What worries you about getting older? A market research study conducted by GfK Roper Consulting addresses this question. Reported in the March 2008 issue of Dr. Andrew Weil’s Self Healing newsletter, the study determined that worries about aging vary by culture. Germans worry about losing their mental alertness, while the Dutch don’t want to gain weight. Thais want to retain their eyesight. Americans have four fears: losing their energy, becoming dependent on others, losing their memory and gaining weight.

Because we focus on the minuses associated with aging, the pluses are less obvious. Among others, benefits include a perspective honed from surviving many a rough spot, an enriched joy in living and, if we’re wise, an in-depth insight into ourselves and others.

Although the specific fears about aging vary by culture, the underlying fear is a shared one: losing some aspect of fitness. Increasingly though, we are learning that what we consider to be the effects of aging—for example, loss of mobility or added weight—are instead functions of lifestyle choices.

This information is good news because we can alter our lifestyle to avoid or slow some of the negative consequences of aging. Knowing that we can make choices today that will shape our future frees us from our fear of aging. That’s the theme of Dr. Henry Lodge’s book Younger Next Year, Dr. Andrew Weil’s book Healthy Aging and similarly titled books currently on the bestseller list.

Whatever our age, size, time or station in life, fitness needs to be a priority. Fitness can be pursued at age 9 or 90, at size 10 or 20. It can be the goal of a pregnant woman, a person recovering cancer or a person who uses a wheel-chair. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we can strive for fitness; that is, we can work to become our best physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. This philosophy is summarized in the acronym FEAST: Fitness at Every Age, Size and Time of Life.

Genetic destiny determined that I would be a 5-foot-1-inch female rather than a 6-foot-2-inch male. That I would have a smattering of athletic skills but never become an Olympic athlete. That I would have a reasonably good mind but never be labeled a genius. My job is to make the most of my gifts to maximize my genetic destiny.

I can impact the aging process by the daily choices I make. For example, according to Dr. Weil and others, regular exercise can slow and even prevent age-related changes in my brain. Research indicates that exercise can even reverse the effects of aging. And keeping my weight at a reasonable level by healthful eating improves my chances of warding off life-threatening illnesses.

Extensive promotions for the latest, greatest and fastest-working weight-loss scheme are touted, one after the other, throughout the media. These advertisements make me realize how important it is to focus on fitness rather than dieting to achieve quick weight loss. After years of failure, I’m convinced that dieting is like riding on a train that loops around in circles before stopping to let you off. Only after you’ve debarked do you realize you are standing in the same place where you embarked. Instantly, you know where and how you were taken. Even so, waiting for the next train is tempting.

Forget the train ride. Buy a pedometer and begin walking. Feel reassured that you can be fit at every age, size and time in your life. If you take care of your body through regular exercise and careful eating, it will shape itself into the condition that best serves its needs. If you do your part, you can count on genetic destiny to bring you to your highest level of personal fitness.

Won’t you join me at the table and celebrate the FEAST?

On April 22, 2008, over one billion people in 17,000 organizations around the globe joined together to celebrate Earth Day to increase awareness and appreciation of our environment. We all know how important it is to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of us have conscientiously changed our habits: we use paper instead of plastic grocery bags (or bring our own reusable bag), recycle cans and bottles, carpool, and take public transportation when available. Do you know that your fitness activities can affect the environment as well

Earth Day is the perfect time to lighten your “fitness footprint” and to think green as you get FIT:     
 

  F: Fill your kitchen with fresh foods that are locally grown, seasonally available and unprocessed. Become a conscious consumer. Feed your spirit with friends, family and fun activities so you don’t need to find nourishment through consuming surplus food or goods.

I: Integrate your environmental concerns with your fitness activities. For example, walk instead of drive, drink water from reusable containers and recycle athletic shoes. You could also find trails in your neighborhood, invite neighbors to join you for a walk, and pick up trash as you hike.

T: Turn off the television and sedentary video games (you’ll save electricity) and get moving. Team up with others for outdoor activities that help the environment. For example, teams can build a trail or restore a marsh. Enroll your children on your team so they learn the value of being outdoors and develop a love and appreciation of nature.        

 Every action we take—or don’t take—affects the environment. Common sense tells us that we cannot charge environmental resources on a single global credit card indefinitely. When we lighten our fitness footprint and make environment-friendly activities part of our routine, we make every day an Earth Day.

Why not be an expert on your own body?

I struggled for nearly 40 years looking for the key to getting fit and losing weight. I must have read hundreds of articles. After reading sometimes conflicting information and advice, I came to one conclusion: each of us needs to be an expert on our own body. We cannot delegate this job, not even to physicians. As lifelong occupants, we are the experts on how our bodies work and feel.

I divided my hard-won expertise into three categories:

1. Body Awareness: Looking inward and paying attention to your body’s signals, what can you learn? What impact does eating or not eating breakfast have on your hunger? How much protein do you need and how often? How many hours of sleep do you need to maintain your energy and help you avoid catching the flu and colds? How important is it to start the day with a spiritual exercise such as yoga, prayer or meditation? How do you feel when you overeat, or eat too much sugar? How can you use that information to guide your actions?

