The Aging Revolution And Ideal Weight

The Aging Revolution is moving us forward at four years of additional life expectancy per decade. This trend is expected to continue until the average lifespan becomes 100 in the year 2050. This is amazing progress considering life expectancy was 45 a hundred years ago, but it is consistent with the four years per decade progress.

It is equally amazing that it wasn't until 1920 that The American Medical Association declared that it felt physicians were generally now doing more good than harm. Before that, it was more harm than good. I still remember, as a child, that people dreadfully feared going to the hospital, because most people that went to the hospital died. Luckily now, we go to the hospital brimming with optimism, and know we are going to get sophisticated, high-tech, medical diagnostics and treatments. We have made a lot of progress in just fifty years.

The one thing you must have though, to be healthy and live long, is a number. That number is your ideal weight. I have seen the best in fitness and health, and those people had an ideal weight number as sacred as their social security number. To live long and avoid the diseases of overweight and aging, you must know your ideal weight number and stick close to it your whole life.

I met a physician one time who was still practicing at 103 years old. She was spry and bright and still contributing medical service on a steady schedule. She had a thumb rule that she only ever ate "vegetables and bit of protein." That was her slogan. It worked really well.

I have also met champions of fitness. They have slogans too, but it was their ideal weight number that was most important to them. They also knew how to calculate it in a second.

It's just this simple: Forget BMI, though that is a good number to know too, and don't get hung up on insurance charts, as they are made by insurance companies to promote their own interests. The way to calculate your ideal weight is this: Take your height, give a hundred pounds for your first five feet and five pounds per inch thereafter. That's all there is to it. If you are five feet, ten inches tall, your ideal weight is 150 pounds. Six feet tall, 160. I am six feet, one and three quarter inches tall, and my ideal weight is 168. I like that number, I look the best at 168, and I stay close to it.

So this is a thumb-rule for success in fitness and in longevity. Remember, you are working to slow your metabolism. High energy foods speed your metabolism. Just give a kid candy and watch him run wildly around. I have even seen fun science project books that show how you can use Oreo cookie filling, the white stuff, to make toy rocket propellant with, because there is so much sugar, fat, and energy in it. I have also read the formula that a single king-sized snickers bar, at 541 calories, has enough energy in it to bring a gallon and a half of water from freezing to boiling! That is a lot of energy, and you use to have two for a snack?

I am also pleased that this website is read around the world. My tracking device shows that "the sun never sets" on my work and I am pleased to share it with everyone. Thank yous go out to the nice people who have sent me great book reviews recently too! Live happy and take time to enjoy life each day.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.thefelinespecialtypractice.blogspot.com/