The Fountain of Youth: A Mild Rant

Humankind has been seeking it for centuries, that eternal spring of long life and good health. Most of us learned  in elementary school about Ponce de Leon and his quest for the fabled fountain. His travels led him south to Florida and a pool of water which, he was sure, was the source of eternal youth. He was just one in a long line of seekers all over the world who searched for the healing waters extolled in legends and old stories.

We are still seeking, it seems. A casual conversation on the telephone led to a suggestion of meeting for dinner. "Well, we're on this juice regimen so we're not eating out these days," my friend said. A lengthy dissertation on the program they had adopted, all the benefits they have reaped and how terrible all other foods followed.

"Uh hunh. Really? That's amazing." My end of the conversation was limited to a few short comments. We never did get together for dinner.

In the grocery store the other day we ran into a friend who has lost a lot of weight over the past two year,s probably eighty pounds or more. He looks great. He was buying salad stuff to take to work for his lunch.

"You're looking awesome!" I told him. He beamed.

"Well,  we made a big change in our diet, stopped eating out so much, burgers and pizza, you know. I feel a lot better but you know my cholesterol and stuff just keeps going up. I told my doctor I'm going to go back to drinking Noni and quit taking all these meds. I used to drink Noni and I felt great and my numbers were fantastic." Noni is made from these small evergreen trees that grow in the Pacific and claims that it can cure almost everything are prevalent. "That stuff is better than any medicine," my friend said. "I never felt younger than when I was taking it."

Still other friends have suddenly turned vegetarian or vegan, sure that animal proteins and fat are the cause of their health problems. Others have sworn off gluten, lactose, processed sugars, caffeine, soft drinks--you name it, someone is on a diet that excludes it, certain that they have found the fountain of health, if not youth. Vegetables seem to be the only universally acceptable food on all diets, but I am sure there is a diet out there that prohibits them too.

I am sure that there are valid arguments for all of these diets and miracle foods. Certainly no one will argue that processed sugars and soft drinks are good for us (but I might be surprised there too!) and many people's digestive systems have a proven intolerance for certain kinds of foods. I avoid beans (except green beans) and other foods because they make my stomach unhappy. But I do not try to convince others that avoidance of these foods will lead to a healthier life. I simply know that for me, they're a no-no.

Why is it that when someone finds a product or regimen that works for them they automatically assume everyone else will benefit from the same change? What is it that makes diets an evangelical cause for so many people? I am happy for my friends that feel better through changes in their eating habits, but I am realistic enough to know that in the end good health and long life depends on many factors: diet is only one of them. There is no holy grail, no Fountain of Youth. We all do what we can or are willing to do and hope that our choices will lead at the best to a healthier and more fit old age and a reduced chance of disease and disability.

So here's to all who have made positive changes! But please, spare me your exhortations for miracle cures and magic elixirs, your juice diets, gluten-free and vegan diatribes. I will make my choices as you have yours, and may we all live long and prosper!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

One Month Later

One month ago Larry and I decided we needed to start a diet. Together. From time to time one or the other of us has tried to lose weight, but not both at the same time. This time we realized that we needed to make a change and that the best way to make it work was to do it together.

I don't guess it's really a diet, since we're not starving and not doing anything like the Adkins diet or any kind of program like that. Our rules are pretty simple:

1. Cut back the breads. We were eating toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch. Now it's toast only on the weekends.
2. Eat oatmeal for breakfast, save the eggs for the weekend breakfasts.
3. Few sweets. Except for honey in my tea, and jam for the toast on weekend, the sweetener in oatmeal, that's about it. We can break loose a little on weekends, but that's all.
4. More salads, soups and vegetable. With the freezer and cellar full, veggies are easy.

5. Less salt. My blood pressure was higher than it's ever been when I was at the doctor at the beginning of the month--I don't want it to get any worse. And Larry's is an issue too. I don't have to take meds yet, and I don't want to start if I can avoid it.
6. And because of the same reason, decaff coffee. I have never been able to tell the difference anyway.
7. Keep dinners light. Salad or soup, usually. This week we're splurging a little with quiche. I cook on the weekends so dinners are easy to prepare. That stops the "just-grab-something-quick" syndrome.
8. Chamomile tea in the evenings is a new addition, and we like it. It's relaxing and is supposed to help us sleep better. I don't worry about that, but I do like its flavor.

After one month, Larry has lost 20 pounds. I've lost 8. His bp and sugar levels are perfect now that his medications can work like they should because he's eating right. My bp is usually fine, occasionally still skimming that line so I have more work to do. But already we both feel much better and have more energy.

This coming month I don't expect such wonderful results and will be happy with losing another pound or two. I am having fun experimenting with different recipes, and we're saving money because we're eating less and using more from the freezer and cellar.

Anyone else on a diet? How is your going?

Tommy Update

Tommy is 19 weeks away from the bodybuilding competition in April and continues to lean down while building up muscle. Here are some recent pics:

He is at 9% bodyfat and weighing 193 lbs. He said in his email, "This goes to show how much progress I made this year as far as size goes. Last year when I was at 9%, I weighed about 174 or so, so I've gained nearly 20 lbs of muscle over the past year."

As far as the kind of diet and workouts this takes, he said:

"About 2500-2600 calories, somewhere in that vicinity. I don't count anything, my trainer does. So basically all carbs are around training; if I don't workout....I cut carbs off at meal 2 instead of 3.

"The workout split is very intense, its a 2 week cycle, just rotates....goes as so.....shoulder/biceps-quads/calves-chest/triceps, back/hamstrings, biceps/calves.

'The next week is shoulders/triceps,lowerback/hamstrings/traps, chest/back, quads/calves, biceps and triceps. The type of workout is known as HIT (high intensity training). 2 to 3 warmup sets at 60% max effort, nothing too strenuous.

"Then the very last set of that exercise is the 'death set', where you go all out 100% to complete and total muscular failure. Drop sets (hitting failure at a certain weight, dropping the weight down, going to failure on that set, dropping down again, etc. etc., forced repetitions from a training partner, so on and so on). The goal as far as bodyfat wise is 3 to 4% by time the show comes around, which is hell to say the least."

It's a lot more complicated than I would have thought, and the diet regime is rigorous. I didn't want to post it because it might be the property of the trainer.

I'll publish updates every few weeks so if you're interested, check back under the label "Tommy" or "bodybuilding" to see how he's doing.

Why I Like My Diet

When your son comes home from the military and looks like this, (a little sunburned, but look at those muscles!)

and is a natural foods/exercise evangelist,

you do this:

you go on a diet.

Tommy wrote a diet for Larry and me. We've been pretty good about staying on it for the past 4 weeks. Larry has lost almost 30 pounds and feels great.

Me? Well, the results aren't as wonderful, but I've lost 10 pounds and I can tell the difference in how my clothes fit. Best part: it came off the belly region first. That never has happened before on any diet I've been on.

Next best part: we like the food. It's what we've always eaten, with some modifications. What's changed is:

a) portions

b) time of day for certain foods

c) fewer carbs

And yes, strawberries are on the diet! I felt guilty about buying them at this time of year before, but not now--I'm on a diet.

Tommy plans to go to college to be a dietician and exercise therapist. We may end up being one of his best case studies. I'll post updates--good and bad--as we go along. I'm motivated: my 40th high school class reunion is next year!