MGordon_MD
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Sep 14, 2006, 10:43 AM
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By Dr. MICHAEL GORDON
I recently visited my father, who at 95 years of age still manages reasonably well in a Chicago retirement home, with lots of support from my sister.
I was impressed with how alert he was, and how well he communicated and responded to questions – humorously and with cogent answers. He watches movies and reads the newspaper each day, though his tendency to keep and scatter papers around his apartment causes some consternation for his housekeeper. Lately, he has required some assistance bathing and getting dressed, and he needs supervision with his medication. Other than that, he walks (assisted by a walker) and attends a daily lunch program run by the City of Oak Park that uses his retirement home as its dining room. My father enjoys the company and the subsidized price.
During my trip, we ate breakfast at one of his favorite pancake houses. As I watched him finish a hefty (American-size) omelette with all the trimmings, I mused that he must have done something right to be in such relatively good shape at his age. He did have a heart attack in his 60s and cardiac bypass surgery in his early 90s, but to get to 95 and be able to eat an omelette, he must have had some formula for successful aging, particularly since he smoked for many years, as did many of his generation.
I have memories of him breaking off pieces of uncooked broccoli and cauliflower and eating them – and hearing my mother ask how he could eat them raw. He also loved raw turnip and rutabaga, as well as almost every other uncooked vegetable (including potatoes, at times). These food preferences seemed weird in those days, long before the onset of the North American health food craze. I recall family trips from Brooklyn to the outer reaches of Long Island, which was primarily farmland at the time, to buy vegetables, which he nibbled on as we drove home, occasionally making satisfied comments as he tasted fresh cabbage or, best of all, a beefsteak or plum tomato.
My father also inadvertently started himself on an exercise program, not for health reasons, but out of financial necessity – he acquired a local newspaper delivery business. He awakened early in all seasons and drove and ran around a 50-square-block area for 1˝ to two hours each day delivering newspapers. On Sundays, the deliveries expanded to include about 300 to 400 Sunday New York Times, so it was not just running but weightlifting that kept him in shape.
During my high school years, I helped my father on Sundays, and when I got my driver’s license, I helped out on weekdays as well, although not every day, as I had some early morning classes and swimming practice. Each day, my father did the routine, driving up a street, stopping, and then running with half a dozen rolled-up newspapers (the New York Times and New York Daily News) that he deftly tossed toward customers’ front doors. Each paper would hit its target and slide down gently to where the homeowner could conveniently pick it up to read with the morning coffee.
So, my father was both an exercise maven and a nutrition guru without ever having read or heard of either concept, which had yet to appear in the popular media. But he exercised and ate well consistently for many years, and even in the face of his smoking history, these habits likely helped him reach his 95 years.
He still enjoys raw vegetables, though he’s no longer able to run around. But he loves to read newspapers, and he’s pretty good at getting about with his fancy, wheeled walker.
This article was originally published in the Canadian Jewish News
Dr. Michael Gordon, is vice-president of medical services at Baycrest in Toronto, Canada, and co-author with Bart Mindszenthy of Parenting Your Parents.
Parenting Your Parents is available in bookstores and online at: Indigo-Chapters, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
For bulk orders email info@dundurn.com. Call: 416-214-5544 or Fax: 416-214-5556
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(This post was edited by MGordon_MD on Sep 24, 2007, 1:32 PM)
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