Joan’s Boomer Blog

I’ve mentioned my friend Tom Grimes, who has a health coaching business, in past articles. Yesterday I received an email from Tom and asked his permission to share it with you. Tom’s good friend has spent the past few weeks in the hospital with complications directly related to obesity and diabetes. As Tom told me, this wasn’t one of his many success stories but it does give food for thought as we contemplate how our daily lifestyle choices affect our health.

Tom says, “I have been thinking about writing this email for several days. Actually, over the past 23 days I have been sitting daily in the ICU waiting room of Santa Rosa’s Memorial Hospital.

Someone very close to me, Nancy, has been hospitalized with a serious illnesses that is the direct result of obesity. A friend described Nancy as being “one sick puppy.” That is a very good description of her right now.

Unfortunately what Nancy is experiencing is becoming more and more common. In the U.S. 300,000 people die every year from the issues obesity and that figure does not include the millions who are experiencing a decrease in their quality of life.

Even though Nancy watched me lose weight and even lost some herself, she neglected to change her habits to maintain the weight she lost and her sugars went out of control by her food choices she was making.

So many times we wait and ignore or put off for another day which is exactly what Nancy was doing. I’m sure you know people who are making the same mistake that Nancy made. Perhaps you are too.

For several months I have been sending you my Healthy Habits eNewletter. 20 to 25 percent of the people I send it to click on the front page. A handful read one or more of the articles. I understand completely. However, now I’m challenging you. Check out the Healthy Habits eNewsletter in your inbox and share it with someone (click on Send to Friend) you know who may be struggling with their weight, energy or health. One doesn’t have to believe that it will work, you just have to follow the plan and it works. Why not give it a try before it is too late for you or your loved ones.

Please, also say a prayer for Nancy as she goes through this long recovery process.”

We do send Nancy our prayers, Tom.

If you would like to subscribe to Tom’s Healthy Habits monthly newsletter, click here for more information.

In the meantime, consider what you are eating today. Did you go for a daily walk? Did you spend some time doing something you truly enjoy, free from worry and stress? All of these are choices you make about how you are living your life. Each daily choice adds up to a life lived and each choice helps decide whether or not you end up like Nancy or whether you active, energetic, and healthy every day of your life.

Brain games are becoming more popular as baby boomers start to have more “senior moments.” Let’s face it, as we get older, we start to lose some of our brain function. We forget things. We lose things. We sometimes feel like we are slipping - just a little - mentally.

The good news is that by doing brain teasers and brain games, we can actually improve our brain function and keep those old wheels turning in our head. As a rule, I don’t go in for playing games, unless it’s a rousing game of Scrabble or Apple. I see friends and relatives, old and young, with their eyes glued to their iPhones, playing some game or other and I think “What a waste of time.” For me to play a game like that, it has to have a purpose. Improving brain function is a pretty good purpose, I think.

There are quite a few sites out there for brain games. Some charge a subscription fee but I’ve found some free brain games online that are fun and they help improve language skills, problem solving, analytical skills, memory and concentration among other things.

Brain Training 101 offers free games and a newsletter , plus you can sign up for a “free brain training power Pack” which includes a braining training guide and a brain booster audio. The free games include memory power games and brain teasers and puzzles.

Senior Ark is a great site I just recently discovered. If you go to the home page and scroll down past all of their interesting topics for seniors, you’ll find a list of free brain games for seniors.

AARP - Of course AARP offers many resources for seniors and brain games is no exception. There are five categories of games and puzzles, for analytic skills, problem solving, keeping your brain sharp, language skills and improving memory and concentration.

These brain training games come from Parade Magazine. The six different games here each tell you what they do for your, ie improve problem solving and processing speed, and then gives you easy to follow directions. Parade also has other areas of interest if you like browsing, such as health and fitness.

Games for the Brain offers over 40 brain games of different kinds. You can even get them sent to your mobile device here.

