Senior Health, Senior Diet and Lemons

Eating changes as we get older. I’m beginning to believe that many of our health issues in retirement life could be minimized with a shift in diet. Trust me, I’m not there yet, but I try to be more conscious of what I eat.

Case in point. I’ve had a problem recently with heartburn and acid build-up in my digestive system. This is going to sound counterintuitive, but it was suggested I eat more acid. What? I told my husband and he started eating lemons. Low and behold, his heartburn decreased significantly.

I love lemons. When we walk every morning, we pass lemon trees in people’s yards. Many months ago, I knocked on the door of a neighbor and asked if we could pick her lemons. The lady was delighted and we’ve been helping ourselves ever since.

My husband likes to peel the lemon and eat it raw. I can’t do that, but started putting squeezed lemon in my juice drink every morning. I put ½ lemon in the drink. Guess what? I have less heartburn.

This is obviously not going to change senior health by itself, but I’m intrigued. In researching the lemon, I found it acts as a tonic to the liver, stimulating the production of bile to help digest food if taken in the morning. It is high in vitamin C and can relieve symptoms of asthma, and sore throat. It my also help with arthritis and rheumatism because it flushes toxins from the body. I have asthma and I certainly won’t stop taking my medication because I’m consuming more lemon. Please enlist the aid of your healthcare professional before changing medication. I am finding that eating a more natural and healthy diet helps me feel better.

I want to include lemon in more recipes, but I’m having a hard time finding lemon recipes that don’t include a lot of sugar, milk products or eggs. Does anyone have interesting lemon dishes that are also great for a senior diet?

Note: This is a painting I did of a lemon grove.

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.