Article: "Why I Hope to Die at 75"... food for thought

(Bacon for the Win) #15

I think the author uses 75 just as an arbitrary age. I get what he’s saying. As an RN, watching people struggle with end of life issues, prolonging the inevitable with treatment which just prolongs sickness, I wish more people had his mindset. We’re not going to live forever. Something is eventually going to take us down. Just how miserable do you want to be at the end of life? Most people have no idea what “end of life” looks like but let me tell you, when we are treating people for illnesses and diseases from which they absolutely will not recover, it is awful. Familes insist we “do everything” with no idea of what that entails, the misery their loved one will go through.

I’m not saying let’s play God and decide who lives and dies. I’m saying let nature take it’s course. Man made interventions often do more harm than good. So while at 75 some people may still be vibrant and healthy, I think the author uses it as an arbitrary number to call attention to how poorly we as a society handle end of life concerns.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #16

Nelle,

I hear you. I don’t want to drag it on and on and on. I think more people need to hear from people like you long before decisions are needed to be made.

(Janelle) #17

I’ve been thinking about this as other people respond. As I watch the stock market wipe out some of my gains in my 401k retirement account, I’m thinking about how many can’t afford to retire until at least 65 and maybe 67.

Now, barring something else health wise/accident or whatever happening, I did not work my whole life to have a whole 8 years to enjoy the things I have not had time for while working.

I’m an atheist so none of that stuff (that stuff being worried about what happens after) concerns me but I’m selfish. I want some time for me. I hope I get that.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #18

I hope you get that as well!

(Robert C) #19

I would sure like to see the follow-up interview at 74 years 364 days old.
(I think the level of commitment might waver.)

(Omar) #20

exactly

what I understood is that there will be age when our life quality becomes very low and the question what is our plan before we get there?

(Robert C) #21

The “quality of life” aspect of this post has a Merriam-Webster entry (I know we are not mice but the last sentence is interesting”:

Definition of health span

: the length of time in one’s life during which an individual is in reasonably good health

A revolutionary increase in life span has already occurred. A corresponding increase in health span, the maintenance of full function as nearly as possible to the end of life, should be the next gerontological goal.— John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn

Several genetic studies in mice suggest that the elimination of senescent cells from the organism leads to extension of the mouse’s health span and lifespan.— Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

(Brian) #22

You made me go look up “senescent”.

The idea quoted sounds a lot like autophagy.

(Robert C) #23

Yes - from all that I read on the internet and all that I hear on various podcasts - it seems like a given for good health is a periodic (quarterly or semi-annually) 5-day or more water and electrolytes only autophagy focused fast.

Of course, that won’t reverse the ravages of a standard American diet but, if you are keto, paleo etc. and consuming only whole (unprocessed) foods - it will really (my opinion) amp up your overall health game (longevity wise).

(Betsy) #24

This man is 95, thought he was going to die yesterday, but wants to live because he has so much left that he wants to do.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #25

That is what I’m hoping for. Still not fasting longer than 23 hrs but that is about to change.

(Robert C) #26

Ideas from another post for longer fasts:

(Jane) #27

Of course he will be long retired and never have to answer that question.

My personal definition of “old age” always increases with each decade I mange to attain!!!

:laughing:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #28

When my Nana turned 90, I asked her what age she’d pick, if she could. I was thinking probably 30 or so, but after a moment of thought, Nana said, "You know, 60 wasn’t so bad . . . " :grin:

I’m 62, now, and quite looking forward to 90!

(Mindy) #29

For me it is about the quality of not only my own health, but the health of this planet. Technology, capitalism and overpopulation is making our planet uninhabitable. My grandmother lived to be 99 and with her genes and Keto I could possibly live that long…but I don’t want to see everything around me look like a war zone. :frowning:

(Brian) #30

Kinda depends on where you are. People tend to clump together. Out away from the cities is a different world than in them. The part of the world matters. Being in a rural part of the US that isn’t growing much doesn’t make me think it’s going to turn into a war zone anytime soon.

(Jane) #31

So true, which is why I moved to rural Arkansas to retire (in a few years) instead of in Houston where I grew up.

Out here, people are self-sufficient and most have enough food and canned goods and gardens to feed themselves for months w/o a grocery store.

