What keeps you alive and (mostly) well?

M

mrsrobinson

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2006
7,704
Virginia
Boat Info
2001 380DA
Engines
Caterpillar 3126
With all the threads about health and age I thought I'd start one one "what keeps you going?".

For me it's a healthy diet, exercise (gym 1x a week, tennis 2-3x a week), lots of veggies/greens, little to no red meat, no added salt/sugars, no processed foods, few supplements, few RXs. Breakfast every day is strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 a banana, raw honey and yogurt. No sugar drinks, only water and milk with my latte, whole milk. I eat food as close to raw as possible.

I do my best to NOT go to the Dr as I know all they will do is prescribe something. I try my best to cure something naturally with diet and supplements as needed.

I read labels before I buy something in a box/plastic. The fewer ingredients the better. Anything more than 5 natural ingredient I usually will not buy it.

Chocolate/cookies are my vice, I have to have one, or both, before bed. Ice cream is as well. I have mostly cut that out of my diet though because of the cream/fat. When I do eat it's all natural, as few ingredients as possible.

I enjoy a good egg/cheese/bacon biscuit as well for breakfast. There's a mom and pop biscuit joint close to my house. I walk there to justify eating it :)

I drink 2-3 drinks on a Friday/Saturday and sometimes 1-2 beers during the week.

All that said, I strongly believe genetics is the key, which unfortunately we cannot control.
 
mrsrobinson said:
And honestly, we will never know if what we do really helps. ...
Click to expand...

Well, not exactly true. You will know what you are doing actually helps. If you do it right that is.

A little over a year ago I was 40lbs heavier then I am now, diagnosed with Type 2 and experienced Keto-Acidosis more then once. Had to up blood pressure meds and basically on the edge of dyeing. Didn't really know any of this as I was completely happy with my Captain and seven's pretty much every day, tomahawks and ribeye's on the weekends with all of the trimmings. In the summer months added Cruzan coconut rum and pineapple to the mix during the day. Got to the point I was drinking a qt. a day and switching to Capt. at night. Nothing wrong there right? Add that to an Italian bbq diet on the boat and all is good ... always had a lot going on that made things extremely stressful, so I found an out and as a result was on my way out.

A year ago February I changed my life. Switched the outlet to being projects instead of drinking. Switched to only drinking on the weekends and not nearly as much, switched to Vodka drinks (I hate vodka, except orange crushes). Changed eating to being more healthy as in vegetable based meal replacement shakes for breakfast and dinner with a chicken caesar salad for lunch M-F only. Weekends are pretty much what ever I want, within reason. Still eating a nice steak and instead of potato's, grilling red cabbage and red onions together as a substitute. Smart decisions like that through out my life. I use to always work out when I was younger and ride mountain bikes etc. But my 50's pretty much stopped all of that and was paying the price for that. I re-added the bike ridding to 3-5 times a week ~5 miles a day in a few short months I dropped 40lbs. And after a few more months dropped my blood pressure meds to a much lower dose. Weekends at the boat if we are not going anywhere, we bring our bikes with us and ride the bike trail system we have right here (~15miles). I will say this, if my wife wasn't on board with all of this I don't think it would have been so "easy" to do this. And believe me this was anything but easy, but you what it's a hell of a lot better then the alternative. I love life way too much to loose it.
 
By "helps" I meant extends our lives (keeps us alive) if you will. We just don't know. Everything you have done should, however there's no way to know for sure that I am aware of unless there is "another you" who did not make the changes to compare to in 5, 10, 15, 20 years.

I am not discounting all the good work/changes you have done by the way, I think it's amazing, more folks should do it.
 
Boating, hunting, fishing, camping, bike riding, walking, and not on a treadmill.
In the past, snowmobiling, skiing snowshoeing.
Anything outside. I worked outside for half my career and partially outside for the last half of my career.
I Cut back on red meat. It’s just better for me, and makes me savor that occasional ribeye all the more.
Humans are meant to be outside and eat better than we do.
The first two humans were put in a garden:)
 
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I stay active - physically and mentally. It's vital. I eat and drink whatever I like and am very healthy. On my last physical my Doc says my weight is good and my blood pressure is that of a 20 year old - I'm 71. Partly good genes and mostly being positive and enjoying life.
 
