Diet anyone?

What an unpopular question, especially at this time of year. But then again, we’re just a few weeks from New Year’s resolution time and I thought I’d give some heads up time to anyone who may want to join me come Jan. 1.

What a scary thought to publicly commit myself to a diet. In all my 73 years, I can’t remember ever having been on a diet, but I believe now’s the time and knowing myself, I believe a public commitment is the only way I’ll force myself to stick to it. Talk about transparency. I hope I don’t regret this!

Why now? Because my clothes don’t fit! And buying new ones that do is not the right way to fix this problem. But I’m not ready to sacrifice all the wonderful foods that typically grace the table at this time of year. For example, last week we held our annual Visiting Angels Caregiver Awards Banquet. If you want to see pictures of the happiest, most beautiful caregivers ever, go to www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon. I’m glad I didn’t start this last week! I thought I’d plan ahead and maybe, just maybe, encourage some of you who are in the same boat to come along with me on this healthy adventure.

It’s not going to be a little splash on the pan. I thought I needed to lose about 15 pounds but after getting on the scale this morning, it’s closer to 20 pounds. So in my case at least, I’m looking at three to four months to get back into trim. My plan is to give you a weekly progress report in this column.

Why do it at all other than getting clothes to fit better? Because I know the health benefits are enormous: heart health, diabetes prevention, muscular/skeleton health and besides that, my wife will like me a lot better. I know she loves me just the way I am, but I also know she’ll like me a lot better if I don’t have to use a shoe horn to get dressed. Another benefit is that as I’ve talked with her about this idea, she’s thinking about joining me and I know that will make it so much easier if we’re in this together.

So what diet are we planning on? I don’t know yet. I’ve just started to do some research. I want it to be a senior friendly diet, so that’s the direction I’m looking. I started with the NCOA (National Council on Aging) website, www.ncoa.org. I’ve already found some interesting things. There are actually financial benefits available to low-income seniors who are interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you’re interested in checking this out, go to www.benefitscheckup.org.

If any of you have been successfully down this road before or are interested in joining my wife and me on this adventure, I’d love to hear from you with your ideas. Just send me an email at william.mercylink@gmail.com.

I’m looking forward to a new, slimmer and healthier me, wife and you for 2017. Hope you’ll join us!

In the meantime, thanks for reading All About Seniors. See you next week!

Bill Milby is a certified senior advisor and a director of Visiting Angels of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column, you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon.

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