Now or Never: Long-Term Care Strategy is a podcast for all those seeking answers and solutions in the long-term care space. Too often we don’t fully understand the necessity of care until it’s too late. This podcast is designed to create solutions, start conversations and bring awareness to the industry that will inevitably impact all Americans.
If we want whole body muscle to be retained or grown, then we have to incorporate some type of whole body strength training into our lives. Because it is a use it or lose it phenomenon when it comes to muscle. We don't just keep it because we were a gymnast when we were in high school.
Welcome to Now or Never Long-Term Care Strategy with Kosta Yepifantsev a podcast for all those seeking answers and solutions in the long term care space. This podcast is designed to create resources, start conversations and bring awareness to the industry that will inevitably impact all Americans. Here's your host Kosta Yepifantsev..
Hey, y'all, this is Kosta and today I'm here with my guest, David Greenwald, certified wellness coach, author, professional member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and founder of leanness lifestyle University. Today, we're talking about fitness, aging, and what's missing. So David, before we get into the episode, will you tell our listeners a bit about your background and how you became a wellness coach and author?
You bet. Thanks so much for having me. It's a really pleasure to be here. So for whatever reason, fitness has been in my DNA since I was just a little little boy. Remember, in grade school, I wanted the President's physical fitness Council award, they have this award if he had to throw a baseball certain distance, broad jump a certain distance to do these things. I'm 1011 years old. And don't ask me why but I wanted that award. I thought it'd be so cool. And I and I did get it a couple of times. And I remember feeling so proud. I still have the patch. I still have the patch in the certificate from sixth grade or whatever it was, I went on and as a became a young adult, I got into bodybuilding and I did powerlifting throughout my 20s and 30s. And during that time, I was a police officer as well. I had owned a gym. But while I was an Illinois State Trooper, I graduated from the Academy. And within about a year I started this dietary supplement company, I don't sell any supplements now but I started the supplement company because I just out of a tiny little room in my house because I wanted to just make enough money to pay for my own protein powder. I just wanted to if I could just pay for my own protein powder, I was going to be happy with the prot you know that level of profit. And you know, as it turned out, there was no Internet back then or anything. I placed a little classified ads in the back of bodybuilding magazines, and they had a toll free number for them to call. So we were all mail order and, and I shipped it from my house, I'm packing stuff in my house and I had to have you know, UPS whoever come to the house, or I had to take it to the local. So anyway, over the course of about five or six years, I built that company into about 7 million in annual revenue and about 45 employees.
So it was a huge surprise to me.
I didn't have any business people in my life. I didn't have you know, I grew up very blue collar, a wonderful family, but no business acumen really, when that happens. So we had over 100,000 customers, and then the in the internet was coming in.
And so people knew that I had done bodybuilding and powerlifting they knew I had gotten very lean, I had also gotten quite heavy as a power lifter at one time I was 235 pounds. And on 510. And well, you know, I had you know, the thing about powerlifting he's got to get big, so you can be strong, you know, and I did that it's just that I probably didn't need that pound bag of m&ms as a pre workout. You know, so I got to 235 pounds. And finally I said that's enough. It's too heavy. Come on, David. That's your it's getting ridiculous now. And anyway, I leaned out did a bodybuilding show again.
So all this is going on. I'm an Illinois State Trooper, I'm running a supplement company, I've got 100,000 customers. And the internet comes in and we've got email, imagine that we've got email, something that you can, you know, have a two way conversation with people with and people were emailing me saying, Hey, Dave, how can I lose 30 pounds and keep it off?
How can I lose 50 pounds and keep it off? How can I whatever the whatever the case may be?
And I was trying to answer in an email. And I quickly learned that I was doing them a disservice by trying to put it on the back of a napkin or you know, a bumper sticker answer.
And so I wrote a book, almost 500 pages that addressed nutrition and exercise and emotional fitness. And I wanted all of that in there so that I could be as comprehensive as I could. The internet was really coming in. Now we had websites.
