Firstly, I discovered a couple new health blogs while looking through my various internet nooks and crannies. The first web source is all about how to relieve stress. The other one is about the best antioxidant supplements in the market.

But, today I'm going to chat a little about exercise. Exercise isn't as easy at 70 as it was at 20, but that's not to say that us post menopausal fogies can't get out there and walk a mile or two.

I always start my day off with a good amount of stretching. Whether or not I launch into an aerobic routine, I prefer to work the aches and kinks and cramped muscles out of my legs and arms, even if the most active thing I do all day is cook breakfast.

Once I've stretched, sometimes I will take a morning walk. I don't power walk, I don't use weights or special running pants. I just throw on some sweats and I walk down to the post office and back. It's a lovely wooded walk for me, and sometimes it's unbearable when the weather is cold, but it's a little over a mile to the post office, which comes up to about 2 miles total. It takes me almost an hour to go on my walk but I feel so energized when I'm done!

My doctor has suggested that I do some exercises with weights recently, though I've still declined to join a local gym. Most likely I will borrow the tiniest of my grandsons power lifting set, and just do the simplest of lifts.

Only the Good Die Young. I'm not so sure about that. I was never too sure what the lyrics of that Billy Joel song meant. Was he saying that people who die young are all good? Or if you're good, you must die young?

My granddaughter was heart broken this week. Heath Ledger died in New York, he was an actor, and Angela was absolutely in love with him. Mr. Ledger was only 29 years, which is a real tragedy, and people will always remember the best in him. I will always remember the best in him, the way he moved me with his performance in Brokeback Mountain, even though people say he had problems with drug use, an excess lifestyle.

I realized Angela has never experienced the grief over the loss of another until now, even thought that other person is a movie star a thousand miles away. I'm nearing my 80's and more and more these days I find out people I've known for years have passed away. I am grieved by these losses, and I remember my friends as they were, the good, and even a little of the bad times I've spent with them. There's an acceptance with this grief, I don't feel robbed by their loss as I'm sure my granddaughter does by Mr. Ledger's death.

Perhaps what Billy Joel meant is because the tragedy is stronger when people die young, because the young are not use to the wound of lost friends, the easiest way to cope is to remember them at their best rather than the way they were. When people die young, we can't help but feel as if they could have been good, no matter what they've done, there was a better person inside waiting to shine. I think this is wonderful, it shows the natural hope and benevolence with which people see the possibility in others.

And what would I be doing blogging if I didn't link to a health blog or two?
Damage Control is a blog about fixing our body's problems, it's a little odd, but enjoyable.
Vitamins Online is a neat little blog about vitamin shopping.

Christmas is the best thing about being a grandmother. I have eight grandchildren. They're all different and they all love me, and I get so much joy out of spoiling them, sometimes I wish we could do Christmas every month--though it would certainly leave me broke!

My youngest grandson is two. I bought him a speed racer toy, even though his mother tells me he's too young, he could choke on it and die. That's hogwash if you ask me. Toys are as safe as they've always been. He'll grow in to it I'm sure; he can oggle and baffle over it in the meantime.

My oldest granddaughter is fourteen. What an age! I think fourteen is one of the worst years for any girl. You're aware of boys and their not aware of you. And at times you think every other girl in the school hates you, and it's probably true because you hate all of them. I'm buying her a pink iPod nano, which I'm sure is way to expensive, but a little extra love doesn't hurt anyone.

And my gift to you is links to health websites! I've got three this week:
Damage Control Master Formula sells a multivitamin that would make a great stocking stuffer, though it is a bit expensive.
Life Extension is a hubpage (bleck!), but a well informed hubpage.
The Best Antioxidant is a webpage about just that. Antioxidants come in all forms. Finding the best one can be tough.

Until next time, merry Christmas!

Life extension is being tossed around a lot in geriatric medicine. Anyone over the age of 65 knows what I'm talking about. Everyday I get flyers, and brochures, and free magazines and catalogs all promoting newer and better ways of life extension.

I find this a little depressing. It's like somebody constantly mailing you reminding you "you haven't got much time left!" When I turned 65, I didn't particularly consider that to be the end of my life, but I'm not going to fixate on preserving my body for a few extra years at the cost of so much stress and money. 90% of everything that going to go wrong with my body is genetics, I take care of the other 10% as best I can, but buying a special "breathing machine" or a safe set of stairs that I'm less likely to fall on is simply ridiculous. Someday I'll rest in peace, but for right now I just want to live in peace! I get my vitamins and my omega 3 benefits, that's good enough for me!

There's so much buzz going around right now about different vitamins for men and women, or different vitamins for different age groups. Well, I've looked around a bit and I believe the best multivitamin out there is the best for everyone whether man woman, old biddy, or little baby.

The vitamin I'm talking about is something called the Damage Control Master Formula. I've checked the ingredients list, and it's just hard to beat no matter who you are. The only exception, is there's no iron in the formula, so women who are menstruating might need to add some iron. If you're looking to buy vitamin from major stores like the Vitamin Shoppe or GNC, I'd first take a look at Mark Sisson's little packets of multivitamin. It might just save you some money. Sorry to sound like such an advertisement this week. Next week I'll get back to fiddling with nutrition and health thoughts.

When I walk into a vitamin store, there are thousands of choices. Walls of pills of every different variety and every different supplement, and there's at least a dozen companies that make each individual supplement, all at different prices.

What I'm really trying to figure out is whether it's better to pick and chose and tailor my vitamin intake by buying individual supplements I need, or if I should just go with the best multivitamin out there.

One thing that is mildly frustrating is that there are no multivitamins that include omega 3 supplements within the whole package. I guess that is because most vitamins come in powder form, and omega 3's are almost always fish oil, which doesn't mix well with powder. So when a multivitamin says, it's "All inclusive" or "All in One" it's really a bit of a lie.

I think I'll probably end up doing just one multivitamins with the omega 3 added in. I need my brain pills!

Anyone know what an IU is? I believe it stands for "International Unit" which is what most vitamins are measured in, but I don't really know what the hell that means. I can understand a milligram. I can visualize it as a very small percentage of something in my body. If I way 100 kilograms, then the little pill of DMAE I take (100mg) is approximately one millionth of my body.

Anyway. I'm interested in knowing more about weight versus value. For instance, orac value. What exactly is that? How does that work in conjunction with the IUs, or does it?

And the daily percentage thing is a whole other ballpark. I read recently that the suggested daily values are actually the amount of a particular vitamin necessary for our body to function properly so we don't get infections/diseases. In other words, the suggested daily value might actually be the BARE MINIMUM. I'l look more into this and see if I can find anything useful.

My first post! I've been reading about primal nutrition on the web recently. Apparently it's a system of diet and health based on man's genetic blueprint. I don't know much about it yet, but it seems like a fun thing to try out. After all, I'm sick to death of Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and those crazy late night infomercial people with their orange skin (lay off the carrots, guys!). Primal nutrition seems like a fresh new start, looking at health from a different angle. So here's what I know.

+ Primal nutrition is more low carb than low fat
+ Primal nutritionists aren't always vegetarians (think goodness, I've got to eat some cow occasionally!)
+ Regular exercise still seems to be a big part of this system. I guess there's no two ways about it. Exercise is always good.

That's it for now. I'll keep you up to date as I learn more!