Great Retirement Places

I’ve recently sought out a few articles about healthcare costs for retirees, and some of them are just plain scary. Stories abound of our senior citizens having to choose between food and medicine. I was shocked to learn that some two thirds of U.S. bankruptcies now are related to medical expenses. What is wrong with this picture? No other nation in the world has citizens going bankrupt because of medical expenses. Read more on my Medical Care Overseas page.

We all like to eat a healthy diet. Several years ago, I joined a national weight-loss plan and took off quite a few excess pounds. I learned how to make better food choices and how to cook healthier meals. We drastically reduced our consumption of red meat and began eating more chicken, turkey, and fish. Stir-fries became one of our favorite dishes.

Summertime is here and fresh vegetables abound! Zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and peppers are at our local farmer’s markets in abundance. My chef’s knife virtually flies through the fresh, crisp produce I pull from my fridge as I dice and chop the bounty for another meal. Yum, Stir-fry! Again! And again. And again.

OK, after awhile, even our favorites were getting boring. As I looked for new recipes, it seemed every new technique or recipe added more calories that we weren’t willing to accept. Roll in panko crumbs and sauté in butter? Huh-uh. Dip in egg batter and deep fry? Nope. Top with a slab of cheese? I don’t think so. Drown in hollandaise or a cream sauce? Not in this house!

About the time I thought we were destined to eat healthy but boring veggies for the rest of our lives, I dug through my cupboards in search of inspiration and I discovered sauces. Sauces! They had been sitting in the back of my pantry for years, so I figured it must be time to use them. I opened up a completely new world of flavors. I started reading recipes from other lands and found many of the secrets are in their spices and sauces.

Now our veggie stir-fries are spiced up with a variety of new flavors. I use Hoisin sauce and rice wine vinegar and sprinkle in diced peanuts. Or I add cumin and chili powder with a few crushed tortilla chips. Or teriyaki sauce, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts. Or curry powder with the other three C’s: cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom. Try a big dollop of spicy horseradish mustard or a healthy pour of Thai sweet chili sauce. Sweet and smoky BBQ sauce adds an entirely new dimension to vegetables.

So open up your cupboards, dig through the back of your fridge, and search your pantry with a flashlight to discover what’s hiding. Dig out those long-forgotten sauces and vinegars and start spicing up your veggies. There’s a lot of summer (and a lot of zucchini) left!

In retirement, sometimes we get stuck in the past and we are reluctant to change our ways. If you think salads are boring, you might have to retire from the iceberg-lettuce-and-tomato age. Today, nothing could be farther from reality. If you eat salad only when it’s the first course of a restaurant meal, you’re missing out on both great flavors and better health. 

First, open your imagination to the concept that anything you can serve on rice or wrap in a tortilla, you can also serve on a bed of greens. This was the number one idea that expanded my repertoire of salads. The taco salad is the perennial example of this, but you can go so much farther! How about a salad topped with a scoop of chili or a mixture of Asian vegetables? Our favorite is fajita salad: grilled onions and peppers with ground turkey and black beans topping mixed greens, served with salsa. 

The next step is to think about the greens that form the foundation of the salad. Iceberg lettuce is inexpensive, but it’s also boring and nearly bereft of any nutrition. Instead, use romaine or butter lettuce as a base, and then add deep green spinach, kale, peppery arugula, escarole, or any of the varieties now available. Try including diced celery leaves, which add bright color. Mixed baby greens are wonderful, with the advantage of requiring little or no chopping. 

The next consideration should be the meat of the salad, literally. Of course, it’s not necessary to use meat, but it opens up a world of possibilities. You can use almost any leftover meat in a salad. Recently, we brought home a small part of a wonderful steak from a restaurant. The next night I weighed it, and it was just 2 ounces. Hmmm. I sliced it super thin and tossed it into a salad. Yum! Chicken is wonderful, and shrimp or crab makes a salad special. But think beyond these more common ingredients to other possibilities. A salmon fillet on the side? How about some tiny bits of leftover barbeque? Wow, that would spice up a salad! 