OTOH, in Houston when a hurricane strikes and deliveries can’t be made to grocery stores for even a few days… the shelves are stripped. Most folks have no idea what it would be like to live in a city dependent upon restaurants and every-other-day trips to the grocery if suddenly they weren’t available. They would run out of food in days or weeks - not months - and it would get ugly quick.

(Brian) #32

Janie, I hear ya!

My wife and I are Hurricane Katrina survivors. The eye went right over our house. The house stood but about 2 feet of standing water made quite a mess. Fixed it up and sold. Lived in an RV for a few years trying to find a home and finally settled in the hills between Knoxville and Nashville, at least for now.

Having that in our history really has given us more of a mindfulness of at least some self-sufficiency. Would like to keep improving that. Looking to grow more keto friendly stuff than I used to before keto. Used to grow lots of corn and beans and potatoes years ago but now that we don’t eat much of the starchy stuff, it’s changed the perspective of the garden some.

Hoping we’ll be able to add some chickens this coming year, not sure how much more. Tossing around the idea of a few goats but that would definitely require some substantial fencing.

Guess it’s a work in progress. :slightly_smiling_face:

#33

I have felt pretty rough for much of the last year. Health issues not related to lack of exercise or keto. Let’s call it a mini perfect storm of bad luck that started age 21. I am now 51.

Do I think I stand a good chance of sliding into my 90s on a sled of keto and exercise? Nope. I think (quite realistically) that I will probably not make it that far. By a long way. Lots of factors. Some hereditary. Some pure chance. Keto helps, hugely, but it just slows things down. It doesn’t reverse. I’m now carnivore in an attempt to kick it up a gear. But that is a gamble. Don’t know if it will pay off. No one does.

I do have concerns about a long, slow debilitating decline.
My father has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers, so there is that too.

The only certainty is that there is absolutely no way of knowing how I will feel in years to come, if/when that decline hits. Parts of this last year have been horrible. But that doesn’t mean that the Exit ever looked inviting.

(Jane) #34

You sound like you are on the same plan as me LOL!

We are getting chickens next year and will be a new experience for both of us. My husband is retired but I have to travel constantly for my job since there are no good engineering jobs here (knew that when we decided to build our house, so a choice). Dairy goats are definitely in my future but a few things have to happen first A) we need a barn B) we need fencing and C) I MUST be retired since my husband will not be milking goats every day!

Our garden plans have also changed since keto. I’ll still plant a few potatoes because home grown ones are so delicious, but not as many. We didn’t eat half what we harvested this year before they sprouted and went soft because of keto.

My heart goes out to you as a Katrina survivor! My company did a community outreach project when we found out busloads were being brought in and set up in the Astrodome in Houston. We bought toiletries and snacks and put together I don’t know how many care packages and distributed to the refugees. We went down there and handed them out ourselves as they got off the buses. Those poor folks were shell-shocked and we thought it would be nice to see a smiling, caring face and be handed something useful.

I lived in Galveston County so always under the threat of a storm and carried THREE insurance policies on my house. Regular insurance if it burned down, windstorm on the roof (yes a separate policy, the bastards) and I also carried FEMA flood insurance for peace of mind.

My son, DIL, 2 grandsons and 2 dogs rent it from me so I still own it. When Harvey dropped 54" of rain I was so horrified I couldn’t even watch the news reports - made me ill with worry. My house did not flood but was on an island as everything 2 blocks away had 3-5 feet of water in them!

My husband and I and my youngest son hunkered down in the hallway of that house when hurricane Ike hit. The eye also went over and it was eerie quiet. I wish I had boarded up but we were in an interior hallway with all the doors closed. The backside was much worse. It sounded like my house was being sand-blasted. The next morning I looked out and my driveway was a green carpet - it had stripped all the leaves off the trees!

The debris and mess were unbelievable. But the tree that fell didn’t fall on the house and even missed my bee hive and only broke one window so we were blessed. We had these huge old live oaks - no telling how old they are - and we ended up with a lot of “widow makers” up in the branches. Limbs that were broken off but didn’t fall yet because they were stuck in the branches… but will at some point in the future. We couldn’t reach them and eventually they rotted and fell and thankfully not on anyone.