We looked at each other and began to laugh. What in the world has happened to us? It doesn't seem very long ago that our conversations centered on girls and sports. Now they are about the state of our health and medical procedures. We are getting older - not yet old, but older. And that's how it begins - we are hit with the realization that the aging process is affecting us. We have turned into our fathers. Oh, no!

When our bodies are young, we can get away with poor eating, exercise and sleeping habits. A back or neck strain usually goes away in a few days, and we are as good as new. As we approach our 30's, we often feel pretty good but may have added some weight to our frames. We may not worry too much about that, as we are sure that, just as we always have before, we can lose the extra five or ten pounds in a couple of weeks. But life can get in the way of eating correctly and exercising, and we give up and live with the extra weight. As we get into our 40's, we might experience knee pain or some other minor pain that normally would have resolved in a few weeks all on its own. A month later, we are surprised to realize that the pain is still there.

What's going on with our bodies? We are aging, or, as I like to say, ripening like a fine wine. As we get older, we lose the ability to recuperate as quickly as we did when we were younger. This change to our health occurs on a cellular or physiological level. The cost of not taking care of our health as we age can be monetary in the form of more visits to the doctor and other health facilities, medicines, and lost days of work. But the highest cost is in the loss of our most precious gift, time - time to do what we want to do and to live life as we want to live it.

So what can we do to thwart this aging process? We must change our lifestyle. We must consider the way we eat, sleep, exercise, and manage stress. But where do we begin?

We must begin with life sustenance - nutrition. Food is our fuel. Let's say you own a luxury vehicle. Your owner's manual specifies premium gasoline, but you always buy the cheapest gasoline available. Your car begins to have problems. You saved money initially, but now it will cost you more to repair the vehicle than it would have if you had taken care of it properly to begin with. Of course, if the car completely breaks down due to your poor maintenance, you can just get a new car. But if we continue to fuel our bodies with poor nutrition and we break down, we can't just get a new body.

Unlike a car, we have many, many choices when it comes to fuel. Our diet is an important factor of the aging process. It gives us our energy and it determines our weight. Everyone is looking for the "miracle diet." So what diet is best? There isn't any "best" diet!

Many of my patients have lost weight on whatever fad diet was popular that month. And many of my patients have gained their weight back in the same month. Most people find it difficult to maintain a "diet." What are the first three letters in "diet"? That's right - "die." I have always felt like I was dying when I was dieting. I read most of the diet books so I can answer my patients' questions. In doing so, I sometimes even learn something new, but more often than not the books leave me as confused as my patients. Individually, each diet book seems to make sense and hold merit. But the diets are often contradictory. One diet advises eating only protein, one carbohydrates, one bacon, one never any bacon, one eggs, one no eggs, one eggs only if you don't have an inflammatory condition, etc., etc. It's all very confusing and overwhelming. My patients say, "I give up. I'll just eat air." Then I have to remind them that the air quality is poor…

Fortunately, the diet books do agree on some points. In order to lose weight, we need to curb our calorie intake at each meal and throughout the day. That doesn't mean we need to go hungry; we must make wise choices to limit the number of calories we consume.

Other recommendations most diet books agree upon are
- No partially hydrogenated foods
- No high fructose corn syrup
- Naturally grown and organic foods
- Decreased white sugar consumption
- Decreased white flour consumption
- Decreased starches
- More green vegetables
- Water throughout the day
- No salt and fat-laden foods.

We should avoid boxed and canned foods, as they are usually laden with chemicals and sodium (salt). We need to be aware that the latest fad diet's name on the box doesn't necessarily make it healthy. When fat or sugar is reduced, those ingredients have to be replaced with chemicals to add a taste of sweetness, chemicals to hold the food product together, and/or increased sodium for preservation.

We should carefully read the ingredients in any food we are considering eating. A good rule to follow: If you can't pronounce or spell the name of an ingredient in the food you are about to eat, don't eat it!

It is important to learn about the glycemic index. The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on blood glucose (sugar) levels after eating. Low glycemic count carbohydrates are good, as they cause only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels. We should avoid foods with high glycemic count.

I also recommend that my patients eat every one-and-a-half to two hours throughout the day. If our stomach "growls," we have waited too long to eat. We are more likely to consume more than we need when we finally do sit down to eat. Our blood sugar levels will soar and then "crash," making us feel very tired. It is better to eat at regular intervals throughout the day, keeping sugars level and metabolism strong.

Modifying our diet in these ways is a lifestyle change. It is best to make the change slowly and in small increments. A little change at a time is much less likely to cause feelings of resentment and hopelessness, which can lead to giving up on the idea.

In addition to better nutrition, our lifestyles need to include proper amounts of sleep, sufficient and appropriate exercise, and management tools to handle stress. Changing our lifestyles to include all these aspects will slow the aging process, contribute to a longer life with less disease and pain, and maybe even make it take a little longer for us to turn into our fathers or mothers.

"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything." Arabic proverb