Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
Columbia Heights couple get their exercise, whether together or apart To next page ...
Health & Fitness
January 19, 2017
January Issue
Golf, pickle ball and eating well Crystal woman’s goal is to live to be 120 By Sue Webber Contributing writer Jill Pettit says she doesn’t exercise. But the Crystal resident plays pickle ball four times a week during the winter months. “I’ve been in two 18-hole golf leagues forever,” she said. “I walk. I don’t ride a cart.” And she’s been doing somatics, a yogalike workout, for four years. Her life was changed 23 years ago, Pettit said, when at the age of 56 she was introduced to Juice Plus. The capsules, which she now markets through a distributorship, are not supplements, she said, but contain 17 fruits and vegetables and two grains. “I would not miss a day of them,” she said, adding that all her cravings changed once she began the Juice Plus regimen. “I didn’t like avocados before, and now I make avocado chocolate pudding. I’ve changed a lot.” “I feel younger today than I did 30, 40 or 50 years ago,” Pettit said. She wasn’t always the careful eater that she is now. “I was a chocoholic and Pepsi person,” she said. “I used to eat glazed doughnuts. I’d have a candy bar and pop between the nine holes while I was playing golf.” Pettit believes that what you eat as a child affects you when you’re 60, 70 or 80. “I can’t stand to see what people feed their kids,” she said. Pettit hasn’t had sugar in the house for 15 years, and consumes no meat or dairy foods. “I do eat eggs, occasionally I do turkey, and I will eat dark chocolate, but it’s got to be a certain one,” she said. “I watch my labels. I make spaghetti with brown rice.” She was the caregiver for her mother for 15 years, prior to her death at the
Jill Pettit plays pickle ball four times a week during the winter months. (Submitted photo) age of 95. “She started Juice Plus before I did,” Pettit said. “She wasn’t on any drugs.” Each morning, Pettit begins the day with two glasses of water and Juice Plus capsules. Then she drinks a smoothie containing 15 items, including “a whole bunch of kale,” plus a variety of other ingredients, such as brewer’s yeast, ginger, cinnamon, green tea leaves, banana, pineapple, dark cherries and blueberries. Lunch might be a tuna salad with
grapeseed dressing. A typical dinner is brown rice with quinoa seeds, lettuce salad and raw sauerkraut. “I eat a lot of salads and tons of raisins, walnuts, tomatoes, cucumbers and broccoli,” Pettit said. “I made my own grapeseed-based dressing, with honey and mustard and lime or lemon. I eat a lot of sweet potatoes, sliced and baked, and squash, spinach, arugula and tomatoes. I’ve never swallowed coffee in my life, and I will never eat peas. I quit
drinking milk when I was 15; I hated it.” She doesn’t eat at restaurants very often. “I don’t like to,” Pettit said. She does make an exception for Papa Murphy’s pizza, she said. It’s got to be thin crust pizza with pineapple instead of onions, and black olives instead of cheese. Needless to say, she passes up the cookies during the holidays. “I haven’t seen a doctor in 16 years,” Pettit said. “I haven’t had any prescriptions since I was in my 20s, and only one or two in my lifetime. I don’t take aspirin or ibuprofen. I’m pain-free. I never sit down during the day. I go, go, go, go. I still mow the lawn and do my own shoveling.” While she was a stay-at-home mom to her son and daughter, Pettit said she coached girls softball, flag football and softball through the Crystal Park and Recreation Department for 15 years. Once her children were grown, she worked for a while as a part-time school bus driver for disabled children. She now has two granddaughters. A native of north Minneapolis, Pettit said, “I’ve never lived more than 20 miles from where I was born.” She’s lived in her Crystal home for 49 years. While she was growing up, her family added a family room and bathroom to their house, she said. “I shingled, did sheet rock and ceramic tile,” Pettit said. “I learned it from my father. There were eight of us, and we kept adding on to the house. I mixed cement with him.” She used to change the oil in her car and change the tires, though Pettit said her husband “made me close the garage door when I did it.” “I’d say I’m very, very healthy,” she said. “My goal is to live to be 120 in good health.”
Habitat 500 bike ride keeps Apple Valley man in shape By Sue Webber Contributing writer Randy Oppelt has found a unique way to keep busy and active. Oppelt, a resident of Apple Valley who retired eight years ago after 25 years as the Parks and Recreation and Public Works director in Burnsville, rides the Habitat 500. It is a seven-day, 500-mile bike ride fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, first started 25 years ago. “I wanted a challenge, and this sounded interesting to me,” said Oppelt, who will be participating in his 15th ride this year.
Getting started
He began by borrowing a recumbent bike, and then he bought his own recumbent, signed up for the Habitat ride, and started training by biking the nine miles
from his Apple Valley home to his job in Burnsville. “Biking to work was key,” Oppelt said. “I enjoyed it and it was a good way to start and end the day. I started biking at the end of March and continued until October, or until the bike cables started freezing. I’d get to work before 6 a.m. fully awake, and shower. Mentally and physically, it was a good thing to do.” Now retired, Oppelt bikes and jogs in the spring and early summer and jogs, walks and works out at a gym in the fall. He started the Habitat ride when he was 53 years old. “I was looking for some way to give back, to get involved, as well as some way to combat my body getting older and very out of shape,” Oppelt said. “So, I signed up for the ride and started biking to work to get in shape. Fifteen years later I am still at it. I have ridden both the trike and the two-wheel
recumbent on the ride.” The route, always in Minnesota, consists of a loop, Oppelt said. “Its starting and ending point are the same city,” he said. “Normally the route is totally within Minnesota, although occasionally the route will venture into western Wisconsin (the LaCrosse area) for a day or two.” The first and last days of the ride usually are short days of 50 to 60 miles (Sunday and the following Saturday),” he said. “Wednesday is our long day: a century ride of 100 miles. The other days are 70 to 85 miles.” On Wednesday, riders have the option of working on a Habitat for Humanity home instead of riding the 100 miles, Oppelt said. “Some older riders like myself really prefer and appreciate that,” he said. “The home we work on is called the Bike Home,” he said. “Some funds raised
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by the ride go toward paying for that home, usually around $30,000. Some years we are lucky and get to put up the wall on our build day. Other years when the house is already under construction, we do whatever is required at that time to move the house along.” During the ride, participants stay overnight at schools and sleep in the gym or camp outside on the grounds. Their breakfasts and dinners are usually provided by local churches. “We are provided rest stops every 15 to 20 miles,” Oppelt said. “Food and beverages are provided at these stops.”
Roadside Assistance
A nurse and massage therapist accompany the group. habitat - to page 3