Joan’s Boomer Blog

When I heard that Linda Evans had written a new book, I couldn’t wait to read it. Like most people, I’d seen her on the Big Valley in the 60’s and, of course, Dynasty inj the 80’s. Her new book, Recipes for Life, kept me company on a long day flying back home from an emotionally draining trip to see my parents. My dad’s mild stroke following hip surgery had been upsetting and exhausting, to say the least. Reading Recipes for Life was the perfect anecdote for my trip home.

In the 60’s, Linda Evans was everything most young girls wanted to be, me included, and it was fascinating to read the behind the scenes memoir of those years. Nowadays, Linda Evans is everything the baby boomer woman wants to be. She’s had a terrific life and she wears it well, still looking as beautiful as we all wish we did. Instead of slowing down in the second half of her life, Linda is involved with life, has many passions she enjoys and seems in a much better place spiritually than when she was young.

Recipes for Life takes a unique approach to the writing of a memoir since Linda loves to cook and believes “one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone is to prepare their favorite meal.” Interspersed within the pages of her book are recipes she’s used and loved for years, many from famous friends like Barbara Stanwick’s Hobo Fillet, John Wayne’s Crab Dip, which also makes a terrific omlete the day after a party, and Dani and David Janssen’s Cesear Salad Recipe, plus many others.

I especially loved the recipes from Yanni’s family in Kalamata, Greece. His mother Felitsa’s Appetizer Meatballs and Yorgo and Linda’s Pesto sounded so delicious my mouth was watering.

If you’re looking for a tell-all book where Linda Evans dishes on her co-stars or ex-husbands and bears her own secrets and everyone else’s, you won’t find that sort of book here. Admirably, Linda has not one bad thing to say about anyone she’s known, including two ex-husbands and their previous wives, or her boyfriends, who include Greek musician Yanni, whom she was with for nine years.

Linda Evans certainly had reasons in her life to be bitter. When husband John Derek famously left her for 15 year old Mary Cathleen Collins, later known as Bo, she was devastated. However, instead of letting this define her life, she see his betrayal as a blessing because if she’s stayed married to Derek, she’d never have starred in Dynasty. She even counts among her friends Bo Derek and Ursula Andress, John Derek’s first wife as well.

What I did found most fascinating in Recipes for Life were the stories Linda Evans has to tell about working with Barbara Stanwick, who took the young girl under her wing, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, David Janssen and other great stars of the past. Married to filmmaker/photographer John Derek and later to Stan Herman, she also became friends with the Hollywood elite and hosted many a party for them, cooking her favorite dishes.

One story really showed the kind of person Linda Evans is. While on Dynasty, she was supposed to share a passionate kiss with Rock Hudson, but after many, many takes, Rock just could not give her more than a peck on the lips. Linda and Rock Hudson had met years before and they were casual friends, running into each other at parties and social events, and no one could figure out what was going on.

A few weeks later, it came out that Rock Hudson had AIDS and in refusing to give her a passionate kiss, he had been trying to protect her, as back then, no one really knew how AIDS was actually spread. Even though some of Linda’s own friends avoided her after it came out, in case she now had AIDS too, she continued to be supportive of Rock Hudson and others who had the disease which caused such fear in Hollywood.

In Recipes for Life Linda Evans comes across as a genuinely likable person who seems content with the twists and turns of her life, having arrived at a place where she’s happy.  It’s ironic too that in using delicious recipes to tell the story of her life, Linda is appearing not only on talk shows to discuss her book but cooking shows, like Rachael Ray, where she recreates some of the dishes from the book.

If you’re looking for a light-hearted cozy read to curl up with by the fire this winter, or perhaps a gift to give someone in your life who likes nostalgic Hollywood, pick up a copy of Recipes for Life: My Memories by Linda Evans.

