Cathie Ramey,  February 21, 2008

No matter how you look at it, aging gets a bad rap. If I asked you what you fear about aging, I think you might answer having a stroke or a heart attack or developing cancer. Yet, it appears that middle-aged women are having strokes because of their weight, not because of their age. If we look at this from a different point of view, maybe it’s also good news. Why? Because we can do something about our weight and how it affects our health, especially in middle age. Aging is a process, not a disease, and the process is affected by lifestyle.  Improve your lifestyle and you have a chance of growing older without the diseases we’re so quick to associate with aging. It’s  easy to blame our "genes" when we talk about health, but most health experts will tell you that lifestyle and environment often play a greater part. Let’s face it,  middle-aged women suffering from obesity may be having strokes, but age can’t take the rap for this one.

Cathie Ramey,  February 17, 2008

If you’ve ever been faced with trying to help your parents, you know how helpless you can feel. Unfortunately, there is rarely a single place to go for answers, like the low-cost drop-in center for caregivers in Marin County, California. Aging parents have challenges that go way beyond their doctor’s expertise: insurance, transportation, benefits, home safety, in-home help – the list goes on. Geriatric care management is an option for those who can afford it. For low-income seniors, there are public programs, but they’re often under-funded and overburdened. Another option is to network with other people in similar positions. To be sure, families do the best they can, but a program like the one in Marin that provides streamlined assistance certainly makes a difference.

Cathie Ramey,  January 07, 2008

When was the last time you sat down and ate sugar and fat by the spoonful? The answer may be your most recent meal. Surprised? Then consider the following: for every 4 grams of sugar per serving of food we eat, we’re consuming 1 teaspoon of sugar; for every 4 grams of fat per serving we eat, we’re consuming the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine. Are we really honest with ourselves about our eating habits? Probably not as much as we need to be and let’s face it, any time, any place, we love to eat. We’re learning to consume foods high in anti-oxidants like tea and blueberries, and healthy fats like olive oil, so maybe it’s what we shouldn’t be eating on a regular basis that we need to start focusing on. After all, along with exercise, what we eat creates the cornerstone of our health. Most leading-edge boomers consider themselves in pretty good health and that’s encouraging because the health we create today defines the quality of our life tomorrow. Want more insight into what you’re eating? Try using the USDA’s MyPyramidTracker.