How To Keep Healthy As You Get Older with Tony Stafford
/in Podcast/by dmiddaughDr. David
Hey, everyone, my name is Dr. David Middaugh. Welcome to the Stay Healthy El Paso Podcast. I've got a good friend of mine here, Tony Stafford. Tony Stafford is a client of ours. He came in for a little issue that people in their 20s and 30s tend to deal with, and it's a relatively quick problem to solve, and he's doing fantastic at this point.
He's nearly at the end of his care with us. But the reason I want to bring him in is because he's not in his 20s or 30s. He's actually in his mid-80s, 84 to be precise. He'll tell you more about himself in just a second here, but I wanted to bring him on because he's got some awesome advice on how to keep healthy into your 80s. So welcome onto the show, Tony. Tell us a bit about yourself. Tony, where are you from?
Tony Stafford
I'm from North Carolina, originally, little town outside of Charlotte called Belmont. I went to Wake Forest University and graduated in 1957. After I graduated from Wake Forest, I was drafted into the army and spent my first year in Fort Meade, Maryland. Then I was shipped to Fort Bliss, and that's how I ended up in El Paso. When I got here, I discovered that there was a little college here by the name of Texas Western college, so I checked it out and started taking some night classes at Texas Western college. And met a girl Of course, and when I got out of the army, I stayed in El Paso to finish my master's at Texas Western. After I got my master's from Texas Western, I went to LSU for my Doctorate, and I was not coming back to El Paso, but Texas Western called me and said, Hey, we'd love to have you as a doctoral candidate. So, I told my wife, I said, we'll go back there for about a year or two, till I finish my dissertation, then we'll be out of there. 55 years later, I'm still here because I love El Paso. I'm here by choice.
Dr. David
Fantastic. Yeah. So, you said there that you went through all this education. You ended up moving away from El Paso for a while to go to LSU, to do your doctorate. And would you mind sharing what your doctorate is in which are you studying?
Tony Stafford
Yeah, my specialty is English and American literature. My dissertation was on Shakespeare. At University of Texas El Paso now I'm in the English department, and I teach a variety classes. My specialty is dramatic literature, and additionally, Shakespeare, a British playwright, American playwrights, but I can teach it all.
Dr. David
that's awesome. Sounds like you'd be a fun professor to have as a student.
Tony Stafford
I love teaching. I put a lot of energy into it, and It keeps you young.
Dr. David
Oh, yeah. And you can tell with your personality and disposition. Well, let's get into some of the health tips that I think that you've got, that our listeners need to hear. So, first off, just getting motivated is a big deal. So, for you what are two or three motivating factors for you to stay healthy?
Tony Stafford
Well, that's pretty easy. I hate being sick, and I love feeling healthy. So, to me that's a powerful motivating factor. I don't like being overweight. So, I like to watch my diet and workout and a little bit of vanity. I don't want to get fat and ugly, it I don't have to yet. But staying healthy is what's important to me, and I noticed it’s something you have to work at. It doesn't come free. The law of the universities says use it or lose it.
Dr. David
It's so true. I love that. That's fantastic that that motivates you. I know for me specifically. I don't want to have to get bigger clothes. I don't have to go up in the size of my pants or my shirts or anything like that.
Tony Stafford
It's called vanity also.
Dr. David
Yep. It's a bit of vanity for sure.
Tony Stafford
That is also about health.
Dr. David
Oh, yeah. You just feel tremendously better. A little bit of my whole story. I won't take much time at all, but I used to be very obese when I was a kid. I kind of grew up like that. But once I lost a lot of weight. I was stunned at how good I felt, and I never knew that I could feel like that, because I was so used to feeling the way that I felt when I was really overweight.
Tony Stafford
You just feel lethargic and low energy. And that's not a good feeling.
Dr. David
So, what have you tried and found that has not worked for you to keep healthy?
Tony Stafford
That's a hard question to answer because everything I've tried so far seems to be working. I tried bicycling, but then I discovered the streets of El Paso are rather dangerous. I had several friends who were killed on bicycle. Including Beto. O'Rourke's father who was killed on a bicycle. I tried swimming, swimming wasn't for me. But I played football in high school and junior college, and you have to run a lot to stay in shape. And I found out that I really enjoyed running just for the sake of it. But bicycling didn't work. Swimming didn't Work. And eating steaks and hamburgers didn't work. So, I had to eliminate those things.