Dieting tells us to ignore our body’s messages and follow an externally imposed set of rules. Strict adherence to an externally imposed eating regimen is counterproductive, occasionally dangerous and almost always self-defeating. Abandon dieting. Respect your body’s signals and honor its needs.

2. Impact of Choices: Analyzing the costs and benefits of your lifestyle habits, what would you change? List the pluses and minuses of habit that is troubling you. Go through this process in detail. Knowledge of what you are getting and what you are giving up will give you the power to make future choices more consistent with your best interests.

For example, after enjoying wine for many years, I recently wrote down the costs and benefits. Benefits ranged from relaxation to taste. The costs included fatigue, a headache, surplus calories leading to extra weight and an increased appetite for sugar the following day. When I analyzed the pluses and minuses, the decision to remove wine from my daily routine was easy. Now I save it for special occasions. Note that willpower isn’t involved.

3. Self-Determined Measures of Success: Stepping away from the model proposed by the media, how would envision your unique profile of fitness? Accept and respect genetic and biologic differences. A poodle will never look or perform like a Saint Bernard. A ballet dancer will not succeed as a football linebacker. Each of us has genetic predispositions that can be enhanced if desirable or minimized if unhealthy. Charts for weight and body mass index provide useful information, but decide for yourself at what weight and with what level of exercise you feel best.

When I weighed 183 pounds, I felt bloated, fat and uncomfortable in my body. My clothes fit uncomfortably tight, and I didn’t like myself. When I reached my goal of 122 pounds, my clothes looked great, and I felt energetic. But I also felt unnaturally thin, almost fragile. Today I keep my weight around 130 pounds. At this weight, I feel trim, fit, athletic, strong and solidly healthy. Best of all, I can maintain this weight without heroic measures.

Over the years, the sages have repeated the importance of self-knowledge in various ways. “Know thyself.” “To thine own self be true.” We can learn from others, yet we must apply this wisdom in ways that meet our unique needs and help us create our fittest body possible. Making the task worthwhile is the wonderful reward that accompanies the effort.

A  study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (July 31, 2007)  that examined the impact of social networks on obesity has triggered both interest and controversy. The researchers found that our friends can make us fat, even when the friendship is a long-distance one. But wait! If I’m overweight, am I making my friend fat? Or is my overweight friend making me fat?

I can’t answer that question, but I can tell you that the research is right! Here’s what I mean.

My niece lost 80 pounds shortly after the birth of her second child. At the time, she had a 4 year-old and a full-time job as a data manager at a big corporation. Even as a child, she had been overweight. When I learned in amazement that she had become trim and fit, I realized I could do it as well.

Once I made changes in my lifestyle and lost 62 pounds, my family and friends started making changes as well. I don’t take credit for their decision or their resulting weight losses. I just marvel at the chain of events.

My brother has lost about 30 pounds, my son-in-law about 60. My stepson has lost about 45 pounds. My son in France has lost about 35. My mother, in her early 90s, has lost 20 pounds. My older sister, who just turned 70, has lost at least 30 pounds. My tennis partner won’t tell me how many pounds she has lost but judging from her appearance, I would guess at least 20. I could name more, but you get the idea.

The most accurate statement I can make is, perhaps my example became a catalyst for family and friends to examine and change their lifestyle, just as my niece’s example was for me.

The implications of the research are stunning. Each of us needs to understand the impact we have on each other, whether we are a parent, friend, grandparent, son, or daughter. Each of us has a unique opportunity to be a role model for everyone around us. On the flip side, we can look to others to be positive role models for us, too.

When you think about it, this research isn’t so startling. We humans are, after all, social creatures. When my friend yawns, I yawn. When the grocery clerk smiles, I smile back. One thing the research makes clear, though, is that we’re all in this together.

We have a choice. We can be negative role models. But as you can see from the weight loss among my family members and friends, when it comes to eating and fitness, we can just as easily be positive examples.  We must make our choices knowing that our decisions help shape not only our own bodies but those of our family and friends.

Artificial sweeteners--for example, Stevia and Spenda--are a wonderful blessing for some of us. We can enjoy a diet soda or sweeten our coffee without adding calories.

But artificial sweeteners have their critics. Some argue that the sweeteners are causing a host of serious health problems, including obesity.  Another criticism is that the impact of long-term use has not been thoroughly researched, especially for children.  Moreover, some people report a bitter aftertaste with some sweeteners.  (I’m one of those people.) And some people report gas or cramps after consuming artificial sweeteners.

Dr. Andrew Weil, a leading proponent of holistic medicine, is one of the critics of artificial sweeteners.  In the past, he has consistently argued against their use.

