Episode 226: Turning Back the Clock--Secrets to Active Aging & Living Your Best Life After 50 w/ Graham Elliss

In this episode of the Aging Well Podcast, host Jeff Armstrong welcomes Graham Elliss, founder of Renewed After 50 and an ardent advocate for active aging. They delve into Graham’s transformative work in promoting sustainable fitness routines for older adults, his experiences with launching South Australia's first health resort, and the challenges and misconceptions about aging. Graham shares his inspiring journey, the importance of diet, exercise, rest, and social engagement, along with practical advice for starting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle at any age. Tune in for an insightful and motivational conversation about living a fuller, more vibrant life as you... age well.

Learn more about Graham and Renewed After 50 at www.renewedafter50.com.au.

TruDiagnostic epigenetic testing
Get a 12% discount using promo code (AGEWELL) and track your pace of aging well.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Have questions you want answered and topics you want discussed on the Aging Well Podcast? Send us an email at agingwell.podcast@gmail.com or record your question for us to use in an upcoming episode:
https://www.speakpipe.com/AgingWellPodcast

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Aging Well Podcast, today we have the privilege of speaking with Graham Ellis, an inspiring advocate for active aging and founder of Renewed After Fitness. Graham's work has transformed the lives of countless older adults by helping them embrace sustainable fitness routines and live fuller, more vibrant lives. From launching South Australia's first health resort to designing fitness programs tailored to older adults, Graham has been at the forefront of promoting healthy aging. In this episode, we'll explore the myths and truths about delaying aging, discover whether it's truly possible to turn back the clock, and hear Graham's inspiring vision for the future of active aging. Get ready for an insightful conversation that will leave you feeling motivated to take charge of your health and well being, no matter your age.

Jeff: 0:49

Graham, welcome to the Aging Well podcast. Can you share the story behind Renewed After 50? What inspired you to start this initiative?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 1:00

thank you, Jeff. I worked in the retirement industry, through the last stage of my career, about 10 years. I worked in, what you'd call in America, age qualified villages. over here they're called lifestyle villages. It's the retirement village really before the retirement village. And I saw people that were in their eighties. and 90s, still active and, and vibrant and doing overseas holidaying I saw people in their mid 50s, already pre frail and frail. I thought, it does not need to be like this. fitness has been a passion of mine. ever since I could walk unassisted and it still is today that was a big motivation for me launching Renewed After 50 my average age of client would be about 60, because people at 60 think they look 50 and feel 50. that was the motivation To tell people that, 20, 30, 40 years of sitting on the couch eating ice cream and jelly is not the way to go and it's difficult to wind back if you've done that. So, get up and get active.

Jeff: 2:05

What lessons did you learn launching the first South Australian health resort and how did these experiences shape your approach to healthy aging?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 2:15

what did I learn most about launching South Australia's first health resort? It actually was a failure. It was before it's time for South Australia. we only went for about 12 months. we could really fill the place on weekends. we had a marina, quite a bit of accommodation and we could fill it on the weekends. But, unfortunately, South Australia did not, support it during the week. you have to staff these. Facilities, seven days. But when you've only got two days of the week that are really active, it financially just doesn't work. So we had to close it before something bad happened. It was a wonderful experience in terms of, encouraging fitness in the older community. And on weekends, it was highly successful. However, during the week, it was very difficult to get anybody to attend. So it wasn't financially viable, Jeff, and we closed it after about 11 months.

Jeff: 3:10

So what were the obstacles? Why were people not so willing to engage in the fitness during the week, only on the weekends?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 3:17

we misread, where I'm living here in Melbourne. There's six and a half million people, and this type of facility operates within Victoria quite successfully. In 1989, when I opened, the health resort at a place called Gour in South Australia, population, it was about 80 kilometers from Adelaide. Adelaide only had a population of 900, 000 at that time. And the whole state only has a population of one and a half million. So it just was not the population, the mental, readiness for that type of facility was just not there and there simply wasn't an appetite for it, during the week, but partly successful on weekend, but you have a staff of 10 or 12 people and the numbers just did not stack up.

