My Start

I started by looking for exercise routines for the elderly from the web. I used Google search and Wikipedia a lot. I spent time on body building web sites, their forums, podcasts, medical studies and any site related to my search on exercise for the elderly. My searches gave me a general knowledge, not only about exercises but health, too. As I got more educated after several months of research, it no longer became just exercises for the elderly but overall health for me and for everyone I cared about. Health of body, including the brain means proper nutrition and exercise. Health of mind means; controlling stress by strictly adhering to reason as a guide to action and not via negative emotions. Positive, benevolent contemplative emotional state of being is great. Being aware that mysteries abound in health matters as in life but in time the mind will be able to unlock them. Remember just like when the earth was perceived as flat and now really round. I had to learn some metabolism and a little basic bio-chemistry out of necessity for better understanding. I dug deeper until I was satisfied that I had reached with some certainty of the validity of my findings. There’s so much yet that are unknown in health of our body and mind, not to mention the misinformation out there that interpreting the truth is not easy. The lies, half truths and at times I think deliberately perpetrated is causing great harm to our health. What I have uncovered opened my eyes enough that I had to make drastic changes as to my health. I was slowly poisoning myself thinking it was for my health. At this point in my health study I was feeling so frustrated. We will all succumb to an ending and the process of that ending is being made harder and quicker thanks to the whole health industry, meaning big pharmaceuticals, national health agencies and government food agencies. Government, yes, political affiliations notwithstanding, Uncle Sam advising us on food, nutrition or health and it's not working. But, I must keep positive as stress is not a good thing. At least I found out now and maybe enough time to undo the damages that I had done to my health, thinking it was all good or at least not harmful. I no longer look at food nor exercise the same way. I had to change the way I eat and exercise out of necessity. I felt like belonging to a flock of sheep following blindly on supposedly the right way on being healthy but no longer. I am taking charge of my own health. I also decided to inform people, especially those that I care about of my discoveries that they too will benefit. I wanted to get the information out right away because in my mind it’s an urgent matter. When it comes to our health, we’re really alone if we want to get it right. We must not allow misinformation and outright deception in guiding us. Hoping to inspire relatives and friends to study and start implementing healthier means of living, asap! Information is out there for free; do not take my word for it. Thank goodness for the internet. It’s up to you to decipher the truth from fiction. By eating right, adding some proper bodily movement and using the mind as a tool of cognition towards action apart from always being too emotionally driven is the recipe for a happy, long vigorous healthy life and is possible to all of us to the very end.

Warning this is not mainstream. It’s concise and general on purpose because it would had been too technical and difficult to comprehend otherwise. The contents are direct and true from the studies done, using deductive logic and corroboration with others I've begun to trust. If you want more info on anything I’ve stated here do let me know as I’m only making you aware of the pertinent main points.  Let’s begin with proper nutrition because without it exercise is futile.

Sugars, starches or carbohydrate foods are bad. The human body can subsist healthily without eating carbohydrates. Other examples of carbohydrates; pasta, grain, bread, candy, soda, flour, pancakes, popsicles, pop-tarts, cereals, fruits (fresh and canned), even some vegetables are high in carbs like potatoes, peas, and corn. Carbohydrates are in almost all foods except meats and cheeses. Here’s a more complete list if you like to know and their gram count per serving, 
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list. If you can’t eliminate carbs at all , I know hard to do but at least minimize it to 2 digits in grams like 99 grams per day and you’ll be healthier. Within the body carb triggers the hormone glucose which is food for our cells that the hormone insulin enables, so why eliminate it? Because the proteins we eat could also be converted to glucose in the body which is the healthier process. The carb induced glucose/insulin fuel source for the body is OK, a low grade but inflammatory source of fuel long term. Healthy saturated fats should really be our primary food source. Yes, contrary to everything out there but it’s the preferred food for our brain and body. When the body runs out of glucose there’s the stored food, called glycogen that it starts to use then into fatty acids, making ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are the preferred food source for the cells of our body and brain. Talk about fat burning, the preferred way to be. Cycling from glucose to ketone bodies for cell food happens in a Paleo,(Paleolithic), low carb high fat, (LCHF), to no carb diets and is our genetic default state. If you want your body to run better use primarily healthy saturated fats as the upgraded, preferred fuel source about 60-75% the rest vegetables and little fruits of servings per day. More elaboration of the above from links I will provide for you in the end. Very low to no carbs, (Ketogenic Diet) will lead to ketosis and is the ideal state for us and very safe but for the few people that can’t produce insulin, type-I diabetics. Ketoacidosis may occur for these folks because the brain looks for glucose/insulin initially for the few adaptive days before running on primarily ketones and even type-II diabetics produce enough insulin. It took a while for me to understand the above summary that ketosis and it's ketones, (fatty acids), is the state that the cell's power plant called the mitochondria loves. Getting into ketosis is not difficult if health is a motivation as it was for me. One get's into ketosis by minimizing carbs to 20 grams or less per day, that's it. Again, glucose is OK but ill effects will manifest themselves later if not sooner in life. I suppose time is the final arbiter but I can't afford to gamble my health away especially when clear evidence is available.  

