Senior Health

I did something for myself today. No, not the usual indulgence of chocolates or flowers. I actually did something important. At first, I was reluctant to discuss it, because it comes under the heading that is traditionally considered unmentionable. Life over 50 gets complicated and sometimes we need to discuss unpleasant things.

I had a colonoscopy this morning. The reason I decided to discuss it is many people don’t have the procedure. I’m lucky I have insurance and quite probably wouldn’t have had it done without it. I’m talking to the people who have insurance or can otherwise afford it, but elect not to do the procedure. It’s inconvenient. It’s a bit uncomfortable and it occurs in the part of the body most of us would like to ignore.

That’s the main reason I decided to write about it. Denial can be wonderful thing. Well, sometimes. Rarely. Nope, now that I think about it, I don’t know that denial is a good thing. We get to pretend, but that just postpones reality and when reality actually hits, the ramifications of denial are magnified.

The doctor found a small polyp in my colon. He removed it. There’s a possibility that had I not chosen to have the procedure, it could have grown and in ten years I’d have colon cancer.

As I wrote in a previous post, a friend of mine died of cancer this winter. Cancer is not fun. There is no way we can absolutely prevent all health issues in our life. I can’t be assured that I won’t get some other form of cancer in some other part of my body. There are many things we can do to ensure senior citizens health.

Today I had a procedure that will minimize the probability of getting one form of cancer. If you’re over 55, get it done. It’s as simple as that.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me anything. Boundaries are minimal.

Fish in Sheep’s Clothing

I’m not a big fish eater. It probably has to do with growing up in Middle America. My husband feels the same way. I love Salmon and eat it when we go out, but it’s not my husband’s first choice. To accommodate our senior citizens health, we are trying to make adult nutrition choices.

About a year ago, we discovered Tilapia fish. I had never heard of it, but we tried it, liked it and have become regular connoisseurs. We liked Tilapia because it doesn’t have any bones, bakes easily and the flavor is light and delicate.

Why are we eating fish? Because, fish has high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids which is good for us. We were surprised to discover recently, not only is Tilapia low in Omega-3, it’s high in Omega-6, the bad fats. In addition, it’s highly contaminated with pollutants if it comes from Asia or South America. We’ll finish eating the frozen Tilapia we have, but won’t eat any more or only on rare occasions.

The lesson is we can’t assume that because something is ‘fish,’ it’s automatically good for you. That’s true because of the nutrients in the fish, but also because of pollutants and over fishing. In researching what fish we should eat, we came across a site that provides great information about fish that is good for you and the environment. It’s provided by Environmental Defense Fund. The fish are organized in alpha order in three columns: Eco-best, Eco-ok, Eco-worst. When you click on the fish, it describes the health effects, as well as the environmental situation. You can learn what seafood is good to eat as well as not damaging to the environment.