Most people believe in exercise. They know they should do it. But the average person is not into pain, no matter what the gain. Few people can afford to join a gym, let alone to hire a personal trainer. Most of us over fifty have no desire to become athletes. Suggestions that we should run a few miles every day give us nothing more than a good laugh. In fact, as age increases so does the risk of injury, and older folks need to be careful what exercise they choose. Finally, there is a lesser but equally negative aspect of exercise: it can be a dreadful bore. Some doctors tell patients to consider exercise as part of their prescriptions, but they never offer a spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.

Weight and Age Creep Up on You

As a child, I was skinny as a rail. But in those days, I took dance. I loved my tap and ballet lessons. In fact, twice a week I rode my bicycle several miles to get to class. As a teenager, besides dancing, I rode horses and did a bit of swimming. I attended a college that sprawled across a network of hills so that just going to school was a workout. Keeping fit was a breeze.

In my thirties and forties, I was a single mother with very little money, raising three sons by myself. Luckily, we lived on an acreage in the country, and I came from hearty farming stock. We grew much of our own food. We even kept dairy goats, milking them and raising hay for their feed. With all the chores, my waistline was never a problem.

But as my nest emptied out, and my computer skills grew, my life took a turn. By forty-nine, I earned my living sitting at a computer all day. No, I didn't intend to let my health go, but eight years and fifty pounds later, I developed type 2 diabetes.

I am extremely insulin resistant, and routine treatment doesn’t work. A medication that curbs liver glucose production played havoc with my digestive tract. Another drug reduced my resistance, but it gave me upper respiratory distress. For months, I took a string of medications to counteract my diabetes and my diabetes medication. I felt like a rat in a maze with every turn leading to a dead end.