I hit the half-century milestone today which makes me officially vintage. If I last another 50 years I can call myself antique. I wanted to have all my own hair colour back by 50 and while I’m not quite there I think I’m past the temptation to colour it. I’ve accepted the grey and am ok with it. There are some bleached bits on the ends but they won’t last much longer.
Elizabeth made me pancakes for breakfast this morning. They were delicious and made with wholemeal spelt flour. She’s an accomplished chef in addition to all her other talents.
I didn’t plan anything for my birthday because I thought it would be stressful and when I think about what I enjoy doing most it’s the simple things like spending time with my family and feeding the animals so that’s what I did. After breakfast I went to St Nicholas Kirk on Union Street and fed sunflower seeds to the pigeons. This evening we fed the foxes.
Over the course of this year, perhaps because 50 was approaching or perhaps because the wrinkles and grey made themselves more obvious to me, I became a bit obsessed with health and anti-ageing. When I say anti-ageing I mean it in every sense and not just superficially but with quality of life and productive, healthful longevity. There’s a concept of healthy life expectancy which is not how long we live but how long we live in good health. We all want to remain healthy right up until the day we die but that’s not how it typically works. To maintain good health for as long as possible as I embark on my 2nd half-century I have developed 5 daily steps which I thought I’d share. Behold: Rachel’s 5 health and anti-aging tips.
1 Feed the microbiome
The trillions of microorganisms that live in our intestines digesting our food also regulate our brain function, immune system, mood, metabolism in addition to protecting us from pathogens, autoimmune diseases and chronic conditions like IBS. It’s like our own personal pharmacy down there. They are essential for good health but they need nutrients to flourish. They thrive on plants and in particular fibre, the more the diversity the better, so the first and most important step to health and anti-ageing is to feed those little guys so they can do their best for me.
2 Lift weights
I recently got into strength training because as we age our muscles wither away. Use them or lose them. Resistance training prevents osteoporosis, improves mental health, balance and coordination, helps regulate blood sugar and improves general health markers like cholesterol and blood pressure.
3 Play the piano
I listened to a podcast recently in which a scientist was sharing ways to ward off dementia and one of them was to play an instrument but you couldn’t just learn as a teenager for a few years and never play again. You had to do it every day like a professional musician would and make it challenging – don’t play the same old dusty pieces but really challenge yourself so that’s what I’ve been doing.
4 Avoid UPFs
UPFs = Ultra Processed Foods. This is obvious and kind of links in with point 1 to feed the microbiome. UPFs wreck havoc on the microbiome which cannot flourish with all the additives the food industry puts into food. I have an app on my phone that can scan a barcode and assess whether the food is ultra-processed although it’s pretty obvious to me now. Anything with guar gums, lecithins, carrageenans and stuff that you wouldn’t have in your kitchen should be avoided. Apparently UPFs make up about 60% of the average UK diet. It’s therefore not surprising the NHS is drowning as it tries to support a population riddled with avoidable diseases.
5 Run
The resistance exercise is important but I also need something to get my heart rate up each day. Most days that’s running but it could also be dance and cycling which I do regularly and enjoy.
I had my microbiome tested a few months ago and my score came back as excellent. You basically send a sample of your poo away for DNA testing and the greater the diversity and number of species of good micro-organisms the higher the score. I was pretty happy with that but there’s always room for improvement there.
Life is good. Daniel is happy and settled in well at St Andrews. Elizabeth is enjoying her new school and routine. Ben and I both healthy and have good jobs. And now that I know my microbiome is flourishing what more do I need?
rachel.blog 
Leave a reply to Rachel M Cancel reply