Eating Well for Optimum Death

Jack Lalanne died this week at 96. If you don't know much about him just watch this video, or this one. They sum up his whole attitude and philosophy nicely.

What I want to talk about today isn't Jack Lalanne's, life, but the quality of his death. He died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia in his home in California. It seems an anticlimatic way to go for a man who was so vigorous, but in many ways it is the perfect death for someone who devoted their life to health.

Here's how pneumonia works. Throughout the day, along with life giving oxygen we're breathing in all manner of dust, dirt, and germs. The lungs can usually beat back these germs through a strong cough reflex and a healthy immune system. But if you are already ill or have reached old age, there's a greater chance that one of those germs can get into the lung tissue and become infected. If that germ is one of the nastier types (usually influenza A or B) then you are in for some serious trouble. From here the infection can get into your blood which will result in your organs failing over the course of 5-7 days, or the lungs can become so infected that they collapse and you die within 5-7 minutes.

From what I can gather from the news reports, it looks like the second scenario is what got Jack Lalanne. And, in its way, that's a wonderful thing. I don't know the details but I imagine that he starting feeling flu like symptoms sometime during the middle of last week, was quickly bed-ridden by high fever and short breath, and passed away a few days later as his lungs became damaged beyond repair.

This is an optimum death, in my opinion. The reason is that Lalanne had a fantastic level of vitality all the way up to the week before his death. He lived on a very high plateau of energy and good health that ended with a sudden drop-off. He didn't spend weeks in a cancer ward, or years in a nursing home, or decades dealing with decreased mobility. Below is the most recent picture of him I could find, at 95 years old. And here's a TV interview from that same period. He's sharp, trim, and on top of his game. You can find similar video of him from every period of his elderly years... always unfailingly positive and active.
Imagine two elderly men. One lives to be 90, but the last 15 years of his life were spent in frail mental and physical health, with only the help of family and modern medical treatment keeping him hanging on. The other man lives to be 80, but he was in great shape all the way through, with a one week illness that got him in the end. The 80 year old had 80 full years of life, or perhaps I should say 80 years of full life, while the 90 year old only had 75 years before his quality of life began to decline into senility.

Which life would you choose? I'll take the 80 good years any day.

Guess what? You are living out this choice in slow motion right now. Looking at Lalanne's life, can you point to the one thing that kept him so vibrant all the way till that last week? Was it the exercise? The diet? The emphasis on helping others? Clearly it was all of these working at the same time, and most importantly, working consistently, that did the trick for him.

So as you try to exercise regularly and get off the processed foods, remember the rewards will not only come during your years of life but also in the quality of your death. You only get one chance to die, so do it right! I'll leave you with some Jack Lalanne quotes, add more in the comments if you've got em!

•"What you need to do is get that tape measure out, and start measuring that gut. Then you start working out and you start eating properly till that gut gets down close to it was when you were in your 20`s. Then you`ll find out what your weight should be."

•"Have you seen some of the crap they're selling as exercise equipment now? ...How about that Suzanne Somers? She should have been thrown in jail for selling the piece-of-crap Thigh Master. It just develops a little muscle on the inner thigh. What good is that? And have you seen Tony Little, the guy who screams on TV? He's like an imbecile. He says you need this little thing to hold you while you do a sit-up. Why does the government let him get away with it?"

•"I just want to see how long I can keep this thing going. The easiest thing is dying. Living is a a pain in the butt."

•"If man makes it, I don't eat it. I practice what I preach. I eat 10 raw vegetables, 5 pieces of fruit, egg whites and fish for protein, and whole grains. Finally, if you can't have a sense of humor, you're dead."

...and from his blog, written just 3 days before his death.

•"Hope you all are keeping your New Year's Resolutions to taking care of the most important person on this earth, YOU!!!!"

Badass.

The Dreaded Lapsed Student Encounter

2011 marks ten years that I have been teaching people how to take care of themselves in one form or another. So I thought I'd share with you an experience that has been happening, like clockwork, every few weeks of those last ten years.

With my yoga studio and other wellness programs I'm working with thousands of people a year. And the reality of this kind of business is that a good chunk of your customers will not stick around long. They'll try hard for a few months and then will just stop coming. A few missed weeks becomes a few missed months and then years. As a result, there are hundreds of people walking around who I've taught in the past but have since lapsed in their training.