SKybolt said:
Well, not exactly true. You will know what you are doing actually helps. If you do it right that is.

A little over a year ago I was 40lbs heavier then I am now, diagnosed with Type 2 and experienced Keto-Acidosis more then once. Had to up blood pressure meds and basically on the edge of dyeing. Didn't really know any of this as I was completely happy with my Captain and seven's pretty much every day, tomahawks and ribeye's on the weekends with all of the trimmings. In the summer months added Cruzan coconut rum and pineapple to the mix during the day. Got to the point I was drinking a qt. a day and switching to Capt. at night. Nothing wrong there right? Add that to an Italian bbq diet on the boat and all is good ... always had a lot going on that made things extremely stressful, so I found an out and as a result was on my way out.

A year ago February I changed my life. Switched the outlet to being projects instead of drinking. Switched to only drinking on the weekends and not nearly as much, switched to Vodka drinks (I hate vodka, except orange crushes). Changed eating to being more healthy as in vegetable based meal replacement shakes for breakfast and dinner with a chicken caesar salad for lunch M-F only. Weekends are pretty much what ever I want, within reason. Still eating a nice steak and instead of potato's, grilling red cabbage and red onions together as a substitute. Smart decisions like that through out my life. I use to always work out when I was younger and ride mountain bikes etc. But my 50's pretty much stopped all of that and was paying the price for that. I re-added the bike ridding to 3-5 times a week ~5 miles a day in a few short months I dropped 40lbs. And after a few more months dropped my blood pressure meds to a much lower dose. Weekends at the boat if we are not going anywhere, we bring our bikes with us and ride the bike trail system we have right here (~15miles). I will say this, if my wife wasn't on board with all of this I don't think it would have been so "easy" to do this. And believe me this was anything but easy, but you what it's a hell of a lot better then the alternative. I love life way too much to loose it.
Click to expand...

Good job Orlando!! Although that piece of beef you shared with me last year at the Hyatt was mighty tasty!!
 
I am a walking example of what stress will do to you. I spent 35 years in the wood products industry and 26 in an upper management position with Georgia Pacific. When I left 12 years ago, I was on 2-BP pills daily and 2-Cholesterol pills daily. I did not work to enjoy life, I worked to work the next day. Worked 6 days/week and phone rang 24/7. A year later, taking one low dose generic BP pill and one low dose pill for cholesterol. I need to drop 20, but all in all, numbers are all in a good range. I do not think most people understand what stress does to them. Diet, stress, and genetics all play a major role....I also quit drinking 2 years ago and that has not hurt anything either.

Bennett
 
villain style said:
Good job Orlando!! Although that piece of beef you shared with me last year at the Hyatt was mighty tasty!!
Click to expand...

Ha! Thanks. Yeah, I still eat that way on the weekends. Best of both worlds, still eat what I like (sort of) and stay alive and keep boating. At least that's the goal.
 
Lost about 90 pounds in the last year. Currently close enough to where I want to be

I run 15-20 miles/week
Swim 6 miles/week
Elliptical 2 hours/week

low carb, plenty of meat, egg and cheese

Last time blood pressure was taken a couple weeks ago, it was 106/65

physical annually, including psa numbers, had colonoscopy a month ago, all was good.

I haven’t done the prostate exam, rely n the psa, I am not that close to my doctor yet… lol

The only med I take is 10 mg rosuvastatin per day for cholesterol….

49 years old, hope to live another 30 years
 
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So, I have to take issue with folks that don't get annual physicals, especially when they take the attitude they don't like doctors (for whatever reason.) Guys there are certain common sense things that can be of much much greater value to staying healthy than all that other stuff you've mentioned above....
1. Annual history and physical exam which includes all screening blood tests and chest X-ray
2. PSA for men along with annual prostate examination
3. Screening/diagnostic colonoscopy after age 50

We are so fortunate to be able to make an early diagnosis of some seriously deadly diseases just by doing these things once a year. IT'S CALLED A WELLNESS EXAM AND IT'S USUALLY FREE!

I don't care how many vegetables you eat, you are in big trouble if you get an end stage diagnosis of a cancer that was easily diagnosed, treated and cured early! Don't like doctors? Guess who is going to pay the price for that approach to your health??? Please don't be a statistic!
 
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