Step number four in the super salad lineup is veggies, and number five is fruits. My salads always have diced celery (zero calories and nice crunch) and green pepper, and usually shredded carrot, as well. After that, anything goes. Add a variety of fruits or veggies. Try zucchini, tomato, corn, and onion. Think of a chicken salad with halved grapes and pineapple tidbits. How about chopped oranges, diced apples, and dried cranberries? Is your mouth watering yet? Or go Greek with red onion, black olives, and cucumber. An Asian salad could include water chestnuts, bean or alfalfa sprouts, mandarin oranges, and bamboo shoots. 

Add-in number six covers beans, nuts, and cheese. Black or pinto beans are common in my salads, as are nuts. Both of these categories add vital protein to a salad. I use sliced or slivered almonds, chopped pecans or walnuts, whole pine nuts or sunflower seeds, or chopped peanuts. Sprinkle the top of your salad with shredded cheddar or crumbled feta or blue cheese for eye appeal and added zing. 

The crowning touch to your salads, and step number seven, is the dressing. Stores today must carry 100 or more varieties, so there is no reason to get stuck in the rut of drowning your salad in boring white ranch dressing. Instead, try spritzing lightly with a Greek or Asian variety, a raspberry vinaigrette, or a tangy onion dressing. Or spice up a bottled dressing with a new ingredient. Add a few drops of garlic juice, a squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of curry or chili powder, or any herb you like, from basil to rosemary. It will taste like a totally new dressing. Better yet, make your own dressing. Vinaigrette is so easy, so versatile, and so healthy! Start with olive oil and any vinegar. Beyond red wine vinegar, think balsamic, rice wine vinegar, tarragon vinegar, champagne vinegar, or any of the dozen or more varieties you find on the shelf. 

Following these seven steps will introduce you to a new world of salads. Now that warm weather is here, take advantage of the glorious variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to make great salads all summer. Ramp up your healthy retirement with the extra nutrition, bright colors, and seasonal splendor of super salads.

OK, I know it’s a strange title. In a previous life, long before retirement, I was a florist. I’m certain that influenced what I am about to relate.

Because we are retired and we have shopped for groceries for decades, I’m sure we have all, at one time or another, bought a bunch of celery and had it go limp before we could use it all. The same is true of romaine or other head-type lettuce, not to mention asparagus. Well, once upon a time, I decided I wasn’t going to throw out the celery. (Imagine! Me, the queen of retire on the cheap, not wanting to toss perfectly good food.) I decided celery is a plant, and plants draw water, so why wouldn’t celery draw water, as well? So I cut the end (about an inch or a bit more) off the entire stalk, filled a tall plastic pitcher with about four or five inches of water, and plopped the celery down into it. I stuck it back in the fridge and forgot about it.

Lo and behold, when I opened the refrigerator about four hours later, the celery was good as new! I was amazed! The stalks were all firm and crisp, and all were standing up straight. I felt like Superwoman. Ever since then, that is the way I treat celery from day one, and it lasts for weeks.

We have all seen asparagus displayed in grocery stores standing straight up in beds of ice. This is a similar principle, although it works much better if the stalks are in water. Treat them the same way as celery. Cut about an inch off the end of the bunch and place it in a narrow container of water. I find a 4-cup measuring cup works quite well. The asparagus will stay fresh for several days like this.

I had never had to try this technique on lettuce until a few days ago. I bought a head of romaine, and because the produce drawer was full, I laid it on a shelf in the open fridge. Oops. By the next morning, it had gone completely limp. Come on, this was a brand new head of lettuce! So, I cut the end off it and stuck it in a narrow bowl of water (I used my small mixer bowl). By mid-afternoon, the romaine had completely recovered and looked just beautiful. It looked like a giant green rose!

I guess I should explain the title of the article. When my husband came home on the evening of the first celery revival, he opened the refrigerator and commented on my “celery farm.” That’s what we’ve called it ever since—the celery farm.

So don’t throw out any more tired celery, exhausted asparagus, or limp lettuce. Start your own celery farm and reap the savings!