Wow, we have websites. And so I created a program online. And what happened was, I knew that I had more in me and I had such a passion for wanting to help people get from someplace unhealthy, unfit, overweight or whatever to the better, healthier place that they wanted to go to not that I wanted them to go to. It's their goal, what they wanted to do. I wanted to help them get there and do it in an evidence based way doing it a good way a way that they could share with their physician, their friends, their family and feel good About it proud of what they were doing, and be able to stand their ground on what they were doing instead of some gimmicky, you know, things, so many things are out there. And I just knew that I didn't. I just knew that on my headstone. When I finally pass, I didn't want it to say, his prices are really cheap, and he had really fast shipping.
Absolutely, I hear you.
I just wanted my legacy, I just knew that I had more than me to share. So that's why I wrote the book, I created the program. So I sold the supplement company. And I went all in on being a health coach focused on weight management, and then all around fitness. And I've been doing that online virtually since 1999.
So you've been doing it virtually. And when you say that the first thing that pops into my head is pandemic. And so I'm curious, what was the experience? Like because you had so much, you've been doing it for so many years already. So when the pandemic hits and everything goes virtual, what was that like for you?
Absolutely. So the actual, there was almost no transition for us, because we're just so used to it. I haven't met 99% of my clients in person.
I've maybe only 1%, right. But here's what was going on. Once a year, we have a rolling start.
So people can start with us anytime they want. They don't have to wait for a particular start. But once a year, we'll do a everybody starts together. And everybody finishes together kind of a larger cohort kind of thing. And we had about 150 people that had raised their hand and said, Yes, I want to do this. And this was in February of 2020. Okay, so right before, here we go, right. None of us knows what's coming. And here's in because this is always evolving and changing. And doing anything live anything video, like we're doing now even not, it really was pretty, pretty new to me. I hadn't gotten into that. And I promised the group I said, Listen, I'm not promising anything more than this. But I'll give you five Facebook Lives. Okay, we're going to do this thing to programs, 18 weeks, but I'm going to get I'm going to do five, I promise you five, because I don't want to, I don't want to over promise. So I'm going to promise you five, and then we'll see what happens.
And that's it. Well, so we start, and we were doing once a week. And here comes the pandemic
and you get six weeks in.
Yeah. And so we get Yeah, so we get like to that fifth week. And now we're all seeing it feeling it. The news is just 24/7 of we don't know what's going on, what is this thing? There's anxiety, there's nervousness, we don't know is what's you know, is it going to be gone by summer? What is this thing and you know, it's killing people. And they don't know what it is yet. And they don't have a vaccine. And you know, so there was all of this and I thought to myself 80 90% of what I do with my clients is in that emotional fitness space. Because, you know, I can teach people what they need to know about nutrition and about an hour, don't get me wrong, not all the nuanced and not all the super detailed, granular stuff. But at the macro level, I can teach you what you need to know about nutrition in about an hour, teach you what you need to know about exercise for health and fitness and longevity in about an hour. But the thing that keeps those two things consistent, crazy, busy, stressful days when life has other plans. A great part of that is the motional fitness leg of the stool. As I say there's three legs, there's at least three legs of the stool. And so because I spent so much time on emotional fitness, and because what was going on was so emotional fitness related anxiety, the stress and the fear of the unknown. And what what we can control what we cannot control. And I just thought to myself, There's no way I can stop doing these weekly lives.
And I'm going to turn them in fact into really really heavy and as useful as I can on emotional fitness. Like how do we reducing it? You know, how do we really feel that sense of control over the things that I do not enough? So I can't say long story short, because I've monologue here, but, but I will say this I promised five. I just finished my 150/4 in a row.