Jeff: 4:06

what are some of the misconceptions about aging and staying alive that you find are the most common?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 4:12

Misconceptions, about aging. I think there's so many people that think they have a healthy diet. and don't. And as we all know, is by far the first important point in terms of our longevity. There's that much, misinformation, misunderstood information, that people think they have a healthy diet when really they don't. that's the first thing I would say. People also think that as they get old, they can't move. and there's a reluctance, to move. poor appetite, poor nutrition, reluctance to move. I think they're the two main areas of aging. People think when you get old you can't move anymore, well that's, you and I both know that that's not true. And, highly important that we have a good diet. And, and I think I have a good diet. I'm predominantly plant based. other people think, you need meat for protein fish red meat poultry and that sort of thing. And you really don't.

Jeff: 5:16

So how is the Australian diet kind of different than the American diet? I mean, we have the Outback here, but from what I understand from my students that were from Australia, one of my former students was from Australia. She took her now husband to Outback when they were students in college. he took her there thinking, oh, this would be a great date place to show her, that I understand Australian culture. And she's like, we don't eat like this in Australia. So what's the diet like there?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 5:44

the answer to that is wide and varied. think the standard American diet the standard Australian diet. so I think they're similar in that I, and I've been to America, I, Americans in my observation for the, big meat eaters. and so are Australians, predominantly. we now know that, processed meat is carcinogenic. and there's some research that indicates that, normal red meat, is that way as well. so the standard Australian diet would be meat, vegetables, fried chips, fried fries. however, there is a trend moving towards plant based. vegetarianism. that's my way, but we're still in the minority. I think, there's an opportunity for longevity, through understanding the benefits of plant based eating.

Jeff: 6:38

in your experience, what are the key pillars to a sustainable fitness routine for older adults?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 6:45

I actually don't think that changes, irrespective of age. Number one, you need to have the right nutrition. two, you need to have a variety of resistance training, cardio, Mobility, agility, balance, stretch. All of those components need to be in a training regime. You need to have enough rest. You need to get enough rest. I think, between seven and nine hours sleep a night is important. stress is not necessarily, negative. Some stress is okay. But, You don't want too much negative stress. So keeping your stress levels to a reasonable level. and I think they, they're the main, the three takeaways that I would say, obviously nutrition that we've already discussed, a really good exercise program, how many times, every day of the week, if you like, until your body says you need a rest and get enough sleep, make sure you're resting and I think the world's best kept secret. We all know about and they are those three things that we've just talked about. and, and we all know about it, but not many of us do it. Yes.

Jeff: 7:56

So how do you tailor fitness programs to address these unique challenges and the needs of those over 50?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 8:32

Okay, so first of all you need to understand the history of your client, the history of the person you're talking to, in the sense of what their health history has been and what their exercise history has been. So if you've got somebody that might have, a chronic health condition or two and here in Australia, once people get past 60, it's not uncommon for a person to have one, two or three. chronic health conditions, diabetes, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis to mention a couple, mental health, issues, creeping. if you've coupled that with somebody who hasn't exercised much at all, then you need to be very gentle and careful with how much you prescribe, in terms of exercise to begin with. you've got that all the way through to people that, are older, and I'm talking people in their 60s, 70s and beyond, can be right up to elite athletes. in those age groups to performing at masters games. if you've got somebody at that end of the scale, understand their health history, their exercise history and prescribed exercise accordingly. there's a wide gap in between. You need to understand where people are at and prescribe exercise and nutritional advice according to their capability.

Jeff: 9:54

let's talk about your perspective on delaying the onset of aging. What are some truths people need to know?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 10:02

