While most of us are still dragging ourselves from warm cosy beds hundreds of energetic seventy and eighty-somethings are greeting the dawn, and each other, as they cycle or walk along beaches and through parks. Don’t bother looking for them after 7am. They are already at the cafes sipping lattes or juice while catching up on the latest news, gossip and jokes. All across the world a growing number of the 65-plus age group, often from ‘power’ careers, are into ‘power-aging’. They exercise regularly, get involved in their local community, travel frequently and search out the latest anti-aging foods and supplements.

I was recently at the home of my ‘power-aging’ aunt and uncle for lunch and asked their 91 year old friend – who looks about 70 – what she thought was the secret of healthy aging. She replied, “Looking out more than you look in.” This dynamic woman has suffered tragic personal loss and debilitating disease yet you would never know it to meet her. I asked her whether she ate any particular diet. She replied, “I’ve never been on a diet. I just eat a bit of everything.”

The former head of the British Nutrition Foundation – an amazing woman whose career extended from re-feeding the people coming out of Nazi concentration camps to testing the effects of potentially toxic metals on herself because it wouldn’t be ethical to test on others – had a similar answer. When this 90-something nutrition expert was asked what she thought was the key to healthy eating, she said, “Eat a little bit of a lot of things – and have a glass of milk each day.”

We can’t stop aging but we can slow it down depending on what we eat, how active we are and whether we have any disease. The American Institute for Cancer Research says that one-third of the most common cancers can be prevented through diet, activity and weight control. And another third can be prevented by not smoking.

As we age we lose muscle and fat from the places we like it and gain fat where don’t want it. Scratches take longer to heal, we get more aches and pains, everyone speaks far too quietly and food just doesn’t taste the same. Then there are the social changes: grief from losing loved ones to death or disease, loneliness, being stuck at home because we can’t drive anymore and financial struggles. Such things change how we cook and eat. Sometimes it’s just too hard to cook a meal of meat and vegetables. A quick pop of the toaster and a nice cup of tea is much easier. But it’s never too late to make changes – to your eating, activity or attitude. And these changes can delay and sometimes reverse many of these problems associated with ageing.

Follow me over the next few days as we look at ways to put more life into your years…   Part 2 here