Congratulations, man. That is incredible. 154 weeks
154 Wednesdays in a row. I even I've even done it when I had COVID which was a few months back. Wow. And I look like death warmed over I did you know I don't make light of COVID at all. It's very serious. But I do say there's like you know Baskin Robbins 31 flavors of ice. There's 31 flavors of COVID and the 31 flavor you know the flavor I had was tiredness fever sore throat, but that was that was it fortunately, thankfully, I'm grateful that that's what it was for me and I don't in any way, shape or form make make light of of course all the variations that are in crazy serious.
So as you were developing this program and you You know, you focus a lot on emotional fitness, you obviously have other components with regards to nutrition and exercise. So, how do you approach people that are aging?
And what type of recommendations do you have for them, but what I'm most curious about is, as you've been doing this work, what are the greatest risk factors that we face physically, in our older elder years?
Well, it's, it's incredibly important that we do what we are able to what we're capable of what we can call our soul with regard to the nutritional and exercise components. Because, you know, as we get older, the risk of losing our independence goes up considerably. If we aren't, in at least good enough, health, good enough fitness, to be able to stay ambulatory, you know, and to be able to manage activities of daily living, you know, to be able to maintain that is so important for all of us, maintaining, you know, a reasonable level of cardio respiratory endurance, it doesn't, nobody needs to be an endurance athlete, of course, but you having a baseline of cardio, respiratory endurance, you know, aerobic capacity, having a baseline reasonable level of muscular strength and endurance. And then also, you know, being at a reasonably healthy weight, nobody, you don't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be that perfect body mass index, you know, but being at a reasonably healthy weight can help us to remain independent, but also to reduce the risk of falls, because that's one of the greatest factors that can accelerate a decline. And I'm just gonna say it and death, because the science is very strong in that area, that depending on age, you know, breaking the hip, breaking a bone, whatever, the process that often results after that can be quite detrimental to, you know, future independence, and even life.
And usually, it follows with institutionalization of some kind, whether it's a nursing home, or assisted living facility, people tend to lose their independence. And a lot of times, and we're going to talk a little bit about this later in the show, but a lot of times, I feel like those type of settings don't focus enough on emotional fitness on fitness in general, or nutrition for that matter. So we're going to talk about the about sarcopenia, and how it affects the body and why it's important to maintain muscle mass. But I am curious when you're talking, because I know most of your clientele are between the ages of like 40 and 55. Right? But when you're talking to them, Do you ever have conversations about, hey, you need to start incorporating this, whether it's an exercise routine, or this pattern of nutrition? Now, because if you don't do it now, and you don't make it into a habit, weight, Intel, if you wait too long, you're going to have negative health effects, and, you know, affecting those independents, what are those conversations like,
every single day? Okay, literally, with every single client. Yeah. And a lot of them are aware, that's, that's the thing, they come to me because they want change, they come to me because they want to improve in some way. And they're trying to figure out, you know, the best avenues to have it applied to them. So we're going to look at the individual, we're going to meet them where they are, first of all, I want to say that we do have my client ranges 18 to 85, my, my most common clients these days are probably 40 to 65, somewhere right in there. So with that being the case, it's for every single person, though, it's incredibly important that we are looking at an exercise program that does incorporate not only the cardio side of things, you know, which can be everything from walking to you name it running, whatever, but also the strength training component, because with sarcopenia, which your listeners may be aware of, but me sarcopenia is the quote unquote, natural age related decline of muscle. Yeah, say that again, I said, is it actually natural?
See, that's the thing I throw natural and quote in quotes, because it is if you don't counter it is if you don't do something, to counter this natural effect. However, a huge percentage of it can be minimized or mitigated with regular strength training. And I want to say this, too. A lot of people are confused on this.
They say God, I'm doing my strength training, I go off, I go out and I walk every day, Dave, in fact, I do hiking, you know, I, I walk up hills and I do things like that. So my strength training is good.
That's not strength training.
