The Come Alive Project

Tag: senior fitness

  • Energy Bite 358 – Snow Time, Slipping and Tripping

    It’s snow time again. Here in the Washington, DC suburbs, we are expecting either a major storm, a minor storm or nothing at all for tomorrow. We have assorted predictions from lots of accumulated snow to virtually none at all. That brings up the ugly specter of slipping and sliding in the snow or on ice, no matter where you are located if you get snow. Hey, you can slip in the mud, too, if you live in the tropics. So here’s my annual review of “slipping and tripping”.

    If you are entering your 60s, you’ve probably fallen or almost fallen numerous times throughout your life.  But when you get older, falling can be dangerous.  Bones weaken and become more brittle with age so, a fall can easily mean a broken hip, arm or leg.

    Falls also hurt.  We don’t usually have the luxury of deciding where and when we will fall.  Floors are hard.  So is ice.  So are sidewalks.  So is dirt on a hot, dry day.  For the purpose of this article, the kind of falls I am talking about generally are from a standing, walking or running position to the floor or ground, not a fall from a two story building.

    There are two major forces involved in falling:  Gravity and momentum.  Gravity is the force that creates the downward pull to the ground.  Momentum is the speed times mass with which you fall. Together they dictate how hard you will hit the ground, as well as the angle and direction you will be going when you hit.

    Typically, there are two major causes of falling:  Slipping or Tripping.  Slipping usually occurs when you fall on a patch of ice or a wet floor.  Your feet usually go out from under you and your direction of fall is usually straight down, landing on your hip or back. 

    Tripping, on the other hand, usually happens when you don’t pick up your feet and trip over a loose light cord, the edge of a carpet or rug, or a tree root if you’re outside. The direction of your “tripping” fall is usually forward.  In both cases, the impact force is usually determined by the rate of movement in one direction (forward or sideways), combined with the rate of movement downward as a result of gravity.

    There are two ways to stop or recover from a fall.  First is to stop the fall before it really gets going.  The second is to take one of several possible actions to lessen the impact of the fall.

    1. Stop the fall before it really gets going.
      • Bend your legs fast to lower your center of gravity and reduce the distance to the ground.
      • Use the strength in your legs and your core combined to slow or stop the downward momentum.
    2. Lessen the impact:
      • Lower your center of gravity as in number one above
      • Tuck and roll.  If you trip while moving forward fast, you may not have time for this.  This method saved me from serious injury when I tripped after catching a football from my eldest grandson while running at full speed (not all that fast, I must admit), thirteen years ago at age 67.
      • Change the direction of movement by twisting, spiraling or rolling sideways.
      • “Breakfall” using your forearm, or your forearm and upper arm combined to hit first and dissipate some of the impact.  Of course you can bruise or more seriously injure your arm doing this, so it might be the lesser of two evils. Please don’t use your wrists to break a fall. That’s a broken wrist in the making.

    You must have developed the qualities of strength and agility to really be able to recover from a fall.  Generally leg strength is most important.  You can develop leg strength through movements you do every day as part of your daily life.   Walking.  Getting up and down from a chair (or other forms of squat).  The more strength you have, the easier it is to stay up.

    Your abdominal and other core strength is also critical during a fall.  The first reaction to the beginning of a fall is a natural “bracing” of your abdominal muscles.  The stronger the “bracing action”, the easier it is to stop or control the fall.

    Falls are dangerous to seniors. They are the number one reason overall for seniors visiting emergency rooms. Two years ago, I had a bad fall on the ice, landing on my hip, and resulting in a huge bruise but no break. My last DEXA (bone scan) showed a residual hairline crack in the hip bone where I had fallen. I was very lucky.

    So, for those of us in the “snow belt”, please be careful. For those of you in a more temperate climate, don’t forget to “pick up your feet” like your mother told you, so you don’t trip.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 357 – What Next? The Carnivore Diet

    Just when you thought you had heard everything about dieting, along comes the newest form of diet, The Carnivore Diet. Let’s see, we’ve had the KETO, Paleo, Atkins, Whole 30, Pritikin, Ornish, South Beach, etc, each with it’s own characteristics, dietary principles, nutrient focus, products and supplements.

    This article is not an endorsement of the Carnivore Diet. I happen to enjoy many fruits and vegetables, and for those I don’t, I add enough herbs and spices to make them tolerable. I also like seeds, and love nuts. The concept of a mostly meat diet is interesting enough to look at, and sometimes even the most controversial thinking has it’s positive attributes.

    In it’s simplest form, you eat only animals, no plants. No nuts, and no seeds. A main thrust is organ meat, particularly liver. It seems there are a ton of nutrients in liver. In a slightly lighter version, you can eat some plants (disguised as vegetables) such as avocados, olives and squashes, plus a few with strange sounding names. No broccoli, no lettuce, no spinach. Honey is part of the diet and some dairy seems to be OK.

