A very dear friend of mine passed this short clip along to me about an amazing 88 year old woman, “Hurricane Hazel”   (Hazel McCallion) who is a mayor of a city in Canada. It is delightful to watch how this little lady thoroughly enjoys and experiences life.  I was intrigued by the fact that age has nothing to do with her…she simply lives her life by following her dreams  It made me want to look further into what all of us can do to literally live our lives without the fear and fact of aging.

In the book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra, M.D., Chopra addresses the connection between the mind and body connection, giving the reader tools to create new perceptions of aging, techniques for harnessing the power of awareness, and practical steps to experiencing timelessness.  He actually states that by intervening at the level where belief becomes biology, the effects of aging are largely preventable and we can indeed achieve our unbounded potential.  Wow!  To learn strategies for aging and literally “stop the clock” sounds pretty amazing.

One of the wonderful aspects of Hazel’s life that I was drawn to is her ability to still exercise.  Just seeing her with that helmet on, getting ready to ice skate, was inspiring.  In Spontaneous Healing by Andrew Weil, M.D. he speaks about how he is always struck by the oddity of our habits of exercise whenever he visits nonindustrial societies.  Just the demands of daily life give bodies all the work they need.  Muscles have good tone because people lift and carry burdens, and they walk constantly. They walk to gather water and wood, they walk to their fields, they walk to markets, they walk to visit friends and relatives.   When I think of  how often I walk, it is very little, unless I have chosen particularly on that day to jump on my treadmill or walk in my neighborhood.  Quite a difference!   Weil states, “Of all the technological inventions that have changed our patterns of activity for the worse, the automobile gets the prize.”  Weil considers walking to have the greatest capacity to keep the healing system in good working order and increase the likelihood of spontaneous healing in case of illness.

As I watched the video of this 88 year old woman,  I was struck by how much she lives life to the fullest.  She was full of enthusiasm for each day, each new challenge, always reaching for a positive vision for her community.    In the book, Full Catastrophe Living……Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., states, “If your beliefs and attitudes, your thoughts and feelings are always producing reasons for not taking on new challenges, for not taking risks, for not exploring what might be possible for you at the limits of your understanding and your beliefs, for not looking at what the entire scope of a problem might be and at your relationship to it, then you may be severely and unnecessarily limiting your own learning, your own growth, and your ability to make changes in your life.”  He further states that we need to  acknowledge all the ways in which we are extraordinary and miraculous, without losing sight of the ways in which we are simultaneously nothing special, just part of a larger whole unfolding, waves on the sea, rising up and falling back in brief moments we call life spans.

Stress, of course, plays a major role in aging. It is all around us, getting inside to sap our energy, undermining our health and making us more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and disease.  I am sure our featured senior citizen has experienced this as well; however, I believe she has learned the secret of life….to surround herself with loving people and knowing how to react with each new challenge that comes her way.    Bill Moyers in his book, Healing and the Mind,  speaks about the higher centers of the brain that generate signals that very clearly influence hormonal outflow. Some of the researchers in this area are studying whether the stress that accompanies certain experiences, such as taking a medical exam, or divorcing, or going into a nursing home, are accompanied by changes in immune response.  They have found that one factor contributing to a diminished immune response is whether or not an individual is in control of the situation; another factor is whether or not the individual feels lonely.

In summing up how to literally live life to the fullest, I come up with the following:

1. Seeing life as a positive, exciting and wonderful adventure,
2. Always being open to new ideas
3. Having a positive, ongoing vision for the future
4. Incorporating exercise as a daily habit
5. Of course eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of rest
   
6. Seeing ourselves as part of whole, always contributing
7. And realizing that all the cells of our body are affected by our thoughts.
   

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi:

Your beliefs become your thoughts

Your thoughts become your words

Your words become your actions

Your actions become your habits

Your habits become your values

Your values become your destiny

Sugar…we are surrounded by it, in our holidays (so glad Halloween has passed us by), our beloved pastries, candy bars, sugar-laden soft drinks,  fancy desserts, not to mention all the “hidden” places sugar hides.  I will not go into how many names sugar has.  But the reason I am even discussing it here is that I have decided to go without it for the next 3 weeks just to see how I feel.