I'm not saying that it's not the Z Arrow, but we aren't going to maintain muscle with walking, and general hiking and things like that we're going to have to incorporate. If we want whole body muscle to be retained or grown, then we have to incorporate some type of whole body strength training into our lives. Because it is a use it or lose it phenomenon when it comes to muscle. We don't just keep it because we were a gymnast when we were in high school, right?
You know, I say that because I get clients that are just confused. And it's okay, look, I do what I do. I'm an expert in this area, that's fine. They do what they do. And I'm amazed by what people do for their profession. So when they come in, they may think, yeah, I played football in high school.
So I've got a lot of muscle, you're 60. You know, it's been 42 years, since you were in high school, that muscle is gone, unless, unless you've done something proactively to keep it.
Well. So let's talk about that conversation with a 60 year old client or a 70 year old client, you know, what are like easy and scalable ways to incorporate exercise routines, when say that client may be having issues with mobility and unable to work out independently?
Right, absolutely. So what I say is, there's always a way, and there's always a way to scale something to the, to the level that you can do it, you know, some people, you say, you know, let's, let's just mention an air squat. Okay, an air squat is just a bodyweight squat. Okay, where your feet stay flat on the ground. And the idea is to get the hip crease, to about the level of the top of the knee or just below it, that's a full air squat. Nice, okay, and then stand back up. Well, that's great. But if your knees or your hips, or some other mobility issue or some other injury from the past, or some other surgery you've had, or whatever, limits that range of motion, then we reduce the range of motion to the point where there's no pain, we Okay, let me say this, you know, you can have a little bit of muscle burn, that's that everybody says, you know, no pain, no gain. I'm okay, with a little bit of muscle burn, if we're doing a certain number of reps, you Oh, my muscles are burning a little bit, okay. And then we probably don't need to go too much further or further at all. But I don't want the wrong kind of pain. I don't want joint pain. I don't want the structural pain, you know? So we want to, you know, eliminate that. I don't want that at all?
Sure I don't. So maybe we'll squat to a chair, maybe we'll squat to something higher than a chair. Maybe we'll do something like that where we can. And again, just keeping it simple, just for the air squat, we're going to find a way where we can do some kind of movement in that way. And if we can't squat at all, okay, is there another lower body movement of some kind, where maybe someone has access to a full gym? Maybe they do. And if they do, maybe we can sit on a machine and do leg extensions, maybe we can do a leg press, there may be something else we can do. So I we find out from our members.
What do they have access to? I always say what toys do you have? You know, you know, whether it's a full gym, is that just your body? Do you have anything at home? Do you have access to a rec center. And so once we find out what toys they have implements, then we can help them figure out the best way to utilize that. And if there is just lower body other than walking, they just can't do really strength much at all with lower body because they don't have access or its limitations, injuries, pain, that kind of thing. Then we're going to focus on doing what we can, you know, it's all about, you know, focusing on what we can do. So we're going to focus on the upper body
is that because the emotional health the emotional wellness that comes with exercise, whether you're just able to work on your upper body as opposed to your lower body, it may not be a full body workout, but the fact that you're going to get that emotional well being you feel like is so important.
Yeah, it's it's really, you know, multifaceted.
Yes. Yeah. I say to my clients all the time, you know, is it to the extent that you're able to exercise is fantastic for all of the caloric burn benefits and all of the fitness benefits related to exercise itself with regard to again you know, cardio respiratory, muscular strength and endurance, that's great. And and the energy expenditure, the calories burned and all that with regard to weight management and all that. That's fantastic.
But I say that's secondary to the mental health, emotional health. benefits that we get from exercising anxiety reduction, depression reduction.
Exercise has been found, I'm not saying across the board, but exercise has been found to be as effective or more effective than many drugs that are used to treat anxiety and depression so forth. And then, you know, what's it do for just kind of mental clarity? What's it do? If you if you are able to sweat a little bit? Okay, get the movement in? What's that do to your cognitive ability, it increases it, what's it do to clarity it increases it? What's it do to help maintain the drive to want to then eat well, you know, compared to feeling down or low and set, you know, a little depressed or having the anxiety that kind of ramps up those urges and cravings, to be, you know, turn to comfort foods, so to speak?
