Ralph Martinez, a retired pharmacist and long-time involved community volunteer spoke about what we can do to stem the deterioration of aging.

Though some seem to do whatever they want, “everything wrong” for their health and get away with it, he said we cannot take that risk. Others who do take care of themselves, like top athletes are seeing with advances in nutrition, medicine and training that they can participate longer, past their 30’s!

Overall he encouraged us to support our health focusing on nutrition, medical, exercise and the senses – oral/vision/hearing. He suggested the following principles: moderation, consistency, balance and common sense.

He showed us the new improved nutrition panel approved by the FDA that can help us determine what is in a food product.  He compared Rolled Oats with Raisin Bran, the latter has 28 grams out of the daily 60 grams sugar recommendation… in one serving!

He said “fast food” is not just “drive-thru” but foods that cook fast and have been processed. If the nutrition label lists many ingredients it has been highly processed and offers reduced nutritional value.

Ralph suggested we eat better and do not expect to make up for poor nutrition with supplements.

Prevention was his admonition related to Medical Care. “Bad things don’t come and go, they come and stay”.  He advised to get things checked out earlier than later.

In summary he put the onus back on us.  The insurance companies, the food companies, the drug companies are not putting our health first.  We need to… and  by following Ralph’s principles of on-going effort supporting our health we can live longer and better.