My
SourcePoint | MySourcePoint.org
Set your own course to thrive after 55
COMMUNICATOR Vol. 26, No. 1
January/February 2018
The Weight-ing Game Looking to lose a few pounds in the new year? Age-specific advice can make your resolution realistic. Jeff Robinson, Editor, My Communicator Here we go again. As the calendar flips to yet another new year, we're busy thinking of all the ways we want to change and improve our lives. For many, particularly if the holidays involved festive parties and even more festive eating, weight loss can be near the top of the resolution list. But before you embark on an all-out exercise blitz or give the latest fad diet a try, make sure your weight loss plan is best for your age range. What is recommended for someone in their 50s likely isn't the same as what's recommended for an octogenarian. "As our bodies age, the food choices we make become more important than ever," said Trude Brinley, a clinical dietitian with nutrition services at Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware. "Reasons for this include decline in metabolism, decreased absorption, and increased health concerns. A person in their 50s most likely is very active with family and work. The majority of people in their 70s have raised families and are retired or planning to retire soon. Activity levels tend to decrease with these lifestyle changes." The Delaware General Health District (DGHD) promotes a healthy weight for all age groups through healthy diet and exercise choices. "To get to a healthier weight and stay there requires long-term lifestyle habit changes, most often not achieved with short-term popular diets," said Connie Codispoti, a public health dietitian at the DGHD. "Older adults as a group can be very different from each other because of the wide range in ages in that group; anywhere from 55 years on up to those 95-plus. Across that wide age range, nutritional needs, medical conditions, medications, and the ability to move and exercise can be very different." Codispoti said any individual weight loss plan, at any age, should be overseen by a medical expert. CONTINUED ON PAGE 19...
Find us at MySourcePoint.org and follow us on
January is National Mentoring Month Local programs offer a great way to share life experience with a younger generation.
Jeff Robinson, Editor The dictionary defines the word "mentor" as "a wise and trusted counselor or teacher." Why not plan to spend some of 2018 serving as a mentor to Delaware County youth? With January being National Mentoring Month, there's no better time to start, and two local programs will help connect you with students who will benefit from your counseling and teaching. SourcePoint offers a pen pal program that program coordinator Nona Daquila calls "a fantastic way for adults and fifth graders to make a connection through reading." "Each year the teacher for the program, Amber Bauer of Delaware City Schools, chooses a book that helps the pen pals connect through not only the reading, but also through sharing their disparate experiences to find common ground," Daquila said. "This year, our book is 'Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer,' by Kelly Jones. Each adult is paired with a student, and as they both read the book, the pen pals write four letters to each other." CONTINUED ON PAGE 21...