Absolutely.
And I think a lot of people, they think that anxiety and depression is a, you know, like a young person's problem, you know, like, Oh, if you're, you know, what do you got to be depressed about if you're over 65, and you're retired, right, but it's actually a significant issue. And you touched on cognitive improvements, mental clarity. And you know, Alzheimer's and Dementia is a significant issue in our country, it affects an large swathes of the American population. And there's been studies that have proven that regular exercise reduces the plaque that's built up in your brain that causes those types of disabilities. So, you know, I just wanted to kind of tie those two things together. I am curious, do you what do you how do you feel about water aerobics, because I know that that's a very popular exercise for people that are, that are aging, is that something that you recommend? And it's considered to be efficient and effective.
I love the fact that it's moving, I love the fact that it's going to be kind of a total body movement. It because one of the things I love about water, when it comes to people that maybe have limitations, or who are quite heavy, is water just kind of makes it a some more of a level playing field, you know, what is, even if someone is, you know, 300 pounds on five, five, once you get into water, oh, it just changes everything. And it makes everything much more doable. So I love it for that.
Now, I'm not just saying it's for heavy people, not I mean, it's for anyone with respect to does it significantly impact fitness as measured by standard fitness parameters, I would say it's going to depending on where you started, right? So if you have, if you're very deconditioned, and you haven't done much, you know, or anything, you know, for quite some time, you're going to see a significant improvement with it at a certain point it like so many things, it's going to kind of level out. And it's probably not going to be a movement that raises fitness to a high level.
Okay, but it could, but I can see it impacting very much. So in a positive way, fitness overall, especially for those that Well, here's the thing. You know, some answers are what exercise should should we do? A lot of times the answer is the one you will do. Right? So if if it's enjoyable, and a lot of times with water aerobics, as you know, it's community, it's connection. And what's the benefit of that? If there's a tremendous benefit in that, and you feel that, yeah, right. If you feel that community, you feel that connection, and it's something you look forward to and you say, I am gonna go do that. I am just applauding, I'm like, it's great. Now, just me because I know, I know the impact, the positive impact of real strength training. If we can get some of that in there.
You know, then I'm going to want some of that if we can, because I know how prevalent sarcopenia is, and I'm going to say water aerobics is not likely to prevent fully the loss.
It's, it's like a step one, you know, it's like hey, especially with mobility issues, and limited range of motion, like if you have those things and you need to start to sort of get more flexible, and hopefully get to a point to where you can strength train. I think starting with water aerobics is important and maybe incorporating some physical therapy in there as well. Sure. Excuse me. I'm so sorry. What do you believe is the biggest misconception of about aging and fitness.
I think that there's a misconception that it only goes downhill from here.
You know, from whatever point it is, you know, it's funny, you know, being late 50s where I am, you know, I see people in their 30s, who think they have, they're over the hump now, you know, and you go, you know, it's, you know, come on, you're, I think of it, you know, and I got kids that age, like, you're just a baby, still, you know, you are so young. But what, regardless of when it is, there's a, there's a conception made, especially, I guess, maybe more at 40, or whatever, like, it's just kind of all downhill from here, that absolutely is not the case. There are people who don't start till they're 5060 65, they don't start, they never really did much fitness, you know, and they don't start till then. And their fitness can improve. So I would say the biggest misconception is, these paradigms are self imposed limitations, where you know, I won't be able to get to any kind of level of good fitness, I won't be able to get any kind of appreciable new muscle on my body, not true, I won't be able to improve my aerobic capacity to be able to bear with me, maybe fast walk a 5k, or run a 5k, or whatever, I'll never be able to do that. Because I'm starting at 60, or I'm starting at 50. And it's all downhill from here, and I'm too old. Not true, not true, not true. No matter where you are, what age you are, especially if you haven't done much. The the ability to improve is tremendous. Yes, I would be just so hopeful. You know, I love it when you know, a 77 year old comes to me and they are wherever they are they are, they typically aren't elite athletes, you know, that's not my clientele. My clientele is the everyday person who is trying to get in better health, better shape, you know, control their weight, feel better, that kind of thing. I love working with people of all ages. And I especially love people that are, you know, in that age range, because they're so when they do it, they're so surprised at what they were able to do.
