We hear it, see it and read about it everywhere: aging, disease, cancer, obesity, heart disease, or conversely, longevity, vitality, health and fitness. Do we choose or are we victims?
Is anyone out there concerned, frightened, disillusioned, or conversely are you motivated and inspired to create a new reality for the journey of your life?
In this new day, right here, right now, we have a choice on how we want to reach and live into our golden years.
Would you like to reach 70 ……. alive?
If so, what will it, or you, look like? Will you be carrying around an extra 40 + lbs., popping pharmaceuticals every 4 hours, and/or fighting a life threatening disease? Will you be able to bend easily, sleep well, adventure and play?
Will you have the energy to live another 20 years? Will you want to?
Will you have inspiration? Will you be active, playful, happy and healthy? Will you be living the dream you planned?
Or, will you have become a victim to old age?
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not judging that an extra 40+ lbs. is bad, particularly if you are at peace with it, or that taking a pharmaceutical is a sin. I am merely suggesting we ask ourselves these types of questions, and here is why.
There is a paradigm shift happening and we are at a place where we need to make informed decisions and inspired action, that is if we want to reach 70 alive and kicking. We are learning that we have a choice. Many of us who are 50 + are setting the pace for the younger ones, and redefining what it means to get old and ride on into our 70’s with great health and ease. While this is happening, many are still living in the old paradigm, one that means disease, weakness, dependency and victim hood.
Does any of this resonate with you? I challenge you to ask yourself and look deeply.
Let me tell you a couple of stories that you might be able to relate to.
Patricia is 62, and although she had a fairly good diet and was relatively healthy and active, she acquired ovarian cancer. After chemo, radiation and lots of love and help from friends, she resumed her busy life while maintaining the same lifestyle and diet she had before. She depended on medications to keep her out of pain and SSRI's to keep her happy. Within a year she needed major back surgery due to extreme pain (inflammation and emotional traumas). After that surgery and healing, she gained 15 lbs and needed to schedule hip replacement surgery for both hips. She came to me to lose the 15 lbs. to lighten the load while trying to get around on her walker. She is not about to give up meat, so we chose a Paleo type diet for her. She had to toss her nightly bags of popcorn and give up most of the bread she was consuming on the run. We created healthy treats for her evening binges, kept adjusting here and there and within 5 weeks she forgot to take her pain medication because she was out of pain. Whoa, we were so excited. Just by taking sugar and processed foods out of her life, putting in high quality veggies, protein and fats, she alleviated most her inflammation, dropped the weight and is on her way to surgery with new habits and a more assured prognosis for a successful surgery and recovery.
Would Patricia have been able to alleviate a lot of her disease suffering if she had a better diet and lifestyle practices prior to her cancer? If she had healed her emotional trauma would this have helped too? Her motivation finally came out of crisis and a couple of years of pain and sorrow. Her back was against the wall. Can you relate? Is this where you want to go? Or, would you rather bypass all this and be strong and vital?
Here is the story of Bill, the 50-year old:
Bill is tall, nice looking and fairly strong. His diet is horrendous by most people’s standards except his. He does know better, but he does not do better. He eats at fast food joints, McD's for breakfast and pizza at Costco for dinner. He munches on milk chocolate color coated candies at night. He gets up in the am stiff and complaining of pain. He comes home at night moaning. One evening he blurted out, “Getting old sucks.” I could not help my big mouth by saying, “It is not your age or that you are getting old, it is just that you are not living in a healthy body.“ He nodded with a groan, "yeah yeah." This is the perfect example of what aging does when we don't fuel our bodies with what it needs - real food. We can often get away with a lot of things that are not so good for us when we are younger, but as we get older and put more pressure on our bodies, they simply must have adequate nourishment. We simply cannot poison them anymore “IF” we want to be able to attend to a day of light labor and still feel comfortable in our bodies. Bill has lost weight due to his physical activity and is looking good, but he is feeling horrible, in chronic pain, tired and often in an unmotivated depressed mood.
Where is he headed? Well, I certainly don’t have a crystal ball, but my guess is that unless he changes his ways soon he may be headed down the same road Patricia landed in or worse. The worst part about this is that he is not happy. He has so much to live for, a wonderful marriage with lots of love in his life, and 3 beautiful children.
The Story of Heather:
Heather is another client of mine that is a vegan and wants to stay a vegan. She is in her mid 60’s, quite beautiful, slim and suffering only from lack of energy and digestive issues. When looking ahead, she realized she was scared because she did not have a family to take care of her, and she still needed to earn a living. She was so tired all the time, she was not motivated to work. She has always been mindful of her diet, but we found she had been cutting corners for too long and was not giving her body enough nourishment or exercise. Even though she was not eating a bunch of junk, processed foods with sugar and bad fats, she was eating a lot of empty foods in the form of fast snacks. She also needed some colon and parasite cleansing. With new instruction, shopping ideas and enhanced motivation, Heather began to fuel her body, and move her body, which resulted in the increased energy and mental clarity she needed to show up for her job like she wanted. He enthusiasm and renewed motivation catapulted her into a new job she loves.
Why am I telling you all these stories? Because I am hoping you can relate and become inspired to step up your pace and get good at nourishing yourself. Free yourself from confusion, lose the unnecessary pounds you may be carrying around, decrease your inflammation, boost your mood and get ready for your future.
Making tweeks right now in your diet, will definitely begin to yield you noticeable results. How about you give yourself a challenge this week, and replace processed foods with real whole foods. If you do this, I know you will see results and you will set yourself on a new path to create a vibrant life until you decide to lay your body down and transcend.
Are you with me?
I am not saying that it is easy for those of us that are already in our 60’s and 70’s because we are still fighting an old mindset. For instance, “retire at 65?" I wish. Many of us simply can’t because of financial means, and many of us can’t because we are sick. The statistics that permeate the media are frightening, while the fear of getting a life threatening disease occupies our emotional body, which stymies our creativity and motivation. It could be different. Even if we have to work we can still be healthy and enjoy it.
Perhaps you are of the group that is in your 40’s or 50’s. This is a powerful time for you because you are at the pivotal time where what you do now; how you treat your body, your mind and your soul determines how you get to 60 and 70 in a vibrant state or at best alive.
This is why I am taking a stand for Aging Beautifully. It is possible. This is also why I am launching a new program for A Course on Aging Beautifully. It starts with food and the latest in healthy lifestyle practices, and ends with a new vision of empowerment, freedom and vibrant health.
I have heard from so many people, some wanting to lose weight, many confused about diet, worried of the future, and living in a body that is not functioning right. It starts inside as a mindset and emotional trigger, then transfers to the action of what we put in hour bodies and how we move them.