He's getting older, but also healthier

By JIM AYLWARD, Special to the Times
Published March 27, 2007

When I was in my 20s, living away from home and running on adrenaline and glazed doughnuts, I collapsed. Twice. Both times I woke up looking into the serious eyes of a doctor I didn't know, who asked, "Do you drink?"

The answer both times, was, "Yes. I like beer, but I'm not a drunk."

After a full exam each time, the doctors found I was suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion from working day and night.

Daytimes I was a disc jockey on radio. That was long before we called ourselves "personalities" and began to say provocative things on the air. Nighttimes I did record hops, at which I appeared live in front of screaming teens.

In between, I ate doughnuts, never touched salad or broccoli spears, and dragged myself around - a 24-year-old zombie.

The prescription each time was multivitamins and minerals twice a day for seven days, complete rest, eggnogs every afternoon, naps and reading mystery thrillers, preferably in a hammock.

In both instances it worked, and since those days I have faithfully been addicted to vitamins, minerals, hammocks, rest and anything written by Elmore Leonard.

Modern thinking

Recently I was telling this to the nurse in my specialist's office, just making conversation, and she said she didn't believe in vitamins, wouldn't take them, never did and was very happy with her life. She sounded the way most doctors used to sound, in the 1950s and '60s, when they seldom recommended vitamins.

One doctor told me that all vitamins would do for me is color my urine.

Today this attitude has changed a bit. Even the specialist I go to for rheumatoid arthritis prescribes vitamins such as folic acid.

I've long believed that it's quite difficult to get all the nutrition you need from just food and that taking vitamins and minerals as a precaution can't hurt. So I take a multivitamin with minerals daily.

My tests show I'm alive, walking and talking. Or as my primary doctor puts it: "You're good on paper!"

Prescription for health

I try to eat enough protein. Men are supposed to have 70 grams of protein a day. When you write it all down, bit by bit, you realize how much protein that is. It takes a lot of eggs and chicken and yogurt. Men who exercise can use even more, to build strength.

As far as rest is concerned, I've discovered I love naps. Well, if you're up at 6:30 a.m., you do stuff around the house, go out for the papers, shop a little, walk a little, wash dishes, weed under the Sago palm, water the flowers, put things back where they belong - by 12:30 p.m., you're ready for a little sleep. A half-hour of napping and I'm back into the swing again.

Most people who go to a job each day would love to have a nap around 1 o'clock, but they can't.

Reading thrillers and other stuff is a good idea, too. I'm convinced it's good for arthritis: It gets my mind off the little stuff. If the writing is really good, it makes me laugh out loud. I read Robert B. Parker, Walter Mosely, Lee Child, George Pelicanos, Laura Lipmann, Minette Walters and anybody who can sling words cleverly.

It's hard to believe that 51 years ago I did that collapsing. At 75, I'm still a believer in vitamins and minerals, eggnogs and naps, protein and funny mystery novels. And now, at 6-foot-4 and just 170 pounds, I can have a doughnut if I want to.

Which I do.

New Port Richey resident Jim Aylward was formerly a nationally syndicated columnist and radio host in New York City. Write him in care of LifeTimes, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.

[Last modified March 27, 2007, 07:27:07]