Well, you need to move every day. one, you need to be moving every day. Stress levels are already the things that we've discussed Jeff. You need to move every day. You need to be As healthy, the healthiest version of yourself you can possibly be. And that's diet, exercise, rest. Maybe I can talk a little bit about my journey. Um, Uh, my father passed away at 53 years of age. his third heart attack. in those days, we didn't know that cholesterol was called cholesterol. said to myself and my elder brother, he said, look, I have an enzyme in my blood that is blocking my arteries. He said, you need to go and get checked. He said to me and my elder brother, he said, you might have the same thing. So I went and got checked and my brother got checked I have a propensity to high cholesterol, my brother didn't. My brother would eat burgers, Coca Cola, chips, cream cakes, he would be thin as a rake, no cholesterol at all. On the other hand, if I look at food, I will put on weight. I look at it twice, I'll put on weight and develop cholesterol block. So, in 2004, I had four stents. in fact, five stents in the arteries to my heart. in 2014, I had cardiarrhythmia. I had catheter ablation operation. I had cardio arrhythmia and heart flutter. So my heart was in a regular heartbeat. So I had two operations to correct that. Last year, in February 2023, I had a heart bypass operation, a double bypass. Now, I maintain a healthy lifestyle. I'm the fittest. in my age just between you and I, Jeff, I'm 76 in two months time and I'm fitter than people half my age, and still working out every single day, doing classes and personal training, et cetera, et cetera. But I have this predisposition. I think if I hadn't maintained a healthy lifestyle, I would already be dead like my father you need to understand your position and I think I might have said earlier 10, 20, 30 years of sitting on the couch eating ice cream and jelly has an accumulation effect and That's pretty hard to wind back You can wind it back. It's never too late to start as you would know, but it's difficult So you need to start as early as you possibly can

Jeff: 12:40

So you say it is possible to wind back the clock. When it comes to physical health and vitality, how do we go about doing that? What do we do to wind back the clock if we're, say in our 50s, I'm 61, so at 61, hopefully I don't need to wind back the clock. I'm hoping that my clock is already wound back a little bit, but what do we need to do?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 13:00

you need to take an assessment you need to understand, I'm harping all about diet, but that definitely is number one. What am I eating? What am I doing to my now? What is my, what is the fat percentage in my body? what is the fat around my essential organs, our visceral fat? what is our bone density? What is our muscle mass? you can measure that quite easily these days. So a total assessment of the body. we need to have a look at where dietary improvements can be made. And that's the first place to start. if there has been a sedentary lifestyle, a lack of movement, we then need to prescribe some exercise. So it's more of a holistic approach and understanding where you are now and where we want to be. you want to wind back the clock, we need to have a look at what you're doing now and how we move forward from there. you've got a lady in your country, Ernestine Sheppard. Ernestine, I think her name is Shepard and she's in her 80s now. she had a look at her lifestyle in her late 50s. She had never exercised too much prior to that. And she's one of the fittest women in her 80s in the world now. nutrition, diet, everything. She's a religious person, so prayer and she runs 10 K's or I think 10 miles every day or she was, she may not be doing quite that now, but yeah, so it's an assessment of where you are now and what we need to do to correct. your lifestyle choices to make it easier to move forward. And by so doing you start winding back the clock. might have a biological age of 61, but you can have a lifestyle age of 40 that will improve daily, weekly, monthly. The more you apply yourself to that.

Jeff: 14:46

what's your first step recommendation for somebody that's like, okay, I've assessed myself. I'm overfat. I'm out of shape. My diet's poor. Where do I go from here? What steps would you recommend first?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 14:58

I recommend a nutritionist. I can give broad information under my qualification. I can talk broadly about nutrition. we can talk about protein intake, amount of fat, the amount of fiber you need in your diet, specifically, you need to adopt a, a, a dietary regime. And that might mean speaking with a dietician, to get us on track there. so that's the first port of call. once we've got that nailed you might need to go to your pantry and chuck out stuff that's going to tempt you. get rid of everything in your pantry that's going to work against you when you're not new outlook as far as, nutrition is concerned and restock your pantry with everything you need according to your, your new, your new healthy lifestyle in terms of eating. So that's definitely the first thing. Okay. And, there's a number of different ways you can approach this. and I, as I said earlier, I'm plant based, and when I first introduced or was introduced to plant based eating, somebody said to me, give it a go for 10 days, and you'll be amazed how much better you feel, by eating plant based for that period. And that was true. recovery after exercise, the, ability to endure longer distance exercise is all a benefit of eating plant based. And of course, plant based, not that I want to convince everybody to become plant based, but they will find that plant based eating, is, not, inflammatory. if you're eating too much red meat, too much chicken, too much fish, those high levels of animal fat, your diet, has a high, level of that within the diet. So that's an inflammatory diet, your joints will ache, your recovery after exercise will be more difficult as well. So that's where I'd start, Jeff, unequivocally, nutrition.

