The Heritage of a man

Heritage - something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion.
 

 

We are taught that much of our health is built on our genetic predisposition.  Chances are, if your father died of a heart attack, so will you.  If your mother had diabetes, you probably will too.  I've heard this throughout my life and in measuring the health of my family, it was not a pretty picture.

My father died of a heart attack, despite taking daily medication, after being diagnosed with coronary heart disease.  My father also battled high blood pressure as long as I can remember.

My mother suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis as long as I can remember.  She experienced a brain aneurysm when I was 12 and nearly died, but recovered and went on to live a fairly long life in spite of her medical conditions.

My father died at the age of 72 and my mother died at the age of 89.

When I began to think of my mortality and my time remaining on this earth, I began to calculate what time I had left, and what I might be able to do with those remaining years.  At first glance, I thought that if I lived to be 72, and, according to the latest on Social Security benefits, retired with full benefits at the age of 70, I would have 2 years to enjoy my retirement.  That was a huge wake up call and I realized that I needed to retire immediately if I was going to have any chance of accomplishing the many adventures that I had planned.  After running out to purchase a lottery ticket (that, surprise, was not a winner) I decided I needed to start crunching some more numbers.  After realizing that I may not be able to retire before 70 (although it's still one of my goals), I began to think about living longer.

Well, my mom lived to be 89, perhaps I could live to the age of 89?  Could I outlive my father, even though I was predetermined to die of a heart attack?  Everything that I read, stated that with proper diet, exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight that I could reduce the likelihood of dying early.  Earlier than what?  So, I did some more research.  In 1989 (the year my father passed), the life expectancy for a male in the US was 71.70 years.  Wow, that didn't help.  Well, every generation is supposed to live longer than the generation before, right?  I used the following chart http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=195.  In 2042 (the year I would turn 80), the life expectancy in the US for males is 80.07.  OK, so that must be my sweet spot.  I WILL LIVE TO BE 80. 

Hmmm.  I still don't like that answer.  If 80 is the average, then HOW can I be ABOVE average?  That is the question that spurred many of the changes that I have made in the last couple of years.  In looking at the ages of my ancestors I thought that I may be able to find some more clues.  Perhaps my own family history would chart a better trajectory.  Fortunately for me, some of my ancestors on my father's side were Mormon and finding history was not too difficult on that side of the family.  On my mothers side, I have only found history dating to 1860s.  I will start by listing my maternal history by listing Name(Maiden), Birth Year, Death Year, Age, and cause of death when know.

Flora Blodgett (Irons), 1916, 2005, 89
     Lucien Irons, 1887, 1967, 80
          Ira Irons, 1863, 1948, 85
          Mary Irons (Rath), 1862, 1898, 36
     Eva Irons (Pressnall), 1888, 1961, 73
          Alonzo Pressnall, 1860, 1923, 63
          Anna Pressnall (Kivett), 1858, 1929, 71

This was fairly good news.  Each generation appears to live longer.  On my father's side I can go back 13 or 14 generations so I'm going to skip the females and focus on the males as I believe this to be most relevant.  I have reviewed the ages of my female ancestors on my fathers side and have not found anything alarming.

John Lester Blodgett, 1917, 1989, 72
     Charles Blodgett, 1872, 1958, 86
          Hiram Blodgett, 1825, 1906, 81
               Newman Blodgett, 1800, 1882, 82
                    Benjamin Blodgett, 1772, 1858, 86
                         Daniel Blodgett, 1739, 1776, 37, Died in prison - revolutionary war
                              Daniel Blodgett, 1710, 1793, 83
                                   Daniel Blodgett, 1684, 1762, 78
                                        Samuel Blodgett, 1658, 1743, 85
                                             Samuel Blodgett, 1633, 1720, 87, Born in England, came to America in 1635
                                                  Thomas Blodgett, 1605, 1642, 36
                                                       Robert Blodgett, 1578, 1617, 39
                                                            Robert Blowgatt, 1543, 1616, 73

If I take the last 10 generations and remove the one person that died as a prisoner of war, average their age of death, I get an age of 82.2.  If I remove my father and re-average, I get 83.5.  Slowly, the numbers are moving in my favor.  Of course, I could get hit by a bus while crossing the street tomorrow, and all this would be a moot point.  Overall, it does not appear that I am genetically predetermined to a shorter life, but I would've like to see a few of my ancestors topping a 100.

What I did learn is that my ancestors must've been fairly good stock to consistently live into their 80's in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s.  Why is it then, that my father passed at 72?  Not fair, I cry.  Something foul is afoot.  More research!!!

