nutritional ketosis

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to reconnect with a friend from residency days back in Salt Lake City in the mid-80s; we were residency mates there in the University of Utah hospital system before he headed back home to San Diego to set up his practice and later found his own company.

My friend had something of an unusual story; he was a gifted mechanical engineer who later went into medicine with a goal of designing adaptive equipment for people with profound neuromuscular disease and injury. He was a delight, one of those rare hyper-intelligent and inquisitive people we all (rarely) have occasion to meet, and was an uber-fit skier, distance runner, and surfer.

Without boring you with details, through a mutual connection in England, he’d heard of my recent health transformation, and ended up calling to chat one afternoon. We covered a lot of ground in an hour, but he was particularly interested in what I’d done to reclaim my health and lessons I’d learned along the way. He shared that he had an adult “child” in her mid 40s who desperately needed a lifestyle and fitness change, and he was at the end of his rope trying to encourage her to start. He shared, among other things, that she felt she was “too far gone” to ever make a meaningful impact.

Thinking about it on the fly as we talked, I offered him five quick thoughts about reclaiming health and fitness after 40 gleaned from my own experience.

It’s Never Too Late to Start

I am profoundly and utterly convinced that it’s never too late to jump in with both feet, start moving physically, and reshape one’s approach to nutrition. At 57 I did just that, and started from a point of metabolic and physical disaster – 412 pounds, unable to tie my own shoes some days, with so many aches, pains, and symptoms I’m embarrassed to list them all. Now, just a bit over three years later, I’ve lost nearly 200 pounds and 20+ inches at my waist, am more fit than ever, and am even training for sprint competition in Senior track and field events upcoming.

Clearly your mileage may vary, but I have clients now in their 80s who’ve made similar changes and reshaped their approach to life. It’s never too late.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40 Is a Long Game

Expectations can be an interesting beast to tame, at least for most of us. We’re an impatient society, and often fall prey to tall tales and crazy promises to shed improbably amounts of excess weight and gain extraordinary levels of fitness over very short time frames (30 days wonders) by following some magic diet, taking a wonder supplement, or copying the routine of a sculpted gym barbie with an Instagram following.

Attaining optimal health, fitness, and wellness at any age is a long game, most often measured in months if not years, but particularly for those of us north of 40. It’s a lot more enjoyable journey if you embrace the long view, and don’t sweat the day to day and week to week stuff.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40 Might Take Baby Steps, But Take ‘Em

Talking with my friend, we agreed that life in today’s world, at least for the majority, is astoundingly sedentary. Many sit all day at work, commute sitting, come home and eat a poorly composed meal, and then sit on the couch for the next four hours before tossing and turning at night and starting it all over again.

Thoughtfully incorporating movement into the day can make a world of difference when starting from fitness ground zero; we’ve all heard the suggestions (park at a distance and walk in, get up and walk 10 minutes every two hours, etc), and these steps are easy to incorporate into one’s day. I’m a HUGE fan of walking outdoors, still do it daily to start my day myself, even on sprint training days, and just about every one on the planet can do it with minimal investment in time and equipment.

Baby steps turn into meaningful fitness routines over time.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40: Embrace the Aches and Modify

One of the things I learned with my 30+ years in medicine is that the human body, despite its astoundingly complex design, function, and capacity to repair itself, is nonetheless designed to wear and tear over time. It’s inevitable, though manifests differently and at unique times for all of us.

The point: we all have our various aches and pains, joints that have been injured or have advanced markers of degeneration (read wear and tear); some days you’re going to be more sore and achy than others. Accept that reality, and modify, modify, modify exercise and fitness to accommodate your function on a given day. Remembering that you’re playing a long game makes this strategy more sensible too.

Personally I’ve been astounded at what a difference rebuilding functional strength has made in my own “aches and pains” related to prior orthopedic injuries, and just general activity and functional tolerance. Of course, that’s in part related to the last point…

Personally Optimizing Nutrition Makes Life So Much Better

Finally, I suggested my friend gently remind his daughter that there is a far, far better way to fuel the human machine than via the SAD (standard American diet). The point I tried to convey was simple from our perspective – the food we eat now is so much tastier, interesting, and flavorful than any we’ve consumed over the years, AND is so much healthier – less inflammatory (there’s that aches and pains concept again), less atherogenic, and more physiologically sensible given the science that has evolved over the past twenty years.

Personally I think for almost everyone walking on the planet, metabolic flexibility is the holy grail of nutrition – not being in ketosis or rigidly adhering to some arbitrary set of dietary rules. There is no one size fits all nutrition plan. Metabolic flexibility is key for anyone at any age, but perhaps even more meaningful for those of over 40, busy with all that life has to offer.

The challenge, of course, is to find the nutrition plan that resonates with your own particular physiology and metabolism, and make the tweaks and adjustments that work for you. It can be done, and again, it’s never too late to start.

Enjoyed the call JS, best of luck with your daughter and I’m happy to help any way I can.