Copyright 2010, Linda Manley

Remember the good old days, when you could start the day with bacon and eggs, toast, and orange juice? Or sometimes you could have pancakes and sausage, french toast, or waffles? For most of us, those days are gone. In retirement, we don’t do the hard physical labor every day that we used to do when we were younger. As a result, we can no longer afford the calories and fat packed into a breakfast like that. Our breakfasts are now lighter and more sensible fare, such as whole grain cereal with fresh fruit.

But if you’re like me, you still miss some of your favorite foods. We solved that dilemma by having breakfast for dinner. At dinnertime, we can afford to eat a few more calories than we can at breakfast. We also have more time to spend preparing such a feast. We all need to think of such a heavy meal as a feast in our healthy retirement, and we must remember that we shouldn’t eat like this very often. Many breakfast meats are nutritional nightmares, containing little more than fat and salt. Bacon and sausage should be eaten sparingly, if at all.

But some of the other dishes have redeeming value, especially eggs. Eggs are excellent sources of riboflavin, phosphorus, and selenium and they contain vitamins A, D, and B-12. One egg contains only 70 calories, although it also contains cholesterol. In a balanced diet, there is room for the cholesterol of an egg: just don’t eat a dozen a week.

One of our favorite egg recipes is a vegetable frittata or omelet. Chop up most any veggies you like—onions, peppers, olives, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, or most anything—and sauté them in a skillet with a little oil. Then stir the eggs. Cook until nearly done, top with feta or shredded cheddar, and pop the skillet under the broiler for just a minute or two. Yum! Serve with a couple slices of whole wheat toast and you have a delicious dinner that goes together in a flash.

We find pancakes, waffles, and french toast are especially appealing when weather is chilly, whether in the winter or on a cool and rainy summer evening. Experiment with waffle or pancake batter that is more nutritious than what you remember. Use whole wheat or buckwheat flour, or add pumpkin, cranberries, or other fruit to the batter. For french toast, use a whole grain bread.

Perhaps the least nutritious part of a pancake is what you put on top of it. Loading it with butter and drowning it in maple syrup (or what passes for syrup these days) turns a nutritious base into a soggy nightmare of sugar. Instead, try topping it with homemade cinnamon applesauce or fresh berries with a dollop of whipped topping. Slice an orange into wedges and serve alongside.

Now that we are retired, we don’t need to give up some of our favorite memories. You can rearrange your favorite breakfast meals and turn them into dinners. End your breakfast-for-dinner with a decadent cup of hazelnut or vanilla flavored decaf, and you have a meal to remember.

Copyright 2010, Linda Manley

As we enjoy our retirement, we want to remain healthy and active for many years. To do that, we need to eat right, exercise, and be certain we get enough vitamins and minerals. Sounds like what your teachers used to tell you in school, right—vitamins and minerals? The unfortunate truth is that as we age, our bodies become less efficient at both absorbing and producing the vital nutrients that keep us healthy and help our bodies to function at optimal levels. To compound matters, a slowing metabolism reduces our need for calories as we age, even if we stay active. We must make extra sure we eat the best foods we can and take supplements when it makes sense.

We might begin with how we prepare our foods. Most of us have always observed good habits in the kitchen: cleaning our counters, cutting boards, and implements well. The difference now is that many more germs and viruses are around than in the past. The cute little e-mails that circulate and talk about our simpler lives as we were growing up tend to ignore the global connections that are so common today. Our food comes from different continents and passes through dozens of handlers before we eat it. It has picked up germs and microbes that we never dreamed of in our hometowns. As a result, washing fruits and vegetables well and sanitizing cutting boards and other surfaces is important—really.

With that under control, we can turn to the best foods to eat to ensure we get a wholesome supply of nutrients. Think simple and think natural. Loading up your diet with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is the key to maintaining a healthy diet and healthy body. At least two thirds of your diet should be composed of fruits and vegetables, with the remaining third divided among fish and poultry, whole grains, and sweet treats. Brightly colored vegetables and fruits pack extra doses of vitamins, so envision a crayon box of colors.

