The annual balloon launch for Older Americans Month was held at the xxxxxx County Senior Center on Tuesday, May 1.

   Many extra activities will be going on at the Senior Center in celebration of Older Americans Month. xxxxx will host a free blood pressure check. There will be a punch and cookies social, as well as a Mother’s Day Program on the 10th, when all ladies will be presented with a live flower to take home and plant. There will be several drawings for door prizes. They will also host a cookie day, dessert day, and the line dancers will perform at the Senior Center on May 17. A trip is planned to eat out at xxxxxx in xxxxxx as well.

   A trip to the xxxxxx for the Annual xxxxxx Conference will be held on May 24 and will include lunch from xxxxxx. The event is held annually by the xxxxxx Cares Program, xxxxxx, the Elder Rights Project Director and member of xxxxxx Legal Services; and xxxxxx, Director of Area Agency on Aging. The purpose of the event is to educate all senior citizens on how to prevent fraud. All State Legislators are invited to attend.

   A party will also be held at the Center, with cookies, punch, and lots of games like Let’s Make a Deal, and fellowship with all. There will also be a birthday celebration featuring ice cream and cake, as well as bingo, exercise, and nutrition education

Well, what is your impression? Have the people that plan these events been skipping the educational classes? Or have the class instructors skipped over some significant issues because they’re not popular?

Whatever the case, I hope the senior center in your area, or any organization that’s passing out what’s supposed to be healthy nutritional information, is diseminating GOOD information and following it too.

It’s amazing, considering I’ve listened to every word of Dr. Wayne Pickering’s advice on my “Older & Active” show, that I fell into that trap he often mentions. I let age be my cage.

Back when I was in school, I had a teacher tell the class that us guys could expect to live to be seventy and the girls would reach seventy-two. Now I know he meant that as an average, and that it was based on the insurance industry estimates at the time. But just like a lot of the things that get stuck in our sub-conscious at that age, those numbers took hold.

For the last few years, living in a state of semi-retirement, several times I’ve come across a business venture that piqued my interest and each time I’d get briefly excited and then let it go and never really stopped to think why. Then, early last spring, two things happened that changed all that.

First I had an epiphany – it’s almost mandatory these days to have one of those. You can’t just have a standard old realization that you’ve been thinking wrong, or even the more modern ah-ha moment. You have to have an epiphany. My epiphany was that the reason I wasn’t doing more with my life was that I’d been canceling every bright idea and opportunity with the sub-conscious thought that I’m almost seventy and there’s no sense in starting anything new at this point in my life.

For one reason or another, I get a pretty good physical at least once a year and I’m in better health, according to the doctors, than most men half my age. All the standard markers for health are fantastic. My eyes are weaker and there’s not near as much hair on my head (don’t know why it comes out my ears and nose now), but I have no problem participating in sports, putting 100 miles a week on my bike, or any other physical activity. Yet here I am thinking I shouldn’t start anything new because I’ll be seventy next year.

So the first thing I did after I had this epiphany was to change my thoughts and attitude. I’ve decided to live past one-hundred. Does that mean I’ll automatically make it? Of course not. But the fact that I’ve now put that in my head increases the chances exponentially! And it certainly changed my attitude.

One of the first thoughts I had with this new attitude was that I now have over thirty years to put into a new career! I’ve already proven to myself that I don’t like retirement. So why not build a business for the next twenty years and look at it again. Maybe by then I’ll be ready to retire – or maybe I’ll just decide to live to 125.

Then the second event happened that put me on my current path. I had an ECG that came back perfect. “If I didn’t have your age on here, I’d swear you were in your twenties,” the doctor told me.

That really hit me. About fifteen years ago I took up running again and began to have slight chest pains and decided to have it checked out. After an exhaustive series of tests they told me that there was ischemia on the septum of my heart, and that was the cause of the delay that showed up in my ECG. They told me that there was no cure, but not to worry as it wasn’t all that serious and that I could lead a normal life, that it was probably from the years when I’d been into drinking and smoking and that since I’d given all that up years earlier, it shouldn’t get any worse, or any better either.

So when I got that ECG back that showed no delay, and a second confirmed it, I was ecstatic and knew what had caused it.

