PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Heart Healthy Nutrition.

ive done a lot of research on above topic in advance of talking to a pro nutritionist in a couple weeks.
i just want to ensure i'm eating healthy stuff as i age.
to protect the heart.

so i'm curious what other people are doing to ensure they are heart healthy as they age....cos i want to live to 100 and drive people nuts with my crazy songs...lol.

of course there is lots of info on the net.
and ive given up typical stuff recommended by docs.
includeing, as i was born in the uk big english breakfasts that i used to love...lol.
problem is i'm a big strapping guy and i like good food.

"so" i'm curious how other people are protecting their hearts/general health etc as they age.
i also want to ensure i stay healthy and preserve my vocals as ive always been a singer.
cos already as i age i'm starting to lose the very high voc registers i used to be able to do effortlessly..
and took for granted...sigh.
any ideas ?

best
om

<< so i'm curious what other people are doing to ensure they are heart healthy as they age....cos i want to live to 100 and drive people nuts with my crazy songs...lol. >>

I'd just grabbed a honey bun and set down to browse BIAB topics and saw this..... Oh my, the guilt. The guilt....

We've been vegetarians for 20 years and have exercised nearly daily for 40 years either hiking or mountain biking.
The veggie diet is ZERO sacrifice for us. Janice switched from a classic southern cook to a great veggie cook.
We don't graze -- we eat great food.

But nothing is perfect ... we just try to shift the odds a bit in our favor.

Bud

I tend to focus more on exercise than diet. Walking, jogging, cycling, etc..... Although in today's world you're just as likely to drop dead with or without good nutrition and exercise. There's your downer for the day Muso...

I am a lifetime member of weight watchers. Lost 75 pounds with the changed diet. Now, I am exercising and feel great. (Tai Chi, distance swimmer and bicycling.) WW will allow you to eat anything but it makes you think about what you are eating.

I really believe it helped my guitar playing.

...Deb

I have done some things with food prep, like switching to an air fryer that uses almost no oil. For example, if I do chicken in it, I put a dime sized drop of canola oil in my hand and use that drop to put a light coat on the chicken. I air bake, I air broil... That Ninja Foodi XL Pro preheats in 45-60 seconds and does an amazing job. When there isn't 16 inches of snow on the ground and roads and the temperature allows I walk the dog 1/2 mile 3 times a day, but my exercise potential is limited. I'll explain.

When I was young I played baseball, football and hockey. Every season had a sport for me. Then in 2019 an old knee injury with 45 years of wear on it required a replacement. I thought I would just go back to how it was with 2 normal knees. I was wrong. I am not permitted to run on it because of the potential damage to the hardware. I was at the park in about October and 2 20-ish kids were playing tennis. One of them had to use the bathroom. I asked the other if he'd valley with me some. So I tied up the dog and started volleying with the guy. He was hitting the ball straight back to me and I said "Make me move side to side. I need to test my knee." So he started hitting them 10 feet to either side. I asked for more and he moved it out to 15 feet. When it got that far and called for more quick lateral movement I realized I couldn't do that. There is also an old dude softball league in summer that I'd love to join, but I can't run. So while my knee is now pain free it isn't like turning back time to before the injury and my exercise potential is severely limited.

I am dreadfully overweight and am still experimenting on what I can do about it. I will try step aerobics again soon. Mainly I just want this cold, snowy weather to be over so I can get back to walking Chunk as much as we are both used to.

In the UK there's been a bit of a focus recently to avoid "ultra-processed" foods. The rule of thub being "if you yourself wouldn't put those ingredients in it, don't eat it".

There's definitely good evidence that plenty of fruit & veg is good ... the more variety the better.

Most of the studies suggesting that fats are bad go back many years to a study that was sponsored by a sugar-producer. Most fats in moderation are fine. Too much sugar, especiually refined sugar, is a bad idea. There's increasing evidence that artificial sweeteners cause the body to get confused and overcompensate. We drink soft drinks, usually with those artificial sweeteners, but we dilute them with water and we have been gradually increasing the amount by which we dilute.

My gran's advice still seems to hold well: "Moderation in all things, a little of what you fancy does you good". Mind, both my grans died young, so maybe that advice isn't so great after all.

Here is everything you need to know about vitamins, minerals, and your heart:

https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/vitamins-minerals-affect-heart-5337.html

Just keep reading and scrolling down until the end. If you have gout like I do just skip the beef heart paragraphs.

I was born with a defective heart valve. I have been taking many of those vitamins and minerals for years now and so far so good. My cardiologist keeps track of my heart.

I believe that exercise is the key. Both of my parents lived until they were 96 years old. Their diet, as was mine when I lived home, was terrible! Mom cooked with lard and we had a lot of fried foods. Neither smoked and both had hard jobs, i.e. a lot of physical labor, especially my dad.

For me.... it's mainly exercise. I walk a lot. In addition, I intentionally walk, a lot. And when training my dog, I walk even more.

