Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
It's interesting to note the range of attitudes here and also, how our particular life circumstances can color our attitudes towards everything else.
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You are right, Stacey Sue; social class sometimes (not always) plays a role in determining these attitudes. Or at least, the role models you see in your family.
I am lucky in that there is longevity and general "good genes" on both sides of my family. I have my medical "stuff," but it's mostly internal, and after my bout of undetermined medical issues a couple of years ago, I just have decided to ignore most of it, use coping skills like meditation, and keep riding my bike. I am a little slower, but, I am working on that. I wish my body didn't rebel against running, and it *is* hard for me to accept that I just can't do it without messing up my hip/back.
I no longer quite think at least for myself that genes affects much how one ages..at least in my own family. In the past 2-3 yrs., I've come to realize the enormous legacy that my mother, for it was my mother, responsible for home cooked meals that were mostly healthy in a deliberate way that set the DNA foundation /body type/size and overall general health DNA to the next generation. More of what we become what we were fed within the formative first 5 years of life, even as far forward as first 10 years in life.

What I'm trying to say that even if some of us in my own family gains alot of weight, the person still has the basic body /bone structure that NEVER changes ...if the person chooses to lose weight and become healthier once again. I've seen it happen to several family members already who have made an effort to lose weight and to become healthier.

The previous generation before my parents, lived only into their 60's and 70's .. some of it I'm sure due to lack of ongoing good medical care and preventive medical info. that was not immediately to alot of residents available in their home country at that point in history. Some it also due to stress of a more manual way of life, with less mechanization.