Dr. David
So, does that mean that you're not eating meat right now? Are you eating chicken or fish? Or what's your diet look like, how is that contributing to your health?
Tony Stafford
Vegetarian all the way. I started off on this kick about three and a half years ago, and I was going to try to be vegan. That's very, very strict. And you can't have cheese which I love, and eggs which I have one egg a week. But so, I slipped back to the Fed classification of vegetarian but no poultry, no ham, and I love pork chops. But you know, when you get into a vegetarian diet, and you learn all kinds of delicious dishes, you discover after a while you don't really miss meat. I don't miss it at all. Not even tempted. A few bacon crumbles on my salad maybe when I go out to eat, but that's about it.
Dr. David
Wow. Yeah, that's fantastic. For me, I was a pretty heavy on meat, especially back when the Paleo Diet was a big kick, and I know a lot of people are on the keto diet. If you're listening right now and you're very carnivorous, or you're following one of these, paleo, keto, or there's a bunch of other diets out there. I think what Tony has developed, I've had other conversations with him about health and for myself too, is you kind of have to figure out what works best for you, and your genetics and your health. And maybe meat is a part of that.
Tony Stafford
I would say, if you're going to eat meat, you should have small pieces. Sparingly and of course, poultry is not as fattening, or doesn't contain as much fat as beef, or pork does. So that might be an alternative for some people. I know my son's a big Health Nut also, and they eat mostly Turkey, which is pretty close to almost no fat.
Dr. David
Yeah, it's pretty lean. Especially the breast. So just to sum it up there, you found that exercise wise, cycling was not your thing because of safety. Swimming didn't really take too,
Tony Stafford
even though I was a lifeguard when I was in college. I was a sinker. Swimming is very difficult. So, I gave up swimming. And I found my niche was running.
Dr. David
Yeah, we'll talk more about that right now on the next question. The other things that didn't work out for you too well was eating meat, especially you said pork and beef me. I'm glad that you found that out. For those of you listening I'm looking at Tony, I'm describing he's probably going to blush right now, but he said he's 84 but he does not look like a year pass 54. He looks fantastic. I mean if you look at his skin, he's got excellent color. I've worked on him, hands on wise, and he just feels sturdy and strong, not frail at all. Someone in their 80s it's not uncommon to see them as somebody that if you if you shove them or nudge them accidentally, they might fall over. Tony looks like he'll shove you and nudge you and knock you over. He's a tough, sturdy guy. He's in fantastic health so it's evident. That's why I wanted to bring him on the podcast today.
Tony Stafford
One of the essentials in life is good blood flow. Through your skin, through your muscles, for your heart, for your lunges for everything. Good blood flow. Lots of oxygen. I think that keeps you young.
Dr. David
Definitely, and mind wise, something that I think maybe you're picking up on is, Tony's a sharp guy and he's into reading, and keeping up to date with things. He's feeding his brain, exercising his brain quite a bit as well.
Tony Stafford
Crossword puzzles, I exercise my brain. The law of the universe use it or lose it.
Dr. David
Yep. Fantastic. So, let's go on to the next question here. Tony, what are three or more things, if you've got more, that you attribute to your current successful health?
Tony Stafford
Well, it may be a little repetitive, but I run every day. I'm in a phase out program right now. So, I'm not teaching this semester, so I have that luxury of being able to run every day. I may take one day off a week. But running is one of the secrets from me. I run pretty long distances anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes every time I go out, and I try to keep a pretty good pace.
I think running is absolutely in my life for me is essential. I love running and when I'm running, I'm breathing deeply and looking at the blue skies and just enjoying the exercise and feeling my body in good health, and it's that, in itself is very stimulating.
The running is one thing. The other course is the vegetarian diet. For me, that works very well, and I don't get into a medical history, but every time I have a checkup, I blow my doctor socks off because he can't believe my cholesterol and my heartbeat and all my vitals condition, they're in. Yeah, again, vigorous exercise, and then a healthy diet.
The other thing is attitude. A lot of people get 60 or so, and they go around talking about how old they are, and they make themselves old. I do not see myself as old. I see myself as young. Maybe that's kind of stupid on my part, but, but I think the brain has so much effect on the body. For me, we know the relationship between brain and body and having the right attitude, and a youthful attitude and enjoying things in life.