Imagine my surprise to learn of a relatively new product, Zsweet, which has Dr. Weil’s stamp of approval.  In the October 20, 2007 issue of Self Healing, Dr. Weil writes:

     "This natural, calorie-free sweetener appears safe, and I think it’s a better               substitute for baking or flavoring than sucralose (Splenda) and other artificial               sweeteners, which I don’t recommend using.

      Zsweet is a blend of erythritol (a sugar alcohol found in many fruits and fermented  foods like soy sauce, cheese, and wine) and other fruit extracts.The crystalline white powder is about 70 percent as sweet as sugar, and lacks the bitter aftertaste of some artificial sweeteners.

       Unlike table sugar, Zsweet is considered safe for teeth by the FDA and, unlike many artificial sweeteners, is unlikely to cause gas or cramps.  It has no effect on blood sugar, so it’s also safe for diabetics."

The product was introduced by Ventana Health, Inc., a small California-based company whose stated mission is to provide information and products that foster healthy lifestyles through intelligent food and supplements.

Zsweet was also favorably mentioned in the New York Times best-selling book The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet by Nicholas Perricone, MD.  Dr. Perricone particularly likes the fact that Zsweet doesn’t raise blood sugar levels.  Since its introduction, Zsweet has been certified by the FDA as organic, is certified as kosher, and is sold at Whole Foods and other health food stores.

I value the opinions of medical professionals and researchers; however, at the same time, I value my own experience of a product.  Consequently, I’ve ordered Zsweet from my local health food store and look forward to giving it my personal taste test.

If you want to do your own research, you can begin by getting a free copy of the October issue of Self Healing in which Dr. Weil’s article appeared.  You can copy and paste the following address to reach the article: http://www.drweilselfhealing.com/show_document.asp?iDocumentID=509&iBDC=6108&iPageNumber=5. 

If you then give Zweet a test, let me know what you think.

Is Stress Making You Fat?

When I quit the seven-day-a-week job that I had held for 21 years as manager of a retail operation, I decided to lose weight and get fit.  In retrospect, I wonder if the stress of that unrelenting schedule contributed significantly to my obesity.

Perhaps so, because look at this article about a report that Zofia Zukowska of Georgetown University and her colleagues recently published in The Journal of Nature Medicine.

Some of us suspected it was true, but now the evidence is in.  In a recent animal study, researchers uncovered a biological link between stress and obesity.  They subjected mice to chronic stress-either standing in cold water an hour a day or being caged with a more aggressive alpha mouse for ten minutes a day.  Then the researchers gave the mice their regular food or a high-fat, high sugar diet (a.k.a. junk food).

According to the finding, published on-line in Nature Medicine, the stressed junk-food eaters gained a significant amount of weight after only two weeks (about twice as much as the more relaxed junk-food eaters).  And the fat they gained was more likely to be the bad kind that leads to high blood pressure, early diabetes and high cholesterol.

More research on humans is needed, of course.  But in the meantime, if you’re trying to lose weight or keep from regaining, you might want to consider getting your stress level under control. And while you’re at it, have a good laugh on me!

In the theater of life, there are three distinct roles:  actor, reactor and detractor.

The actor stands on stage and creates a commanding presence.  The audience is compelled, even thrilled, to observe and listen.  Creating a mood and an irresistible reality, the actor draws the audience into the scene.

The reactor sits in the audience passively enjoying the performance, all the while admiring the skill and discipline of the scene-stealer.  Perhaps the reactor has an impulse to get on stage and perform.  But inertia or fear of leaving the comfortable seat and easygoing companions holds the reactor back.

The detractor refuses to applaud, refuses to laugh at the jokes and leaves at intermission.

Which one are you?

Do you get up each morning determined to take center stage in your life?  To eat healthfully?  To exercise the beautiful body you have been given stewardship of?  To act in your own best interests, whether that means drinking plenty of water or flossing your teeth?

Or do you watch others move forward in their lives as they lose weight and gain a circle of new friends?  Are you content to maintain the status quo even though you know the performance you are watching may draw to a close before you are ready?

Or are you the person who ridicules the "health nuts"?  Are you the one who tells your doctor that since you’ve lived this long, you can do as you darn well please!  And when the good doctor warns you about the impending consequences of your extra weight, poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle, do you get up and walk out?

At different times, I’ve played all three roles.  The detractor role is too negative for me to sustain long term- I’m essentially a happy person.  The reactor role is one I’d love to adopt, but it isn’t very satisfying, particularly when I see what is possible.  In the end, I choose the stage, even if I fall flat on my face while performing.

Our choice of roles-actor, reactor or detractor-is revealed in each decision we make throughout the day.  Embedded in our decisions are the consequences for our health and well-being today and all the tomorrows.

This self-awareness can be freeing.  It can help us decide what to eat, whether to exercise and what kind of outlook to adopt.  This same insight makes us keenly aware of the consequences that flow from each of our decisions.

Unfortunately, the choosing never ends.  On a happier note, with practice and reinforcement, the positive choices get easier to make.  I’d guess that if you’re reading this, you’re definitely on stage with me.  Let the performance begin.