North of 55 - Winning With Age

“Best laid plans”, right?  In 1785, Robert Burns wrote “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray”. How often do we make a plan, follow up with a real commitment, then let life get in the way? I imagine we all have experienced this. The most frequently cited example of this is our failed New Year’s resolutions. According to US News and World Report, there is an estimated failure rate of 80% of people to keep their New Year’s resolutions by February, and only 8% of people stick with them the entire year.   A relevant example for me is this blog. I started it in 2020 with the full intention of adding new entries at least a few times a week, and then I got a new job, as mentioned in a previous post. I let this new job get in the way because it led to 50+ hours of work a week… add this to my life at the time, and I let blogging take a back seat.   So here we go again. Time to revitalize, take a hard look at what I am doing and reset the course for the “fourth quarter” as I n

I never wanted a retirement where I had little to do with all my free time. In fact, I couldn’t even imagine how I would go from a busy career of working for 40+ years, averaging 50 hours a week, to not having to get out of bed in the morning to get something done. I always assumed I would just keep on working, slowly turning down the pace, and easing into retirement when I reached age 70. Well, it didn’t work that way for me…my pre-retirement phase was short-circuited as I mentioned in the first post, and I had considered myself a “reluctant retiree”. How to accommodate this abrupt change from going 60mph every day to “having little to do”? As I write this I also think of all those among us that have been pushed out of their normal routine of going to work every day, and now are faced with “what to do?” or how best to use their free time. I am a hard-core “Type A personality” and simply can’t change my DNA to become a “Type B”. Sure I can relax (if I try), and I can even sit and d

There are so many different types of diets advertised today, and depending on your goal one is likely more applicable than another for you. Certainly there are some that would not be beneficial to me personally, and in fact, likely would be detrimental; I imagine the same applies to you. When it comes to dieting, choose carefully, and even better, consult with your doctor The diet I follow is based on my own personal needs given my health history. I don't have a name for it, but I like it a lot! After researching diets, I see that it is much like the Flexitarian Diet (see my next blog post). I prefer a low animal protein, low carbohydrate, high vegetable content meal which is vastly different than my meals of 15 to 20 years ago. I get my protein needs satisfied with a grain-based high-protein cereal for breakfast, along with a low fat, low sugar Greek Yogurt, and Almond milk. For lunch I eat a light meal, it might be dinner leftovers, or perhaps a sandwich with a little animal pro

This pizza was made by my daughter-in-law and was superb. A truly great pizza needs to have just the right crust, and the proper combination and amount of delicious toppings. This one had all that as well as a heart-shape making it even better for a heart-healthy pizza. The dough was homemade following the recipe below.  This is a personal-sized pizza and was custom made for me with my dietary restrictions, so it contained no sugar; the entire dough ball had just one teaspoon of natural honey in it for flavor and this pizza represented just one-quarter of that. The toppings were health-conscious as well, and consisted of fresh green bell peppers, red bell peppers, mushrooms, white onion, Roma tomatoes, minced garlic, turkey pepperoni, with just a very thin layer of Prego brand traditional sauce. Ingredients: ·         1 package of dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp) ·         1 tsp honey ·         1 cup warm water (105 degrees F) ·         3 cups all-purpose flour ·         1 tsp kosher salt

That Vulcan Salute , made famous by Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Star Trek, is something I have been thinking about lately. The concept of “living long” as an objective by itself doesn’t interest me too much because as we all know quality is preferred over quantity. I think that is why these two concepts of living long and being prosperous belong together. I am sure "prosperity" means something different for everyone... My view? While my earning years were strong and I was well compensated for my efforts, prosperity seemed to be related to living good, doing and buying what we wanted, and not having to say “no” very often. As I look back on those years, I think we somewhat missed the point. Not that that was a bad way to live, but I think it could have been better in some ways. Now having passed those high earning years, adjusting to a new life as a “reluctantly retired person” in my mid-sixties with a vastly different income stream, and wishing all my children were geographic

What is this blog about?  I will be sharing useful and easily applied key information for "average people" facing their "mature" years who can benefit from my own personal journey to gain knowledge associated with achieving more elegant aging.  I say "average people" because if you are like me, you don't have a personal trainer, don't have to keep up with the likes of the Hollywood stars, don't have a ton of money to spend on expensive cosmetics, and think that Botox is an unnecessary expense... you might be starting to feel "older" and wishing you could keep your good looks and vitality, despite getting older every day. You probably don't have a lot of time or interest in trying to learn how to minimize the effects of natural aging on your own and wish there was an easy way to just "get the facts". If this describes you, I invite you to follow this blog as I personally experience aging and learn from current literature