I am a scholar. But I'm not often the library all day long, doing research. I have a good balance in my life. I mean, I go to football games and basketball games, and dining with my lady friend, and just staying involved in life and enjoying good things, enjoying good movies, enjoying good play, enjoying good concerts. Those things. attitude is the third thing I would mention here. Running, diet, and attitude my summation for that.
Dr. David
That's super good. That's spot on. Just to highlight each point that you're saying there. With the running specifically, I love that you found that out for yourself, and for me as an expert physical therapist, and I will never forget one conversation I had with a woman. It's been two years now, who came in, she was in her 50s very petite shaped. In other words, she had a small waist, big hips and she was short. And she told me it's been on my bucket list to run a half marathon. Yet she was seeing me because her knee and her hip are killing her from running just a couple miles, and she's talking about she was having to ice her knee.
I had been working with her for a little while already, and I had been pushing her to do strength training. Now she did phenomenal. With the strength training, nothing hurt her. She was actually good at it, and she enjoyed it. So, I had this conversation with her. I said, “look, you're genetically built to lift weights like that. That's what your body is built to be good at, running a half marathon you're just not cut out for.” I think there's something to that. That's why you see, Kenyans and Ethiopians win the Boston Marathon, there's a certain body type that's built.
Tony Stafford
They're very small. UTEP has a number of Kenyans, and I see them around campus and they're tiny guys, they probably weigh 135 or 140, something like that.
Dr. David
They're lightweight and you're looking at your build, I could see why you would tolerate running as much as you do. Because I'm sure there's listeners out there saying oh my gosh, every time I run my knees kill me or my feet kill me or something hurts and, and so I would consider that you know, what have you done exercise wise that you've enjoyed that hasn't been harmful to you? And what have you done that has hurt and don't dismiss it as I'm not just I'm just not an Exercise person. It's not for me. There's got to be something out there something that you enjoy
Tony Stafford
Bicycle, a stationary bike or something like that. One of the questions I always get asked David is, well don't your joints hurt from running so much? Of course, I don't do marathons. That's beyond my scope. But I do run every day. Those distances I mentioned. Yeah, but people always ask me well don't your joints hurt. I've never had any joint problem. And the thing is, I think everybody should hear this.
First you want to buy very good shoes and make sure they're plenty cushion. And then I buy a couple of extra inserts in my soles so that my shoe has lots of padding in it because there is some pounding that takes place which I which jogging and running. But I think if you have that cushion there, I think it really eliminates the trauma to your joints that way. So, I would say make sure you have some good shoes and put extra Doctor Sholls inserts in for extra padding. That's what I do.
Dr. David
I agree hundred percent. I think investing in your footwear is a big deal. I've been running myself in the past, and I've noticed a difference when I the palest level running shoes versus the running store running shoes are the top brands. You definitely pay for what you get when it comes to running shoes.
The other point that you brought up, on the three things that that attribute to your health, was nutrition, your diet. I love how when I've heard you talk about your diet, it's very disciplined and you don't seem stressed out about it. You don't seem worried about it. I see some people that bring up how they wish they could have this food, or that food that they can't have because they're on their diet. But the resolve that I have seen you is incredible to me that this is just the way that they eat, I enjoy it.
Tony Stafford
This may be hard for a lot of people. They love food, which is very easily to understand, and some people can't do without food, and they can't get enough of it. That becomes the problems. I've tried to minimize the importance of food. I love vegetables, and I have fruits and nuts and vegetables and pastas, and all kinds of wonderful things with lots of good sauces and everything else. But I don't make food that I'm not living from meal to meal.
Some people are, and for some people is a recreation, and or pastime or a way to feed their own happiness. But you don't need to make food so important. Yes, it's vital, to be able to have the nourishment to live on, but you mustn't get it out of perspective as to just how the role it plays in your life. I have friends for whom food is extremely important. They spend all their time reading cookbooks and trimming up all these fantastic dishes. Can't quite go there. I have to be reading a good book.
