Health & Wisdom

I am not a fan of vitamins and supplements. I think that a healthy diet has everything that your body needs. They are expensive and a lot of hucksters are making big bucks from promoting these pills and powders.  If you take in more of a nutrient than your body can use, you generally just piss it out - except for some oil-based vitamins that can accumulate, like orange skin for people taking lots of B-carotene. That being said, I know quite a few doctors and medical scientists who personally take large doses of vitamin D every day. I have recently been experimenting with a protein drink right after my weight lifting workout. I found a cheap one in the dairy case at my local grocery store made from milk with 30g of protein and only 180 calories - less than my usual post-workout snacks. Maybe it promotes faster muscle recovery, it certainly doesn't hurt.  A big tip - LEARN TO COOK. Everything is cheaper and more healthy when you make it yourself.  If no one is around to tea...

I have a very specific gym workout, which I have been following with some modifications for maybe 30 years. I had a lot of good coaching and fitness instruction when I was a young athlete, and I do pay attention to what professional Physical Therapists have told me.   My workout is a full body cardio+weight lifting circuit training in about an hour, twice a week.  Twice a week is important for several reasons, first, it gives my body time to recover from hard lifting and do some muscle building. Second, it fits easily into the rest of my life with a lot of flexibility. If I have busy days or just not feeling it, move the workout to the next day.  Third, I have learned that once a week just maintains strength but not aerobic fitness, twice a week grows strength and fitness, and three times a week grows strength faster but often leads to injury.  I do cardio and weights in one workout for a couple of reasons. I start with a 15 minute warmup on the elliptical. This seem...

I'm not a nutritionist, so just take this as friendly advice. I work with a lot of young people who work long hours on shift work (EMTs). They have bad eating habits. A lot of take-out food, a lot of burgers, fried foods, and sweets. I can't eat like that.  As I have gotten older, I have had to fight a tendency to gain weight. This is pretty common for a lot of folks. Simple common sense says cut down on the soda, doughnuts, and pizza. And that worked somewhat through my 40's. But then the weight started to creep up again a couple pounds per year.  About 5 years ago I took a major effort at improving my eating habits in order to lose some weight. What worked for me was the very low carbohydrate 'keto' style diet. The logic is that eating carbs directly affects the sugar metabolism system - increasing short term insulin and blood sugar, leading the body to add fat. Low carbs works in reverse, telling the body to activate reserve energy from fat. This worked for me, a...

I pay attention to some fitness tips for older folks.  However, too much of the content is just showing off by the muscle obsessed, or trying to sell you something.  This blog is some common sense fitness tips from an average guy who wants to stay fit.  I have been working harder on my fitness lately. I had a hip replacement last year and worked through the mandatory Physical Therapy sessions. After I 'graduated' from PT, I decided to keep up the schedule and focus on getting myself back to my full capacity as I was before the bad hip started to slow me down. So I started a de-aging project to roll back about 5 years.  Following this plan, I have been gaining strength, lost a few pounds, and everyone says I'm looking fit.  My main priority through all of this is to take it slowly and avoid injury from over training and to set achievable goals that don't wear me out too much to enjoy every other part of life.  Here are some key points that I follow • Eat hea...