Enjoying a Healthy Retirement

We were very excited to speak to Lynne Bowman, author of Brownies for Breakfast: A Cookbook for Diabetics and the People Who Love Them, on our latest podcast. And today’s article and podcast are all about how to have a healthy retirement and life as healthy of a lifestyle as you can.

After all, once you secure your retirement, you want to live as long as you can in optimal health.

Who is Lynne Bowman and What is Her Mission?

Lynne Bowman is the glam grandma who knows how to get you to eat your veggies. Many people don’t understand the connection between health and wealth, and Lynne’s mission is to get you to eat your veggies.

As a Type II diabetic, she has been trying to stay on her feet and stay healthy since the 80s.

Lynne is a young 76, and she loves bringing the security of good health and money to people. After all, over 70% of people go bankrupt because of medical bills. 

Lynne wants to keep people on their feet:

  • Longer
  • Better
  • Stronger

Today, she shares her insights on what really works when you incorporate good habits into your life. Her new book, Brownies for Breakfast, sheds light on the emotional relationship with food and how to break free from bad habits and stay healthy.

Of course, there’s also a community that brings a healthier, happier life, too.

Who are you eating with? Are you eating in your car? Are you rushing from restaurant to restaurant? All your answers here have a direct impact on your health.

Lynne is going to share some advice that she’s learned firsthand through her own experiences with you today.

Lynne’s Most Surprising Advice for Our Audience

This tip, as Lynne warns us, is starting to become more mainstream, but it’s still a shock to a lot of people. One of the most important things that you can do for your health is not to eat so often.

If you want to change your health drastically, one of the things that you can begin doing right now is to stop eating all the time.

Eating in shorter-hour windows, ideally in the middle of the day and stopping eating at night, is an excellent way to start. And this isn’t just some new fad. Autophagy, or the way that your body cleans damaged cells and regenerates new ones, has shown that this way of eating can be very beneficial.

If you’re continually eating, it doesn’t allow the body to clear out these bad cells.

And since your body does most of the cleansing process when you sleep, eating late at night never allows your body to get rid of the bad cells that lead to health issues. A few things to keep in mind are:

  • Sleep is crucial to great health
  • Most of the body’s cleansing occurs when you sleep
  • You can’t fall into a deep sleep with a full stomach

Even if you fall asleep immediately after a big meal and feel great when you wake up, your body devotes more energy to digestion and less to cleansing, cell regeneration and repair. There’s also a major role of sleep in cognitive function, which everyone should worry about as they age.

Lynne recommends that you experiment with the way you eat because you’re the only one that will 100% cooperate with your plan.

What’s the Overwhelming Premise of What to Do and What to Avoid?

Lynne has a lot to share with us, and we asked her to tell us:

  • What are the things you should be doing?
  • What should you avoid to maximize your health? 

What Lynne Recommends Doing

  • Eat whole foods
  • Go plant-based

She recommends eating plant-based foods and avoiding processed foods. If you’re going to eat meat, avoid factory farming. You want high-quality meat from animals that are happy and healthy.

Of course, many people can’t imagine not eating meat, and if you fall into this category, just be smart with the meat choices you make.

What Lynne Recommends Against

Sugar. If you just cut sugar out of your diet, you’re going to eliminate so many bad food items. Reading labels is crucial to avoiding sugar, and then you’ll realize that almost everything you find in the food store in a box has sugar added.

And sugar is addicting. In fact, it’s more addicting than heroin and other opioids. You’ll also experience withdrawal and depression when you stop eating it.

Now, maybe you’re thinking: well, I’ll just cut back on sugar. Would you recommend someone just cut back on hard narcotics? No. It doesn’t work.

If you cut all sugar for two to three weeks, you’ll start noticing just how good you feel.

Brownies for Breakfast covers excellent recipes that don’t include sugar. You can still enjoy great-tasting foods without even realizing that there’s no sugar included in the recipe.

Best Exercises to Complement a Better Diet for People 55 and Older

Lynne recommends walking – often. She recommends walking anywhere you can and as often as you can. Humans are meant to walk, and this helps with:

  • Circulation
  • Weight management
  • Strength
  • Endurance

Additionally, she works out three times a week with a few gals around her age. She does TRX and Pilates, but she also does a lot of stretching. You benefit from seeing your friends and socializing, which is huge for your health.

People who are completely alone often aren’t in optimal health.

You can also join walking and hiking groups.

However, the truth is that you need to get moving. You can join dancing classes, go to a gym if you like, walk your dog a lot or engage in other activities that get you moving.

Starting Grandkids Off on Eating Their Veggies When They’re Young

Kids learn very young, and if you can do these two things, kids will eat veggies:

  • Get your kids cooking because they’ll eat what they cook
  • Get your kids in the garden growing food because they’ll eat it

If you make eating fun and get your kids involved in the cooking process, you’ll find that kids will eat their veggies.

Also, when they’re old enough, get your grandkids reading labels when they go to the store. Kids love sweets, but when you explain the dangers of sugar and processed foods and then back this up with growing and eating whole, natural foods, they’ll learn to eat better at a much younger age.

Anyone wanting to learn more about Lynne can visit her website at LynneBowman.com.

If you’re in the midst of retirement planning and need a little help, sign up for our free course: 4 Steps to Secure Your Retirement Video Course.