My favourite paper on a Sunday is the Body&Soul supplement in the Herald Sun particularly if they refer to seniors. On Sunday, August 7, edition there were a few articles that took my interest. The article on nutrition talked about the keto diet, which is cutting out sugar and carbs (all my favourite foods), but it did say that eating good clean fats, low carbs and low sugar are good for
you.

I read the article and was impressed I then looked on the opposite page showing recipes! I thought these recipes look great such as creamy salmon piccata (unsure what this is!) pasta and one-pot creamy lemon pork pasta, and I said to my husband this is healthy we will have the salmon for dinner tonight! Then it dawned on me, these recipes had absolutely nothing to do with the Keto diet!

But what the heck, out went Keto and in came the salmon piccata pasta, it was delicious. I then turned to the fitness page, this week was How to Age Backwards with Exercise, hmm I thought, I am now 74 years young and reasonably healthy, will exercise make me younger?

The article said: “The people who exercise reduce their chances of premature death by up to 34 per cent. The fitter you are, the lower your risk of dying of cancer. Physical activity drops your blood pressure, and it raises your good (HDL) cholesterol.”

I then thought maybe I could do this, as I am on blood pressure and cholesterol tablets and my arms are like crepe paper.

The great gurus always said to do 10,000 steps a day, I read recently that this has been reduced to 7,000 steps. Again I thought hmmm, I could do that, I could walk down to my local coffee shop have a coffee and get my husband to drive me back (as we live uphill) I thought that should be more than 7,000 steps. So I got onto Google Maps and found out my coffee shop is 2.1 km away and says it is a 25-minute walk.

I then thought I would check how many steps that is, as I may be doing 2 days of walking in one day! So onto Google again, I had to check it a few times as it kept telling me by walking 5kph, that being an average walk, I would walk 2816 steps! If I did a brisk walk (6.5kph) it would only be 2418 steps.

I then discovered if I walked 5 km (that meant walking back uphill) at an average walk I would do 7040 steps, but if I walked briskly I would only do 6045 steps! I then thought I would check out my stars….the last line said – your dreams stand a good chance of coming true…does that mean I will accomplish the 7,000 steps each day and reduce my blood pressure, and cholesterol and eat less carbs and sugars? If not I will get out my late mother’s 2kg dumb bars and exercise watching the telly!