Today's post will ignore the elephant in the room, the Iran attack, for now. Maybe we'll know a little more tomorrow when markets start their Sunday night sessions.
I've had a bunch of tabs open this week with some downbeat topics but that I think are important to explore. First from the WSJ, More Americans Under 55 Are Dying Of Severe Heart Attacks. The idea that we are collectively less healthy than we were in decades past is something we've been digging into for a long, long time. We are getting heavier and heavier and our diets are getting worse and worse. The statistics are grim. They've been grim for a while.
Being an EMT allows me to see some things first hand which has helped me better understand the predicament we finds ourselves in. A point we emphasize here is that they (the government) is never going to figure it out. We can either grow old, never trying to figure it out for ourselves or we can grow old and try to figure it out. We're going to grow old regardless and they are not going to figure it out so it is up to us. Health is wealth, make it a priority.
Cut way back on junk food. Take the time to learn what junk food really means, how many supposed healthy foods are in fact not and then cut way back. The more meals comprised of just meat, eggs, fish and cheese you can eat, the healthier you'll get. Vegans, I don't know what to tell you. Plenty of fruits are sugar bombs, so watch out there. Many veggies are good of course but some are not.
On Saturday morning, I was able to get a fire department buddy who doesn't really exercise to come do a mini-workout with me at the firehouse. I was thrilled he said yes. I do a full weight workout on Monday and Thursday (usually) and skip rope most other days. On Saturdays before either fire training, the monthly fire board meeting or like today a free Saturday, I do a mini-workout which is usually a set of jump rope and then three or four weight exercises. All in, this little routine is probably less than 15 minutes. After jumping rope, we did bent over barbell rows (dead lift substitute), landmine squats, pushups and farmers carry. I tried to get him to use weight he would think was too light and just do like 6 or 7 reps so he might feel it a little tomorrow but not be so blown up that he can't move.
An important point is that I told him that this can be just 15 minutes and is far better than doing nothing. Hopefully you exercise vigorously and maybe you can encourage someone to start with small bites like we did this morning. On Wednesday, I have in my calendar to text him to encourage him to do a quick set of air squats and then some pushups.
Next is that Americans Are Leaving The US In Record Numbers. It seemed like a lot of people said they were going to do this ten years ago but maybe not that many did? I'm not sure. Now though, if the numbers in the article are correct, maybe fewer people are talking about it but more people are doing it. Again, not sure.
The article focused on Europe as an expat destination with no mention of Australia or New Zealand which surprised me, no Canada or southeast Asia either. One country that came up was Albania. One person who moved there was quoted as saying you can get buy on $1000/mo in Albania. I've never heard of Albania brought up in this context before, have you?
Long story short, my father moved to Spain in 1980 when he was 54 and lived there until he died in 2015. Living in another country can work. Details related to finances and benefits (Social Security) can all be sorted out. Figuring out how to stay and whether you want to work there (he worked for quite a while) can also be sorted out. I don't need convincing that many places are cheaper to live than here.
You also hear about the medical care being free or close to it. Yeah but.... My father had a few issues come up that were varying degrees of serious and they treated him just fine with a good result. He broke his hip at 71 for example and that went very well. He lived another 17 years and did a lot of walking, really a lot, right up until the end. Right after he turned 88, 55 years of cigar smoking caught up to him with throat cancer that spread all over and I saw first hand the medical care for something that serious was dreadful. Semi-serious and below, it's probably fine N=1 but for very serious, they didn't know what to do and I swear his doctor was about 24 years old, she looked like a kid and I never saw an older doc.
Our first trip to New Zealand in 2005 was unique. A Walker friend owned a property there with two houses. He rented out the main house to a slightly older couple and there was a guest house that our friend let us stay in. We spent a lot of time with the older couple and their kids who were about our age. Based on two visits, New Zealand seems like it would be a great place to live. Yes they import just about everything but they are net exporters of food, they have plenty. Pound for pound, it's a little cheaper there, maybe not in Auckland, but not as cheap as Albania purports to be. All good but as our hosts from the first trip told us, the healthcare system there isn't good.
Speaking of New Zealand they are open for business for anyone who can buy their way in. For a time, they restricted foreigners' ability to buy a home but started to lose population so they loosened the restrictions a little. For now, a lot money and you can buy in as opposed to rent.
Anyone who thinks they need to leave the US for whatever reason, you will have more optionality if you can get your health in order. Notice, I am not saying our healthcare system is better, it may not be, I don't know. A family member had some very serious health issues last summer. For a couple of months, it became a full time endeavor for a couple of family members to advocate for making sure mistakes were avoided, questions were asked and also pushing back on a couple of things that made no sense.
Back to the second paragraph of this post, do everything you can to stay healthy.
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