An Anti Aging Diet Includes a Consistent Diet of Exercise

Today was my 5th consecutive week of running 40 miles or more and my 43rd consecutive run of 10 miles or more. Why do I make all this effort to stay fit? There are many reasons, but predominantly I exercise to keep myself feeling, and more importantly being, younger. Exercise goes part and parcel with diet to promote a healthy, and hopefully long, life.

While there is increasing hype today about diets that keep you younger, so-called "anti aging diets," many forget the important role that exercise plays in your diet. Your diet puts fuel into your body; your exercise burns it in a focused and productive manner to yield a leaner, trimmer you. It is vital that each of us find an activity that fits us, and that we begin exercising today. In other words, your weekly routine needs to include a healthy diet of exercise.

As a young man, I exercised for fun when I wanted to and was not all that serious about the effort. As a middle-aged man, I exercise for health on a regular basis even when I don’t want to and am serious about the effort. The difference between my younger and older perspectives is the wisdom that comes with age, the observation of the dehabilitating effects of age on my father (including diabetes, Parkinson’s, limited mobility, and dementia), and the sobriety that possessed me after his death at the age of 85.

So I run, and to improve my enjoyment and minimize impact and injury to my body, I run barefoot. My barefoot journey began 3 years ago after 30 plus miles a week running resulted in shin splints, knee problems, and "runners toe." My form was terrible and I was constantly striving to correct improper pronation. What shoes could not correct, my barefoot, influenced innately by my propriocepsis reflexes, naturally corrected.

Our propriocepsis reflexes govern our sense of balance and awareness of where our body is relative to the world around us. It is this sense that tells us we are falling or out of balance. My running shoes had cocooned me away from real contact with my running world and blunted my balance and running awareness. This resulted in twisted ankles, improper running form, increased impact to the body, and the myriad of friction-related nuisances that occurred between my foot, socks, and shoes. My legs were tired from lugging 12 or so ounces of shoe on each foot back and forth 3 feet over 2000 times every mile; I found myself not enjoying my runs and in need of a change to address running injuries.

Now, after 4300 miles of running barefoot over 38 months on every type of running surface and experiencing temperature ranges of 10F to 100F, I have not encountered a single lost day of running because of running injury. The journey has been slow and I have had to learn how to run all over again, but barefoot running works for me and keeps me young.

What exercise works for you and keeps you young? It is important that you find one or more activities that work for you, put stress on your cardiovascular system, and productively burn the calories that you consume each day. An anti aging diet that comprises only what you eat is doomed to failure for life is more that food. In fact, in addition to exercise, there are a number of additional items that need to be added to your weekly routine, and the website referred to below provides information on each of these items.

Here is to a younger you!

Impact of Exercise on Anti Aging Diet
What role does exercise play in anti aging diets?