Sukiya Living—Food

Introduction

A few observations: 1) As I enter the eighth decade of life, in addition to simply surviving, I am committed to "living well." 2) In setting my course at this point, common sense, moderation and proper proportion are important; 3) Also, I think that it is wise and prudent, to the point of being "life-saving," to seek the most and best advice that can be found on food, supplements and good health.

And a few basics—do not smoke; do not do drugs of any kind, even and including most prescriptions. If you drink, do so only in serious moderation; and this is so even given the touted benefits of red wine. Remember, as a species we evolved as omnivores and this might still remain significant in evaluating our diet.

Food

Medical opinion on nutrition has come some distance in the past 50 years. Following common sense, here are a few thoughts on food—drink lots of (clean) water, eat breakfast, always take very small portions of everything. Eat very little red meat; and if at all, do not eat corn-fed beef, pork or lamb, e.g., Newfoundland lamb and beef are acceptable. Have fish several times a week; be wary of the mercury. My doctor has convinced me that poultry is out, especially all corn-fed chicken. Fresh fruits and vegetables are extremely important; locally grown is good; be careful of the pesticides. Grains are generally good sources of protein with minimal negative effects. Non-fat dairy (yogurt) is both good and important for one's diet.

Foods to be avoided may exceed their counterpart: no salt; no fats, no soda or any drink with sugar. Carbohydrates, especially those of little or no nutritional value are negatives, e.g., white: rice, bread, potatoes and pasta. All processed foods, all fast foods; pretty much all fats are out, save the olive-oil-types. One must be very cautious with sugars; natural sugars in fruits, fresh or dried are good deserts. All prepared foods are out, as well as any whose ingredient list exceeds six; especially with any ingredient that you cannot pronounce or which is not natural.

Nutritional Supplements

It is impossible to get the nutrition one needs from food alone; thus, supplements are essential. The kind and quantity of supplements is controversial, ranging from being dangerous to simply producing very expensive urine. Because the jury is still out on this one, I will merely convey what I do and to express both my trust in my doctor and my optimism regarding the positive prospects of my current regiment: (daily, divided into four doses)

8000 mg Omega-3 Fish Oil (Count only sum of EPA and DHA; e.g., the Puritan Pride whose label says "1200 mg" is in truth, 360 mg per capsule.)
4 Vitamin B-100
4 Magnesium
6 Cinnamon
3 Vitamin C
3 Vitamin E
1 Multi-vitamin
2 Glucosamine plus MSM
3 Calcium
1 Gingo Bolova
I also take 20mg of Zocor daily.

This is being done under the advice and monitoring of Dr Glenn Aukerman, the Department of Integrative Medicine, Ohio State University. Three months after I began this program my bad cholesterol had dropped 40 points, the good was up by 15; and my blood pressure is 100/70. And it may not be surprising, I have never felt better in my life. The only potential risk of massive fish oil is the possibility of thinning blood. Also, Puritan Pride has a new high potency Fish Oil, which is preferable because it reduces the need for 25 soft gels daily to reach 8000 mg.

Important here - this is what the pharmaceuticals do not want you to find out. As a matter of fact, following these suggestions would play havoc with the current state of our food and drug industries.

Exercise

One's daily recommended calorie count should less than 2,000; fat less than 20 G (less than half that in a Big Mac, fries and shake). Many authorities today suggest that exercise is more important than is food intake. Be that as it may, exercise is extremely important, especially for the mature segment of our population. I recall that shortly after moving to Columbus, I joined the senior center in order to play table tennis and bridge; after the first few weeks I was complaining to my daughter that the bridge demographic seemed to be somewhat north of 80 years; and I found this a bit disquieting. Without hesitation she said, "Forget the bridge, play ping-pong; the blood to your brain will be better than bridge could ever be." And so I did; and so it is.

Ideally, I would recommend exercise burning something in the order of 750 calories a day, which is what tennis burns an hour. While this may be a bit vigorous, it is a good objective toward which to aim. Unfortunately, one will have to walk a long time to do this. I think that the criterion here should be to find some kind of exercise that you enjoy doing and that you would be delighted to do even if it were not for the health benefit derived. To be honest, I really hate walking; it is dreadfully boring. It's not bad if you have a friend to walk with and talk to.

There are target areas to be addressed regarding exercise—particular muscle groups, cardiovascular and weight-bearing. Also, if one prefers, working out at the gym is always a good option; and having a trainer is even better. Interestingly, my being particularly anti-social gives me an incentive toward social exercise; thus, ping-pong.

To me, most important in my daily regimen is doing yoga. The most critical dimension of yoga is the mind-body connection. I might go so far as to say that it is here that mind-body Sukiya Living comes to fruition. Since volumes have been written on this, I will restrain myself here. Recently, my significant other asked me what it was that yoga did for me. After a little thought, I responded that it is the sense of completely releasing my body from my attention. I do a fairly intense set of movement flows that takes hardly ten minutes to complete. After doing these, it is as though my body dissolves for the remainder of the day—I simply do not think of it again; and as a rule, nothing occurs for it to call attention to any part of it. The kind and extent of physical therapy that yoga provides is sometimes astounding—at the highest work periods in the garden when I spend up to six hours a day in fairly strenuous work in the garden, my back takes a real beating; and of course it is those very times that I feel the least inclined to do my yoga stretches that I know that I need them the most. And it always works—there is no pain after the yoga stretches, nor is there any the following morning. There is also a bit of meditation that accompanies the yoga workout; and no matter how little of this there is, it is invaluable.

With respect to any Sukiya Living phenomenon, it is always good to have some kind of monitor, not only to keep yourself honest, but even more to gauge if and how well you are fulfilling your Sukiya Living objectives. Yoga does this, and does it very well—it lets you know how your body is doing; it scans your mind for its overall state; and even without your being aware of it, it tends to get these two critical phenomena together. While it is impossible for me to escape this mind-body dichotomy that has been imposed upon me by my culture, I can appreciate this fact, and then do what I can to satisfy the distinctive needs of each the body and the mind.