For the white rice eaters remember a cup of cooked rice has 45 grams of carb so be careful. White rice is a little milder than most grains but moderation is in order here.

A special mention to coconut oil because I keep hearing wonderful things about it. It is one of the best sources of saturated fats there is and the fats are the medium chained triglycerides, (MCT), which is easily converted to ketones by the liver for cell consumption. Ketones are the clean high octane fuel source our cells love. OK, I biohacked, I have been taking about 2 table spoons per day along with grass fed butter with my coffee and the results have been very positive. Before I eat anything in the morning I have it with my coffee and I do not feel hungry till late afternoons. There were times that I fasted till dinner because I just wasn't hungry and felt strong and more alert. I'm upping the quantity to 3 table spoons and see how my mind/body functions. It's a mild laxative for some, so minimize some till the adaptive process sets in. Coconut oil is great as a sunscreen, too, my choice. It has been known to have cured dementia, alzheimer, autism, type-II diabetes and many others though I must say here that I didn't find any scientific studies out there for validation. It makes sense though because when one becomes brain insulin resistant, no glucose food, like in dementia folks, why not feed the brain ketones?

My quote, “An avocado a day beats an apple any-day“, (AAADBAAA).  Another source of healthy saturated fats.

Grass fed beef, lamb is to a point of extinction, the very source of a healthy paleo fuel source. Butter from grass fed cows is a must have healthy saturated fat food source. Today and forever grains are food for these animals because farmers are subsidized and are tied in with the usual governmental agencies and  their cronies, big pharma and big business. Highly genetically modified corn and soy extensively are animal foods of today because of the profit margin. These grains produce bigger animals but a very poor quality of meat and dairy products. Other uses of these grains are oils and high fructose corn syrup, (HFCS). They’re everywhere and they’re bad.

