I aspire to be like my neighbor in physical fitness.  She is 84 years old,
and she has been a widow for about 33 years.  She has 30 acres and a house
with a vegetable garden.  Until just a couple of years ago she did all her
work inside and out - house cleaning, laundry, garden planting and
harvesting, wood splitting, canning, deer hunting, lawn mowing, leaf raking,
etc.  She lamented to me a few weeks ago that she has declined in strength.
She has had to accept the fact that she can no longer lift 50 pound bags but
40 pound bags are her limit now.  She also has some part time help with yard
and housework now.

She eats a typical American diet except based on tastes from about 50 years
ago with a lot fewer processed foods and artificial ones.  However, besides
good genes her continued health and vigor are a testament to her active
lifestyle.  She doesn't weight train or jog, etc but she does stay active
almost continuously.

I do weight train, plus walk and sprint since I work at a desk.  I also
clean my own house, do laundry, etc.  I hope I will remain as vigorous as my
neighbor.

Paula H.

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Joseph Berne

I'm in total agreement with the gist of this latest thread, but I'd like to
add that if you're interested in having enough fitness to putter around your
garage or house for the purposes of quality longevity it might be worth it
to develop a fitness level beyond that.  Imagine two older people, with
great diets and general health, one of whom has worked to put on 20 lb of
additional muscle (above what they realistically need to do their everyday
chores) while the other hasn't done the work to add that muscle.  They might
both be equally functional in their everyday lives until they become ill.
Any kind of protracted illness or injury can make a serious dent in one's
fitness.  If you have muscle tissue to spare, losing some while ill would
leave you weaker but still functional (in the sense of being able to go
about your daily routine without assistance).  If you don't have that
functional headroom an illness or injury can leave someone incapacitated,
and recovering from that is extremely difficult.
I've seen senior citizens (including relatives of mine) who were just fit
enough to do what they wanted to do and no more.  I've seen a single bout of
pneumonia or a broken bone send them into a nursing home or wheelchair
bound.
The human body, unfortunately, doesn't want to "hold onto" a fitness level
above what it needs on a regular basis, and I've seen no reason to think
that diet plays any role in mitigating that.  Exercise seems to be the only
way to develop that functional headroom.