Growing Old is All About Maintenance
Taking control of your health as we grow older is the best financial investment you can make for 2020 and beyond.
Tips for Growing Old Gracefully
by Carrie Rutledge
We’ve all heard our parents say that growing old is the worst as they trek themselves to another doctor’s appointment to pick up yet another prescription. We are trained to believe that our health care costs will increase as we age; for general health care, prescription drugs, and long-term care. We begin to wonder if it’s even worth it to retire at all if your days are spent racking up bills with a doctor. We’ve probably even heard friends say they don’t want to live past… insert age cliché here. Society has conditioned us to work as long as we can and to save as much as we can only to wipe it all out on health care in the end. Everyone experiences aches and pains no doubt, but this shouldn’t stop or slow us down in pursuing our hobbies in retirement.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could look forward to good health and active participation in society instead of being plopped down on the couch with an icepack scrolling through Facebook? Let us be inspired by the 101-year-old still-practicing yoga teacher or by the 107-year-old who is still skiing! This is possible for all of us by simply practicing daily health habits.
As we age and grow old, flexibility training is vital to maintaining physical health. In fact, most trainers, acupuncturists, and chiropractors will say it’s the most important component to a daily exercise routine. Just a few minutes of stretching can relieve the dreaded low back pain caused by tight hamstrings. The benefits of daily stretching include improved posture, range of motion, balance, flexibility, strength, relaxation, less pain and fewer injuries. Not everyone has time in the day for a workout or can devote eight hours a week to yoga. However, if you can merely devote five minutes a day to stretching and flexibility, you will be giving yourself a wonderful gift that will help you age more beautifully and pain-free.
Hopefully, we are all eating organic, fresh, whole foods daily. Of course, this isn’t always possible in today’s busy world. Therefore, supplements are becoming more important in our nutrient-deficient world today. From the highly processed convenience food to toxic chemicals and metals changing our DNA. This is drastically affecting nutrient absorption. It’s not surprising that the Millennial generation is one of the unhealthiest generations in terms of high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic illness. It is imperative to help our bodies expel and recover from all of the toxins and medications taking tolls on our daily health. Supplements that boost our immunity, improve detoxification, and decalcify our pineal gland (life force) can have a significant effect on our health and overcoming illness.
A quality Nascent Iodine supplement will remove toxins from the body, boost immunity and raise energy levels. It helps to maintain thyroid health, is antibacterial, and supports cognitive development in children. Iodine deficiency is one of the leading preventable causes of mental retardation worldwide! Therefore, making sure your prenatal supplement contains iodine is very important. Some more recent studies are showing that decreased iodine levels are contributing to ADHD in children and dementia in adults. The reason iodine is extremely hard to obtain from food is that our once plentiful soils have been depleted of this important element. Furthermore, the recommended daily value of iodine is just enough to prevent goiter. For this reason, it’s important to supplement with a quality, highly absorbable Nascent Iodine supplement to support our body in detox and optimal health.
Chlorella and spirulina are extremely nutrient-dense. They detoxify the blood by removing pollutants and other toxins as well as increasing the most powerful antioxidant, glutathione. Naturopathic doctors are having their patients supplement with spirulina and chlorella to help lessen the absorption of heavy metals and toxins from the vaccinations that many individuals are required to receive today. This helps to protect the pineal gland from exposure to vaccine adjuvants such as aluminum and mercury. Chlorella and spirulina are a whole food that can be mixed into smoothies or taken in a capsule with or without food. It’s affordable and a worthy investment for you and your family’s health.
Nothing else matters if we don’t filter our water. Unfortunately, our municipal water plants do very little to protect us from all of the contaminants in tap water, as it’s heavily treated with chlorine, lead, and fluoride. When we ingest these chemicals, we are placing added pressure on our liver and kidneys to filter out all of these harmful toxins. Fluoride in our water also displaces the good iodine in our systems. If you eat out, spend the extra few bucks and order bottled water. According to the Council on Environmental Quality, drinking tap water increases our risk of all cancers by 90%! For me, it wasn’t until I started filtering my water with a quality water filter that I was able to stay pregnant.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a myriad of problems such as arthritis, lowered immunity, cancer, high blood pressure, reproductive problems, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, and even autism. Most of us are not getting enough Vitamin D due to sunscreen use, lack of exposure to the sun in the winter, and not taking an absorbable supplement. To notice a drastic increase in our immunity, we need to be absorbing 10,000 to 20,000 IU per day which is way more than the 400 IU recommended by the FDA. The truth is (depending on skin tone) twenty minutes to an hour of direct sunlight midday (arms and legs) is the best way to stock up on this important vitamin/hormone. During the wintertime, using a supplement of 10,000 IU may be necessary to keep levels at optimal levels. Getting your D levels tested twice per year (spring and fall) will keep you informed on what you need to maintain your levels. You will notice a quicker immune response and recovery time from the cold and/or flu when you keep your levels at 60-80 ng/ml.
It’s not cheap to be sick in today’s economy. Investing in quality supplements, water filters, and an exercise program that works for you is far less expensive than a cancer diagnosis or a heart attack. Life is to be enjoyed, and if we can’t afford the few extra bucks, it costs to be healthy. Eventually, we will have to afford to be sick. Being sick isn’t only a financial and mental burden on us, it also takes a huge toll on our families. We are productive and have a positive influence on our communities when we are healthy. By devoting ourselves to good health, raising consciousness and practicing self-love, we can help one another to stay free of the healthcare system.
Taking control of your health as we grow older is the best financial investment you can make for 2020 and beyond. A true expression of confidence, self-love, and virility is a gift we can all value.
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About the Author
Carrie is a full-time working mother who spent five years struggling with infertility and miscarriages. Through research and lifestyle changes, she was able to put an end to frustrating doctor’s visits and expensive pharmaceutical drugs that worsened her condition. At forty, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Although she was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and OCD, she continues to treat her symptoms through nutrition, exercise, CBT therapy, Yoga and meditation. She is devoted to helping women take back their health and heal their bodies on their own terms. https://www.facebook.com/carrie.rutledge.378