Deep green leafy vegetables like broccoli, kale, spinach, arugula, and parsley are full of vitamin A and folate. Bright orange and yellow produce includes oranges, squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and corn. Bright red tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, pomegranates, and red bell peppers are loaded with vitamins A and C. Deep blue and purple signal the berry super heroes, including blueberries, blackberries, and purple grapes. These colorful fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals, as well as vitamins and minerals. Phytochemicals encompass a group of nutrients that may help our bodies avoid some of the diseases associated with aging, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and macular degeneration.

Conversely, try to avoid white foods. Bland color often equates with bland nutrition, as well. White rice, white potatoes, and white bread are common culprits. Although each of those foods contains some nutrients, better choices have better flavor and much more nutrition. Brown rice, sweet potatoes, and 100% whole wheat bread are easy, flavorful substitutions.

Vitamin B-12 has received increasing attention lately, especially with regard to our retiree age group. Research has shown that as many as a third of seniors can no longer absorb B-12 from foods such as eggs, meat, milk, and yogurt, so we must get it from enriched cereals or from a daily supplement. Vitamin B-12 is vital to maintaining healthy nerves and blood.

Calcium and vitamin D go hand-in-hand today when we talk about maintaining strong bones and avoiding osteoporosis. The two are linked because the body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium efficiently. Women, especially, should be concerned about getting enough of both. The most commonly known sources of calcium are probably dairy products (always choose low fat versions), which are also enriched with vitamin D. Mom always told you to drink your milk, right? But if you abandoned milk as you aged, or if you are lactose intolerant, you might not be getting the 1200 mg daily that we require as retirees. Calcium is also found in vitamin D-fortified products such as soy milk, almond milk, and orange juice. Other food sources include dark green leafy vegetables, canned salmon, and canned sardines.

Vitamin D is best absorbed from sunlight directly on your skin, as it rarely is present in food. A daily 20-minute walk with your face and arms exposed to the sun will provide enough Vitamin D, as well as help to keep you physically fit and in shape. Supplements of vitamin D may be a wise option, as most authorities today believe people need at least 1000 mg each day, rather than the lower recommendations of the past.

Staying alert, healthy, and active is important to all of us in our healthy retirement. Eating right, which means both eating the right foods in the right proportions and avoiding the foods that contribute little to your health, provides a solid foundation for a long and happy retirement.

Copyright 2010, Linda Manley

The older we get and the farther we get into retirement, the more we worry about illnesses such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases. If we still have our own teeth, and today more of us have them than ever, we should also worry about gum disease. Researchers have found links between gum disease and each of the other diseases above.

Estimates on the number of adults who have periodontal disease range from 1 in 10 to 50% or more, so we’re not certain how many suffer from the condition. It often involves redness, soreness, swelling, inflammation, and bleeding from the gums. More severe cases can infect the bones and cause tooth loss. Periodontal disease is the accumulation of bacteria called plaque in the gums. The bacteria release toxins that circulate through the entire body. No research has yet shown a cause-and-effect pattern, but the relationship is clearly present.

A study reported in the International Journal of Cardiology compared a group of patients who had a recent heart attack with a control group and found much worse oral health in the heart attack group. Results of a study in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology indicated a direct relationship between gum disease and atherosclerosis, which is hardening and thickening of the walls of the arteries. The more severe the case of gum disease, the harder and thicker the arterial walls. A major cardiac journal and a major periodontal journal simultaneously published a consensus paper, describing the inflammation link between the two diseases and asking both types of doctors to view the body as a whole, rather than as a group of unrelated parts.

A professional periodontist can perform deep cleaning and removal of bacteria from the gums and teeth. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that patients in an intensive gum disease treatment program not only had a healthier mouth, but also showed improved functioning of the blood vessels. In addition to regular dental checkups and cleaning, some foods might help prevent periodontal disease and inflammation.