Absolutely.
So, Dave, is it more important to maintain nutritional balance?
or physical fitness? And can we survive with one or the other?
Can you survive with one or the I mean, at some level? Obviously, we need both.
Right. But it's going to be a huge continuum, as far as you know, where people are on that, with regard to health span, which is basically how good we feel and what we're able to do while we're alive, compared to lifespan, which is how long we live. nutrition and exercise are greatly going to impact both.
But they're they're I would say, I don't know, exactly the research doesn't really know either. But I would say that in my head as I'm just speaking this right now. I would say that how we feel what we're able to do. And in all those healthspan related things are so greatly impacted by both the nutrition and exercise component. You know, there's a saying that goes again, over simplify, there's a saying that goes, abs are made in the kitchen. Yep. All right.
And it and fitness is made in the gym. So that's not entirely true. That is an oversimplification. But with regard to weight management, we need both the nutrition is going to be the more important component, typically speaking with regard to weight management, but it's a chicken in the egg in a circular thing.
Because if we're exercising, we're mentally feeling better.
We are again, sharper, we have less anxiety, less depressed depressive things. And we feel more motivated to want to do the nutrition and if we're doing things nutritionally we have more
meta tree.
Yeah, yeah,
we do to one of them, you know, do the exercise instead of feeling so sluggish and down, which could be just nutritionally related.
Well, you know, and Dave, you know, these things, right? And you're talking to people and teaching people all the time like, hey, this, these two components are so important, and they tied to your mental health. And I want to take this into what we see a lot in the aging population, with specifically with people that go into nursing homes, and they typically go into nursing homes because or assisted living facilities because they've suffered some type of significant injury, or their chronic illness has gotten to a point to where it's just unmanageable by themselves or their loved ones. So when I go into nursing homes, and I see the end Vironment and I see people kind of laying in their bed and, you know, sitting in their wheelchairs, and I don't see the, the mantra that you're talking about, which is like, you know, exercise and good nutrition, will lead to better outcomes for your overall mental health will make you happier.
And there is an epidemic within the nursing home industry of depression is obviously caused by a forms of isolation and other things. Why do you think that we don't put enough emphasis on those environments, when you yourself know how important they are?
I get emotional at it even hearing the way you describe it, because I know it's true. Yeah. And, and I mean, that I really do, it breaks my heart, that this is what is happening in these facilities.
It's a resource issue. It's a, it's a money issue, you know, it's a
society,
a society of priorities issue. And it just breaks my heart, that it should not be, in my opinion, that a whatever age it is, the person is that they should have to live without an ability to, even if we at that level, we just say, move with intention. You know, we don't we're not talking about this super structured exercise.
And, you know, I'm not talking about going intense here, just be able to move with intention to move for well being to move in ways that you just feel better, because you're doing things and and then nutritionally, you're, you're being served in a way that we know positively impacts all the things you and I are talking about here reduces inflammation, the joint pain, you know, cognitive function, as we're talking about metabolic health, all the things that reduce, you know, cardiovascular disease, and the risk of cancer, and just all of those non communicable disease issues, diabetes, and all these things. Really just, it just breaks my heart that that we don't, and when I see, probably, you're, you're much more, you know, obviously involved, you know, in, in this community, I see, they come to me, they're not in a facility, right, you're still you know, so it just breaks my heart to hear it I so wish, we as a society, gave it a higher priority and put the focus on it so that no person should it should have to feel that and live that. It just is wrong, just shouldn't be.
