I love it when I find stories of older people who are still active. They make me believe that my quest is possible.
So when I was cleaning up today I found a couple of pages I tore from Surfer magazine last year -- an article about Doc Paskowitz, who still surfs at 85. As I note, I don't completely agree with everything he says, but when someone can still do what he does at his age, it's at least worth considering what he has to day.
He had five simple rules for living a long, active life.
"1. Keep Your Weight Down. Stay slim, trim and elegant. Get to be about 15% body fat and stay there the rest of your life. An easy way to check if you're not at 15% body fat is to pinch-an-inch anywhere on your frame. If it's an inch or over, you're too fat.
2. Fat Makes Fat. Forget all the crap you're hearing about carbohydrates. Concentrate on fat. ... The longest-lived people on earth eat only about 40 to 50 grams of fat per day. If you're like most Americans, you're eating four times that amount. (I don't agree with this one completely, because I do believe that excess carbs are a big problem.)
3. To be Alive, You've Got to Eat Life. Throw it on the ground. If it grows, it's first-class food; if it doesn't grow, it's not. You can't grow Ritz crackers, potato chips or French fries, but a grain of 3,000-year-old red wheat found in Tutankhamen's tomb sprouted when planted. Green leafy vegetables, grains, beans, peas -- these are living things and they make up the bulk of what most people on earth eat -- a lot of fruit and vegetables and a little meat -- the universal meal. (Again, I don't completely agree with this one, mainly on the issue of meat.)
4. Move, Move, Move. Movement is life-like. Movement is life. But you have to give your first priority to the big muscle of the lower extremeties. It's not enough to just arm-paddle. The great exercise of all is walking, brisk walking. I never walk less than 20 minutes a day, though I often walk much, much more than that. I can do it even when I feel lousy. (As you know by now, I'm a big believer in intervals, which you could do while walking.)
5. Surf, Surf, Surf -- as much as you can. Not just for exercise and fun but also for recreation. It's easier to understand the word "recreation" broken up; it's "re-creation." Every time you paddle out, you re-create and re-inspire yourself. You only die once but you have to worry about living each and every day of your life. We did only when we stop living."
By the way, here's what Paskowitz says he does for fun -- surfing and sex.
1 comment:
I remember reading a Doc Paskowitz article in Surfer sometime during the mid-70s entitled "Fat makes Fat" which had a close up photo of a handful of french fries getting shoved into a mouth. I believed this for years, as did much of the country. When my metabolism slowed down around forty I reduced my fat intake to combat the weight gain, but I could never permanently lose the weight or get below 220 pounds. Five years ago, I started eating a high fat diet and immediately began losing weight and feeling healthier with less joint issues, better skin, higher energy levels to name just a few of the benefits. I now think the low-fat craze as mass insanity based on lies and that article in particular as one of the worst pieces of advice to come my direction. FAT IS WHERE IT'S AT!
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