As I have mentioned before in this blog, I am a huge fan of The Kathleen Show, a wonderful radio show that addresses great health issues.  Here is some of Kathleen’s wisdom about the subject of sugar:

We all know that America has a serious sweet tooth. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, on average,  sugar consumption has risen to nearly 160 pounds per person per year (which is equivalent to about 50 teaspoons a day).

In watching Kathleen’s short video about a simple breakfast choice, my thoughts went immediately to the consumption of soft drinks in this country.  According to the Weston Price Foundation, the average soda per person per year is 600 12 oz. drinks  or 56.25 gallons of soda per person per year.  (an 8 oz. container contains 8 to 12 teaspoons of sugar).  That is a lot of sugar being consumed.  Although I rarely indulge in soda drinking, I am always amazed when I shop for groceries at the amount of sodas in other people’s carts or better yet, the very popular “refillable” soda at most fast food restaurants.

We all know that we do not need refined sugar to survive and be healthy. However, when  we focus on low fat diets and see that as being a healthy decision, it is often overlooked at how much sugar hides in those choices.  For example, did you know that a “low-fat” fruit-flavored yogurt contains about 8 teaspoons of sugar?  And of course we have Kathleen’s example of a simple glass of orange juice can begin our day with 6 teaspoons of sugar.  How often do we feel that burst of energy after eating that sugary snack or juice and then suddenly find ourselves crashing.  Our blood and brain chemistry is being altered by the sugar and the body has to work harder afterward to restore balance.

Actually one of the strongest reasons to reduce (or give up) sugar I have found is that high sugar consumption, according to Frank Lipman, M.D.,  author of Total Renewal..7 Steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health, is connected to premature aging.  According to Lipman, “Sugar chemically alters the proteins in your body, a process called “glycosylation,” resulting in the development of advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs).  As AGEs collect in the various tissues of the body, they inhibit proper functioning.  In the skin, for example, they cause a loss of elasticity, which  results in sagging and wrinkling.  In the joints, they affect the cartilage, so you become stiffer.  The buildup of AGEs affects all of the organs, which is why it is a major source of premature aging.”    Wow, now I really am concerned!

I love Dr. Lipman’s  “Prescription for Sugar” which include the following:

• Avoid sugar, as much as possible
• Avoid artificial sweeteners (most commonly used is aspartame – Equal and NutraSweet)  When heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the wood alcohol in aspartame converts into formaldehyde and then breaks down into formic acid. These substances are known toxins and have been linked to multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia, seizures, and memory loss, among other disorders.
• For sweetness use stevia, a natural noncaloric sweetener derived from the plant Stevia rebaudiana.
• Instead of refined sugar, use small amounts of honey and 100% pure maple syrup if necessary.
• Because sugar is a carbohydrate, avoid those foods in which the number of grams of sugar is more than one third of the number of grams of carbohydrates.
• Aim to eat only those foods that have less than four grams of sugar per serving.  (On labels look for the grams of sugar per serving.  The lower the number, the better.  Four grams is the equivalent of one teaspoon of sugar, and therefore, 40 grams of sugar is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons).
• Avoid or decrease your intake of sodas and diet sodas
• Try alternatives such as iced herbal teas, sparkling mineral water mixed with fruit juice, sparkling water over ice cubes made from unsweetened fruit juice, or sparkling water with a twist of lemon or lime.
• Consume fruit and vegetables.  Although they contain natural forms of sugar they are also high in fiber, enzymes, and essential vitamins and minerals, something that sweetened products are not.

I am reminding myself each day now of the quote, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life!”  simply because I know that obesity, heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay and now AGING, can all be linked to those sugary desires!  What about you?   How are you and your family affected by sugar?