Dr. David
I think that's connected to the third point, which is your attitude, your mindset towards your health and nutrition. I can tell you, my background, I grew up with food being probably the most important thing when it comes to get together,
Tony Stafford
My culture was the same way. I was a southern boy. And food is really important to Southerners. Fried chicken and all those things.
Dr. David
I've taken the angle of I just need sustenance, I need this to be good., and it needs to give me the energy that I need to make me feel good. I don't want to fall asleep because it had.
Tony Stafford
I think when you eat a little bit, you enjoy it more. When you reach the point where you're eating, you're already full and you just keep on eating, and it really gets to be painful and kind of nauseated.
Dr. David
I love that. Those are excellent health tips, and I think really foundational for everybody, it's awesome that you're doing that. Let's move on to the next question here. So what health advice do you have for listeners that are in their 30s 40s and 50s? The people that might be working right now, they might have a family to care for at home, because you were there at one point, it looks like you were just there.
Otherwise, I mean, age wise, they're busy, they're dealing with day to day constant things or they're spending the time working all day and so, finding time to exercise and cook and do all that stuff is stressful. What advice would you have for them?
Tony Stafford
Well, I know when you're young and you have a family, and lots of obligation, it is extremely difficult. I don't make light of that. My son is just turned 40 and he has three little ones. But he carves out time somehow. Even if he has to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go ride. He carves out a little bit of Time. If his wife ever complains, he says to her, would you rather be I'd be hanging out at bars.
I'm not preaching, and I sympathize with you when you have lots of obligations and a full-time job, and a family, and all those things going on. But you just have to set aside a little bit of time to take care of yourself. Otherwise you won't be around for your family very long. And I think if they know you're doing it for them, they'll appreciate it and be supportive.
I understand the challenge completely. My son has been known to jog in the middle of the night before dawn, all these times, yes, he's a marathoner. He is in a different category. He's got to be committed. He works out he lifts weights and everything. So, it can be done. It just takes a little bit of discipline.
First, make it important. Secondly, be determined that you're going to do this. And then considering your family's needs and their schedules, carve out a little time for yourself to do that. Otherwise family life will devour everything and that's important too. But you got to take care of yourself. Also, you won't be around for long for your family.
Dr. David
So true. Yeah, you're doing it for them. If I could put in my two cents, I'm currently in my 30s right now, and I've got three small children, and of course working and my wife's working and we're in the same boat. So, I'm like your son, I'm the guy waking up showing up at the gym at 4am 4:30 in the morning, trying to get 40 minutes of weightlifting in.
On Monday, I went for a run in the dark at about 4:30am as well. In certain spots where the streetlights were very good. I had my phone, so I flip on the flashlight. Yeah, I'm on a familiar path though, so I can know what to expect.
But just a concern that might come up for listeners out there that my wife deals with. Because I get home from my run and she says, Well, I'm glad you ran. I wish I could do that. I'm the lady and running at five o'clock in the morning, doesn't sound very appealing to me. Because you never know. The safety of all that stuff is questionable for a woman. And so, I completely get that.
Tony Stafford
I understand her frustration, because for my son is that his wife manages some city gyms. So, she's in the gym all day long, and she gets her workouts in while she's at work. And she’s teaching aerobics classes and all those things. They don't have much tension when it comes to that, but I can understand your wife’s frustration.
Dr. David
Oh, yeah. She manages though, we make it a point to get the kids to exercise as well. We bought a jogger. stroller and on the weekends, we'll all go run together and jog. Yeah, we'll go to the park, have the kids play in the park where we take turns running around.
Tony Stafford
There's nothing wrong with a nice good steady walk. You don't have to be running all the time, and you and your family can all walk with you. Just tell them keep up the pace a little bit. And they need the exercise also.
Dr. David
And one more piece that I think listeners will appreciate, is the idea of life ebbs and flows, but staying in your zone. So, for instance, the holidays might come around, the December holidays that everybody's on break. For me, my kids were off during that time. So, my schedules changed. I was comfortable with saying, you know what, I've worked out well enough. I can take a couple weeks off. Maybe get some workouts in, here and there with the kids. But as soon as life gets back to normal, the holidays are over, back on my schedule, and that's okay.
Tony Stafford
There's nothing wrong with taking a Break.
