Famous people born today – January 26

General Douglas MacArthur, Paul Newman, Angela Davis, Wayne Gretzky, Eddie Van Halen, Jules Feiffer and Ellen DeGeneres were all born on January 26.

Oh, yes, and one not so famous. It’s also my birthday. I am now 78 years old. I am happy to say that I feel great and am healthier than I was 20 years ago when I toiled in the working world.

This is my birthday picture from last year. It’s the only one I have that’s decorated.

This is from my birthday blog post last year:

One of the main reasons I feel like I have things so together is this blog. I started writing it in March of 2010 with a partner who has since left for other pursuits. From the beginning, I discovered a focus. At first it was simply trying to keep my weight down. I learned portion control and serving size. This Italian guy was surprised to learn that a “serving” of pasta was not a 10 inch plate heaped with spaghetti noodles smothered in tomato sauce. No, a serving of pasta is about the size of a baseball. Incredibly, that was a revelation to me. But I put the information to use. I began to reduce my portions accordingly. I am not going to recount all the lessons I learned in the past nearly eight years, but if you want to get control of your weight, check out my Page – How to Lose Weight – and Keep it Off.

Regular readers know that the blog now covers a far broader scope than just losing weight. I am convinced that losing weight is a simple problem easily dealt with once you put your mind to it. I have expanded the blog’s purview to include the understanding that healthy eating is healthy living and healthy aging. If you do it right, you can live a long, healthy and happy life with your mental faculties intact the whole way. My family has both Alzheimer’s and dementia, so my brain continuing to work is a primary focus. I am proud to say that I have one of the few blogs that ties exercise to a healthy brain. Check out my Page – Important Facts About Your Brain – and Exercise to learn more.

The following documents my present health as of October 2017: My resting heart rate is under 50 beats per minute. My cholesterol level is 198. The HDL (Good cholesterol) is 80; LDL (Bad cholesterol) 109. I stand 5 feet 9-1/4 inches tall (vs 5 feet 11 inches 10 years ago.I weigh around 156 pounds and have a 31-1/2 inch waist. This is pretty much the same as when I was a senior in high school in 1957. The only medication I take is Flomax for my prostate. I occasionally take an aspirin for my arthritis.

From last year’s post: I wanted to share this information with you because so many people I run into who are in their late 50’s and 60’s appear to be giving up on their health and conditioning. They act like it’s over. The phrase ‘I’m gettin’ old’ bubbles out of their mouths frequently. A lot of the posts I write for this blog are meant to demonstrate that by focusing on your eating and making sure you get adequate exercise you can continue to enjoy yourself for many years.

My ‘go to’ exercise is riding my bike. I average over 100 miles a week year ’round here in Chicago. Last year it totaled just under 6000 miles.

This is a shot of me dining at the Nobu restaurant in Caesars Palace last month.

My brother stopped by yesterday afternoon and took me out for a surprise birthday lunch at a super Italian restaurant. He has to leave town first thing this morning for a series of shooting events. My girlfriend and I are going out to Jack Binion’s Steak House at the Horseshoe Casino to celebrate my birthday dinner Saturday evening. So, I am having a Happy Birthday.

Tony