Wake Up Call

My recent postings have been about emotional stuff, psychological stuff, how-to-be happy, etc. Today,not so much. This morning I am thinking about health and fitness, which is the stuff that concerns me most these days, as I spend many nights and weekends studying for a Fitness Trainer Certification at Hunter College, and continue to toil in the fields of Real Estate during the day.

As I write this, it is a Saturday morning, which means that my daughter (and her two friends who slept over) is still asleep, and I have the apartment relatively to myself. My husband is snoring, the cats have had their morning crunchies, and my son is holed up in an Atlantic City hotel room for a birthday weekend with his buddies (more on THAT later, or not).

In the early morning quiet, I decided to plow through a stack of magazines and such waiting for me by my favorite reading chair. People Style Watch. 5 weeks' worth of The New Yorker. The Oprah Magazine. Nutrition Action Health Letter. (huh??)

That last one, published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), is my go-to source for health and nutrition information, and one of the few publications I actually trust. Completely devoid of advertising, (which is why I trust it), it is supported only by subscriber fees and foundation grants. The Executive Director of the CSPI, Michael Jacobson, is often quoted in the media about health and nutrition issues, and is a tireless crusader against the "Big Food" processing and marketing companies. (No, I don't work for him, and he is not paying me). I tend to believe what he and his colleagues say.

What they are saying now, in their November issue, got me up out of my reading chair and on to the computer, at the relatively early hour of 8 am on a Saturday. A Wake Up Call, so to speak. I felt a blog coming on, much like a song. Entitled "Bad for Bones? - the latest on food and fractures", the issue's lead article talks about things that concern me and my primary social network, WOMEN OVER 50.

Why 50? Because most of my girlfriends, close colleagues, co-workers, and relatives, are women over, or close to, 50. Some are a bit younger, but most are well into the decade. Some are approaching 60. My Mom, The Lovely Joan, is closer to 70 than 50. I am smack dab in the middle of it. My daughter, the beauteous Jordan, is far from having to even think about age, but this is not about her, not yet. My husband is also not a woman over 50, and some of this applies to men as well as to women, but men have their own issues, and much like my son in that hotel room in Atlantic City, I will talk about that later. (Or not).

Most of the women I know are physically fit at some level. We work out. We have good health plans. We go to the doctor. Several of us go Salsa dancing two, sometimes three times a week, about which I have written many times. We know our cholesterol levels, our blood pressure numbers, our thyroid stats. We pay regular visits to the acupuncturist, the masseuse, the homeopath. We tithe to our trainers, our dermatologists, our shrinks.

But it is what we do NOT do that is cause for concern. Most of us do not get enough protein in our diets, we do not eat 11 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (who does??), we do not get enough of the right vitamins and minerals, and although we THINK we get enough exercise, we probably do not get enough of the right kind (more on THAT in a later posting).

The November issue of the aforementioned Health Letter, on page 7, has a handy little chart, entitled THE BOTTOM LINE, which I will not replicate in ins entirety herein, on pain of copyright infringement or some such thing. I will say, however, that I, self-appointed health-and-fitness maven that I am, do not even come close to getting enough protein, doing weight bearing exercise for 30 minutes every day, or getting 1,200 mg of calcium daily. And even on my BEST DAY EVER, nutritionally speaking, which was probably one day in July of '08 at that health spa in Cancun, where there was that awesome juice bar featuring fresh everything including cactus juice, I DID NOT THEN AND DO NOT NOW GET 11 SERVINGS OF FRESH FRUITS AND VEGGIES EVERY DAY, even if I count the full serving of veggies that now come in every jar of pasta sauce, the dried cranberries that I eat with my dried, unsalted cashews at snack time, and the green stuff rolled up with the sushi.

And this is the key point, the reason I write to you today: "Too many grain foods, (bread, pasta, etc) may lead to bone and muscle loss by creating an acid load in the body". (Nutrition Action Health Letter, Nov. 2010) Apparently, "THE BODY TRIES TO DEFEND AGAINST INCREASING ACID BY BREAKING DOWN BONE AND MUSCLE"... AND FRUITS AND VEGETABLES HELP NEUTRALIZE THE ACID.

Who knew??

So, this is my Wake Up Call. According to the CSPI folks, the benchmarks mentioned in their chart are the best way to avoid fractures and bone loss, which, as we know, are the reasons that old age can be such a difficult time. Just falling down, often at home, leads to broken bones, hip fractures, loss of mobility, and serious quality of life issues among our seniors. Weight gain due to increasing inactivity, coupled with loss of balance, are additional compromising factors.

We can't avoid many of the pitfalls of getting older. Science has not yet figured out a way to prevent Alzheimer's, although this is the next frontier of medical science. And there is no known cure for arthritis, macular degeneration of the eye, or gray hair.

But there are things we CAN do. We can cut down on the carbs, especially the refined ones. (So, no more bagels for brunch at MY house, ladies!!) We can replace the refined carbs (the BAD stuff) with fresh fruits and vegetables (the GOOD stuff). I am on my way to Trader Joe's to stock up on my favorite apple variety, some mangoes, and some pears.

And if you are interested in the Nutrition Action Health Letter, check out the CSPI at www.cspinet.org. Happy reading (and eating, dancing, etc.!)