Last fall I’d begun taking a Shaklee product, “Vivix.” It was the only thing that I’d changed in my health regimen in five years. I’d heard several wonderful testimonials from people that had been taking “Vivix” but until I had one of my own, and the ECG to back it up, I wasn’t that bubbling-over with the urge to tell others.

It’s one thing to decide to live past 100 and another entirely when you realize there’s a VERY good chance you’ll do it! I suppose you can guess by now what I decided to do for that new career. I’m going to share the Shaklee story and opportunity with as many people as I can possibly meet in the next 30+ years!

Is it time for you to think about a new career? No matter your age, it can happen.

Aging is a complex phenomenon and the mechanisms underlying aging are yet to be explained. What researchers do know is that there is a clear relationship between aging and calorie intake. For example, mice fed with half the calories they usually eat can live 40 percent longer. How does this work?

As part of the PLoS Genetics study, Université de Montréal Biochemistry Professor Luis Rokeach and his student Antoine Roux discovered to their surprise that if they removed the gene for a glucose sensor from yeast cells, they lived just as long as those living on a glucose-restricted diet. In short, the fate of these cells doesn’t depend on what they eat but what they think they’re eating.

There are two obvious aspects of calorie intake: tasting and digestion. By the time nutrients get to our cells there is an analogous process: sensors on the surface of the cell detect the presence of, for example, the sugar glucose and molecules inside the cell break down the glucose, converting it to energy. Of these processes, it is widely thought that the by-products of broken down sugars are the culprits in aging. The study by Rokeach and Roux suggests otherwise.

To understand aging, Rokeach and Roux in collaboration with Université de Montréal Biochemistry Professors Pascal Chartrand and Gerardo Ferbeyre used yeast as a model organism. At a basic level, yeast cells are surprisingly similar and age much like human cells, as well as being easy to study.

The research team found that the lifespan of yeast cells increased when glucose was decreased from their diet. They then asked whether the increase in lifespan was due to cells decreasing their ability to produce energy or to the decrease in signal to the cells by the glucose sensor.

The scientists found that cells unable to consume glucose as energy source are still sensitive to the pro-aging effects of glucose. Conversely, obliterating the sensor that measures the levels of glucose significantly increased lifespan.

“Thanks to this study, the link between the rise in age-related diseases and the over-consumption of sugar in today’s diet is clearer. Our research opens a door to new therapeutic strategies for fighting age-related diseases,” says Professor Rokeach.

Professor Rokeach’s research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and by the National Science and Engineering Research Council. Professor Ferbeyre’s and Professor Chartrand’s research are funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

From: Andy Soos, ENN
Published September 29, 2010 11:34 AM

High Blood Pressure and Dementia

Join us Saturday morning, Oct. 9th,  for the 2nd part of the 2nd of a series of 12 Interviews to answer ALL your questions about “How to Get Well then Stay Well for Life”

Get The Facts On These Closely-Guarded Secrets of this Tele-Seminar Series That Are Finally Being Revealed In The next 12 month (one each month) That Shows You How to Get Well Then Stay Well for Life so you can get Older and Better and NOT Old and Bitter as you only do good when you feel good knowing that sickness doesn’t take a holiday! Remember, growing old doesn’t make us sick, it’s growing sick that makes us old! So never let age be your cage!

Paying Too Much for those Boosters to gain Energy & Tools to boost your VITALITY … Find Out How To finally take charge of your health and Harness the power of your Inner Magic to Stay Young (Almost) Forever… you will learn how to get fit, stay healthy and have great looks for life!

You’ll Discover the Greatest Gold-Mine of Proven Advice Ever Crammed Into One System and You Can Laugh at your Health Worries – If You Follow These Simple, Easy Tips that we cover in this 12 month Tele-Seminar Interview Series titled “How to Get Well Then Stay Well for Life”!

Now you can be Eating Smart, Being Fit, Staying Well and You WILL have Tons of Energy; LESS Body FAT while Staying Younger Longer as you reverse the hassles of aging all in 12 1-Hour Interviews G~U~A~R~A~N~T~E~E~D!

 Healthy People have MANY goals,
Unhealthy people have only 1 goal….

