Staying Healthy in Retirement

Staying healthy in retirement is a concern to many retirees.  It’s certainly understandable.  We’ve worked a long time to be able to enjoy this part of our life and, for many, it’s far better than they ever expected.  I know I include myself in that group.  I truly enjoy the freedom that retirement brings.  I can spend my time doing whatever I want without having to answer to anybody.  I absolutely love retirement.  So, the question becomes how do I stay healthy so that I can keep enjoying it?

The truth is that we all know how to stay healthy.  It isn’t the most pleasant formula: watch your diet, control your weight, get a thorough annual physical, get plenty of exercise and always get a good night’s sleep.  Simple.  Go do it.  The problem is that it isn’t as easy as it sounds.  As my mother-in-law used to say, “if it was easy, everyone would be skinny.”  She was a very smart and wonderful lady who fought a constant battle with her weight.  So, the question becomes, how do we actually do those things?

Make Staying Healthy in Retirement Fun!

As with any difficult problem, breaking it down into manageable chunks is the first step toward success.  The other part is to make it as enjoyable as possible. I am not a doctor, or a qualified health professional and I am the first person to admit that I have just as much trouble with everything listed in this stay-healthy-formula, but I have been reasonably successful at certain things, and I know how to dedicate myself to a task.  Saving for retirement was one of the things I dedicated myself to and we are reaping those benefits at this stage of our lives.  Making that life last as long as possible is my current goal.  That might be true for everyone reading this.  Staying healthy in retirement is something we all want to do.

There are some things that we can control and others that we can’t.  Our doctor says that genetics is one of the main factors in determining your health, longevity and proneness to diseases.  But there are things that you can do that will impact your health and exercise and weight are high on the list.  Making each of these into something like a game will definitely help you in your quest to stay healthy in retirement.  Make exercise fun.  Take up pickleball or something like that.  Golf is not the greatest exercise unless your walk the course.  Eat less but eat well by incorporating healthy eating habits and possibly cooking into your daily routine.  We’ve all heard of a Mediterranean Diet, right?  And we all know eating less red meat is healthy as well.  There are ways to do all of this but let’s start with exercise first.

Scheduling exercise of some kind is critical in sticking to a regime that is going to keep you healthy.  Walking is a wonderful exercise and it’s probably the easiest thing to do.  Consult your doctor first, start out slowly but make a determined effort to stick a distance that you keep extending every couple of weeks.  You should walk at a pace where you can’t hold a conversation too easily.  Yes, you do have to exert yourself.  If you live in a place that is either too hot or too cold, try to get access to a treadmill.  I ended up buying one and listening to my favorite music.  Nature trails and exercise trails are excellent if they’re close to you.  I started at just over three miles per hour but am now at four miles per hour and, after a mile, you know you are doing exercise.  I started carrying light, two-pound weights that I increased to three, then five and now seven pounds.  But, again, consult your doctor to let him or her know what you are doing.  I find walking is much better than running because I have back problems.  I’ve been told that swimming would be better but access to a pool all year round is difficult, and I want to be consistent.  So far, I have been.  The main thing is to do SOMETHING!  Staying healthy in retirement requires action.  As our doctor says, move more and eat less.  I’ve been good on the moving more part, but the eating less part has been difficult.  I love to eat and we love to dine out.  This was definitely a problem but one that I think we found a solution for.

We have been able to experience many different foods and have our favorite foods in almost every cuisine.  We have definitely tried to move into the healthier end of the food scale.  The Mediterranean Diet has been our life saver as well as certain Asian influenced foods.  I have learned to savor each bite because of all the different flavors and have found that eating slowly has helped me to eat less.  Trying to figure out how I could make this at home has gotten me to truly appreciate different culinary styles.  I’ve also found resources that focus on healthy cooking and preparation.  It is not unusual for me to have just one or two appetizers at a restaurant.  If they have good soup, a cup and an appetizer will usually be enough.  It took a while for me to adjust to this, but it has definitely helped me to keep my weight under control.  I eat earlier than I ever did and that has definitely helped as well because eating just before you go to bed is definitely not healthy.  I eliminated snacks, added some healthier choices to my daily food choices and try not to consume anything after 7 pm.  I will try new things at a restaurant when there’s a health benefit to eating it.  For example, I know eating fish is healthy, but I don’t know how to make it.  So I go to a seafood restaurant to sample something that I know will be well executed.  If I don’t like it even when it’s well made, I am not even going to try to make it part of my diet.  If I like something, then I do research and try to duplicate it at home.  This may sound a bit crazy, but it has worked for me.  It gets me to focus on healthier eating and challenges me in the kitchen.  Staying healthy in retirement is worth whatever it takes and, this practice, has worked for me. So, visit your doctor for a check-up, start exercising and do whatever it takes to eat healthier food.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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