Jeff: 16:53

how would you answer someone asking, how many good years do I really need?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 16:58

That's a really good question. so you ask yourself, how many more Christmases do I want to have? when I start my talks, I always say to my, listeners, have a look back 10 years and contemplate what you would like financially, physically, mentally, and 10 years ago. Now compare yourself with today and assess the difference. What level of change has there been? Now, how many more years do you want? Do you want 5, 10, 15, 20? And then ask yourself the question, if I keep doing what I've been doing for the last 10 years and project 10 years into the future, what is my financial health going to be like? What is my physical health going to be like? And then ask the question, is that going to get me through to the number of Christmases or the number of good years I've got left? Will I be able to appreciate my grandchildren? Will I see my sons and daughters grow up? Will I see my grandchildren get married? Whatever it is that motivates you in your life, work that forward. If the picture of yourself that you see, from a point of view of nutrition, financial health, your physical health, if that's not what you want to see based on what has happened over the last 10 years, then you need to make some changes. And that's how I'd approach that. while we're working, we all contribute to what we call super annuation so that when we retire, we can draw that down for a comfortable financial life, but unfortunately people don't, bank fitness dollars at that same time. So when they get to the stage in their life that they can appreciate their financial wealth and you go on overseas trips, vacations, wherever, they don't have the physical health to be able to enjoy their financial health. That's another motivator. If you're going down that path, then you need to do something. And that's by asking people to look back 10 years and where you are now and what sort of deterioration, if any, have you had, and then look forward 10 years. If you keep doing the same thing, what are you going to look like? Are you going to be able to appreciate your wealth? I hope that answers the question. 20.

Jeff: 19:29

how many years do you hope to have left? 20? That's it?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 19:33

Look, this afternoon, after we finish this, I'm going to climb a mountain, not a big mountain, but it'll take a couple of hours, it's a low mountain. want to be able to do that stuff.

Jeff: 19:45

Yeah.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 19:45

do that ongoing. want to maintain a cognitive ability. that, keeps me young in my mind and body Even though my chronological age might be whatever it is, I still want to be active. Jeff, I'm starting a new business next year I'm still ambitious. I am a driven person I'm 75 at the moment. I would be 95, if I can get there. I'm done. And still healthy? Okay, then that's the first one. If I can get to a hundred and not dribbling my coffee down my front, we'll have a look at it then.

Jeff: 20:21

I want another 60 years.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 20:23

You want to live to a hundred and twenty?

Jeff: 20:26

Oh yeah,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 20:27

Yeah.

Jeff: 20:27

that's my goal. And do it without drugs and, artificial, life support I want to live it well,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 20:34

you've been asking me all the questions. Let me turn it around for a moment

Jeff: 20:38

Okay.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 20:38

How many? So you've said you want 60 good years left. do you go about that? And how what's important from you in your opinion about what we need to do?

Jeff: 20:49

Well, you gotta listen to like all 200 plus episodes of the Aging Well podcast to learn all of that. for me, it's living a balanced, vital life. we have six pillars that we talk about. Those have kind of grown over pathophysiology and exercise class. Teaching that I realized that, the four most important things to being healthy and disease free were exercising and physical activity, maintaining a healthy body composition, eating a healthy diet, getting ample sleep and not smoking. we have since added as a sixth pillar purposeful social connection. we hear more and more from people the importance of that social connection. those things are all very important to me. Kind of the balancing of the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, and social, You know, keeping those things in balance as well. And I think when we do those things, when we consider that it's not just the physical things, that we're doing to age well. It's also the spiritual things. It's also keeping our mind sharp. It's keeping social connections, keeping our emotional responses in balance that's what is really going to help us to be able to age effectively and stay healthy. it's all about health span, not just about lifespan.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 22:15

No,

Jeff: 22:16

I can say I want to live another 60 years, but if it's not going to be 60 productive years, then what's the point?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 22:23

I agree. I have my, business down here in Australia, in Melbourne, Australia. I've got about 120 clients, and as I said before, the average age would be approximately 60 years of age. Every time after we do a class, we get together, have a coffee. social interaction is highly important. Monday morning, in fact twice a year. I have a thank you morning tea where I get all of my community together just to thank them for being part of my community and and their Their service to me supports me and and I'd like to give a little bit of that back we've got about 40 people coming Which is a large number to a morning tea next Monday morning and that's to promote social interaction I'm not into the spiritual side of things in terms of my business, but it's obviously very, very important personally. Um, so I don't promote that. It's not politically correct to, um, go overboard with some of these things today, but certainly, uh, social connection as we get older is highly important.

