life after 50

Fight Osteoporosis With…The Push-Up

Posted on 05/1/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Personal HealthMay is National Osteoporosis Awareness Month and I’m on a mission to get everyone focused on how to prevent this potentially debilitating, even deadly, disease. Half of all women, and one in four men, will break a bone due to osteoporosis. The risk of breaking bones — a major health and quality of life issue as we age — is on the rise. Approximately 9 million adults in the U.S. have osteoporosis, but more than 48 million have low bone mass (indicated by T-scores between -1.0 and …

7 Essentials for Living Your Best Life After 50

Posted on 04/17/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeWe’re all aging. And this much I’ve figured out: the challenge isn’t how to stop it, it’s how to do it. When I turned 50 a few years ago, it became unnervingly clear that changes had to be made. Post-menopausal pounds were creeping on, my blood pressure and cholesterol levels were rising, I wasn’t moving my body enough and as a result, my energy was waning. All of this was making me feel invisible, old and ready to give up …

Plastic Surgery On Your Mind? Before You Do That… Do This

Posted on 04/11/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Beauty & Fashion | Personal HealthRecently, I went to a lecture about women, aging and self-esteem. It was disconcerting. The lecturer, a therapist in her mid-50s, deals frequently with women who are unhappy with how they look, and who feel unprepared for the changes that they are seeing as they get older. The lecturer acknowledged that women in their 50s (and over) are in a “beauty bind.” In the past, women (like our grandmothers) aged together. The playing field was level. Very few of them …

The Fat After 50 You Really Need to Fear (and How to Get Rid of It)

Posted on 04/4/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeThere’s a kind of fat that can creep up on us as we age that is so awful, even its name sounds sneaky and mean. Visceral fat. What is visceral fat, you ask? It’s fat you can’t see. It’s fat that weaves itself around your heart and other internal organs. It’s really evil, and you don’t want it in your body. We all have subcutaneous fat, which is the noticeable layer of fat that lies just below the skin. Visceral …

Losing Weight After 50: Is “Intermittent Eating” Right For You?

Posted on 03/28/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeI don’t believe in dieting. I do believe in eating well: lots of dark, leafy greens (kale is my favorite!); small amounts of red meat; as little of the “white stuff” (sugar, white potatoes, white rice) as possible; nuts (especially calcium-rich almonds); legumes; and huge amounts of water and green tea (with some coffee in the morning and a little heart-healthy red wine in the evening thrown in for good measure!). What has this way of eating done for me? …

6 Ways Turning 56 Was Far Different than 50

Posted on 03/21/2013 by Barbara Hannah Grufferman | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeA few months ago I turned 56. To commemorate and celebrate, I ran 5.6 miles around Central Park. It felt good knowing I could run that distance and still be fit enough to join my husband and daughters at a birthday dinner downtown a few hours later. That’s a sea change from when I turned 50. Then –what now seems like a lifetime ago — running two miles would have been out of the question. I was out-of-shape and stuck …