In this series you will enjoy:

• Sleeping soundly and awaking more rested
• Coping with stress, fatigue and depression with ease and style
• Having TONS of Energy with Improved Sexual Vigor
• Greatly improved mental abilities
• Decreased wrinkles, sags and loose skin
• Improved Vision, Speeds injury recovery
• Heightened creativity and learning ability
• Feeling Good while Staying Younger Longer
• Being 100% totally free of all aches, pains, stress & disease

 Our Special Guest is Dr. Wayne Pickering “THE AMBASSADOR for HEALTH” from Daytona Beach, Florida and this week his topic will be “GETTING WELL”

In this 2nd of 12 series you’ll discover:

1. Alternative health treatments that work
2. The Power of your Inner Magic.
3. How to RID your Body of Disease once and for all
4. Guidelines on “Doing Nothing Intelligently”
5. Strategies to Improve your Sex Life at any Age.
6. How to Finally Eliminate the Expensive Pills, Potions and Lotions
7. Tips to Boost your Immunity
8. Ways to Feel Tremendous once again

Don’t Miss It!

Dr Wayne is an

Author of 10 Health Guides; several C/D ROM’s; 8 Books; 22 Audio Learning Programs; award winning Video Series titled “Is Your Diet A Riot”, 32 Special Reports, over 400 Articles on Fitness, Stress & Nutrition, a weekly e-zine that goes out to over 13,000 opted in subscribers as well as 18 Websites & 10 Health Systems all distributed in 37 countries!

Nutritional Performance Coach, Life Management Consultant & Disease Prevention Specialist.

International Professional Speaker (Past President of the National Speakers Association in Florida) who has spoken in five countries and has shown thousands how to enjoy life totally free of health problems caused by Stress and Poor Nutrition and lack of Fitness

His prognosis was death at age 30. Now, at 63 years young, Dr. Wayne is an award winning Triathlete and a double nominee for the Healthy American Fitness Leader Award.

As a licensed Florida Nutrition Counselor, he improves human performance by sharing several secrets on “How to Get Well then Stay Well for Life!”

His nutrition programs are approved for continuing education credits by the Florida and Alabama State Boards of Pharmacy and most recently by the Florida Board of Dentistry.

His purpose is teaching you how to be the Healthiest Person on the Planet and not the Wealthiest Person in the Grave with easy steps that focus on Nutrition and a basic philosophy, “If you want to be tough, you have to eat good stuff!”

He is the founder of the Daytona Beach based Center for Nutrition & Life Management, Inc. He’s an amazing man with an awesome story. Give him a minute and he’ll give you a lifetime!

Don’t Miss It!

From: David A Gabel, ENN

Published April 19, 2011 09:52 AM

Breathing Polluted Air Can Disrupt Immune System

April 16, 2008 05:37 PM

Negative health effects from the chronic inhalation of polluted air are well known to cause cardio-respiratory disease. It can be particularly damaging to seniors, children, and people with asthma. Now according to a study from Ohio State University, breathing polluted air can also cause widespread inflammation by triggering the release of white blood cells from bone marrow into the blood stream. The influx of white blood cells can alter the integrity of the blood vessels. The white blood cells are then absorbed into fat tissues where chemicals are released that cause inflammation.

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The main culprit in the air that causes this to occur is fine particulate matter, or PM. How exactly the PM triggers this cascade of cellular activity remains unclear. Scientists hypothesize that the damage may originate in the fluid lining of the lungs. When molecules in this fluid are exposed to PM, their structures change, activating the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). TLR4 recognizes the specific characteristics of pathogens and activates the immune system, the white blood cells in particular.

“Our main hypothesis is that particulate matter stimulates inflammation in the lung, and products of that inflammation spill over into the body’s circulation, traveling to fat tissue to promote inflammation and causing vascular dysfunction,” said Sanjay Rajagopalan, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State and senior author of the study. “We haven’t identified the entire mechanism, but we have evidence now that activation of TLR4 influences this response.”

To test this theory, the researchers used groups of mice, exposing them to clean air and air with 8-10 times more fine particulate matter than ambient urban air (11ug/m3). Their exposure lasted six hours per day, five days per week, for twenty weeks. The effects were compared to normal mice and mice deficient in TLR4.

For normal mice, the group exposed to polluted air showed higher levels of white blood cells in their spleens and blood. The white blood cells found are known as inflammatory monocytes. For mice deficient in TLR4, the effect on white blood cells was lessened. This suggests that a lack of TLR4 prohibits the release of inflammatory monocytes.