Baby Boomers are all familiar with the need for reading glasses. It seems to catch up with all of us at some point. Today, I have a guest post by Stacie Grissom, a writer for Reading Glasses Shopper where she writes and researches everything to do with reading glasses. She has also made a few videos on how to fix your reading glasses. In her free time, Stacie loves to take pictures with her collection of old cameras, work on her DIY craft blog, and play with her three-legged dog, Bridget.

3 Tips to Help You Choose the Right Reading Glasses

I’ve been a glasses-wearer my entire life but it wasn’t until a few years ago when it really started to affect me. The summer before my first semester at college, something in me just switched and it was impossible for me to wear my contacts anymore. My contacts drove me crazy. I was always rubbing my eyes and my eyes felt as dry and itchy as the Mojave desert. For a while I was uncomfortable wearing my glasses– I felt like they made me look dorky and just took over my face.

Recently, my mom has been having trouble with her vision as well and has finally accepted that she needs reading glasses. Between my personal experience with glasses, helping my mom find reading glasses, and my day job as a writer for Reading Glasses Shopper, I feel as though I have a few glasses tips in my advice arsenal.

1. Find a pair of glasses you like. I mean really, really like.

This sounds like a stupidly obvious piece of advice, but until I started to choose glasses that fit my personality, I was uncomfortable wearing them. The day I found my funky clear-framed glasses was eye opening. (Sorry, I had to. :))

(My clear glasses and I.)

I am an extreme advocate of choosing funky reading glasses if you like them. If you like subtler glasses, the rimless reading glasses are a great option. My mom wears these and sometimes it is hard to see that she is even wearing glasses.

2. Figure out which strength of reading glasses you need.

If you want, you can go to the eye doctor to figure out what prescription you need. But there is a much easier way to figure out reading glasses’ prescriptions with this print-out diopter chart. These charts are also in drugstores if you want to try on reading glasses there to figure out if you need 1.00 reading glasses or 4.00 reading glasses.

3. Find out what type of frame fits your face shape.

Different styles of frames look good on different shapes of faces. It is important to figure out what your face shape is to make sure that you have the most flattering frame style. Check out this guide on matching frame to face shape. Another easy way to figure out the shape of your face is to stand in the mirror and outline your face with soap. Then step back and see which shape your face resembles the most. I have a roundish face so I always look for wider frames.

Stacie Grissom is a writer for Reading Glasses Shopper where she writes and researches everything to do with reading glasses. She has also made a few videos on how to fix your reading glasses. In her free time, Stacie loves to take pictures with her collection of old cameras, work on her DIY craft blog, and play with her three-legged dog, Bridget.

Baby boomers are at the age when they will deal not only with their own medical issues and the maze of Medicare requirements, but also with their parents’ who will suffer different health crisis requiring care and oversight. Recently, I planned a visit to my parent’s home to help out after my dad’s hip replacement surgery and as things fell apart, I am seeing first hand how difficult it is to navigate this maze. If you are not aware right now of what Medicare covers and how it works, and what proposed deep cuts will do to this program which will affect you personally, it might be a good time to find out.

My own home is nearly 2,000 miles away from my parents and as we get older and our parents get older, this becomes problematic. Up until now, my 80+ year old parents have been in good health for the most part. Last month, though, my dad had a hip replacement. He was doing very well getting back on his feet, and then he suffered a mild stroke.

We are lucky in that the stroke wasn’t as bad as it could have been but at 86 years of age, the comeback road will be very long for him. I personally, am also lucky that my parents have my two sisters and their husbands living close by who are able and willing to devote time to seeing that my parents now get the help they need. While I’ve been here, though, it’s become my responsibility as the oldest in the family, to help them.

My dad was on the local fire department board for 40 years of his life and they vowed he would never pay for ambulance service. When we called them at 230 am after my dad woke up completely numb on his left side, the guys who came out knew my dad and they gave him wonderful care. So back to the hospital we went.

We spent several early morning hours waiting to see what tests found and what would be done. At first, they even contemplated sending my dad home with us, until he showed he couldn’t even walk with a walker. They admitted him for 48 hours observations status for more tests.

