Hello and welcome back to the world of the Dogpound, where we are aging every day and thankful every day for that little blessing.
I have been thinking more about getting older, since I am closer to the end than I am at the beginning, and with that, I have in turn been thinking more about my health. I know we are all blessed with abundant food availability. You have to be amazed when you sit down and really think about everything that has to happen to stock our grocery stores with the wide range of fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products that we see every day in any store that we choose to walk into. Now I realize that food is not the only indicator of health, but it certainly helps that we have been blessed with more than we can shake a stick at. On top of that, much of our food is enhanced with “vitamin this, fiber that, miracle this,” so why are we only ranked 31st in the world in average life expectancy? Japan was ranked No. 1 with an average of 83.7 years and the U.S. average is 79.3 years. I believe a big reason for this is that we are no longer as mobile as we used to be. We are built to move. We have arms, legs, toes, fingers, hips, elbows, knees and so forth, all made to allow us great flexibility and dexterity. If you do not believe me, just watch a baby or a young child; they are like perpetual motion machines. They are like the Energizer Bunny. In past days, we had to get up at dawn, farm, hunt, fish, chop and cook all day long. Today, we sit down in front of the television, laptop or the iPhone, and become immobile for hours on end. The other thing I have been noticing is that I continue to see all of these studies where, if you eat this or drink that, you shorten your life span. For example, I drink Diet Coke, and I have consumed diet beverages for a very long time, since when Tab was more common. A recent study said that for every can I drank, I shortened my lifespan by 15 minutes. I have no idea how they get this down to the minute, but I figured if that is true, and based on how much I have consumed over the past years, I would have lived to be like 110 if I had not found Diet Coke. Of course, we are all aware of the studies done with cigarettes. Every cigarette costs you 11 minutes of your life. I do not smoke, but I do drink wine. Another study said that you are allowed five glasses a week, but if you drink more than that, each extra glass costs you 30 minutes of your life span. I came across an article from AARP that found something that is worse than smoking, worse than obesity, and can shorten your life expectancy by eight years or more. Got your attention? Good! Now you will look forward to my next article! [That is what you call marketing. LOL!]
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” — George Burns
GRANDPA FROG
A little girl said, “Grandpa, can I sit on your lap? “Why sure you can,” her grandfather replied.
As she sat on her grandfather’s lap she said, “Grandpa, can you make a sound like a frog?” “A sound like a frog? Well, sure Grandpa can make a sound like a frog.” The girl said, “Grandpa, will you please, please make a sound like a frog?” Perplexed, her grandfather said, “Sweetheart, why do you want me to make a sound like a frog?” And the little girl said, “Because Grandma said that when you croak, we’re going to Florida!”
That is all I have for today. I need to rest up so I can start on that next exciting issue on aging. As always be good, do good, play safe, and remember, we only have one body with unknown available mileage, so take good care of it.
— JR