Jeff: 23:30

I personally really don't think you can separate the spiritual and the social. I describe it as being more of a pyramid as opposed to the wellness pie Because the the spiritual and the physical you really can't separate it's it's not so much the religious aspect, but The sense that there's something greater than self and being more outward focused other centered So what you're doing in that social connection, giving back to your community to me is a very spiritual thing

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 23:59

Yeah.

Jeff: 24:00

you know, doesn't have to involve religion, doesn't have to say, well, I'm this particular faith and you're not so we can't agree. we can all agree that we need to be out from ourselves more. It's kind of where I stand with it.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 24:17

I do agree. we do quite a bit of community work here as well and, free community work, so that we're seen to be good citizens and we are in fact good citizens giving back to the community.

Jeff: 24:29

what is your vision for the future of aging well? And how do you see programs like yours contributing to that vision?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 24:37

just being out there as often as I can, and promoting aging well with the older community. being an ambassador for the older community and saying, Hey, if you stay active, you can be fit, healthy, and look forward to longevity in a very healthy way. And you mentioned healthspan rather than lifespan. I hear you and I agree with that. it's important to do that because otherwise, if we imagine a graph and we maintained functional, capacity for as long as we can as opposed to declining capacity and going below the disability line. most of the population unfortunately does go below the disability line. They don't have a habit for exercise and healthy living. maintaining that outlook, and a high level of function as opposed to not, and going below the disability line and then your health span is definitely going to reduce. When we're kids, And we're growing up, we can all do things at a similar level. we can walk along the tops of walls and balance easily. we can run, hop, skip, jump, all of those sorts of things. But when we reach maturity, there is a steady decline, every living thing on the planet, including us humans, pass away. But the thing is, how active are you going to be maintaining a high level of function means that you're not going to go below that disability line, and therefore you're going to live healthier longer. getting into the community as often as I possibly can, I do quite a lot of public speaking, and I do that regularly. free of charge, promoting healthy living wherever I can.

Jeff: 26:23

what advice do you give to someone starting out in that journey toward a healthier, more active lifestyle later in life?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 26:30

so as I said, right at the top of our chat, what advice would I give? I would say, let's have a look at what you're eating. Uh, let's have a look at how much you're moving. Let's have a look at how much social interaction you're having, sleep you're getting, and let's assess all of those things then work from there to prescribe a healthier. Outlook for you and that's where I'd start and the commencement level is different for everybody.

Jeff: 26:56

So the question we ask all our guests, what are you doing personally to age so well?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 27:02

Well, believe I'm doing everything that I've about. I believe I'm eating well. I'm a good sleeper. I ensure that I get eight hours every night. My body needs eight hours. I keep my mind active speaking with the public. I'm moving every day, I do resistance exercise, do cardio, not running so much these days, but certainly hiking, and looking after my financial health, and looking after my physical and mental health. my family, loving my friends, and keeping a good social network around me.

Jeff: 27:39

What's your approach to resistance training? What are your recommendations for someone who's over 50?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 27:45

Again, it depends on the starting point. You can meet some people that have been doing resistance training. I personally don't do heavyweights anymore. I do lightweights, but higher levels of resistance. So higher reps, for example. I don't often do heavyweights and less reps. you might have somebody, I mean 50's not that old anymore, so you have somebody in that 50 to 60 range. you look like you're quite broad shouldered there, Jeff. I'd imagine you're still doing some heavy lifting.

Jeff: 28:12

Trying to,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 28:13

so, it's all about recovery as well. if your body's taking longer to recover, then there's nothing to matter with dropping back the weight and increasing your reps, and occasionally maybe a little bit heavier. But, and making sure you're doing whole body. so yes, one day do chest and back, the next day do core, legs and abs. so core is abs, of course, legs and shoulders perhaps. changing it up all the time, doing something different, challenging your body in a different way all the time.

