Rather than write about health care reform in the U.S. (which I think is desperately necessary, just for the record), I’m going to touch lightly on another aspect of health, one more under our direct control. A more personal aspect: how we sustain ourselves. As we age, which we are all doing.
While at Opal Creek Ancient Forest over the weekend, I snagged a book from a bookshelf by a celebritry I’ve always found interesting and intelligent: Bill Cosby. It was Time Flies, written 23 years ago when Mr. Cosby was 50. Here is my takeaway from the 7/8 of it I read in our group’s cabin at Opal Creek this past Saturday evening:
How we age is a different animal from how we lived and how we looked when we were young. I say this because Mr. Cosby was a star athlete in his youth, lettering in three sports and running, evidently, a mean quarter-mile. He reports he looked incredible in the mirror. At age 50, though, he wrote (with charmingly self-effacing humor) about a failing memory, his belly causing immense difficulty in putting on socks and shoes, an appalling cholesterol level that sharply limited what he could eat, and finding sex so exhausting that he’d lost interest in it.
My husband, in contrast, lettered in no sports, states he is completely uncoordinated, and makes no claims about how he ever looked in the mirror, including now. However, Thor, 56, works out rigorously at the gym five times a week, eats no meat, dons shoes without complaint,and has a great cholesterol level. And memory. All those things have been true for a couple of decades. And, uh, he doesn’t share the 50 year old Mr. Cosby’s disinterest in sex. At. All.
I write about Thor’s health and vitality just to remind us that whatever Congress does or doesn’t do with health care reform, we all make choices every day that decide how healthy we will be. I don’t know about you, but I seem to need all the reinforcement and reminders I can get about making healthy choices. Here’s a post on the joy of walking and biking, and one on my fairly successful quest to drink less. In the self-effacing vein, here is my struggle with Haagen Dazs. Finally, one of my most-read pieces: The Very Best Diet.
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