And I'll tell you, we started this show are around providing education about the long term care industry. And it's slowly starting to pivot into asking the why question over and over again, because it doesn't make sense. And I'll tell you, you know, you're talking to people who are trying to incorporate these disciplines into their life, because they're trying to keep from having to go to an institution of some sort of facilities. And so I think the the overarching message of this episode is physical exercise, any physical exercise, but preferably strength training will give us the tools to prevent things like sarcopenia, which affects between 11 and 50% of adults over the age of 80.
And I know that's a wide range, but still, that's typical.
That's technically one in 10. So it's safe to say, you know, two in 10 adults, but secondary to that, the nutrition component.
And we could go down a rabbit hole of reasons why people that are over the age of 65 may not have access to proper nutrition, but the nutritional component, I think, is just as important. And we obviously want that mental health and well being to be a priority. So
absolutely.
And, you know, I can't stress enough that if a listener is able to control what they're buying what they're eating, you know, they have total control over that still. I can't stress enough how important it is that people discern and know the difference between real food and ultra processed food. All food is not food. I don't even care Whole Ultra processed food food.
Expand on that. Yeah. So
there's this kind of notion out there, that all things in moderation we've all heard that. Sure. You know, a problem with that is I say in this, hopefully this will be clear in a moment. All things in moderation, including moderation. And so, generally speaking, I get it living in moderation in our world. I get it. Don't overdo. Don't under you know, okay, moderation. But when it comes to nutrition, people don't they just hear that message. And here we are in the United States. With the adult population sitting at 43%, obese, yeah, in 1970, we were 15% obese, and we're supposed to be 50% obese by 2030. Right, we are losing this battle. And part of that reason, nothing's a single thing. But part of that reason is the messaging from top down, has been incredibly ineffective, grossly ineffective. And a part of that messaging has been all things in moderation. What people don't realize is, they're lumping all food into a pile called food. I don't and it needs to be separated. So real food versus Ultra process. Here's my definition that I've extrapolated from other research. I didn't invent this but it this is my extrapolation, from research on the subject of real discerning real food from ultra processed real food, whole or minimally processed, edible parts of plant and animal that if anything's been added to it, are things only found commonly found in kitchens? Okay, so let's eat so hit you know, take it take it away. What, what, what strikes you about that?
What What's you want me to say it again? Are you you? You got it?
No, no, I mean, I so real food is essentially like soured fruit, steak, hamburger. I mean, you know, doesn't obviously have to be those cliche, you know, healthy things. Right. But it needs to be real food. And I'm assuming when you when, when you describe Ultra processed foods, I immediately think of like, Chips Ahoy cookies. Yeah, sure.
Lay's potato chips. Absolutely.
Yeah. And, you know, it's, it's interesting, because when I go, you know, I've got four kids that are all in school. When I go to their school, they they're already being conditioned for chicken nuggets. And which I know, granted that has chicken in it. Yeah. Yes, exactly.
Right. Does it go you know, is it doesn't, it doesn't look like chicken. But, you know, but you know, they're already getting conditioned for hay, there's, you know, it's chicken nuggets and potato chips, or french fries, or pizza. And it just, it's, it's strange, because when you go to, like, places like Germany, or expensive private schools in the United States, like they serve like actual meals at lunch, you know what I'm saying? Right? So, so, we always like to end the show with a call to action. What's your best advice for aging clients, their loved ones or caregivers to prioritize physical health and nutrition,
it is not too late to begin improve whatever direction you are, if you are, if you if you're, you're, it's not so much about where you're standing, it really is the direction you're facing. So as long as you're wanting to improve, whether you haven't done or you or you have done it, you can improve. So you know, at the most very basic level, you know, the most get started level, I'm going to see where they're at. And I'm going to suggest that they move more toward eating more real food.