Jeff: 28:43

what's one thing you wish people knew about how to age actively and gracefully?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 28:51

The one thing I would like them to know, There's so much confusion about nutrition drinking milk, for example, might be controversial, so I'm sorry about that. But, we drink cow's milk. I drink plant based milk. I say to people, what's the prime. need for cow's milk. What's cow's milk for? they say, Oh, for calcium. No, no, no, no. What is the prime reason for cow's milk? It's feeding calves. We're, we're humans. don't believe cow's milk is for us. the dairy corporation might be saying, Oh no, no, no, no. you need cow's milk for your bone health. Well, that's actually rubbish. And there's a lot of research that supports that. you just, yeah, so there's a lot of misconceptions A lot of the research around red meat is funded by the Meat and Dairy Corporation. So the one takeaway is work out a really healthy diet. Based on, evidence based research and get onto a healthy diet.

Jeff: 29:57

what would your daily food intake be like?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 30:01

for breakfast, muesli, mixed berries, some soy yogurt, soaked overnight. So it's an overnight oats type thing, a few nuts, a little bit of honey, in fact, most days. I would have my breakfast at about eleven o'clock. and I fast for 16 hours a day. So I often only have two meals a day. for dinner, I might have a bean casserole, a bean stew, you like. that, that would be a typical day. make my own burgers, plant based burgers. sweet potatoes, there's a myriad of different things you can do. Chickpea burgers, black bean burgers, plant based lasagna. My mouth's starting to water now.

Jeff: 30:47

Trying to envision plant based lasagna.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 30:50

What was that again,

Jeff: 30:50

I'm trying to envision plant based lasagna.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 30:53

Yeah, so, you can, so, most pastas are okay, wholemeal pastas gets the nod a little bit over the normal wheat pasta, but neither are a deal breaker. tomatoes are, perfectly okay. you can make, a cheese out of cashews. I'm sure I'm telling you what you already know, Jeff. You're being a very good listener.

Jeff: 31:18

Yeah.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 31:18

and you just, and some beans. Thank you. some cantaloni beans, so, and you can layer that the same way as you would make a meat based, lasagna, and it's beautiful. Very, very scrumptious.

Jeff: 31:30

I've never seen it with the beans. That sounds interesting. Might have to try that. I am a meat eater, but I limit my meat to a certain extent, I've gotten a lot more into eating yogurt, like skir, which is the Norwegian or Icelandic yogurt. really loving that a lot more lately. I'm not sure if I could go full on plant based, but I can definitely shift to more certainly beans and legumes and trying to eat probably more of a Nordic diet

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 32:00

Yeah,

Jeff: 32:00

as opposed to.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 32:02

that type of thing.

Jeff: 32:03

Yeah,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 32:04

after you've done a weight training, do you have sore joints?

Jeff: 32:08

I have had some shoulder issues over time, but a lot of that is associated with my bone structure. I have a type 3 acromion. I had rotator cuff surgery. over 20 years ago occasionally there's a little bit of stuff going on with that. I manage the exercises I do to not hurt it. You know, put the shoulder joint in a more strenuous position. I avoid heavy bench pressing. I avoid a lot of overhead pressing. for squatting, I've shifted more to a Zurcher squat as opposed to a back squat. I found I'm lifting a lot more doing that than I ever did with a back squat. so I lift a little bit differently, but I still lift heavy. if something is giving me joint problems, I look at what am I doing recovery wise? What am I doing exercise wise that might be kind of aggravating that, but generally it's not too awful bad.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 33:00

I didn't transition overnight from meat eater to totally plant based. it took me maybe 18 months to do that. But what I found, as soon as I stopped completely eating red meat, recovery, you know, And if you do your own research on this, my recovery was far greater. I could, if I did a weight session to transitioning to plant based, I would have to wait a couple of days before I could exercise again. I fell off a bike, and I injured a shoulder, and that was sore until I stopped eating meat. and, and I found that I could train every day. I do train every day now. in my business, I'm doing, for example, today I've already done three classes and when you're doing exercise classes as a leader, I'm in front of the class and may do two thirds of each class, but already would have exercised, a couple of hours. not the type of exercise I would do for myself, but nonetheless still exercising. as soon as I went off meat, the inflammation went from my joints. I didn't have any soreness and I was able to train daily.

Jeff: 34:10

I have to look into that a little bit more.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 34:12

have a look into it.

