sTNLiving0

THE FOUNTAINS AT FRANKLIN

is Michigan's finest rental retirement
community offering independent and assisted living.

(248) 353-2810

You're invited to attend our

Anniversary

Ball

a Saturday, January 10 a

Did you know...

That Oakland County's
oldest and largest vision and
hearing center has been serving
community residents
for 36 years?

Dr. Paul C. Feinberg

Our many years in service provides the experience
needed to fit the most complicated hearing losses:

Our progressive methods assure you of the
latest technology in both the testing of your hearing
and the fitting of your hearing instruments.

You can place your confidence in us as thousands have
through the years.

mall optical

& hearing center

Our 36th Year

12/26

1997

L10

g441#1.#"42

• 01,24°

1%.4 A L L

248-682-1111

Corner of Telegraph and Elizabeth Lake Rds.
We're known for our careful fittings and conscientious after-care."

track, often resulting in constipation.
"This means that for people over age
50, diets need to include grain and
whole grain products and foods that
contain fiber. Other seniors may have
to deal with vitamin deficiencies
because of medication. The list goes
on.
Living with a bad back and arthritis
are at the top of Ina Egnator's list. "I
started paying attention to what I ate
30 years ago, only nobody would listen
to me," recalls the 66-year-old Egnator
of Farmington Hills.
"I stopped smoking, I started eating
lots of vegetables and limited my fat
intake by cutting down on meat and
dairy products. I'm convinced that as
much as I hurt now from my back and
arthritis, I would be hurting a lot more
if I hadn't changed my eating habits
back then and taken up swimming on
a regular basis."
Egnator is right on the mark. Many
chronic diseases that develop late in life
are influenced by earlier poor eating
habits. For instance, insufficient calci-
um and a lack of exercise in adoles-
cence and early adulthood increases the
risk of osteoporosis, a disease that caus-
es bones to become brittle and crack or
break. Indeed, poor nutrition also
results in longer recovery from illnesses
and leads to a lesser quality of life.
Fortunately for a growing number of
seniors, life expectancy is on the rise
and so is healthy aging because chang-
ing to good nutrition in the later years
helps lessen the effects of diseases.
Good nutrition also improves the man-
agement of symptoms for people with
high blood pressure, heart disease, cer-
tain cancers, and gastrointestinal prob-
lems.
Unfortunately, encouraging people
to pay serious attention to sound nutri-
tion is a complex challenge with no
single, simple solution.
Tall and lean, Sharon Fishman never
paid attention to her weight but.it
became a struggle for husband Merrill
when he reached his 50s.
"I thought we were eating sensibly
until my husband went to Mayo Clinic
about nine years ago for a complete
physical examination," says Sharon of
Bloomfield Hills. "The exam took a
couple of days and we attended a nutri-
tion class."
Merrill was told to lose weight and
start exercising. He cut down on fat,

ate more fresh vegetables and fruits,
learned to limit carbohydrates, bought
a treadmill and lost 10 pounds.
"Sharon and I started this lifestyle
change together," Merrill says, "we're
maintaining it and I know we're better
off for doing so."
Ron Charfoos began paying atten-
tion to what he ate when he and wife
Linda started raising a family. "I was
always doing sports so exercise wasn't a
factor, but my eating habits weren't
great. Linda and I thought we were
fairly knowledgeable about good nutri-
tion and the importance of exercise and
tried to pass those ideas on to our chil-
dren.

.

The ideal is to
eat a variety of
foods that supply
needed nutrients.

"We were surprised at how little our
son had learned about nutrition in
school even though he was a long-dis-
tance runner and eating for endurance
is critical.
"It was our younger daughter who
made the impact on our eating habits,"
says Mrs. Charfoos. "Amy declared her-
self a vegetarian and I declared that I
wasn't going to cook two different
meals, so we ate vegetarian meals at
home. This was easier to do when our
son when off to college.
"Even so, when I went through
menopause I gained weight and went
to a dietician to help me adjust my
lifestyle to a changing body. I met with
Gail Posner and learned how to
respond more efficiently to my nutri-
tional needs, although I do admit to
sugar withdrawal. It's a constant process
and I know that as I get older there'll
be more changes."
The aging process itself becomes a
barrier as the biological clock winds
down. Although the ideal is to eat a
variety of foods that supply the nutri-
ents a body needs, the reality is that a
balanced diet is a challenge for people
as they age.
"To determine the nutritional treat-