So, I'll be out and about, going to the bank or the post office or something, and in front of me in line or across the street I'll see one of these students also going about their business. From here the encounter can go one of two ways.

1. Suddenly we're in The Bourne Identity. The person gains secret agent powers of stealth and misdirection. They blend into crowds, get a very important message on their cell phone, take an abnormal interest in a window display, anything to avoid eye contact. In mere seconds they have slipped off down a side street or ducked into a building. Amazing!

2. The awkward conversation. If visual contact has been undeniably established and escape is impossible we enter into an uncomfortable parlay that goes something like this.

"Oh hey there [student's name], you going to the ATM too?"
"Patrick! Yeah! I've been meaning to come by and take a class but it's been sooo busy this year my department at the office was just merged with another one and with my daughter's ballet classes I can't make it on Saturday morning anymore so I'm trying to find the time on Wednesdays it's so good to see you!"
"Uh, yeah, you too!"
"You know I just feel so much better when I exercise and you're a great teacher, it's not you, it's just my schedule has been so crazy it's hard for us parents to make time for ourselves, things should quiet down in spring and I'll definitely be by, ok, have to go great to see you!"
And like scenario 1, an amazing disappearing act takes place.

At first these encounters freaked me out, but talking to other people in the yoga/fitness/wellness field over the years I've learned that they are quite commonplace amongst all teachers. I'm sure these descriptions have rung some bells with you as well, no matter which side of the situation you've been on.

There's no need for these awkward moments. Believe it or not, I don't carry a mental list with me of people who've stopped coming to class and who I can find on the street and wag my finger at. I'm usually really happy just to see you, and the thought "Why haven't you been coming" doesn't even enter my mind. You don't need to bring it up, and you certainly don't need to explain yourself to me.

Here's the truth: If you've worked with me towards a healthier life and have since lapsed, know that I DON'T CARE. I care about you as a person, I want you to be as healthy and happy as possible, and I will gladly share everything I know with you, but I'm not losing sleep over the fact that you haven't been by in 6 months. A human life is incredibly complicated and I have no right or desire to impose judgment on you for your health choices. You don't need to explain why you've stopped exercising, because it has nothing to do with me. That's between you and your body. Everyone is doing their best in their short time on this earth, and I'd rather talk to you about something normal than run through your list of excuses. So chill.

But what I want people to internalize here is that when it comes to your health NO ONE CARES. No one else but you has to have that backache, has to lose their breath going up stairs, or has to look at you in the mirror every single day. The people around you love you and want the best for you, but they will only invest so much attention towards your health. After all, they have their own one-of-a-kind body to take care of.

At first blush this seems like a depressing and mean-spirited truth. It's not. It's empowering. We spend the first 20 or so years of our lives working so hard not to disappoint others. Our families, our teachers, our peers, they all ask different things from us and the majority of youth is spent figuring out how to make them happy. (I think those awkward encounters I have with lapsed students are vestigial traces of those early social habits to please an authority figure.)

But then, hopefully, you grow up. You stop caring what people think and do things for yourself. And nowhere is this more important than your own health. On this entire planet, there is no one who has a more vested interest in your well-being than you. When you finally get that through your head, your motivation becomes like tempered steel. Dilettantes eat well and exercise because they want other people to think better of them. The truly healthy eat well and exercise because they know that no one else cares and no one else will do it for them.

If you've put on some weight and let your body slide to a point that it's starting to disturb you, get your thinking straight right here and now.

•It's your fault.
•No one else really cares, because it's not their body.
•This means that no one else can match your motivation and will to change.
•You are in control.

When you believe these facts deep in your soul, you realize that all the excuses and rationalizations have nothing to do with the person you are giving to them. They are all about you trying to make yourself feel better. Save your breath and make real changes. If you need some help, there are tens of thousands of teachers out there just like me who know what they're doing and would be thrilled to help you out. Just know that as committed as they are to you, at the end of the day you will only answer to yourself. And that's exactly how it should be.

So, next time you bump into me on the street, smile and tell me something good that's going on in your life. I can't wait to hear it!

(If this post reverberated with you, you'll probably enjoy this one and this one too!)