If you’re one of the millions of iPhone and other mobile device users, I’m sure there are also dozens of brain game apps you can download. I’ll have to ask my kids about that one-lol

If you don’t mind spending a little money for brain games, here are a couple of good puzzle and game teaser books from Amazon.

Entertain Your Brain: More than 850 Puzzles! Math problems, lateral-thinking conundrums, brain teasers, whodunits, IQ tests, trivia quizzes…as well as an assortment of baffling optical illusions and amazing stunts using paper, scissors, and other items found around the house.

The Total Brain Workout In all, there are 450 puzzles for you to solve in this book. They are organized into nine chapters, each containing fifty puzzles that have a specific brain-based objective built into them. The fifty puzzles in Chapter 1 are designed to help activate the language areas of the brain, for example, whereas those in Chapter 2 are designed to stimulate visual thinking areas.

The Big Book of Brain Games: 1,000 PlayThinks of Art, Mathematics & Science is a collection of 1,000 challenges, puzzles, riddles, illusions. Ranks difficulty from 1 to 10.

I know there are many more resources out there as brain games gain in popularity. If you know of any you’d like to see included, or if you’re an old hand at brain games, I’d love for you to comment.

If you’re interested in reducing those lines and wrinkles, maybe it’s time to start making your own natural skin care recipes. You can choose the very best anti-aging skin care ingredients and easily combine them into a totally natural, even organic, lotion, cream or under eye treatment. It’s easier than you think.

With the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, the anti-aging skincare industry has been booming too! I recently did some research on the best anti-aging skincare products and was astounded to see products like Lifecell, rated the best in antiaging skincare by some, costs a whopping $189 for a two month supply. All of these expensive products contain chemicals and preservatives, which can be toxic to our bodies over the long term.

I’m certainly interested in the promises of more youthful skin that these companies advertise but somehow I choke at paying $80 to $100 a month to look younger. I discovered I could make my own natural, anti-aging skin care lotions, creams and toners for just pennies a day - many with ingredients from my own kitchen.

One investment I did make was to buy Sue Dolan’s ebook, Naturally Sensational - Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipes. Fifty-four year old Sue, featured in Real Simple Magazine, is an expert and researcher in antiaging skincare. Here ebook is chock full of recipes for facial scrubs, masks, toners, moisturizers, under eye treatments, facial mists and more - all made quickly and easily with natural ingredients found in your own kitchen.

Besides the recipes, Sue added lots of tips for sensational skin and how each skin care recipe works to create more youthful skin. There is also a great resource section which lists natural ingredients and what each one does for your skin when added to a recipe.

Here’s one recipe for a natural skin enriching mask, made with common ingredients you probably have on hand:

Skin Enriching Mask

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon yogurt

Whisk the honey, egg yolk and yogurt together thoroughly. Slowly
drizzle in the olive oil while whisking briskly.

Apply to skin for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse well with warm water.

Natural moisturizing treatments, especially for aging skin, commonly include natural oils, honey or aloe vera. Natural oils could include olive oil, walnut oil or almond oil. Don’t forget too, if you want organic skin care products, nearly any ingredient is available as organic.

Where to get natural skin care recipe ingredients:

• Your local grocery store or supermarket
• Health Food stores which carry many essential oils and herbs which you’d want to include in your recipes
• Order online from places like Amazon.com. Many of their products offer free shipping too. Here are just a few of Amazon’s natural skin care ingredients;

100% Unrefined Certified Grade A Shea Butter which is offers UV protection, softens skin and has antioxidant properties.

Organic Argan Oil which reduces wrinkles, improves skin’s elasticity and reduces scarring and stretch marks - plus you can use it on your hair to restore shine and promote hair growth.

Lavender Oil Properties include being antiseptic, antibacterial, stimulant, healing, promotes cell activity and regeneration.

Another informative book to get you started on creating your own natural skin care recipes-The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health - Beauty - a Safe Home Environment

Don’t worry about needing special tools to make your skin care recipes either. Mostly all you need is a pan for heating, a blender of some sort and clean, air tight containers, plus whatever ingredients you want to use. Make a little at a time and store the rest of your ingredients for months.