As far as food.... I try my best to eat in a sensible manner. Avoid places like the golden arches and other such joints. However, a greasy cheeseburger and some fries from the local family restaurant on occasion, satisfies in a bigly manner....

I try to eat a lot of veggies and fruit, and drink water, half and half tea, and beer. No soda or high fructose corn syrup drinks. Everything in moderation. I maintain a weight of around 145 to 150 lbs. Nightly snack tends to be something like citrus fruit....

Oh yeah.... vitamins and a few other things

And... regular doctor visits to keep ahead of the situation....and I try to avoid prescription poisons

Sugar is the main enemy. It is one of the drivers of bad cholesterol. It is hidden in almost every processed food there is. The dreaded High Fructose Corn Syrup and its many brothers and sisters. Read the labels. If you could eat only fresh food, especially if you know where it was raised and even better who raised it, you would go a long way. But that is not possible in many places.

I have the heart of a 40 year old. I keep it in a jar on my desk.

For me the biggest culprit is salt. Even though the USDA recommendation is 2,000 milligrams (mg) a day I strive for 1,500 mg. I've found if you watch the salt intake then sugar intake will take care of itself.

Over time my wife and I have found brands we stay away from and other brands we can rely on. Some prepared foods we don't purchase. Instead my wife makes from scratch. A can of condensed tomato soup can range from 410 to 1,100 mg of salt. My wife's tomato soup has less than 50 mg of salt.

The second culprit is portion control. I don't eat big meals anymore. It takes about three to four months of constant measuring cup use for correct portion size to become a habit.

wow ....so much interesting info.
cheers to all for the input.
mario..that healthy site is very interesting.
i had a good read top to bottom.
yep my wife and i do a lot of walking...unless its really nasty weather out.

my wife and i have steel cut oats for bfast ...and a touch of cinnamon and honey.
wow great name for a heavy rock band...
"STEEL CUT OATS"...lol.

one thing that concerns moi as i age is ive read bout
sometimes elderly are prescribed many pills etc.
for various ailments.
which brings me to a point.
for those of us who arent medical experts and maybe dunces in this regard, how does a person ensure , in fact
the correct stuff is being prescribed ?

dont get me wrong i'm always impressed by the medical
professionals, but i "have" seen articles where different
groups of researchers sometimes disagree bout the efficacy of some methods and procedures versus others.

best
om

I had gout for abut a decade, sometimes lasting for weeks at a time (they say a few days). In my case it turned out to be because of the blood pressure pills I'd been put on (diuretics). They changed that medication and the gout went.

In my "other" job, I got involved in producing medical statistics for the insurance industry - if they're insuring your life, they want to have some idea of how long it's going to be. I make it clear that I'm not a doctor, I'm a mathematician. Whilst all the above comments are extremely good and valid, there are two further aspects which we found are equally important.

The first is weight. It's not just what you eat, but how much - people with a high Body-Mass Index (BMI) don't generally live as long as those with a perfect one, regardless of diet or exercise. The second is stress. There are many types of stress, so this is hard to quantify, but long term stressful situations can be shown to be linked statistically to reduced life expectancy.

Both these observations are based on empirical data. Incidentally, using empirics we knew that certain conditions were hereditary long before the medical profession discovered why and confirmed our findings.

Just trying to be helpful.

I glad you are over gout.

My gout is caused by a liver malfunction. It does not get rid of uric acid as it should. This is a very common thing for people with gout.

A true medical reason was more likely, but I raised my experience in case it helps someone ask the questions.

Only people who've had it really know just how painful and debilitating it can be, not to mention doing actual physical harm to ones body.

Yes indeed... sugar and salt are major problems.

I have a few spare body parts too..LOL!!!..... I keep them in a freezer in my shop and use them to train my HRD dog.

Yes, meds can cause gout and in about 30% of the people suffering with gout it is food that is causing it. I happened to fall in the other 70%. But it is under control with meds and I can eat almost everything again.

justanoldmuso,

Here are a few thoughts.

1. Dump the traditional English breakfast, that may have been appropriate in a bygone era but we're so much smarter today. My breakfast is 4 scoops of old fashioned oatmeal, 2 scoops of Grapenuts, 2 scoops walnuts and AllBran as required, drenched with dark chocolate almond milk and microwaved. Then an apple, peanutbutter and green tea.

2. Totally avoid the soda pop, instead replace with plain water.

3. When inflamation comes knocking at your door, try ginger root; comes in capsule and tea form.

4. Keep moving. We are designed to move. My 14 year old treadmill just died so I'll be buying a new one soon. Before it died, I'd be on in nearly 365 days/year. In my opinion much better than a gym membership and I can use it day/night in any weather, and is Covid-free. If you can't run, jog. Can't jog? Walk. This has been one of my better investments in life.