The Measure of a Man

How we choose to mearsure ourselves has a lot to do with the scale we choose to measure against.  As I began to approach my mid-life milestone I was set on a somewhat sedentary stroll into the future, accepting of the fate that was predestined for me.  Heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure were all traits in my family, and therefore a part of my future.  However, when I began to research my ancestory, another story began to unfold.  I will cover the details of this research in a future post, but just suffice it to say that most of my ancestors died of old age after living long and fruitful lives.

Every journey of change has a tipping point, or that moment of clarity that causes one to choose a new direction in life.  My tipping point occurred in late September of 2010.  I was newly single and decided to pursue a new relationship with the help of online dating.  It's a revealing process to document your worth in a marketing campaign to attract a new mate.  After a couple of dates, I realized that I was not attracting the type of gal I was hoping for.  After further evaluation, I knew it was time to make some changes.  I'm very comfortable with my moral/spiritual self and had no intentions of major changes in this area.  My financial situation has always been challenging for me and I dedicated myself to making changes in this area, but those changes will take time to produce fruit.  When I evaluated my physical appearance and overall health condition, this was the greatest area of opportunity that I could attack immediately. 

And attack it I did.  I was in the gym 5 or 6 days a week.  I started with 30 minutes on the Elliptical machine and worked up to 60 minutes over the course of a month or so.  Then I added 15 minutes on the Treadmill and dropped the Elliptical to 45 minutes.  In my final month I was doing 60 minutes on the Elliptical and 30 minutes on the Treadmill and/or weights.  Occassionally I would trade time on an Exercycle for the Treadmill.

I also changed my diet.  The first step was to record EVERY single item that went into my pie hole, 6 days a week.  I had read in Men's Health Magazine that a good strategy to adopt for success in weight loss was to allow your self one day a week that you could eat whatever you want.  Sunday was my splurge day.  For tracking my food intake I used the MyPlate tracking software at http://www.livestrong.com/.  I quickly realized that I was eating enough food to keep a small village alive.  Portion control was my new mantra.  At the time I began dieting I bought into the low-carb diets.  My daily routine was an egg white omelette (usually with spinach, zucchini, garlic, onion, etc), banana or celery with peanut butter for lunch, a chicken breast or salmon with some veggies for dinner, and a protein shake after the workout.  I usually had company over for dinner on Sunday evenings so I would cook a big meal (and send the leftovers home), have some pasta for lunch and some pancakes or waffles for breakfast.  After a few weeks of splurging on Sundays I began experimenting with healthier meals.

Needless to say, my online dating experience was not successful, but my attempt to win back the heart of my true love was.  I'm a very happy man and blessed in so many ways.  In September I was 265 lbs and sometime in January of 2011 I reached 220 lbs.  Today the scale reads 226 lbs.

When I re-introduced carbs into my diet I gained back some weight and got back up to just over 240 lbs before dropping back down to my current weight.  I'm not going to the gym anymore and I've been relying on walks and bike rides to meet my exercise requirements.  I've been planning to incorporate yoga and some basic exercises at home, but I'm struggling to find a routine.

Overall, I still do not measure up to the man I wish I had become by this time in my life, but I've always been a "glass half full" kind of guy.  I'm still hoping that the best years are ahead of me.

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying!

This photo was taken as part of the celebration of my 50th Birthday this year.  I've been processing this pivotal time of my life for the past couple of years and trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm most likely closer to the end of my life than the beginning.  Of course, when you say it like that, it makes you realize that it's time to "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying".  For those movie buffs, you may recognize this quote from "The Shawshank Redemption".  As a child growing up I was fortunate to have cable TV in the 70's and got an early start on way too much TV and movies, so many of my quotes will come from these sources.

Unfortunately, like many Americans I have spent more time unemployed in the last few years then I would've liked.  Having this extra time on my hands has provided my with an opportunity to read, think, study, research, and affect some change in my life.  This blog is about that change.

This photo also represents the last time I've eaten meat.  For many of my friends reading this blog, this may come as a bit of a shock.  While working in Texas in 1999 it was my goal to find the largest steak available and consume it (36 oz Porterhouse, and yes I did finish it).  This behaviour brought me to well over 280 lbs.  Part of my journey has included a significant weight loss (40 lbs in 4 months).  I'm currently under 230 lbs and working to establish a healthy weight around 200.  I'm 6' 4" and this should put me at about the right BMI and a reasonable percent of body fat.

My father died of a heart attack and my mother had diabetes most of her adult life.  Both parents suffered from high blood pressure.  As I began to review the medical history of my ancestors, the story actually got better.  I will discuss this in more detail in a blog specific to my family history.

As with any journey, it is often the first step that is most difficult.  Hopefully that is the case with my new blogventure and the future posts will roll with ease.