Try a few natural skin care recipes and test for yourself if they perform as well as the expensive varieties. You may just discover younger looking skin at a fraction of the price.

Check out my new AntiAging SkinCare tips blog. I’d love your comments.

Getting older many times means that health problems become part of our lives. Every trip to the doctor can add a new health concern. The doctor offers a pill and many patients will just take it, hoping for a magical cure. As the health problems pile up, the amount of medications each person is taking also begins to pile up. Each drug brings its own side effects and when you are taking half dozen or more different pills, the drug side effects can begin to cause problems of their own. Soon your poor body is in one heck of a mess.

When I go to any doctor and list the medications I take, nobody can believe the answer is zero. For someone nearly 60 years old, the list of pills for different health problems is usually long and complicated. I have to say, I’ve been offered medications, one for better bladder control, one for bone density and one for neuropathy. It I were taking all of them, I’m personally convinced I’d feel worse, not better.

So, what should you do when a health problem comes up? Research, research, research!

One of my first steps in researching health issues is always finding out about natural remedies. I can tell you, though, that most advice on natural remedies for health problems boils down to diet and exercise. Sorry, there is no real way around that and a magic pill won’t change it either. I do check out reputable sources for this advice, such as Dr. Andrew Weil, who is an expert on natural and alternative remedies but always offers well researched advice.

You can also check sites like WebMd and the Mayo Clinic website for information about any condition.

If you have a specific condition, you can check specific sites relating to that health issue. Many have forums also. Reading some of the forums and the problems many people face, you might even find out you aren’t as bad off as lots of people out there!

I also check amazon.com to find out what books are out on different health issues and I read all the customer reviews to see if it would be worthwhile to order any.

My husband and I are starting to see health problems crop up. My husband was told he has Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease which attacks the thyroid. The doctor’s answer was to start thyroid hormone replacement. We’ve spent quite a bit of time researching this disease now and found that many with Hashimoto’s are also have gluten sensitivity - something the doctor never mentioned. Cutting the gluten can really help those with an autoimmune disorder. We also ordered a book on Hashimoto’s which convinced my husband that he needs to be seeing an endocrinologist who can take a look at the whole picture of his autoimmune condition, instead of just throwing pills at his thyroid.

As far as my own health issues - I decided I could live with my bladder issues (lol) and after researching bone density medications and natural ways to build bone density, I found decided against taking bone density medication but I did find exercises like yoga and tai chi are recommended, as well as a bone health diet and different supplements.

My other health issue has proven very mysterious. About 4 years ago, I started having a tingling sensation in my entire body. It has progressed slowly but it’s pretty much a 24/7 feeling of tingling, some numbness and sometimes a burning sensation. I went to a neurologist who, after doing some muscle testing, told me he had no idea what was causing it and all he could offer was a medication to dull the sensation. These medications are anti-depressants, anti-convulsives and other anti- this and that, which have some potentially bad side effects.

I went back to him about once a year for four years now. I also got a second opinion which was no more enlightening than the first one. Last year, the neurologist told me I “might” have small fiber neuropathy, which affects the nerve fibers of the skin. When I researched this, I found that it did pretty much fit my symptoms.

Over the course of the past four years, I’ve taken up yoga and tai chi, had energy massages, acupuncture and went through hypnotherapy. All these are helping my state of mind but not the tingling. I’ve tried various supplements for neuropathy, with no results either.

I finally decided recently that maybe I should try the medication. In the course of researching possible medications, however, I found that in 70% of cases, there is a treatable cause. A doctor in Massachusetts provided a form online with all the tests he did for neuropathy. I’ve had a couple of these, such as for diabetes, in my regular physicals but I hadn’t had any of the others.