    According to it’s proponents, eating a primarily meat diet fulfills all “real” dietary requirements, including enough Vitamin C to prevent scurvy.

    Eat the animal “nose to tail” to get all the benefits. Most people aren’t really interested in eating animal cartilage, so the main proponent of the diet, Dr. Paul Saladino, MD has his own supplement company (of course) and sells ground up and otherwise rendered, inedible animal parts. Dr. Saladino is also the author of The Carnivore Code, which you can find on Amazon.

    It’s hard to say who are the major beneficiaries of this form of diet other than “everybody”. Apparently, Dr. Saladino believes that metabolic efficiency and immune system improvement are the keys to good health and that anyone who wants good health will benefit from the Carnivore Diet. That’s pretty much all of us.

    What does the research/science say? I am not a scientist and have my own problems interpreting research studies. But Mark Sisson, one of the people whom I trust in the Fitness and Nutrition business, does well at interpreting these studies.He published an article on his own blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, where he discusses the the research involved in The Carnivore Diet in detail. It makes interesting reading, so here is the link: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/carnivore-diet-research-science/

    Sisson’s article is very interesting but fairly lengthy. I recommend following the link and reading it. I must point out that Sisson wrote the forward to Dr. Saladino’s book.

    Dr. Saladino has also been on many of he major health and fitness podcasts, including the Joe Rogan Experience and is gaining a following in the field.

    So is an all meat and some fruit diet with no veggies good for us? Will it provide the dietary needs of all of us, particularly seniors? Or is it just another Fad Diet promoted by another supplement salesman? Will it play out after a few short years like most FAD Diets, or will it be around long term. As always, an open mind is needed when absorbing something like this, and as I said above, sometimes the most controversial thinking can provide the most positive results.

    Will it work for you? Should you try it? I must admit that I loved beef liver and onions when I was growing up and asked for it for my birthday dinners when I was in my teens. I still love fried chicken livers to this day. But I did like some sort of veggie to go with them. I still consider vegetables of all sorts to be necessary for good health.

    So, what’s the takeaway here. There is another diet on the scene that is gaining a following. My goal in writing this is simply to make you aware of it and to provide some useful information about it. I get my “ground up animal parts” from gelatin and a Collagen supplement which I wrote about last week. I’m not prepared to give up veggies quite yet.

    So I encourage you investigate further if you want to be primarily a meat eater. If you are vegan or vegetarian, I hope you got a chance to see another “new” choice on the diet spectrum.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 352 – Communicating Positive Energy

    What kind of energy do you communicate to yourself and to the people around you?

    Are we old curmudgeons with an old person’s attitude toward life, or are we healthy, vibrant seniors with a vitality and zest for living our lives? Do you look forward to getting up in the morning, or do you roll over and mentally project how miserable your day is going to be? Do you drain energy from others, or do you communicate positive energy to them.

    By “Energy”, I am referring to that “life force” within us that makes us feel good, propels us forward, and makes us “come alive”.

    All too often, we let our age define who we are. Do you? Do you look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are looking older? When you think of yourself as getting old, do you project that energy to others through your voice, your posture, your bearing, your movement, and your attitude about life. How do you come across to others?

    Charles Fillmore, a spiritual leader of the early 20th century woke up one morning at the age of 93 and said out loud, “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and I spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.” Now that’s Positive Energy and a Come Alive Attitude.

    Do you think yourself old, or do you have a “Come Alive Attitude” toward your life as it is? Do want to stay like you are, or do you want to try new things and experiment with life? Are you looking forward to your future or are you dreading it? Are you buried in the past or are you willing to accept inevitable change in the real world as time marches on?

    Is your physical body up to the task of living a long and active life, or is it weak and filled with aches and pains? Is your mind dreary and filled with dread for your future?

    In his book of inspirational essays, Celebrate Life, Rev. Eric Butterworth said, “The effects of the years upon the physical body depend not upon the physiology but the psychology involved.” 

    Butterworth goes on to say: “Living longer, of itself, is not the answer. We must know ‘what for’. What are we living for?” And he says that more important than living long is living “deeply”. He quotes an old Scotsman’s prayer: “Oh Lord, keep me alive as long as I live.”  Well said, Rev. Butterworth.

    It’s mostly a matter of self-awareness and self-care — taking responsibility for your own mind and body and doing something to build and maintain your own health, vitality, and personal energy. Yes, that includes exercise and eating right, and every bit as important — the mental attitude that goes with it.

    So, does your age define you, or do you define your age? In the former, you let life dictate the terms. In the latter, you dictate the terms of both your present and your future. Can you completely control your future? Of course not. You could get hit by a truck tomorrow. But you have the responsibility to take control of your own health and fitness, along with the mindset that encourages you do it.

    It’s up to us to define who we are and how we project our energy to the world. We are able dictate the terms. We know what to do. Will we do it?

    “Fitness and health is within reach of anyone who wants it. The question is, who will reach?”

            — Jim Rohn

    Thank you for reading.