Results published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that men who ate at least four servings of whole grains a day reduced their risk of periodontal disease by 23%. The body digests whole grains more slowly than it digests more refined grains. The slower digestion reduces spikes in blood sugar and inhibits the production of inflammatory proteins, thereby reducing inflammation.

Raisins, although sweet and sticky, contain antioxidants that attack certain bacteria that can cause inflammation and gum disease.

A Japanese study showed that men who drank a single cup of green tea each day significantly lowered their risk of contracting gum disease, and the more tea they drank, the lower was the risk of gum disease. The antioxidants in green tea were credited with interfering with the body’s inflammatory response to the disease-causing bacteria.

Even in retirement, we’re never too old to learn something new about how our bodies function. The link between gum disease and heart disease seems unlikely, but studies continue to reinforce the relationship. We owe it to our hearts to take care of our gums.

Copyright 2010, Linda Manley

Your Fruity Duty is to make it a point to eat fruit every day. Who doesn’t like fruit? Juicy peaches, crisp apples, bright yellow bananas–yum! Fruit not only tastes great, but it’s also good for your health, your digestion, and your waistline. Fruit is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Those are important at any age, but in our thrifty retirement, they gain increasing importance.

No matter how we try, the simple fact of aging tends to slow our metabolism, and without any change in diet or exercise, we will almost inevitably gain weight. Making fruit a larger part of your diet can help offset that. Fruit can become part of every course and every meal you prepare.

Fruit for breakfast might be easiest. Top your cereal, hot or cold, with fruit. If you’re having pancakes, waffles, or French toast, top it with berries or chunky applesauce. For those on the run, grab a banana or apple as you head out the door.

For the rest of the day, let’s start with fruit in salads. Yes, there’s the common fruit salad. We all used to open a can of fruit cocktail, add sliced bananas, and call it fruit salad. Of course, there are tons of options to that today. You can cut up virtually any combination of fruits and it will be delicious. That’s a great idea to take to a family dinner or a potluck, where gooey casseroles and fatty desserts often rule.

But fruit in salad doesn’t stop there. The mandarin chicken salad, popular for over 25 years already, is just the beginning of a wonderful world that has opened up lately. Try a basic mix of greens with a fresh orange and a fresh apple diced into it. Add toasted pecans and you have a delicious salad. Add diced chicken and you have a main course that is wonderfully healthy, as well as tasty.

Dried fruit, grapes, or fresh berries can be added to a number of salads. Think as simple as raisins or dried cranberries, to as exotic as dates or dried mango. All these work well with a bit of diced celery and bell pepper in tossed greens. Your thrifty retirement likes the cost of these juicy salad ingredients, too.

Fruit works surprisingly well when added to a main course. Cook a beef roast with prunes. Serve chopped apples and pecans over pork chops. Combine dried cranberries and apricots in a sauce to serve over salmon. Glaze chicken with orange juice and honey, and surround with slices of fresh orange.

One element of the Mediterranean diet that is often overlooked is fruit as dessert. Everybody knows about the red wine and olive oil parts, but fruit as dessert is a critical component. Let’s face it: most American diets don’t include grapes and brie as a last course. We choose cakes, cookies, brownies, and other sweets. A single serving of “death by chocolate” can destroy a week of careful eating. Instead, try fruit. Core and quarter a bright red apple and serve it with a tablespoon of caramel sauce, or serve a luscious pear with chocolate sauce. Add the tiniest dash of nutmeg for garnish.

An elegant dessert that is much simpler to prepare than it looks is chunks of fruit served in a martini glass. Cut up cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, bananas, kiwi, berries, peaches, or almost any fruit and pile it in a stemmed glass. Drizzle it with a tablespoon of rum, Grand Marnier, or Chambord, and your whole meal has new flair. It’s a show-stopper that will light up the table.

It seems that each week we read about a new super fruit: first, cranberries, pomegranate, and blueberries, followed by exotics like gogi berries, açai, and noni. Claims have been made that this fruit or that fruit can fight urinary infections, promote prostate health, prevent colds, retard coronary vascular disease, or stave off cancer. There seems to be promising evidence to support some of those claims. But until science shows us proof, what we know for sure is that fruit is full of fiber to help regularity and promote digestion, and loaded with vitamins and other compounds that are essential to good health. So do your Fruity Duty and eat fruit every day!

