looked closely, at the packets, he discovered that one packet of carrot seed would produce 3,500 carrots, and one packet of onion seed would produce 2,600 onions. He decided that discretion was the better part of valour and that he would refrain from purchasing any more carrot and onion seeds.
I could not restrain my laughter and suggested that perhaps he’d better set up a vegetable stall outside the house, which would contribute further to his increased economic status.
Finally, our phone call came to an end, and I immediately went to see my husband and suggested that we should resurrect the appropriate pots and frames to grow tomatoes and pepper on the deck. With an uncertain economic future, maybe we should be using common sense and producing fresh, organic vegetables for ourselves. It made sense and, after all, there is nothing like home-grown tomatoes.
The Old Biddy
.
They also acquired an acre of land with the house, with two dog runs dominating the landscape. The previous owner, I understand, was a dog breeder. With a mind to cut the cost of living, which is prohibitively high in England, Iain and Suzanne decided to turn one of the dog runs into a sort an allotment plot. In the middle of house renovations, and work, Iain makes the decision to rent a rotavator to transform the one dog run into a viable piece of land on which to grow veggies of all sorts, sizes and descriptions.
Iain, being Iain, had done all his ‘market garden’ research thoroughly before committing to this plan, including price comparisons with what was available in the supermarket, and the best growing facilities for the produce. In some cases, buckets will work! I was getting so enthused with his descriptions, I pictured myself running out to buy buckets to grow various vegetables!
Then came the crowning announcement. He had bought 3 packets of carrot and onion seed, hoping that it would be enough. When he looked closely, at the packets, he discovered that one packet of carrot seed would produce 3,500 carrots, and one packet of onion seed would produce 2,600 onions. He decided that discretion was the better part of valour and that he would refrain from purchasing any more carrot and onion seeds.
I could not restrain my laughter and suggested that perhaps he’d better set up a vegetable stall outside the house, which would contribute further to his increased economic status.
Finally, our phone call came to an end, and I immediately went to see my husband and suggested that we should resurrect the appropriate pots and frames to grow tomatoes and pepper on the deck. With an uncertain economic future, maybe we should be using common sense and producing fresh, organic vegetables for ourselves. It made sense and, after all, there is nothing like home-grown tomatoes.
The Old Biddy
.
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