What was that for you? Watching Batman and the Smothers Brothers on TV? Wishing “Joy to the World” with Three Dog Night or goin’ down those country roads with John Denver?  Getting some summer lovin’ kisses in the theatre watching Grease or watching Richard Dreyfuss pursue Close Encounters of the Third Kind?  Whatever you remember fondly from “the good old days,” consider why NOW is the BEST day!  Yes, there is pollution, economic upheaval and a decline in the nuclear family.  The family seen in “Leave it to Beaver” ain’t what it used to be!  But maybe that’s a good thing!  June Cleaver didn’t have the personal freedom, mobility, career and birth control choices that women have now.  95% of all babies worldwide will survive to adulthood! Today’s families will often gather at Great-Grandma’s birthday party with four generations spanning 100 years. In this month’s Boomer Bites, I describe advances in vision, spine surgery, cancer detection, food, sleep aids, even botox.   We must be doing something right!

You may receive a message on your cell that says, “Hey, sorry I missed you, I have something important to tell you, please get back to me at my new number, 809 ——-.”   If the area code is 809, DO NOT return the call. You’ll be calling the Dominican Republic and charged hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.  This is one of those email forwards that is actually true.  Call your provider for help if you fell for this one.

I’ve used Smart Balance Regular for years, thinkin’ I was doing a good thing.  But the Nutrition Action Healthletter, www.cspi.org, pointed out that there’s still a bit too much saturated fat in the regular, better go with the light.  They liked the Promise spreads, Olivio, and Country Crock Omega Plus to balance our fat intake of cheese, chicken, and even low fat dairy foods.

If you have 10 or more pounds to lose, you’ll burn the MOST  FAT if you walk 3.1 miles per hour!  There – I’ve said it!  That’s a brisk stroll — you can catch up with a friend via cell, listen to a book on your ipod, and you won’t even sweat so you can walk on your lunch hour.  Bring your sneakers to work! The study was in The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 

Men and women aged 55 to 59 were most likely to have a sexually transmitted infection in a recent study of the over-45 crowd.  Increasingly likely to be single, mature adults are unfortunately less likely to use condoms.  Just because you can’t get pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t get genital warts or herpes, people – use condoms!  C31G and Buffergel (www.reprotect.com) are two vaginal gels under investigation right now that women will be able to use to block STD’s (and possibly pregnancy as well) starting in 2011.