So, on my visit to the neurologist, I took my list with me. He said, “These tests are on our routine neuropathy panel as well.” I think even he was a little perplexed as to why these had never been done on me up to this point. He said, “Let’s hold off on the medication so we can see that we give you the right one.” Thanks for that!

So the end of the story has not been told yet. I did go get about 10 vials of blood drawn and will find out the results at the end of the month. I may still find out I’m in the 30% of neuropathy patients with no known cause but at least I’m looking out for myself.

If you discover you have a health problem, no matter what it is, don’t just blindly accept a medication and hope for the best.

• Research your condition
• Make a list of questions to ask your doctor.
• Make sure you fully understand what he tells you.
• Find out from your doctor and you research if there is something natural you can do to help yourself. Most things, like diet and exercise won’t have any adverse effects on any medical advice you get.
• Keep a positive attitude!

I can’t begin to tell you how important this last one is. I’ve certainly gone through a hundred different emotional states over the past four years. I wondered if I’d eventually end up incapacitated or if I had something like MS, I grew tired and frustrated from not finding any answers. Sometimes I got depressed.

Over time, however, I’ve chosen to focus on the positive aspects of this situation. I focus on what I can do, which is eat an excellent diet, exercise and do my yoga and tai chi for my health and spirit, and meditate on my body’s ability to heal itself.

If it weren’t for the neuropathy, I wouldn’t be so adamant about sticking to the path I am on right now and maybe that’s what it’s all about in the end, no matter what the doctor tells me.

I just read an article in Natural Health magazine which said stepping out of our comfort zone is good for our

I took up knitting and yoga and made myself this yoga blanket

physical and mental health As we get older, though, many of us find a routine and stick to it because it is comfortable. Why change things that are working for us? Why take a chance?

I see this in my own parents. They are in their 80’s and their routine never varies. They eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on a tight schedule. They “go to town” to get groceries on a certain day of the week and eat breakfast at the restaurant where the waitress knows them by name. This structure gives them security, I think. As long as the routine continues the same, life is good.

Many of us fall into this sort of comfortable routine living as we get older but, as this article said, you don’t have to take up bungee jumping to gain benefits from shaking things up. Even small changes can create new neurological connections in our brains, boost our mood and improve our health.

It can be scary to try something new. I remember the first time I walked into a yoga class at the Y. I’d done yoga on my own with DVD’s off and on for years but never taken a class. Despite the instructor’s speech about not judging for how well we did, I was afraid all the people in the class would be 20 year old down dog experts and I’d look stupid.

What I found in that class though were people in various stages of expertise. There were a couple who really stood out but most of the class was just like me. There were even a couple people who had a good 20 years on me and they were in there stretching and doing their best.The real challenge became more about improving by my own standards than about how I looked to others.

Taking a class can be a great way to get our of our routine. Many community colleges have special deals for seniors. The one near our home allows seniors to pay just $20 and then take any number of classes from the list, which covers historical topics, hobbies and crafts, travel, and many others.

It’s easy to get stuck eating at the same restaurant all the time too. You enjoy the food so why not? Next time you find yourself heading for the same old watering hole, try something new. Maybe you’ve never had Vietnamese food or Thai food. Maybe you’d love them if you tried them. If you aren’t sure what to eat, as we weren’t on our first trip to a Vietnamese restaurant, ask the waiter or waitress what the specialty is.

If you like cooking, try new recipes or take an ethnic cooking class in a cuisine that is new to you. If you like walking, try a new park to walk in. Try a new hobby. A couple years ago, I took a knitting class and was hooked. Knitting now gives me a chance to challenge myself with trying new patterns and stitches. Anything that keeps you studying and seeking new information and techniques is good for your brain.

Doing something that challenges you is always a good way to break routine. To me, taking up yoga at 58 years of age was a challenge. It’s challenged my mind as well as my body and it made it easier for me to walk into my first tai chi class, where, once again, I feared looking like an idiot among the experts.

Many of the new things I’ve tried in recent years have ended up becoming new passions of mine. Other things, I tried once and then moved on but I got something out of every experience.

