A Friendly Nudge - Aging Is Like The Weather
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
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Years ago I was giving a colleague a hard time because it was January and he lived in Minnesota and I lived in Austin, TX. I knew that it had been -13 ℉ where he lived and in Austin it had been in the low 60s. I’d played golf that weekend and I asked him what he had done for the weekend expecting him to tell me that he had stayed inside with a fire going.
Instead he told me about how he and a bunch of his friends had been out snowmobiling and even had an outdoor cookout. He did say that you had to eat the hotdogs pretty quick or they’d freeze solid.
Then he said something that I still remember over 30 years later– he said that most of the time they didn’t let the weather dictate the agenda, they just dressed for it. He went on to explain that if you didn’t embrace that idea, the Minnesota winters would take too much of a toll on you.
Over the years I’ve tried to embrace that same approach with summers in Texas. Until just a few months before he passed away, my buddy Victor and I used to have a standing 2 PM Tee Time every Wednesday. We’d walk 18 holes and for much of the summer it was well over 100℉ when we’d tee off. We wore shorts and a loose fitting shirt, used plenty of sunscreen, and stayed hydrated.
I think the same thing applies to aging and more importantly how we think about it and the messaging that our subconscious is constantly marinating in.
If we’re constantly telling ourselves how much aging sucks, then it does. It wins and you and everyone that cares about you loses.
I knew that to play golf when it was 105℉ I needed to take precautions. I’d pay attention to my hydration the day before and on Wednesdays in addition to drinking water up until we teed off, I’d also take plenty of water with me but also plenty of electrolytes.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’d absolutely rather play golf when the high is 72℉, with a gentle breeze and when the fairways and greens are perfect. But I still remember those hot as hell rounds that I was fortunate enough to play with a remarkable human being before he died way too young.
Would I like it better if I didn’t have arthritis? Sure, but that’s not an option. So I'll keep my whining to a minimum, realize how fortunate I am not only to have the health that I do, but also an opportunity to have some tiny amount of impact on how quite a few people feel about and respond to aging.
Every time I hear from someone that tells me they’ve been doing some of the exercises and it’s impacting how they feel I’m reminded of how lucky I am.
You can change how aging feels. You can’t change the number of candles on the cake, but you can change how they impact you and more importantly you can change your relationship with them.
One way to change how aging feels is to eat real food and to make that more doable I try to always cook enough so that we’ll have leftovers that can get repurposed into multiple meals. I like to eat well but I’m a lazy cook.
This week’s Ground Beef Bowl is a perfect example of that.
Last week’s spiced ground beef and the sauteed mushrooms that we made in May will be used (don’t worry, these leftovers are from a fresh batch). You can adjust the amount you cook based on the number of people you’re feeding and the quantity of leftovers you want.
This is a perfect meal for playing with your food. You could substitute rice, quinoa or new potatoes for the sweet potatoes; fresh spinach or arugula in place of the roasted kale; or use some other type of cheese instead of feta, etc.
Ingredients:
Cooked Ground beef - about 4-6 oz per serving
Sauteed Mushrooms
Roasted Kale
Roasted or air fried sweet potatoes
Avocado - ¼ to ½ per serving
Cherry tomatoes
Feta Cheese - about 1 oz per serving
Pickled Onions
Last week’s batch of spiced ground beef used 2-3 pounds of ground beef and smoked paprika, ground ginger, cumin seeds, black pepper, salt, ground coriander, and oregano.
May 24th’s Mushrooms used 1 to 1 ½ pounds of mushrooms, butter, salt and tamari or soy sauce.
Thinly slice a red onion, place in a bowl and add enough white vinegar to just cover the onion slices.
Cut a sweet potato into similar sized thinly sliced pieces and roast them or air fry them until done - in my air fryer that’s about 12-13 minutes at 450℉
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and then add lightly salted and olive oil or avocado spritzed chopped kale to the pan, avoid overcrowding. Depending on your oven, about 10 minutes at 400 ℉
Once all of the ingredients are cooked and/or the leftovers heated, build your bowl.
Enjoy!
Exercise is another way to change how aging feels.
The secret is finding a way to make it a doable part of your routine. If you’re just starting out, ease your way in. I started exercising more consistently a few years ago when I started doing exercise snacks, just brief 30 second to 1 minute sets that I’d spread throughout the day. If I’d been sitting for a while, I’d get up and do 10 air squats. If I was going to get a glass of water in the kitchen, I’d knock out a set of 10 air squats or a 30 second wall sit, just something to break up long bouts of sitting.
This week has some perfect exercises for this approach. You can do suitcase carries with a duffle bag with some books in it, a jug of water, or a dumbbell or kettlebell. Just have it somewhere that it’s easily accessible. Pushups can be done against the wall, a kitchen counter top or the floor and if goblet squat or regular air squats feel a little bit too much too soon, you can do squats to a chair or a stool. Just sprinkle these in throughout the day.
Find a rhythm and a level of exertion that works for you, but be patient with yourself. I provided you with some options for the week
Don’t worry about trying to do multiple sets at once or getting too obsessed with hitting a specific rep count. If you’re on your 5th pushup against the kitchen counter and you’re starting to sag or run out of gas, that’s enough for that set. Quality is more important than quantity.