Aging Well – Why My Mom is my Hero

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My mother, surfing in Vieques this February.

Think of the people you know who are a generation older than you are.  How have they aged?  How healthy are they?  How active are they?

The older we get, the bigger the range of experience between the healthiest and the unhealthiest person.  Age compounds the choices we’ve made in our lives over time to be healthy… or not.  Yes, there’s genetics… but in the words of Dr. Colin Campbell, lifestyle and diet pull the trigger.  Are you the healthiest expression of your genetic code?  Where do you fall on the range of your own genetic potential, and could you do better, better enough to change your future?

When I look at this photo of my mother, a grandmother of four, surfing in Vieques, all I can think is that she’s my hero.  This is what I want to be doing in 30 years.  I want to be healthy and active enough to be in the Caribbean in February fearlessly catching waves.  My mother is not an experienced surfer – she’s healthy, active, and confident enough to be out there trying something new.  She spent two and a half hours out there on the water, and yes, she made it up to a stand.  That’s a LOT of paddling!

My mother can easily get down on the floor and play with her grandchildren.  She snorkels, walks for hours on the beach, and kayaked all the way across a lake with the boys and I last summer.  She did two hours of horseback riding on the same vacation she went surfing.  She can shovel when my Dad’s too sick to snow-blow.  She can handle two preschool age boys by herself when my Dad returns to work but I’m still having a long weekend in Paris with Greg.  It’s not “too much” for her.  Very little is.  She’s not vegan, but she’s a healthy weight, and eats a lot of whole foods.  It’s added up.

I know so many people her age who can’t do any of these things, who struggle with the joint pain and inflammation that comes from decades of being overweight.  They have mobility issues.  Some of them experience chronic pain.  They tire as easily as someone 20 years their senior.  They will never surf again.

NOT. ME.

I am going to be like my mother when I get older.  I am going to be like the 65 year old I chatted with at the starting line of my 3rd half marathon… who finished before I did.  I am going to be like the grandparents I see at our local cycling studio when I go to the 7 a.m. class on Saturday mornings.

There’s a cost.  It’s not free.

I prioritize exercise.  Make time for it.

I avoid animal products, convenience foods, overly processed foods, limit refined sugar.  It’s a pain in the butt sometimes.  There are days I wish I felt comfortable calling and ordering takeout once a week… but it’s salty, it’s swimming in oil, and even the vegan options aren’t healthy.

I may be doing more than I “need” to… but there’s no way of knowing how prone I am to cancer, Alzheimer’s, or heart disease based on my genetic code and environmental history.  I don’t know how many french fries I can eat, how many cupcakes, or, if I weren’t morally opposed, how many hamburgers it’d take to push things just over the edge and lead to a heart attack or promote the growth of cancer cells.  Would I be as lucky as my mother?  With an uncle and grandparent who’ve had cancer, I’m not willing to risk it, and I don’t want to teach my children to eat that way either.

Looking at that photo of my mother on the surf-board reminds me to stay strong.  I’m not just drastically reducing my risk of heart disease and cancer, I’m drastically increasing my quality of life as I age.  I’ll have additional years that I’m well enough to travel.  More mobility and energy to play falling down games with my grandchildren.  More time on this planet… and greater independence towards the end of my life.

After reading The China Study, there is no doubt in my mind that all the science is leading us in the same direction.  A whole foods, plant-based diet combined with regular exercise is my ticket to the Caribbean in 30 years.

I’ll take it.

 

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I did a little of my own “surfing” in Grand Cayman. On a paddleboard. In a skirt. During a wind advisory.
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It’ll probably take me thirty years to be as good as my mother 🙂

 

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3 comments

  1. Your Mom is my hero too! Incredible picture of her surfing.

    My mother is the one you describe – she is overweight, immobile, has chronic fatigue and pain. It’s sad. At the same time, the way she has lived and eaten has no doubt caused the issues so it’s hard to feel sorry for her. In some ways, it’s “good” to have her as an example of what NOT to do. It scares you straight and in the completely opposite direction 🙂

    1. It’s amazing that you’ve lived such a different lifestyle. So many people follow in their parents’ footsteps, healthy or unhealthy, and don’t realize there’s an alternative.

  2. Way to go mom!

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