Jeff: 34:14

are there any resources, habits or mindsets that you recommend for those who want to live their best lives after 50?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 34:22

move every day, please move every day. research indicates that if you move for 30 minutes a day, Five days a week, 150 minutes a week, you're well on the road to, having a healthier, happier life. couple that with nutrition. move every day, and the more you do it, the more you'll like to do it, the more you'll be able to do it, and you'll probably look to do a little bit more. once you've started, add some resistance work to that. you might walk for 30 minutes a day, then in your walking campaign, run or jog between electricity poles. and walk the next one. Job one, walk one, for that 30 minutes and then gradually increase intensity to, you can job the whole 30 minutes. And I say again, you might want to put some, resistance exercise into that as you're moving forward as well. But look, just move every day. That's a good start. Stop eating lollies. Don't eat lollies. Keep off the sugary drinks. stay healthy and active, have plenty of friends, love your family, and enjoy life.

Jeff: 35:28

How do you enjoy that without the cakes and the lollies?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 35:31

Well, you have to, again, if you eat a slice of cake that is 500 calories, you're gonna have to run 3 miles just to bring that back to normal.

Jeff: 35:42

Yeah,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 35:43

to get into calorie deficit. eat a potato,

Jeff: 35:46

I tell my students listeners and viewers that, it's okay to enjoy those little treats once in a while, if you're going to have a piece of cake, make it a damn good piece of cake. Don't, buy one of these pre packaged, Little Debbie cakes. I don't know what kind of cakes they have in Australia. Probably have something similar to those those packaged cakes and eat those and then be taking a bite out and say, Why am I doing this? This is horrible and keep eating it because it's so addicting to you. Go out, have a good cake at a restaurant or something like that. You don't have to have the whole cake. You have one slice enjoy it and go from there.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 36:24

I, used to do a lot of baking, with my children growing up. I used to love to bake cakes, pies, apple and rhubarb pie. it. but I transitioned and become a boring plant eater, I was still on a, a Facebook site for cake decoration, and they had this beautiful three tier cake. it was iced and decorated beautifully. And all I saw was a heart attack. I made the comment, It looks absolutely beautiful. but it's a recipe for type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke. they banned me immediately from the site. I've never seen anything else. moderation's okay, isn't it?

Jeff: 37:07

Yeah, altering those recipes and choices to be the healthiest they possibly can be. how can our listeners and viewers connect with you, learn more about Renewed After 50? Do you have a website, social media,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 37:19

I do. Oh, sorry about my dog. Hope that didn't come through too loudly. website is called Renewed After 50 R E N E W E D R E N E W E D R E N E W E D R E N E W E D R E N E W E D More specifically, I'm launching an online business for over 50s next year. I have a questionnaire, I would like to send out, to people listening to this podcast. If they fill in the questionnaire, then when we launch in February or March next year, they'll get two months free subscription, to this podcast. site that we're launching. So with your permission, I'll send you through the questionnaire. And, if anybody would like to respond to that, then they'll get two months of free subscription when we launch,

Jeff: 38:13

is there a website link to that we can include that in the description notes so anybody watching or listening?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 38:20

www. renewedafter50. com. au for Australia.

Jeff: 38:26

we'll make sure we have that link so that people can connect to you and do the survey.

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 38:30

Thank you Jeff.

Jeff: 38:32

Is there anything we missed today?

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 38:33

I don't think so. You've been very thorough and again, I thank you for the opportunity of chatting with you and look forward to getting the link and I'll immediately put it on my social media.

Jeff: 38:44

All right. Well, we thank you for participating. I really enjoy kind of reaching out. I mean, this is probably, I think, the farthest away we've had a guest on the show. We do have a number of people. in Australia. I think it's maybe our second largest audience. So maybe that'll bring a few more people closer to you. I hope that we're reaching out more than just in the United States and Australia, but getting out internationally, getting people to get the message, changing those habits, even if it's, getting rid of one piece of meat at a time until we get to a healthy diet just keep doing what you're doing keep educating people keep promoting a healthy lifestyle and keep aging Well,

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 39:24

Thank you very much, Jeff. And thanks again for the opportunity. enjoyed it thoroughly.

Jeff: 39:31

you're welcome. We'll talk to you soon

graham-elliss_1_12-04-2024_145852: 39:33

you.

39:34

Thank you for listening. I hope you benefited from today's podcast and until next time, keep aging well.