Healthy Aging Series Part 3

How To Prepare For Aging | Healthy Aging Series: Part 3

Regardless of your age, begin preparing for aging right now. Honestly, it’s that simple. Do the things that you need to do to be healthy now. Here is what I say: In order to prepare for the last 10 years of your life, you’ve got to start preparing for the next 10 years of your…

Mark Scaling a Mountain!

It’s Never, Never Too Late to Start Getting Healthy!! | Healthy Aging Series: Part 2

I’m 65. I’ve been pretty serious about my health most of my adult life. This is due, in part, to the many people that have mentored me and influenced me these past decades.  I see my doctor and dentist twice a year. I work out almost every day. I hike and walk every week. I…

Hiking out west

Active Aging: Lessons from My Younger Self | Healthy Aging Series: Part 1

I’m old, or at least that’s what gerontologists tell me. I turned sixty-five this past year and that means I’m in the “Young Old” category. I was actually proud of myself when I turned sixty-five. When I was in Air Force basic training, forty-seven years ago, I called home for the first time and was…

Healthy Aging Series: Introduction

“Everything in the Universe ages.” Leonard Hayflick So, why should we be any different?  The real question isn’t, are we aging, but how are we aging? We have one body. There are no second chances or replacements. The way that you take care of your body now will most likely determine if you have a…

racial profiling

Racial Profiling and Our Youth

Time to Wake Up! Protecting our Black Youth from Racial Profiling “Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era.” It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement and private security target people of color for humiliating…

out of the darkness

Out of the Darkness

Hank Buckwalter, his wife, Chelsea, and Rommie and I participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk this past weekend at Waterfront Park. It can be emotionally overwhelming to be in a gathering of people that are celebrating the lives and passing of their loved ones. I listened as the “Honor Beads” were given to…

2 or 3 pounds a year

The 2 or 3 Pounds a Year Club

It doesn’t sound like much: 2 or 3 pounds a year. But in ten years you’ve added 20 pounds. In 20 years, you’ve added 40 or 50 pounds, even 60.  I’ve had a membership in this club and, unfortunately, I put on 25 extra pounds in 8 years.  Many, many Americans are members of this…

seduced by sugar

Seduced by Sugar

“Prone to Wander, Oh I Feel it, Prone to Eat the Sugar I love!” I’m not sure the hymn writer intended their song to be used to illustrate the temptations of sugar, but I had to give it a try. It may not be right, but it feels right.  We are constantly seduced by sugar….

thoughtful eating

Thoughtful Eating

We take food for granted.  I know there are people in our country that are hungry. I work with many people on reduced incomes and I see them struggle to make ends meet. Poverty continues to pose a challenge for our country. Despite this, children and adolescents in low-income families are more likely to be…

in defense of doughnuts

In Defense of Doughnuts

In Defense of Doughnuts (or is it Donuts?) I was preparing for a trip to Colorado, to visit some family, when my wife and I decided we wanted a donut to celebrate. It sounds silly and somewhat contradictory, considering the number of blogs that I’ve written about the evils of sugar. We made a trip…