BETTER HABITS, BETTER HEALTH
A recent guest on the Living to 100 Club Radio Show was Dr. Michael Howard, health educator, neuropsychologist, and researcher on aging and longevity. The discussion focused on the role that our behavior and lifestyle play in developing chronic illness and disease, and alternatively, can also ensure successful aging and living longer. Here are the top ten takeaways from the Show:
TOP 10 TAKEAWAYS
* Where you’re born and where you live on this planet and the lifestyle choices you make in that environment, drastically impact life expectancy. The lifestyle choices you make in life, the decisions you make, markedly affect how long you’ll live.
* The food industry has created hyper-palatable foods that incorporate sweet, fatty, and salty tastes, foods that provide high brain pleasure, are high in calories, and contribute to growing rates of obesity. These foods never existed on our planet before they were processed and marketed this way, and you cannot find a natural food that is sweet, salty, and fatty at the same time.
* The top 10 causes of death are largely brought about by our own behaviors. They’re not highly genetic disorders. These are heart disease, cancer, COPD, accidental deaths, stroke, conditions related to Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, infections, and suicide.
* There are 100-year-old people out there taking Metformin and they’re taking antihypertensives, statins and other drugs, too. Medical science has helped us manage these conditions significantly with medications. What it hasn’t done is really made a huge effort to prevent these conditions largely brought about by our own behaviors.
* Death is rarely attributable to Alzheimer’s disease, but rather these individuals die of pneumonia, heart attack or stroke, malnutrition, or sepsis. Though you die with Alzheimer’s disease, you don’t really die from it.
* A chronic condition is defined as lasting three months or more, and is more difficult to treat or cure, while acute conditions are more treatable, especially with better diagnostic tests and screening exams that can identify early signs of conditions that can become chronic.
* Our behavior falls into identifiable patterns right around late teens or early adulthood. We call that pattern of behavior our personality, characterized by a set of beliefs that we form over time, based on these beliefs and powerful memories. And they become behavior patterns that stay with us. And some of these personality styles can be very unhealthy and others can be healthy.
* Lifestyle can be improved by choices that we make but it’s also necessary to change the environment, so there are competing choices that are healthier. This would include alternative food aisles in the grocery store, and healthy fast food restaurants.
* If you want to add anywhere from 15 to 18 healthy years to your life, there are five simple things in life that largely predict that: keep your weight in the normal range; eat healthy, mostly plant-based diets; do regular and moderate exercise; don’t smoke; and do not drink alcohol to excess.
* To change behaviors, set goals that impact one, two, or three things that you want to change in your life. Make the goals you want and start short term, and then shoot for long term goals. Get your motivation to do it, understand why you want to do it, and don’t compare yourself to others because everybody is different, with different motivations and what’s important to them may not be important to you.
Dr. Howard has been a guest on our Radio show twice, imparting valuable advice for our listeners about healthy lifestyles and living longer. You can access the recording and transcript at this link on our website. A new membership category, Premium Members, can access all show recordings, transcripts, AND a “precis” or top 10 takeaways from each episode. Visit the membership page for more details.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
VIEW THE LIVINGTO100.CLUB WEBSITE
The Living to 100 Club website focuses on sharing useful information with our Club Members and visitors. Our goal is to provide useful content, through our Live Radio Show, Show Recordings and Transcripts, The Club Blog, Member Handbook, and Premium Membership. Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Newsletter / Blog as well as Announcements about upcoming guests of our Radio show.
UPGRADED PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP
The Premium Membership has been expanded and now offers the Blog and Announcements, PLUS exclusive content — a copy of the new DVD of the movie Lives Well Lived by Sky Bergman; a copy of the book, The Blue Zones Solution by Dan Buettner; Radio show recordings, transcripts, and top takeaways; revised Club Member Handbook; learning and retirement opportunities; senior websites; tips and recommendations; and promotional discounts from Amazon. This is content gleaned from an array of sources, updated monthly, only for our members and with a low monthly subscription. Sign up to become a Premium Member today.
CURATED ARTICLES
Look for the tab Curated Articles on the Living to 100 Club website for a series of current, actionable articles on baby boomers, successful aging, positive thinking, and overcoming obstacles.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Visit the Club Store for a collection of books (including those authored by guests on our Radio show) and the Club’s I’m Positive collection.
PHONE CONSULTATION
Schedule a 30-minute phone call with the Living to 100 Club proprietor, Joseph M. Casciani, to explore your journey or your organization’s journey on the road to successful aging. Calls are scheduled via Skype (audio only) to joseph.casciani. Please use the scheduling calendar for appointments.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Chief Curator of the Living to 100 Club, Dr. Joe Casciani, has now presented his talk on Fresh and Inspiring Perspectives on Living to 100 for different groups. If you are interested in this presentation for your group or organization, please send an email to jc@Livingto100.Club for more information.
WEEKLY INTERNET RADIO SHOW
The Living to 100 Club is all about staying positive as we age. Our blog articles and our weekly live Radio Show emphasize longevity, successful aging, risk management, and handling setbacks whenever they occur. We are pleased to announce that the Show has had over 15,000 listeners of the live episodes or on-demand recordings. Be sure to tune in to our weekly Radio Talk Show on VoiceAmericaHealth, every Friday at 2pm Pacific, with your Host, Dr. Joe Casciani.
Missed the live event? Recordings of all episodes can be accessed on the Club website. Scroll down on the audio player and select “Episode Listing” to display the selections. And now, you can see the schedule of upcoming guests – take a look. We have more exciting guests lined up, and hope you will continue to join us.
