By: Kimberly Reed, Executive Director, IFIC Foundation   Date: 03/23/11

When I first joined the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation in 2009, Dr. Nancy Wellman, the Chair of our Board of Trustees urged our Foundation to focus on the topic of healthy aging, especially as the Baby Boomer generation was starting to reach age 65.  Nancy is an esteemed nutrition expert with a special focus on aging, and each time we talk, Nancy wows me with examples of how she is keeping physically active in her retirement years, including her passion for kayaking.  After our conversations, I always say to myself: “I want to be like Nancy . . . someday.”

With more than 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching the age of 65 every single day for the next 19 years, more and more people will be focused on growing older in the best ways possible.  The Pew Foundation Research Center notes that while “about half of all American adults say they feel younger than their actual age, fully 61% of Boomers say this. In fact, the typical Boomer feels nine years younger than his or her chronological age.”  Yet, Boomers will have to take real action if they want to continue to feel young as they age and the IFIC Foundation wants to be a resource to help them with tools including a special page and video on our website.

Although I have been surrounded by these important healthy aging messages and leaders, I had a wake-up call this past February.  I looked in the mirror – as my big 40th birthday was approaching in March -- and noticed that my arm and leg muscles were flapping in the wind.  I was not heeding any of the advice on how to age healthfully and my body was starting to show it.  For the past 15 years, I had spent most of my hours seated at the office focused on work or in restaurants eating delicious, but high-calorie food.   I also had just failed to fulfill my 2010 New Year’s resolution of exercising three times a week.  My “I want to be like Nancy . . .  someday” moment had arrived.  It was time to take action. 

I pulled out an old Washingtonian magazine article that I had been saving:“I’m Turning My Body Over to You,” and soon found myself in front of Evandro Almeida, “the Brazilian Killer,” at Sterling Gym.  Evandro helped me develop an exercise routine and pushed me to my limits three times a week. 

Now, just a month later, my arm and leg muscles are firm again.  I have so much energy that I just spent my big 40th birthday weekend with three girlfriends in Nicaragua hiking up a volcano and zip-lining down the other side with a fantastic and fit 40-something tour guide named Fernando.  As I blew out my birthday candles in Granada, Nicaragua, I made a big birthday wish.  I hope that when that wish comes true 40 years from now . . . I will feel as good then as I do now.  However, I know that in order for this to happen, exercise must be a part of my lifestyle for the rest of my life.  Here’s to healthy aging!