Summary

The website content discusses the personal journey of an individual managing aging through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, with a focus on cooking and wellness.

Abstract

The author likens their aging body to an old car that requires maintenance, emphasizing the importance of cooking in aiding digestion and nutrient absorption. They share their transition from a diet of salads and T-bone steaks to one that is more suitable for their changing digestive system, influenced by the use of fire in cooking by ancestors and modern dietary research. The author's wellness project prioritizes quality of life over longevity, favoring natural methods and a ketone diet to manage health issues, including diabetes. They also engage in weight-based exercises to maintain physical health. The author has discovered through blood glucose monitoring that certain foods, like blueberries, can cause unexpected blood sugar spikes, leading to a tailored diet that includes an evening frittata as a salad substitute. Social dining has become challenging, with the author avoiding certain cuisines and ingredients that disrupt their digestive system. Despite these dietary restrictions, the author remains positive, enjoying casual employment in academia and encouraging others to share their strategies for coping with aging.

Opinions

The author values quality of life and natural health methods over medical interventions and prolonging life through pills.
They believe in the importance of cooking for better digestion and nutrient absorption, as evidenced by human evolution and personal experience.
The author is critical of the medical community's tendency to prescribe pills rather than advocate for lifestyle changes.
They have a pragmatic approach to diet, using blood glucose monitoring to inform food choices and manage diabetes.
The author enjoys the process of experimenting with cooking to create meals that are both enjoyable and health-supportive.
Social dining has become more complicated, but the author prefers to be seen as "eccentric" rather than difficult for their dietary choices.
The author emphasizes the importance of mental stimulation and physical activity in managing the aging process.
They advocate for casual employment as a means to maintain freedom and work opportunities beyond traditional retirement ages.
The author is open to learning from others and encourages sharing of strategies for coping with aging.

Aging and Cooking.

My body is like a much loved old car. Needs looking after.

My wonderful Evening Frittata. Picture by John Rose.

My Wellness Attitude.

Our ancestors started using fire about 2 million years ago in cooking. Modern humans can digest cooked food more efficiently than raw food. Indeed the chemical and physical breakdown of food during cooking allows us to extract more goodness from the food than eating it raw.

My book reading supports my personal experience. I once loved salads and big T-bone steaks. Weakened teeth put paid to chomping T-bones and I am resisting dentures. Medical checkups during my wellness project showed me what aging has done to my digestive track. Complaining tummy and guts from poor digestion of salads and raw veggies are not conducive to writing.

This may surprise you, but I’m not much interested in prolonging life through medical procedures, prophesies and lots of pills. Pills often have side effects needing still more pills and specialist humbugging. My grandparents, father, mother and brother went on this medical treadmill. I decided that come what may, my path would not be strewn with pills. So far, so good. I take joy in each waking day.

Focus of my wellness project is on having a useful life given my age and natural life expectancy. I do exercises based on weights to maintain joint movement and reasonable muscle tone. My ketone diet is focused on maximising digestive efficiency and emolliating diabetic issues around blood glucose levels. Things are going well, I can beat grandkids in arm wrestling.

There is one surprising thing about my diet, some combinations of ingredients work well while others produce surprising results. I found this out in doing blood glucose monitoring for all meals over several months. Blueberries are one of the so called “super foods” and they should not have caused me any issues. However, adding small amounts to my breakfast muesli caused unacceptable spikes in my blood glucose levels.

Salad Conundrum.

My evening frittata was intended to add variety to my tightly controlled diet. I found it had a side benefit by substituting for my much loved salads. The frittata has sliced and diced vegetables layers. Root vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips and turnips are on the bottom taking the heat. Quick to cook vegetables such as kale are next, then topped by eggs and cheese. Taste combinations are endless, just takes practice.

Cooking the frittata is fast using both gas burner and griller. I experimented with heat and times and much to my delight, I could adjust the crunchiness of vegetables to give a salad like feel and yet still achieve the digestive goals of eliminating stomach cramps and other things best left to the imagination.

Social Outings.

Pasta, bread and pastry are off my eating agenda. When I go out with family we frequent Thai, Malaysian and Indian restaurants. I avoid rice at all costs. As for finger food, I gave it the finger.

French restaurants are fine if I stick to oysters, clams, prawns and fish, but I must be very careful with sauces and don’t touch questionable salads. Middle eastern food with cured and pickled vegetables create intestinal train wrecks. Baklava, once a great favourite is now just a fond memory. Russian caviar is great, but I no longer have much capacity for vodka or alcohol in general.

As you can well imagine, I get fewer invitations to attend meals with friends. I’m not sure if I have an epicurean, fusspot, “right-nutter” or just “difficult” reputation. I prefer “eccentric”. Explaining my diet usually results in eye-rolling, so I don’t explain. I spend a lot of time walking the forest with magpie on my shoulder.

Thoughts.

Shining Light on Body’s Interior. Art in Rock, Sand and Light by John Rose.

Aging seemed like a perfect storm in my life. Grey hair seemed to decrease employment opportunities in academia, even though I received my PhD at age 65.

Seems to me that medical practitioners often fob-off elders by prescribing pills, rather than suggesting carefully considered lifestyle changes. One thing for sure, sitting back and doing nothing hastens the end.

My observations of aging parents and relatives not to mention developing diabetes made me determined not to go down the path of pill popping. I took a holistic view of managing exercise and diet. I made small changes and tried to measure differences — for example using blood-glucose monitoring to check diabetes, frequent full blood tests and head-to-toe medicals. It is not an easy path, but it has yielded positive results.

Finally, the brain. Reasoning is one of those “use it or lose it” things. I do love to read and now I love to write stories in medium.com. I am still lecturing in Engineering. My work is casual in nature as it gives me great freedom of choice. I believe casual employment creates work opportunities beyond the restrictive retirement ages of permanent positions.

Why don’t you write about your strategies to cope with aging. Please let me know as I would like to keep learning about life.

Blessed be.