Dr. David
Yeah. So, taking breaks, I think is okay. The key is getting disciplined enough to come back onto the normal healthy schedule. So, we got one more question here before we're out of time. Now we talked about people in the 30s 40s and 50s. What health advice do you have for somebody in their 60s 70s 80s and beyond? Or somebody who was about to retire, maybe has already retired, and they're looking to stay healthy? What advice you have for them?
Tony Stafford
Of course, it depends on what their lifestyle has been like. Many people at that age are very sedentary. It's like, use it or lose it. If you just sit down, once you're retired or in your old age, because you're tired a lot, it gets worse. You have to force yourself to get out of the easy chair and out from in front of the TV set. And because you're following the line of least resistance just to plop down in a chair, have lots of snacks and watch TV. If you do that every day, you're not going to last long.
Staying active is really important. If someone can't start off running and that kind of thing. But you can take walks, and I would say, also have interests in addition to the physical and the dietary considerations that we talked about attitude, but also have some interest. I read every day. I of course, I'm an English professor. So, I love writing, and just finished my third novel. But go to art galleries, go to concerts, find a really interesting hobby, something that you're good at. All of us have a special talent. And many times, we follow our economic needs and go into jobs and whatever because we have to, but at some point, you have to ask yourself, what do I really enjoy doing? What am I kind of good at got a knack for?
People's hobbies often bring them a lot of satisfaction. So, having interest and getting out of the house, going to movies, plays, concerts, that kind of thing. But having interest is important for people. I mean, I've seen people have the attitude, oh, I'm this age and I'm no damn good anymore and I'm worthless and, and they just make it worse for themselves by just kind of resigning and not having a positive attitude.
I sound like Norman Vincent Peale, but as we said before, the relationship between the mind and the body is a powerful one. The mind can affect incredibly powerfully the body. Having interest and having a good attitude, and having some activity, it doesn't have to be running.
That's what I would say to people, you have to start off very slowly. It should be something you look forward to every day. When you are getting out of bed in the morning, what is it in your day that you're really looking forward to? And I've known people who just said, I'm not looking forward to anything. And I don't care if I die now or not. I'm like, Hey, man, there's a lot to be lived yet. And so just enjoy the sunshine and the rain and everything, just enjoy life. That would be my advice. Not that I'm a counselor or anything. I'm just speaking from my own experience.
Dr. David
I love it. I hear, throughout the past year even, we've had clients that are older, and we've seen them lose a spouse who's relatively devastating. Talking with him through that and being able to see how they cope with it and then realize their purpose in life beyond where they're at, and beyond losing the spouse has been amazing.
For me personally, as a youngster, relative to somebody at that age, I look at you and how I learned a lot from you, and I see it as I have so much to learn from all these people that are older than me. So, I need them in my life. And I think it's important for somebody who's getting older in their years to realize how they can contribute to the generations.
Tony Stafford
Go to senior citizens cities, centers, meet somebody new. Don’t give up!
Dr. David
Yeah.
Tony Stafford
So, I would say that … where was I going with this…. I told you the story before. My mother had a sister, my aunt Ruby, and she was married to my father's cousin, Uncle Brady, and they worked very hard all their lives. They made a decent amount of money, had real estate holdings, and so they were comfortable. But when they retired, they stayed in bed all day. They ate in bed, they read the newspaper in bed, they watch TV in bed, and I'm telling you within a year's time, they totally deteriorate. Both of them became very senile and demented. Why? Because they just weren't using their body and their mind anymore. Now, and I just watched it. I was flabbergasted to see how quickly they deteriorated from just doing nothing. So, you don't want to stay in bed all day. You want to have activities and that kind of thing.
Dr. David
Yeah, great advice. This has been a wonderful bit of advice. I think our listeners are going to benefit a lot from this. Thank you so much, Tony. Appreciate it.
Tony Stafford
My pleasure
Dr. David
Well, guys, for those of you listening, if you want to hear more podcasts, you can visit the website, www.stayhealthyelpaso.com, please subscribe to our podcast on the platform that you're listening on, whether it's Apple or Google or Android, any of you were on all the platforms, just so that you can get updates about future podcasts coming out. And I hope that you are staying healthy out there. So, have a wonderful day. Bye bye.
The show is available on Anchor | Spotify | iTunes | Google Podcast | and others...
Would You Like To Talk With A Specialist?
Choose which one works best for you…
