Mitch K.
I am speaking with Jodee S. who is 86 years young, and is an expressive arts therapist regarding her journey and the aging process.
Mitch K.
Hi Jodee, I wanted to ask you what your thoughts are, as far as aging successfully and affecting the quality of life as we age. Maybe you can talk about some of the lifestyle choices that you’ve been doing throughout your lifetime…
Jodee S.
Yeah, I would love to, but I guess the number one thing for me has been that like, a lot of people as they age, have thought about it like “oh my God I’m getting old.” You know I don’t go there; I just never have gone there.
Mitch K.
So, basically never let the old person in…ha-ha
Jodee S.
I have always gone with “I want to get better” which for me, I did inner emotional healing work in my past, so I always think about that, and I still do. I mean yeah, I may get sick, but I don’t say “oh my God I can’t believe I am 86,” yes, it is old. But I’m not, and so I know that has a lot to do with this. It’s how you think and how you feel about your body. I want to keep my body in good shape. I really honor it now and I want to keep it as strong and healthy as possible. So that’s always been my motivating factor, but I’m not like obsessive about it. I guess also, the other thing that I think I’m very tuned into is how I feel both physically and emotionally. So, my diet has been really good since I was probably 30 or 35 when I lived in Marin County California. My oldest son wanted to become a vegetarian at only nine years old. So, I started looking at nutrition and kind of looking at what that was and what that meant. Living in Marin County California at that time, there was so much information and access to natural foods. You know…whole foods and all that.
Mitch K.
So, when you started eating in that manner, what type of specific foods were you eating and was it just a balanced diet or was there more to it?
Jodee S.
No, it was more, but I think you would call it a Mediterranean diet. I eat organic things if I can, I don’t like to ingest pesticides and so I eat organic as much as I can. I eat a lot of vegetables, not too much fruit because I don’t handle sugar. I eat a lot of protein, a light protein like chicken, fish, and turkey. So that’s generally the way I eat. Also, some greens, I don’t eat a whole lot of carbohydrates; I don’t even eat pasta very much really. So, it’s simple, it’s a lot of vegetables and some fruit. I eat apples and sometimes grapes and stuff but not much.
Mitch K.
Do you consume any essential oils, for example, olive oil or avocado oil?
Jodee S.
Oh yeah, I cook with olive oil and eat regular butter. I understand that sourdough bread is better for you. I didn’t realize that until lately, I seem to have a gluten issue. So, I only eat sourdough, but I don’t eat very much bread. And oh, I read labels all the time because sugar seems to be in everything, and I try to avoid it. I know sugar isn’t good for you and so, I pretty much try not to ingest it, but I do eat some, not much though. Regarding reading labels, I want to make sure… I don’t buy and eat stuff before I know what’s in them. I don’t eat canned or packaged food very often. This is because there’s so many preservatives and all that junk. So, I pretty much eat great, clean food. Although I eat Cheetos from time to time…
Mitch K.
You gotta have some dietary vices. Maybe Cheetos are the key to longevity…ha-ha! You mentioned your main protein sources are chicken, turkey, and fish. Do you consume any dairy products at all?
Jodee S.
I eat yogurt. But sometimes when I drink black tea, I have some half-and-half in it. But I don’t drink very much tea; I just eat yogurt every day.
Mitch K.
Any eggs at all?
Jodee S.
I eat eggs, oh yeah! Sometimes I want an egg breakfast with blueberries. Usually one egg a day.
Mitch K.
So, it sounds like you consume a very clean, unprocessed, and well-balanced diet basically.
Jodee S.
Yes, exactly… that’s what I’ve been doing, and I’ve been doing it probably since I was 35 or 40, it’s been a long time. So, I think that’s a part of why I’m so healthy. Also, I’ve done a lot of emotional healing, which medical science has confirmed that stress of emotions can cause disease. My mother died early from lymphoma cancer. She was a very unhappy, fearful person. So yeah, I’ve also always been physically active. I was a runner, but I cannot run like I used to, so now, I just walk a lot. I’d love to play tennis again. I just haven’t gotten back into that.
Mitch K.
So, when it comes to physical activity, the main component right now is walking. Do you practice yoga at all?
Jodee S.
Well, I used to do the salutations every morning. It really helped my back and now I have a little bit of a lower back issue going on when I first wake up. And I would push-up in the cobra position, but I haven’t been able to do that since I broke my wrist, but I will get back into doing
some yoga because it’s helpful to keep your whole-body flexible. I’ll do things like sit down and stick my legs out, and then I’ll bend down so I can almost touch my head to my knees, kind of thing. But as far as doing yoga, where I must use my hand right now, I’m still healing that break in my wrist.
Mitch K.
Yeah, I know for sure. So basically, your physical activity has been walking but not really any strength training and mobility exercises. Would you say those are the two main activities: mobility and walking?
Jodee S.
Yes. I was riding my bike until I broke my wrist and now I’m afraid of falling off. I would like to get back on it again because I really like riding bikes. I think it’s really good for your legs and just all-over. It feels good and I like the freedom of it.
Mitch K.
That’s really good.
Jodee S.
But, I also dance. I forgot that dance, yeah and if I don’t do regular dance, I folk dance. I have spent a lot of time just doing freeform dancing, and sometimes I just turn on music and dance. I think it’s just a really good thing to do overall, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually, it’s fun. I like to spirit dance as well, it’s a very non-verbal kind of thing. It’s you all by yourself, tuning into your body and moving as the music moves you to do.
You
Oh interesting.
Jodee S.
Gabrielle Ross started it. She’s probably one of the first dance therapists. She started doing movement work and I worked with her in northern California for a bit. She has what she calls ‘5 Rhythms’ that you can move to, that has to do with different parts of your psyche. So, it’s a whole thing, and a lot of places are doing her form of dance. It’s been powerful for me. I taught it for a while. I call it ‘expressive movement’. I would have people move across the floor, like they were angry or sad or happy, or like they were in love. I’d have them move in different ways and have them move to different music. Sometimes, it would be very watery or sometimes, it would be like a fiery element.
Mitch K.
I love the progressive idea of incorporating an expressive dance into helping an older adult with their quality of life. Thank you, Jodee, for your insightful interview. We will discuss more aspects of successful aging with you, in further blogs.
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