5. Avoid obesity at all costs, eat your fruits/vegs and minimize the time you sit. My wife bought us one of those adjustable desks so we can now stand when doing anything on the computer; we love it.

6. Listen to what your body is singing to you and have your Dr. nip issues in the bud before they expand.

7. Get enough quality sleep.

Note: I'm always open to learning, so if someone sees how any of this can be improved, do tell. . . . happy health to all

Sorry, music only OK !
20 years is that all ? "Let Music Be Thy Food" and try carrot juice and bean sprouts only for 2 1/2 years if you want to see things heal and open up your spiritual mind getting out of your brain and see the truth.

4 measures of carrot juice and whole note bean sprouts.

wow thanks for all the good info folks.
yep i gave up salt and sugar a few years back, and my wife has been doing great moving us to healthy foods.

what i really worry about as we age is it seems a lot of
elderly are takeing various meds....some...lots of them,
and i wonder if that creates other complications possibly ? and side effects ?
being english , and going all healthy eats i'm gonna miss
roast beef and yorkshire pudding etc lol.

om

Here in the US, Pharmacists and the Primary Care Provider (PCP) are the two experts to ask about drug interactions and side affects. A more personal reference is +++ The Pill Book +++

Yes I medication will cause a side effects then they give you another medication to get rid of that side effect causing more and more problems when the main problem could of been fixed with diet.
Just about everything can be fixed with diet and meditation.
It all depends how much you are willing to do.
It's hard, I did it for 2 and half years and motorbike scars I had for 10 years disappeared.

Music is my best cure. If I feel good, all my body feels good as well. Music helps me to cheer up and thus feel healthier. Of course, I can't refuse I care about my health. I try to eat healthy food, and exercise. I follow the Canada Drugs website for different health tips. There are suggestions about healthy foods to help your heart work properly.

My heart healthy diet is the opposite of what most nutritionists tell you to do. But it works for me.

How do I know?

A couple of years ago, a new company bought the shopping cart I use for my www.nortonmusic.com business. They are set up differently from my old cart, but they decided to use two systems.

Unfortunately, they didn't import all the protection the old cart used for their old system. The result was people figured out how to get my software products for free downloading my page, changing the price to zero and submitting the order. The old shopping cart had guards against that.

After 4 days of the technicians not knowing what the problem was (and 4 days of products going out for free), the end advice was to abandon the old system and convert all my products to their system.

I had 550 products at the time, and the conversion took about a half hour per product.

At the same time, my heart felt like it was skipping a beat, so my doc referred me to a heart specialist.

He put a monitor on me 24/7 for over a week, did an ultrasound on my body, put me on a treadmill, and used tracking fluid to make sure the vessels feeding my heart were open.

The end result was my circulatory system, from my heart to the capillaries, was as good as a healthy person 25 years younger than myself. The reason for the heart skips, anxiety.

So what's my diet? (Note, I don't recommend this for anyone else)

In the 1990s, when my father died from an obesity related condition, I went Atkins, and never got out of the induction phase. In other words, a ketogenic diet, now commonly called keto.

I call it lazy keto: Fewer than 20 net carbs per day (net carbs = carbs minus fiber) and over twice as much fat as protein. I take multivitamins to make up for the nutrients this diet doesn't provide.

The fats are mostly dairy, meat, nuts, coconut oil and olive oil. I don't do soy, corn, canola and other seed oils.

I lost 65 pounds, and since I went keto, I got sick only once. On vacation in Vienna, I pigged out on deserts, on the flight home I must have caught the cold. It was mild, one day of sneezing, one day of coughing, and it was done.

Keto seems to work for me. My doctor doesn't like how I'm doing it, but he likes the results. My yearly physical is always 'no problems', the blood tests results are all normal, and I'm on zero medications.

For someone else, keto might be the worst thing they could do. I figure if there was one diet book that worked for everybody, there would only need to be one diet book.

I'm not qualified to give medical advice, and I'm not giving medical advice here. If you decide to try this, you do so at your own risk.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Just thought I'd share that my new treadmill arrived . . . love it.
Hopefully melodies and other musical ideas will come to me while on it.

I believe that, in addition to a balanced diet, it's important to pay attention to the types of foods you choose, especially when it comes to ultra-processed foods.

I totally get the importance of heart-healthy nutrition, especially as we age. Oberheiden has some interesting insights on how certain foods, especially ultra-processed ones, might negatively affect health over time. It’s great you’re thinking ahead and talking to a pro nutritionist - combining expert advice with what you find on sites like Oberheiden could really help protect your heart and overall well-being.

This guy, Dr. Amen has been talking about this from a neuroscience/brain health perspective for years. While not exactly heart-health per-se, there is much overlap.

He talks about blueberries, kale, salmon, olive oil, green tea, raw cacau, folate, exercise, quality sleep and much more.

To be sure, there is a lot of toxic "food" on our local grocery shelves.

https://danielamenmd.com/pbs-shows/