Monthly Archives: May 2012

Health: The Weight of the Nation

We have been watching the HBO movie titled The Weight of the Nation, about confronting America’s obesity epidemic.   Even though we have seem several other movies of this type like Food Inc, this was a shocking reminder to be mindful of what you eat.

The movie shows in a practical way how bad things have gotten.  Some examples and facts they give were quite enlightening, although not surprising.

Food obtained outside the home tends to be higher in calories and fat than food prepared at home.  40% of every dollar spent on food is spent on food prepared outside the home.

In the 25 years between 1987 and 2010, the number of American’s diagnosed with diabetes almost tripled to 20.9 million.

Children consume more than 7.5 hours of media a day, 7 days a week.

In the United States in 2010, over 63% of people are overweight or obese.

The percentage of children aged 6-11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense aerobic activity every week for adults.

The movie showed all the “cheap” processed food that people eat lke snacks and dollar menu items.  They are cheap but the health care down the road is going to be very expensive.  It is much better to eat quality food that may cost a little more but is healthier for you because of less fat and more nutriments.

As Ann has pointed out many times, getting up and get moving to get some exercise is the other part of the solution.

If you want to get motivated, see this movie Weight of the Nation.  You probably already know a lot of this stuff, but the graphics are strong and will surely motivate you to take action.

I think it worked for us.   Today rather than grilling a hamburger we went the the market and came back with the fruits, nuts, and vegetables pictured at the top of this post.   Now that’s yummy!

Weight of the Nation

Boomer Health

The Baby Boomer Name Game

Baby boomers have many faces, life styles, dreams, stories, and experiences.  Each of us is on a journey.  We all have a name.  Some of us have changed names throughout our life time.  Many married and changed their last names.  Others found that people labeled them with nick names which fit their personalities.  Then computers came along and we found that it might be a good thing to come up with a catchy name, other than using our real name, for the world to see.

For this blog, I chose to call myself, Working Boomer.  My grandchildren have called me Grannie Annie.  Close friends nick named me Annie.  There was a day that some called me Red because of the color that I tinted my hair.  Then of course, like many of you, I am sure some may have called me names that I don’t want to write in a blog. :)

Today, I want to change my name again to represent what I feel or what I want in life as a sixty-three year old single, night shift working baby boomer.  Friends, like some of you,  I am TIRED!  Working Boomer is a cute name but it no longer fits.  There are articles that I have read encouraging us to work or go to school until we are eighty.   I began this thing called WORK  when I was five years old.

No, I did not win the lottery nor do I have a huge savings account.  The truth is just this: I AM TIRED!  I eat the healthy foods and exercise.  My cabinet is full of the wonderful over 50 vitamins.  My hair is not red but I have a nice brown tint that I use now, so no longer am I called Red.  My new Grandchild is over a thousand miles away and I have not seen her yet.  I haven’t heard from my other Grandchildren in a while so there went Grannie Annie.  At night my friends are asleep while I am awake and vise verso when I am home.  There went Annie.  As far as those that call me other names, who cares!  That is one advantage of getting older.  Things like that don’t bother me any more.  Now it is time.  Time I say!  WORKINGBOOMER needs a name game change!

Here is the scoop, Loop!  I DO NOT want the word WORK  associated with my name unless it is in volunteer work.  Did you hear me?  I want baby boomer restful, relaxing, fun loving, dream catching, playtime, vacation time, no alarm clock, scoot and boot LIVE IT UP TO THE END  boomer LIVING.

It is time to play the name game.  At least I can make a list and dream when I do get a chance while I wait on an age restricted senior apartment.  Here are a few names that I have picked out.  Please feel free to help me by sharing some names that you would like to be called for your retirement years.

  • Florida Living Grannie
  • Cruising Mama Boomer
  • Senior Center Rockette
  • Small Town Girl With A Big City Smile
  • Over 60 And Still The, “Rock and Roll Queen”
  • Road Trip pin Scoot and Boot
  • Sunshine
  • Annie Love
  • Joy Seeker
  • The Dog Whisperette
  • Smiley
  • The Old Wise One
  • Hope
  • Dreamer
  • Starlight ( as one her gazes at stars ONLY when not WORKING)
  • Love
  • Peace
  • Peaches :)   (No, not as in Fruitcake)

It was fun playing the name game but reality is: No matter what anyone calls me I am still Ann.  It is important to not loose sight of our dreams, be grateful for the memories, and always be proud of the name that we have earned during our baby boomer years.

If you remember nothing else from this blog, remember how much fun it was to play the name game song when we were younger.  Have fun!  Try not to ever play the Blame game because the Name game is much more fun!  Live, Laugh and Enjoy the Journey!

Retirement Travel: Road Trip

Many Glacier Lodge, Montana

Many Glacier Lodge, Montana

When dreaming about retirement one of the fun things to do is to think about the traveling you will do, once you don’t have to go to work every day.

When you are in retirement, one of the fun things to do is to think of all the neat things you have done over your lifetime.

For today’s post,  I am combining those two ideas and posting about some of the enjoyable road trips that I have done.  This has been fun to remember and maybe will give you an idea for a road trip of your own.  Some here are some memorable scenic road trips I have experienced.

Road Trips

1. Blue Ridge Parkway is absolutely gorgeous!   Described as  America’s favorite drive. I started near Cherokee NC took the parkway all the way up to Blowing Rock.  Also have been on the Blue Ridge Parkway in a drive through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  The Summer or early Fall is a great time for this trip.

2. Montana Practically the whole state is scenic but we took I-15 to Butte, then I-90 to Missoula then to the scenic drive on Hwy 83 to Kalispell and Whitefish.  Along the way we passed through the Valley of 1,00o haystacks.   From there a ride through Glacier National Park on the Going to the Sun road staying in the wonderful park lodges ending up at the famous Many Glacier Lodge.

3. Nova Scotia Flew to Boston and got a comfortable rental car for the drive up to Portland Maine and took the ferry over to Yarmouth Nova Scotia.  With the help of the Canadian Embassy we have planned out 5 overnight stays on the drive along the northern coast, stopping on our trip at the Bay of Fundy to eat scallops and to visit the scenic Peggy’s Cove, ending up at Halifax.

4. Charlottesville VA area.  Make Charlottesville your base and take in the area with day trips to homes of three presidents, Jefferson, Monroe and Madison.  Not to be missed is a day trip through the Shenandoah National Park.  Allow 3 or 4  nights in Charlottesville but you could continue the trip down to Williamsburg and Jamestown for a longer trip.

Retirement Travel

So these are four of my best road trips.  For your retirement travel planning, maybe this will give you an idea for a trip of your own.  Enjoy!

For more good travel ideas, visit our Boomer Travel page.