Now the exercise part but again, get the nutritional aspect going first before exercising. I’ll try not to get too technical but some information is needed in order to understand some matters like our muscle fibers. It is generally accepted that muscle fiber types can be broken down into two main types: slow twitch (Type I) muscle fibers and fast twitch (Type II) muscle fibers. Fast twitch fibers can be further categorized into Type IIa and Type IIb fibers. The fast twitch muscle fibers (Type IIb) for most adults aren’t used. They’re atrophying or especially the elderly have perhaps atrophied all together, hence their lack of balance or overall weakness. The human body has about an even distribution of slow and fast twitch muscle fibers so the elderly is using only about half of their muscle groups. Little emphasis on exercising the fast twitch fibers for anyone really exception Teri of course and also body builders or the elite athletes. The fast twitch fiber is the anaerobic group, which does not use oxygen to function unlike the slow twitch muscle fibers that use oxygen, (aerobic). One could do an aerobic exercise all day long and will not touch the fast twitch muscle fibers. It’s a major problem in this aerobic crazed world. “Cardio” as an aerobic exercise as it's sometimes called is a fallacy. I went on looking for a way to revive the atrophied fast twitch muscle fibers for the elderly and almost lost hope. To revive the fast twitch muscle fibers one must do resistance training involving at least 65-80% of one’s repeat maximum weight. That’s not feasible for the already weakened elderly. Then I ran into KAATSU, a Japanese blood flow restriction method and from their published studies show a lot of promise in accessing the fast twitch fibers with little effort. I got fascinated but ran into roadblocks as the patent is held by Japan and no market here in the US. Getting the Kaatsu equipment is not easy as it involves training. I wrote to them and I was told that an E-learning course will be made available soon and then one could purchase the equipment for use. That’s the extent of that so proceeded to search more on how to best exercise a persons fast twitch fibers. Here’s where I found a Doug McGuff, learned about the fallacy of cardio, (aerobic), exercise. He wrote a book called, Body by Science. I learned of very slow resistance training and the way to have a recuperative time frame after a proper exercise routine. According to Dr.McGuff aerobic exercise doesn’t access the fast twitch muscle fibers. Aerobic exercise only uses the slow twitch muscle fibers. McGuff’s point is to do a very slow resistance training for 12-20 mins of exercise once a week only and it is comparable to doing an aerobic training for an hr and a half without the strain of injury or getting hungry. The elderly of course will do exercises to their limits very slowly until the feeling of fatigue sets in, lactic acid release then hold for 2-3 seconds more, and stop. His book, Body by Science, and web site has all the details. I was somewhat relieved at this point,  ah a stress reliever,  in finding out that the elderly could indeed salvage those dormant fast twitch fibers and improve tremendously in strength. It's a good way to exercise for all, I think. I believed McGuff  when he said that one could never exercise oneself out of a bad diet.

My main recommendations are as follows;

Eat paleo style just like our hunter-gatherer ancestors did for millions of years. Our genome type was developed in such a world. About 60% healthy fats and split the remaining difference on animal proteins, vegetables and a little fruit. Avoid sugars, starches, processed foods, milk, cheese, soy and grains.
Intermittent fasting is healthy and comes naturally in ketosis. I take my healthy coffee in the morning and wait till I get hungry and it's usually 6-8 hrs later but sometimes not till about 10-12 hrs later and that's the fasting that I do. It happens about twice a week.
Most are deficient but take and try balancing your vitamin “D”. 20 mins of sun a day, no sunscreen please, will suffice on major skin surfaces plus supplements .
Salt is not bad as generally accepted and believed especially mineral loaded sea salts or those mined.  
Do slow short resistance exercises to a point of fatiguing up to 2-3 secs, the major muscle groups then stopping right away for a total of 12-20 mins and rest for a week or so. High intensity interval training, (HIT), if you prefer is OK provided there's little jarring movement as in running on hard surfaces and with adequate rest.
Reduce stress as much as possible, be more positive, massage therapy, spiritual meditation, listen to a favorite singer/music, epsom salt baths, own a dog, barefoot walk on grass or the beach, benevolence and so on and on balances the stress hormone cortisol.

Links;

Introduction to paleo, Mr. physique, Art De Vany
One of my favorite sites and a bright, biohacker, learned all I ever needed on the benefits of coffee, please be a member, check out and download the best color coded infographic diet chart in the web, Dave Asprey
He has wine and chocolates, The Primal Blueprint beast, Mark Sisson
Currently going through Ketosis, running on ketones as a fuel source for the body, Jimmy Moore
A triathlete on ketosis, hope he does well at the Ironman, Hawaii,  Ben Greenfield
A 2010 video to young men, all I need to know about exercise,  Doug McGuff
Poison, video, 60 Mins
Toxic,  Robert Lustig
What if it's all a big fat lie? Researcher extraordinaire, Gary Taubes
Diabetes, type-II, a man-made and curable for the most part disease. Meet one of my fave, Mary Vernon, An inspiration, Richard Berstein
Ask the question, why did they do this? Cancer Cure, Cancer Cure on Vimeo
Controlling your own health online, they'll fine tune your vitamin "D" in a few sessions  WellnessFX
Power of the WEB, Jack Andraka.

I barely started, there’s plenty more. Hope you make time because with good health anything is possible.
Teri and I are just feeling great and if we do not eat or drink all the foods that you might have to offer us in the future do not take offense and when you come to share a meal with us we will accommodate everybody in the best way possible. .