Superoxides were also found to increase with greater inhalation of polluted air. These are meant to attack pathogens in the body, but can be toxic if there are none to attack. They produce an enzyme that causes inflammation, NADPH oxidase. Particulate matter is mistaken in the body as a pathogen, such as a virus. However, it is nothing of the sort. Triggering the release of elements in the immune system when there is no pathogen can do more harm than good.

The Ohio State University study has been published in the journal, Circulation Research.

Link to published article: http://circres.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/108/6/716

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One quote that I enjoyed was a witty remark I’d seen before: “A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.” I expected to see a few more like that, but was pleasantly surprised to find many with much greater depth.

“After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” That is very much like our motto, “It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years,” that I immediately gained new respect for Ms. Loren.

However, the one that caused me to stop and think, and assured me her birthday was worth mentioning in this website, is the following: “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Many people have said, in a variety of ways that life isn’t about what you get but what you give. It’s in the Bible in several places, including 2 Corinthians 9:6, and in countless self-help and other books of inspiration. I like the way this ‘young’ lady puts it: give of your talents, your creativity, and your love and you’ll be ageless.

This is an article published in “My Best Health Portal“

Written by Lynn Glenn and edited by Jeff Behar, it is one of the best I’ve come across aimed at the mature audience. Our thanks to Lynn and Jeff for the use of this article.

Leg Workouts for Older People

Learn how to work your legs as you age.

When, we get older our joints, hips and lower back start to show signs of wear. They become more fragile and susceptible to injuries. Joints, hips and lower back all have taken their toll over the years, especially if you were involved in sports or a job that required manual labor. Training the QuadsAt 60 I still wanted to be able to train my legs using heavier weights. I started to think about what if something would happen and I injure myself!I am a very active person with various types of activities requiring me mobile. What would I do, if I were to lose that mobility? Suddenly, I found that free weights and squatting with 400 plus pounds did not make sense anymore! One wrong move or losing my balance could result in a serious injury. To avoid hip replacement, bad knees or having lower back problems, I had to find a safer method for building legs.

This article I will explain how to make training legs safer with less of a chance of injuries. The workout that I will be explaining will have your back supported and with a more controlled range of motion. I have completed this workout routine, with variations, for over a year now. My legs are growing and stronger than ever, but without the fear of injury.

If you still want to do squats with using free weights, then it would be better to use the Smith Machine. The Smith Machine is defiantly a safer piece of equipment than loading weights on a barbell. If you are unfamiliar with this equipment, it mimics squats using the barbell with plates, but with cables and safety devises on both sides. The main difference with this equipment, you do not have to worry about balancing the weight.

Leg Muscles

• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• Calves

The Leg Equipment

Gyms have various types of equipment and brand names that will be similar to the ones that I will be mentioning. Hammer Strength, Universal, Pro Fitness, Maximus, Flex, LifeFitness, Nautilus, Power Strength, Body Solid, FreemMotion, Smith Machine, are some good examples of plate loading and cable gym equipment.

Leg Building Strategy

Your legs have very strong muscles. You’ll find that you can lift heavier weights during your leg workouts than with other routines, and for that reason proper form is important so not to injure your back and/or your other joints.

With that being said, you’ll often find that you can make bigger and quicker gains with your leg workouts. For example, over the course of a few months, you might find that you’re increasing your weights on a weekly basis. When this happens, you really notice your legs taking shape!

The key to staying injury free and making gains is to use good form, and not to over train your muscles. You need to let your muscles rest in between workouts. Give them 3 or 4 days to rest before training them again. Follow up each workout with a protein shake and your legs will never be the same.

My Leg Building Workout

I train legs once a week in the middle of the week. This way it gives my upper body a day to rest before resuming. You can perform the leg work twice a week if you can or able to. I have found that it takes me a minimum of 3 days to recover from the workout I am about to discuss.

Warming up

Over a year ago I found out that it takes more time for my legs to warm up. To start with squats, like I use to, did not work for me anymore. Now I start with my calves, a little unorthodox I know but it works for me. My theory behind this is that your calve muscles are one the most used muscles in your body.

From the time you crawl out of bed in the morning until you are back in bed that night your calves are being use. With this theory in mind, when I get to the gym I work my calves first. My calves have already warmed up from using them throughout the day. I work them hard and burn them out before I attack the larger muscle groups. By now my heart is pumping, body has warmed up and blood is circulating. Now I am ready for my larger leg muscles.