Retirement is a time when we should be trying new things that we haven’t had time for in the past and falling into a rut, doing the same things because they are a comfortable habit mean we are missing a chance for new adventures which help keep us young at heart.

Do you have certain things you do because they are comfortable? What new things have you tried in the past year and what did you get from the experience?

I hadn’t heard about unretirement until recently but I think it’s soon going to be a new word in our retirement vocabulary. A casualty of the recent economic downturn, the traditional view of retirement, working at a job for 20 to 30 years and then stepping into the world of leisure and relaxation is ceasing to exist and unretirement is taking its place.

Our recent ideas about retirement are indeed, a recent invention. This humorous article The History of Retirement from Early Man to AARP takes retirement up to 1999 but it needs a new chapter to cover the past four years or so when economic hardships caused many people close to retirement age to lose jobs, pensions and
savings. Many baby boomers find they can no longer afford the
leisurely retirement they’d planned. They know they will need
supplemental retirement income and that means working at least 20 hours a
week, if not more.

And that, basically is unretirement. Those approaching retirement age will make a choice of either working at least 20 hours a week and/or downsizing their lifestyle, which, by the way, is another trend left over from the recession among people of all ages.

For some, working longer is a preference. After all, people are living longer, healthier lives nowadays and how many years can you spend in your rocking chair or fishing boat without getting bored? Many people of traditional retirement age still feel productive and have a lot of offer, even if employers don’t want to hire hire those over 50.

If you find you do have to work at least 20 hours a week, get creative and find something that fulfills a passion. I’ve written several articles about turning hobbies into income and creative ways to supplement retirement income. Continuing to work at something you love can add years to your life and life to your years.

The other trend from the recession which seems to be sticking around is to be more cautious with money. Pay down debt, save more and purchase only what you need. Do it yourself classes are overflowing these days as more and more people find pleasure in gardening, preserving food, sewing, doing simple repairs and more. These things do save money, true, but having a productive hobby may help retire and still live well on less money.

I personally plan to work til I can’t type anymore, but I may slow down over time. I’ve found my passion in writing my blogs and working on my health and wellness website. My husband and I found a nice little piece of land where we can have a garden and a few chickens and we’re planning to build a small, energy efficient home to live in there. All of these things will help us save money and I think the amount of work involved will probably equate to unretirement since maintaining gardens and 10 acres will pretty much a full time job.

Has the recent economic conditions caused you to rethink your retirement plans? Will you keep working for pleasure or profit? I’d love to hear readers thoughts on this new trend.

You wouldn’t think a cancer diagnosis or health crisis could ever be a good thing. Yet, how often do you read about people who learn they have a serious health problem and totally change their lives for the better, realizing for the first time that they may have had the wrong priorities in life? They suddenly want to spend more time with their loved ones, they want to exercise more, eat a better diet and pay more attention to their overall health. Many people, when faced with a potentially fatal health issue start stress reduction activities like meditation, tai chi or yoga.

Just yesterday, I read a story in the newspaper about a woman who worked 80 hours a week as CEO of a company only to be halted in her tracks 10 years ago by breast cancer. This diagnosis caused her to totally change the way she lived and she felt for the past 10 years she’s lived more fully than she did before, focusing on health, diet, exercise and family, which she credits with helping her be cancer free until recently when she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Granted these healthy activities didn’t keep her cancer free forever, but she did live a better quality of life and perhaps bought herself 10 good years and tools to help her beat cancer again. Research shows that for those with breast and colon cancer, especially, diet and exercise can extend being cancer free for many more years than if a person makes no changes at all.

It makes you wonder if we really need such a devastating diagnosis to force us to focus on better health and make family and relationships a more central part of our lives. There is an old saying that when someone is on their death bed, they don’t usually say they wished they’d spent more time at the office!