The word flexitarian is a combination of flexible and vegetarian, and it describes a person who eats a primarily plant-based diet, but who occasionally enjoys chicken, fish, or red meat. More of us in retirement should follow this eating style if we are interested in better health, lower weight, a longer life, and reduced chances of chronic and deadly diseases. Flexitarians live almost four years longer than non-vegetarians live, according to an article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The American Institute for Cancer Research estimates that eating a vegetarian diet could prevent a third of all cancers, certainly a concern for us as retired folks. So many clinical studies have found a connection between red meat and colorectal cancer that the fact is no longer disputed. A March issue of The New York Times headlined an article with “Eating Meat May Increase Risk of Early Death, Study Finds.” The NIH-AARP study it reported tracked over half a million older Americans just like us for five years. Those who ate the most red meat were almost 30% more likely to die during the study than those who ate the least red meat. The most common causes of death were cancer and heart disease.

The flexitarian lifestyle is easier to adopt than a strictly vegetarian diet. The nonprofit Vegetarian Resource Group estimates that only about 3% of Americans are true vegetarians. Although adherents would claim otherwise, a strictly vegetarian diet can be difficult to manage, and disciples must be ever vigilant, lest some animal product sneak into their food. Flexitarians are relieved from that concern and instead can concentrate on reducing the meat in their diet and increasing the proportions of beans, whole grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

This substitution is an easier process than you might think, even at our age. A good place to begin is to rid yourself of the idea that a piece of meat must be at the center of the plate at a meal. Although most of us were raised with this notion–and raised our families the same way–in our thrifty retirement, we can change our habits. Instead, when present at all, meat, fish, or poultry should be an ingredient in a veggie-rich dish, such as a salad or stir-fry. When you load a salad with nutritious and interesting ingredients such as dried fruits or berries, toasted nuts, chunks of vegetables such as zucchini, squash, or broccoli, and a variety of leafy greens, you have a spectacular dish. One great salad recipe includes a fresh apple and a fresh orange chopped up in it. Add low-fat, high-fiber crackers or flatbreads and you won’t even miss meat.

Favorite recipes can be adapted by substituting half the meat for an equal amount of beans. Think of chili with less meat and extra beans, or burritos with less chicken and more pinto beans, as well as brown rice. Spaghetti can be served with extra peppers, onions, and zucchini diced into the sauce, and less (or no) ground beef. Add shredded carrots or mashed garbanzo beans to meatball or meatloaf mixture.

Additional benefits of eating a flexitarian diet include lower weight, lower food costs, and lower contributions to climate change and global warming, a concern for our grandchildren’s future. Nutrition Reviews analyzed dozens of studies and found that people who eat a vegetarian style diet weigh about 15% less than do those who eat a more conventional American diet, which is higher in meat.

Once for ounce, meat is probably the most expensive food we purchase. Meat averages from a low of about 15 cents an ounce to as much as $1.00 per ounce or more. Compare that to beans, which can cost as little as 2 or 3 cents per once, or fresh veggies, which are around 5-20 cents per ounce.

Production of meat has a startling influence on climate change. The Archives of Internal Medicine cited a report from the United Nations, which stated that not only do live cattle produce more methane during digestion each year than all transportation combined, but U.S. livestock production generates a billion tons of manure annually, causing well over half of world emissions of nitrous oxide. In addition, U.S. livestock accounts for “55% of erosion, 37% of pesticides applied, and 50% of antibiotics consumed,” as well as “32% of nitrogen load and 33% of the phosphorous load into freshwater resources.” Additional impacts on global warming include production of the grain to feed animals raised for food and the fuel used to transport the meat first to processing plants and then to markets.

Reducing human contributions to climate change is critical if we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the same benefits of the planet that we have found. Losing weight, saving money, and improving your retirement health while doing those through flexitarian eating sounds like a win-win-win situation.