The Leg Workout

Your calves along with your quads have three muscle groups each inner, outer and medial. Make sure your workout hits all muscle groups. The workout that I use and will explain below, will do that either individually or as a group.

• The leg and calve workout along with most of my other workouts is done once per week.
• All reps mentioned here after are to failure, which means you cannot lift anymore weight after completing the last rep.
• Quads, complete 4 sets each exercise, between 8 to 10 reps.
• Hamstrings, 3 sets each exercise, between 8 to 10 reps.
• Calves, 4 sets each exercise, between 10 to 12 reps.

Quadricep (thigh) Workout

There are lot theories in the order for which to complete your quad exercises. Find out which one works for you and follow it or change them up. Below I will be explaining one order of performing these exercises.

• Seated leg extensions: All gyms have seated leg extension equipment. With weight added, adjust the pad height on your shins to where it sits just above your ankle. In a seated position with back supported lift your lower legs up to just before full extension and then back down. Repeat.

• Squats: There are many pieces of equipment at the gym that are made for squats, with hand grips and where your back is supported. With weight added, back against the pad and hands on the grips, squat down to where your legs are at a 90 degree angle and then back up. Do not go below a 90 degree angle, this will put strain on your knees and may cause knee damage. When you are standing do not lock your knees keep your legs slightly bent and weight on your quads.

• Leg Press: I like the Hammer Strength plate loading equipment for this. In a sitting position with your back against the pad, push your legs forward, stop before locking your knees with keeping the weight on your quads. Now lower the weight until your legs are at a 90 degree angle then push back up. Repeat.

Hamstring Workout

I use two pieces of equipment for my hamstrings.

• Seated reverse leg curl: Sit down with the pad adjusted behind your legs just above your ankles. With your back supported against the pad bring your legs to a 90 degree angle then slowly back to the starting position with legs slightly bent. Repeat.
• Lying reverse leg curl: Lay down with pad adjusted to where it rest on the back of your legs just above your ankles. Grab the hand grips by your head now curl your legs up to where the pad just about reaches your hamstrings. Now slowly straighten your legs and lower the pad back down. Repeat.

How to Build Leg Muscle in your Fifties and Sixties

Calve Workout

With all calve exercises, it is not the weight being use that is as important as using proper form. You want your heels to go down as far as they can for the stretch.  Next, rise up on ball and toes of your feet as high as you can. Too much weight can prevent you from accomplishing this movement.

• Seated calve raise: Now, we will finish our calves off will seated calve raises. I use the Hammer Strength plate loading equipment for this. I like completing this exercise last. It hits the medial calve muscle, a smaller muscle, the most. With the pads on top of your legs near your knees and your heels down from the bar as far as they will go. Now, left up until you are on ball and toes of your feet. Repeat.

• How to Build Leg Muscle in your Fifties and Sixties

  Seated calve press: Start by using a calve press machine. I like using the LifeFitness Machine for this. You are in a seated position with the ball of you feet resting on the bar with legs slightly bent. With the ball of your feet you push forward until your toes end up on bar and then back down. Repeat. If your gym does not have similar equipment, you can use a leg press machine. Put just the ball of your feet on the leg press machine with your heels hanging off. Follow the same motion of movement as you would with the calve press machine.

• Standing calve raise: I use the LifeFitness Calve Raise Machine for this. There are other machines that are the same. This machine has pads for your shoulders press up against and bars for your hands to hold on to. Adjust the shoulder pad height then start with your legs slightly bent and heels hanging off the platform. Drop your heels down as far as they will go for the stretch, then up on ball and toes of your feet as high as you are able. Repeat.

Bottom Line on Leg Workouts for Older People

Most of these exercises your back is supported, hands are on grips for balance and performed with a controlled range of motion. Be sure not to hyperextend your legs or bend your legs more than a 90 degree angle. You can complete these leg exercises indefinitely with only some weight modifications.

Thanks again to Lynn & Jeff.

And as always, I want to stress the need for good nutrition as part of any exercise program. “Sports Nutrition” is a subject near and dear to my heart. And if joint problems are keeping you from being as active as you should be, I highly recommend, “Shaklee Joint Health Complex.” It does wonders for me.