Our retirement years are often the years when serious illness can strike but, hopefully, these are also years when we have more time for healthy living. We can take up cooking as a hobby, for instance, focusing on healthy veggie recipes. We can take that daily walk we’ve always promised ourselves we would start, take a class at the local Y or start doing yoga or meditation to increase our immunity and decrease stress.

In his book Anticancer, A New Way of Life, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, describes how he was stricken with brain cancer and beat it, only to have it return 15 years later. With his first diagnosis, he made no changes at all in the way he lived, but after the cancer’s return, Servan-Schreiber started researching healthy living alternatives so he could stay cancer free.

He does not advocate these lifestyle choices instead of a doctor’s treatment and advice but anyone can benefit from eating anticancer foods, learning to have an anticancer mind set and practicing mind/body techniques like yoga and meditation.

Most experts agree, I think, that if more people lived an anti-cancer way of life, there would be, not only less cancer, but less illness overall. The younger we begin, of course, the better off we are in terms of health but better late than never.

I have read that about 97% of how well we age is due to our lifestyle choices. Neglect of our health is probably one of the causes of most illness, and sometimes, in my opinion, illness and or a health crisis is a wake up call that we need to do things differently in our lives. But why must we wait for something serious to force us to take care of ourselves?

I have a superstition that if I take care of myself, reduce stress, practice yoga and meditation to stay in touch with my spiritual side and make family and relationships a big focus in my life, then I’ll never need that wake up call.

You might say you don’t have time for all this healthy living but do you have time to cope with a devastating illness?

It may not keep me from actually getting cancer or having a health crisis but if that does happen, then I will have better tools to cope with the situation.

I highly recommend AntiCancer A New Way of Life to anyone who wants to know how to live a cancer free lifestyle. This book was rated 5 stars by 186 people on Amazon.

Read more relaxation tips for better health.

This morning I read a newsletter from Dr. Mercola about nutritional supplements and lifestyle changes which can help prevent Alzheimers and dementia. According to research, in the next 20 years, Alzheimers may affect one in four Americans and is even now the sixth leading cause of death in adults in the US.

Chances are good that you personally know someone with these health conditions. Alzheimers and dementia currently have no cure. There are medications which may slow the progression but these too have side effects that can be harmful. The best answer is to avoid getting these conditions in the first place through more healthy lifestyle choices.

Dr Mercola’s newsletter offers a complete list of nutritional supplements you can take to decrease your chances of getting Alzheimers and dementia and healthy lifestyle choices you can make. Some are as simple as adding blueberries to your diet and getting more exercise.

Typically brain atrophy precipitates the more serious forms of dementia, including Alzheimers. Some of the risk factors you can address which may lead to this brain atrophy include high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. These risk factors can all be improved through a more healthy lifestyle.

Certain nutritional deficiencies and other health conditions, such as obesity and thyroid dysfunction, are also associated with an increased risk of Alzheimers.

If you have any of the risk factors associated with Alzheimers and dementia, besides working with your doctor, you can improve your health through better nutrition, exercise, getting enough sleep and keeping your mind active.

Read more about Dr. Mercola’s suggestions for preventing Alzheimers and dementia and keep up with all the latest health news by subscribing to Dr. Mercola’s free health newsletter.

Green Smoothie Recipe to Help Prevent Demenita

2 cups green tea - Read more about the benefits of green tea in the diet.

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup dark cherries - Read more about the health benefits of cherry juice

2 cups spinach

1/8 cup walnuts

1 TBS chia seeds - Read more about the health benefits of chia seeds.

Blend all ingredients in a food processor and enjoy several times a week. The vital nutrients in this green smoothie will help keep your brain in tip top condition!

More Improtant Brain Health Strategies

I read an article recently that suggested “older” people were starting to balk at being called seniors. Even AARP was beginning to use the term “medicare eligible” for those over a certain age. Baby boomers seem to be the generation who never thought we’d get old and now that we’re here, we don’t like being reminded of it.

