LFA Blog

Dr. Walter Bortz goes to AARP Convention!

2010-05-24T18:03:00Z

Thumbs up to our Chairman of the Board, Dr. Walter Bortz who will be one of the featured speakers at the AARP members convention in Orlando , Florida this year. Dr. Bortz will share with us the secrets of living a long, healthy and robust life and will join a line up of other engaging personalities like Whoopi Goolberg, Larry King, and everyone’s favorite dog guru Cesar Millan!

Check out all the convention details on the AARP link at https://static-js.share-md.aarp.org/aarp/events/Life_at_50_Orlando/SponsorshipInformation/ . Convention dates are September 30-October 2^nd 2010. As soon as we have the exact date and time for Dr. Bortz’s talk we will let everyone know. Hope to see you all in Orlando!!

Dr. Walter Bortz Runs the Boston Marathon

2010-04-28T20:23:00Z

Dr. Walter Bortz, after his 40th marathon on Monday
by Sonari Glinton for WBUR

BOSTON — After a particularly bad day in the office battling with mutant computers to recover deleted files, I decided to walk the last mile or so of the marathon. Maybe take a picture or two. I hadn’t seen a single moment of the marathon or a single runner. There would be no Kenyans to see.

But as I rounded onto Boylston Street at about 7:30 p.m. Monday, I happened upon an elderly man listing to side, walking the last few hundred feet toward the finish line. He looked gaunt and disheveled, and I admit I paused to watch with morbid curiosity to see if the old man would make it across, alive.

As sanitation workers pulled up barricades and street sweepers scrubbed Boylston behind him, Dr. Walter Bortz completed his 40th marathon.

Bortz laced up his running shoes for the first time after the death of his father almost 40 years ago. He was suffering from clinical depression and needed an outlet, and he has been running ever since.

As a doctor, Bortz says it’s his mission to encourage people to get out of their sedentary rut. The reason he runs is to prove that, well, it can be done.

“I wanted to show what an organism can do this late in life,” Bortz said.

I didn’t know any of this as I walked down Boylston, and neither did hundreds of people who emerged from restaurants and cafes to cheer. As he walked through the canyon of high-rises, the cheers swelled and about 100 people joined him, taking pictures and offering encouragement. Funny thing is: He was completely silent.

I was ending a bad day. I’d just moved temporarily to Boston for a few weeks. Moving and changing jobs, even for a brief period, is no fun. And I was feeling detached from familiar surroundings, faces, buildings that give my life the warm hum of safety. Seeing Bortz made me feel connected to a small community, if even for a few moments.

That walk down Boyston reminded me of what makes the Boston Marathon the marathon. There are the elite runners who, through a mix of genetics, talent and hard work can make a mockery of the 26 miles and 385 yards that killed Pheidippides. Then there’s the 80-year-old dude, who has a hard time standing upright, who sets out from Hopkinton knowing that they’ll likely be sweeping up after him.

Bortz wasn’t the last person to cross the finish line. There were other people out in the hinterlands of Newton and Brookline. But he was the last that got to go down the middle of the empty street. When Bortz finished the race, one of those giant street-sweeping Zamboni-like machines, patiently waiting, performed a dramatic and kind of scary U-turn to pick up the last of the trash dropped by 22,540 runners.

Running the marathon is partly a gimmick for Bortz. He’s got something to prove. He’s a doctor and professor who bills himself as an expert on aging. He has a website, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum. That’s the world-weary wannabe swashbuckling reporter in me. But when Bortz ambled across the finish line and asked, slyly, “What’s all the commotion about?” I knew the answer, and so did all those people at sunset on Boylston.

Journalists are cynical by nature, or at least by affectation. When I act world-weary and bored, I miss the small moments. Did Bortz break a record? No. He wasn’t the first runner. He wasn’t the last runner. He wasn’t the oldest runner. He didn’t make news.

But for those few moments at sunset, he represented all the non-savants, the non-prodigies. Walter Bortz got a medal for participation, just for finishing. And sometimes finishing is enough. Especially if you have to bust your butt to do it. You probably know what that’s like. At least I do.

"Snack Nation"

2010-04-22T22:20:00Z

We found an interested article from Nutrition Action magazine's May 2010 edition, and thought to pass it on to anyone interested. We'd like to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Snack Nation

We snack more often than we did 30 years ago, and we consume roughly twice as many calories as snacks than we did in the 1970s. Researchers compared nationwide surveys of 28,000 children and 37,000 adults done in the mid-1970s, the mid-1990s, and from 2003 to 2006. During the 30-year period, the time between eating occasions (meals or snacks) shrank by 1 hour for both groups. In the most recent survey, eating occasions were 3 hours apart for adults and 3.5 hours apart for children.

Daily calories for both groups climbed from roughly 2,090 in the mid-1970s, to 2,400 in the mid-1990s to 2,500 in the latest survey. But snacks grew more than meals. The average adult consumed roughly 200 calories from snacks in the mid-1970s, 360 calories in the mid-1990s, and 470 calories in the latest survey. The average child consumed roughly 240 calories from snacks in the mid-1970s, 420 calories in the mid-1990s, and 500 calories in the latest survey.

What to do: What those snacks. They're not necessarily harmful, but they can boost your total daily calories. And surveys like these usually underestimate how much food people eat. Also watch out for beverages. They contribute to 420 calories a day to the average adult's diet, up from 290 calories in the 1970s.

"Does hunger and satiety drive eating anymore?" ask the study's authors. Good questions.

Community Walk

2010-04-14T00:42:00Z

Thank you to those that joined us (rain or shine!) for the Bay Area Senior Games Community Walk last Sunday, April 11th. We look forward to next year's Community Walk and hope to have many more participants!

Left to right: Dick & Pat Lubman, Lefty Conover, Malinda Kaplan, Lindsey Kaplan, Dr. Walter Bortz, Rose Watson & Kamne Thomas

LFA's Trip to the 2009 AARP Convention in Las Vegas

2010-03-17T03:06:00Z

Malinda and I attended the October 2009 AARP Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed attending various presentations, booths, and gaining information. One of our Ambassadors, Eugene Conrad from Connecticut, traveled to the convention to share his experience leading a Stepping Strong walking group. Lauren Torrisi, an AARP representative working for health education and outreach, gave a presentation on the importance of fitness. She provided Mr. Conrad with time to share his experience as an Ambassador, as well as for Malinda and I to give more information about our organization. We also had the opportunity to meet with AARP archivist, Lily Liu, and share more about our Stepping Strong program with her. Malinda and I found the trip to be a positive one and look forward to attending next year’s convention in Florida.

Welcome

2010-03-15T20:01:23Z

Hello and welcome to the LFA blog!

We are here to support and encourage you by providing this additional communication outlet. We would like this blog to be where the Ambassadors and walkers can share their success stories, tips, and anything you would enjoy communicating about walking, nutrition, or anything fun. We love getting new health and fitness ideas. Have fun and see you on the blog!!