Good, okay, that they understand the difference between real food processed, ultra processed, and so they know how to move more toward real food, we're gonna talk about I'm going to teach them the benefits of doing so.
So it's not just some moral, ethical thing. It's not about that, you know, No, there's nothing to in me about that at all. You're not a better person for doing it. I just want you to improve all of the areas of healthspan and lifespan, you know, for doing so you get what you want is in that we all want.
So move more toward real food.
And then I want to find out what you there may be things you can't do and I want to know that but I want to know, we're going to figure out together what you can do physically. And then we want to start where you are there. And either continue if you've got something really good go When are we want to start literally to put one foot in front of the other if possible, and, and start really small. The last thing I want to do is, is give someone a plan that either creates incredible soreness, or that is discouraging, because it's just crazy ice. You know, because the icy work I, you know, I'm in my late 50s, but I've been in fitness for 40 years, and I see workouts, where I'm like, That's ridiculous. You know, yeah, someone's gonna get hurt doing that. So we want to make sure that safety is always the first thing, making sure that it is progressive, and with intention, and meets that person where they are. But I'd like to get you moving in some way that is aerobic capacity oriented.
And I'm talking about breathing super hard, necessarily, but just something that's more aerobic. And I definitely want you to do something really small but consistent that strength oriented in this can be five minutes of something. So I'm really talking small or some since I even at one of the things that as I've gotten older, I I used to think when I was in my 30s that people that are still out in you know, free living society, once they hit their 60s, they had nothing but free time. Nothing but free, you know, you have all the time in the world, you know, it's it, it's done, you've got it. And now that I'm where I'm at, and my clients are often in their 60s, and whatever, they're still incredibly busy, maybe not as busy as you are right now, kids at home and all that stuff. And that's to be acknowledged, but they still got stuff going on.
So I want to be able to, you know, meet them where they are.
And we still have potentially not if they're retired, and there truly are, that we've got more time to play with. But I want to meet them where they are with time. So we're going to move toward real food, we're going to start to move purposefully, you know, with the aerobic side being taken care of, and with that all important sarcopenia muscle retention side being addressed, because we've got to acknowledge that you're not going to keep that muscle just because you're moving. And then I want to see how you know, if those things, those basic things, for whatever reason don't seem to be done consistently. Even if they are we're gonna keep working to help our clients become better life managers, through that emotional fitness component. So we want to continue to support their growth on the inside. And for me, no matter how old I get, now, I feel even more so that I just want to continue growing and learning. And I want to continue just becoming better able to, you know, manage all that life continually puts in front of us.
And so we help, we want to help them with that as well. Because, again, something I may have thought in my 30s I do not think now, which is like, again, once you're in your 60s and 70s and 80s, there's no stress, you know, it's just going to be it's easy going. And, you know, it's all about stuff, you're like they you know, they, they just they're going to have it all figured out. Like I thought when I was 18, my, my, you know, my 38 year old parents had it all figured out, you know, we we change as you know, as as we grow older, and hopefully wiser.
So anyway, I'm just saying that, yep, nutrition, start small exercise movement start small.
And then I want to help them work on that emotional fitness side as needed. You know, it's not a one size fits all. And that's kind of, I guess, my party message here is that we have to meet people where they are, it's not a one size fits all. And we have to look at all of this kind of comprehensively instead of coming at this with just this or just that. Because that's, that's part of what's gotten us where we are, is a society. And I don't know, I'm, I'm a positive person. And I'm hopeful that in time, the paradigm can shift on priority for what you were talking about earlier, because it just shouldn't be. And I want to do everything I can for the people that are still not there to do everything I can to help them not have to go there.
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Now or Never Long-Term Care Strategy with Kosta Yepifantsev.
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Today’s episode was written and produced by Morgan Franklin.
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