Here lies the rub with Medicare. By Monday, even before a proposed MRI was done, the “discharge specialist” had visited with a dizzying array of options but the bottom line was, dad would be discharged and since he was on observation status and not inpatient status, Medicare would not pay for further care, ie transfer to a rehabilitation facility (read nursing home with name change). Medicare would also not pay for him to stay in the hospital to see if he would regain some ground and we could manage at home. Forty-eight hours was all he was allowed.

I decided very quickly that my dad couldn’t be left at the hospital alone. The doctor had come in Monday morning, without us there, and asked him where he wanted to be discharged to and Dad said “home.” It was perfectly obvious to me, he couldn’t come home yet but the people at the hospital, with their little Medicare forms, were not above talking to a very sick and befuddled 86 year old man and demanding solutions from him.

My advice to anyone who lands in this situation, whether it is a spouse or parent, be present, be observant, ask questions! In the guise of routing out “medicare fraud and abuse” very sick old people are being put out onto the street with few options. My parents pay $10,000 a year for insurance and yet, if my dad was to receive more care, it would be up to my parents to pay, upfront, the $250 a day out of pocket. My parents, luckily for our family, have money saved for this situation but for those who have no resources, or even a family to fall back on, would actually be put out onto the sidewalk, I guess.

What saved our family, and I’m forever grateful for this, was my father’s physical therapist at the hospital. She said my dad seemed very motivated to get better and she recommended an intense inpatient therapy program at a larger hospital about 35 miles away. She spoke to the discharge planner and the doctor and on her recommendation, they all agreed if he could get into this program, it would help him.

So, as luck would have it now, since everyone recommended this intense therapy, then Medicare will pay for that. The discharge specialist at the hospital hadn’t even thought of this option so we were lucky.

So now my dad is in this program for at least 2 weeks, then after that, Medicare will cease to pay for any other care facility and he will come home. The staff at the hospital did tell us, however, if he needs home care or more out-patient therapy, then Medicare would pay, at least as far as we know.

(My dad was told at the inpatient rehab facility that to get in there the patient needed motivation to get better, doctor’s recommendations and good insurance! Which means my parent’s supplemental insurance is kicking in,)

If you’re a baby boomer or have parents who are on Medicare, it would be wise for you to keep abreast of the coming changes to funding. President Obama is proposing $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, programs which have already seen serious cuts.

Here is an article I found which lays out the coming cuts.

I know first hand, at the little fire department in our town where my dad was on the board, they have had cuts to the Medicare funding of ambulance service runs. Since there are many seniors on Medicare in this community, and since the fire department’s operations depended on Medicare funding, they are now tittering on the edge of serious financial problems.

My niece works at the hospital my dad was in and she said everyone is bracing for cuts to services after the Medicare cuts go into effect. Departments have already laid off personnel so they are operating on less staff.

My husband and I have kept up somewhat with Medicare funding issues because we are on Tricare and Tricare’s funding levels are tied to Medicare. I can tell you that even living in a very large area, we have trouble finding primary care doctors who will take Tricare patients because of red tape and low rates of re-embursement. The doctors we do get are overworked and push pills just to get you out of their offices (my personal opinion!)

I think many times we don’t keep abreast of these issues because they are daunting and confusing and we feel there isn’t anything we can do anyway. I’m not sure myself what can be done except to write to your Congressmen and tell they they will be voted out if they don’t stand up against cuts to Medicare funding.

If you’ve had experience with Medicare and Medicaid on either a personal or professional level, I’d love to hear from you. If you have any ideas of what readers can do to become involved, please feel free to comment. Medicare funding and getting older are issues we all need to be informed about.