How we see ourselves and how the world sees us are, of course, two different things. I read lots of blogs about boomers, seniors and retirement. Some bloggers have the general opinion that boomers should just move out of the way and die to make room for the younger generation. Others say the boomers will be the saving of the economy, while yet others say the current economic mess is the fault of greedy, materialistic boomers. The peace and love generation turned into evil Wall Street broker types and ruined the country. One blog I read yesterday suggested we should collectively pay off the national debt when we die by reinstating the estate tax and taxing social security - just as a favor for the younger generation.

Personally, I get tired of my generation getting the blame for the world’s ills but I know when all these generation X, Y, Z people turn 55 they will be singing a different tune. Wasn’t it our generation who said “Don’t trust anyone over 30?”

I guess, when it comes to aging, we always tend to see ourselves through rose colored glasses (maybe we’re losing our vision, along with our waistline?) I find myself listening for people at my Y exercise classes to mention their age and then I think “Wow, I’m older than them but I look so much younger!’

Of course, one place us boomers don’t mind the term senior is when it comes to “senior discounts!” Here on my blog, posts about senior discounts are among the most popular. I guess since some of these discounts can start as young as 50, and since they do involve getting a bargain, we don’t think of it as something negative.

I remember one time quite a few years ago, I went into Taco Bell just to get something to drink. The high school kid waved away my money and said, “It’s free.”

I said “Really, are you sure?” I thought, what a nice young man, giving me a free drink. It wasn’t until quite some time later that I found out Taco Bell gives free drinks to “seniors.” I guess to a high school kid, all of us “old people” look like we qualify so they don’t even bother to ask.

When I was in my 30’s I did a short stint as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant. Our restaurant gave senior discounts and I remember not liking to insult anyone by asking if they were old enough to receive one. Some people were insulted if you did ask them and they weren’t old enough. Other people jumped right in there and told you they were old enough and expected to get it.

Fast forward to 2008. I was 58 years old then and checking out at Kohls. The 30-something woman at the register informed me it was senior discount day and asked if I qualified. I said, “It depends on what age it is.” She said the senior discount started at age 60. I laughed (thinking of course that I certainly didn’t look 60!) and said “No, I’m not old enough yet.”

At this point she got rather insistent, really wanting me to have that discount. She said, “Well, is it near your 60th birthday? I can still give it to you.”

Gone are the days when we fear insulting someone about their age! -lol.

How we define ourselves is important. The term “Older American” seems to be catching on.  I always liked “baby boomer” because it makes us sound young and important but maybe that’s getting passe. Advertisers are sure struggling to define us, having suddenly woken up to the improbably idea that our age group too spends money, not just that coveted 18 to 39-year-old age group. Although ads directed at us older Americans most often involve hemorrhoid creams and cholesterol medications, rather than the latest iPhone or iPad.

Personally, I think advertisers are missing to boat there. Us senior, boomer, medicare eligible, older Americans also covet iPhones and iPads and all the latest gadgets.

Do you have any thoughts on what you’d like us older people to be called? If senior is out and -Heaven forbid - elder, what new word can we come up with to define ourselves? I’d love to hear ideas. Maybe we can start a new trend.

Review of How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free

Retirement should be a time to enjoy life to the fullest and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free offers inspirational advice on just the way to do that.  A creative and fulfilling retirement is about more than just money, and author Ernie Zelinski covers how to put money into its proper perspective so you don’t need millions to retire.

How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free also offers advice on other retirement topics, such as:

• How to get up the courage to retire early.
• Find purpose and fulfillment in your retirement - That sounds easy but it takes some thought.
• How to follow your dreams and not get sidetracked by what others think you should do.
• How to take charge of your mental, physical, and spiritual health.
• Setting retirement goals — including whether or not you should relocate.

When you’re thinking about the retirement years ahead, making them the best of your life probably seems like a no-brainer. Actually, though, the earlier you begin planning for the many different aspect of retirement and setting some goals, the more prepared you will be to take advantage these years.

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