In one month, I’m turning 75-years-old. And, unlike my family members who died in their 50s and 60s, I feel great. I’m relatively healthy. I’m going out to play Pickleball with friends. And yet…

This morning I wrote down all the things that worried me about getting older. I wrote a sort of manifesto with what I intended to do about it.

I don’t know if you’re like me, a senior approaching a milestone birthday, or just a senior somewhat baffled by changes in health. For me, turning 75 motivates me to think in different ways. Not just about the past, but about the future.

The future for a 75-year-old naturally becomes more limited. I put brakes on in some places. Yet at the same time, I can look at the big picture and rise above the mundane and cliche of life to focus on what truly matters. I can choose to accelerate efforts in those areas.

After all, knowing there’s a limitation to life gives you a kick in the butt. It’s no longer dream time, one-day-I’ll…fill in the blank. It’s do-or-die time.

I don’t know if someone famous said, “Life sucks, and then you die.” Maybe it was just some senior having a bad day or a Millennium grousing about a bad break-up. It is true that it’s not a dress rehearsal. Knowing I’m in my final 10 or 20 spurs me with energy like no other.

If only my brain and my body will stay with me long enough to get some of my goals and wanna-do’s achieved. If not, well then, I died trying. And that can’t be a bad thing.

My Manifesto on Turning 75

Some days I’m worried. I’m turning 75 and things are going on in my body I don’t understand. I look great on the outside, but every morning as I wake up, I feel aches and pains and wonder if I should be doing something about them.

My biggest concern is the brain fog.

Although I no longer have frequent morning headaches, I still have a sort of buzzing in the background. It’s hard to think. I usually read in the morning, non-fiction books about health. But tying together a train of thought seems like a slog through mud. By the time I reach where I was going, I forget what it was I was trying to connect.

I love my brain.

It is what has saved me from a traumatic childhood of neglect and abandonment. I am resilient. When I’ve followed the wrong path, I’ve turned around and bounced back. I fought.

I will continue to fight rather than give in to “old age.”

I know there are healthy ways to experience getting older. Exercise has saved my butt along the way. I don’t have any of the common diseases of aging. But at 75 I can only exercise so much. I’ll keep doing everything I can to stay active. But what else?

Healthy Aging Means Healthy Eating

My next frontier is diet: eliminating the foods that are known to cause decay in the body and brain. Turning 75, it’s time to clean up my diet. It’s not about losing weight. It’s about health especially for my brain. I will eat more of the foods that promote healthy metabolism, reduce inflammation, are antioxidant, and contribute to mitochondrial energy and cellular functioning.

My Plan

My War on Aging will still focus on exercise but also on eating for a healthy brain and body.

I’ve been reading about nutrition lately and I’m convinced it’s the key to avoiding those “chronic diseases of aging,” heart disease, diabetes, dementia, stroke, and cancer. I’m not overweight at all. But I eat too many sweets. I’ve been trying to avoid bread, pasta, even whole wheat products. That seems to help my digestion. But show me a chocolate, and I’m just a girl who can’t say no.

I’m not a nutritionist, a foodie, or diet expert. I’m not following any trendy dietary advice given out by internet gurus. I believe in science and evidence-based medicine. The problem is, they don’t always agree. It’s confusing. But several things are clear and becoming more the more I read and research.

Seniors can protect their health by eating less of the harmful stuff and more of the good stuff.

After a lot of research, I know more about what the good stuff is. I aim to follow a low-carbohydrate diet with plenty of good fats and moderate protein. If that sounds like a ketogenic diet, it is similar. But I don’t intend to “go keto,” rather I want to include intermittent fasting, a fast mimicking diet, and days of higher carbs with a goal of metabolic flexibility. As well, I will eat plenty of vegetables and plant resources, fish, limited fruit, and virtually no processed foods from factories.

I have learned a great deal on nutrition for seniors and on brain health on books by Drs. David Perlmutter, Joseph Mercola, Steven Gundry, John Ratey, Jason Fung, Michael Greger. There are many others whose books I have devoured in the past year who have also made sense and helped answer this question:

What should seniors eat for healthy aging?

My plan is to share some of these authors’ wisdom here on this blog with you. I’d also like to share the experiences of other seniors, so if you have a story to tell about your own aging challenges, feel free to leave me a comment or email.