The common perception of a Medicare age person is one of wrinkled, weak, unsteady on their feet and a declining quality of life. While that perception can be true for some people it doesn’t have to true for you. While genetics plays a role, lifestyle can have a much larger impact than many believe. You can make choices that overcome many of the drivers of health decline. While it is true that time always wins, exercise and a healthy diet can slow down the aging process.
Diet changes that should be incorporated include, the elimination of seed oils, white flour, processed foods and sugar. Forget about all the other hyped diets out there such as carnivore, keto, vegetarian etc etc. Initially just try and get rid of the seed oil, and processed foods. The standard American diet and the grocery store offerings make this very difficult. If the food is processed at all it usually means things have been added to make the product last longer on the shelf and taste better. Both are threats to your attempt to improve your diet. These food add ons create inflammation in your body. Inflammation means pain such as joint pain and eventually disease. If your knees are achy how likely is it that you will go for that morning walk or drive to the gym. No matter how committed you are these things increase the degree of difficulty and will break down your will power and motivation. These food additives can drastically impact the quality of your life. So the make the change and try and consume natural whole foods and give yourself the best chance of good health.
Next you have to exercise. Lifting weights is an important consideration. While going to the gym to lift weights can be intimidating, weights can help off set the loss of muscle that occurs to everyone with each passing decade. More muscle makes you more resilient, less likely to fall, be able to do everyday tasks such as carrying the groceries, getting out of a chair, or just doing some housework. Stronger is better as you age and to get stronger requires you to challenge your body and make your muscles work against resistance in order to grow. You will get stronger no matter your age if you apply resistance exercises. While it is true it is easier to grow muscles when you are younger, you can improve your muscle mass no matter your age.
Quality of life requires quality input into your life and some of the most important quality inputs are a healthy diet and an exercise regime. So get off the couch, eat some vegetables and lift something healthy. Change the image of what Medicare age means.