If you read just one book this coming year about health, diet and healthy aging, I would highly recommend The Baby Boomer Diet by Donna Gates. Baby boomers expect to live longer, and they probably will, but will they also be healthier? Are baby boomers focusing on the wrong things in their search for eternal youth, like anti-wrinkle creams or the latest vitamin supplement? The Baby Boomer Diet brings the anti-aging discussion back where it can really do some good - to improving our health from the inside out so we either don’t ever get the degenerative diseases so common today, or we can improve the ones we may have.

I’ve read many books on health, diet and fitness and I truly believe that The Baby Boomer Diet is a groundbreaking book, packed with information you’ve probably not read in other books on anti-aging, such as:

• Natural anti-aging remedies that honestly make you look and feel younger from the inside out. Did you know that if you get indigestion often and take antacids, you might be doing the opposite of what your body needs. Instead of too much acid, you may have too little. The solution? Apple cider vinegar in a little water. This is just one of many easy solutions to different health issues.
• The Baby Boomer Diet supplies one vital piece missing from most traditional
  
  

  anti-aging diets, building up the good bacteria in the gut. This book tells you how to get your digestion and your health, back on track.

• This book is packed with information about how we got where we are today, with degenerative diseases at epidemic proportions, and what we can do to overcome it. The Body Ecology Diet gives real answers, however, which will lead to real improvement.
• The Baby Boomer Diet is based on principals of Donna Gate’s other nutrition and healthy diet book, The Body Ecology Diet. The Baby Boomer Diet focuses on how to apply Body Ecology’s seven universal principles to the health challenges associated with aging
• Superfood recommendations for increased energy, vitality, and disease prevention
• As we get older, our bodies can’t absorb the nutrients in the food we eat and we lack the digestive enzymes for proper digestion. The Baby Boomer Diet explains how to eat and what to eat so we can absorb and make use of the nutrients in our food.
• The Baby Boomer Diet explains the difference between our bodies being acid and alkaline, why an acidic body fosters degenerative diseases and how we can get our bodies back to an alkaline state.

Baby boomers want to stay young-looking forever, as evidenced by the multi-million dollar

anti-aging industry. Cosmetic surgery, knee and hip replacements, wrinkle creams, diet fads, vitamin fads and more fuel this industry. But, even with this intense interest in looking younger, baby boomers’ bodies are falling apart. They suffer from degenerative diseases such as degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, nerve disorders such as Parkinson’s and dementia,  and arthritis.

Have we been focusing on the wrong things in our quest to retain our youth? Is there hope that we can really fundamentally change our body’s internal world and get to the cause of the ailments we have, rather than just addressing the symptoms?I believe the principals of the Baby Boomer Diet can do this.

After reading the Baby Boomer Diet, I embraced the principals and after a couple of months now, I have to say, I do feel more energetic, both mentally and physically. I’ve also lost weight, I think because my body is actually using the food I eat and digesting it better.

I suffer from osteoarthritis, the beginning of cataracts, and some form of neuropathy which causes tingling and numbness. Are these all gone by using the principals of The Baby Boomer Diet? Not yet, but I have hopes that these conditions will improve. However, it took me a lifetime to get my body into this condition, even though I do focus on being healthy, so I don’t expect any health issues to disappear overnight.

If you follow the Baby Boomer Diet, you will have to change your eating habits, I won’t lie to you about that, but many of the changes are simple and don’t cost a lot. Donna Gates does sell digestive enzymes capsules and probiotic drinks, etc but you don’t need to purchase these to eat the Body Ecology way. I did purchase some of these recently to use when I was traveling, because I was not eating as I do at home, and they really worked well, but you can get your probiotics many other ways too.

Donna Gates, is also the author of The Body Ecology Diet and is a renowned lecturer and nutritional consultant.  Donna combines the best of modern medical science, ancient Chinese medicine, and naturopathy to help people improve their immune system and beat candidiasis. The Body Ecology Diet is her own system of health and healing. Donna regularly appears on radio shows and conducts workshops to educate the public on medicinal foods.

My thanks to publisher Hay House for giving me the advance copy of The Baby Boomer Diet for Review.