Unlocking Active Aging: Insights with Patricia Greenberg

Patricia Greenberg (“The Fitness Gourmet”) on Ageism, Aging Well, and Practical Nutrition for Seniors

 Mike Roth in Season 8 of Villages Vitality Life: Seniors Life Unscripted with guest Patricia Greenberg, the nationally recognized wellness educator known as “The Fitness Gourmet,” author of five books and host of the YouTube show It’s Okay to Be Old. Greenberg recounts her path from teaching nutrition and running a restaurant to completing 20 marathons, then confronting ageism as an older mother and shifting her work toward how people feel about aging. She discusses differences within the baby boomer cohort (including “Generation Jones”), and emphasizes that many older adults can do extraordinary things. They cover The Villages’ active lifestyle and injuries from pickleball and falls, then turn to nutrition: reducing ultra-processed foods, including protein at each meal, eating mostly plant-based without deprivation, and using a seven-day diet record for accuracy. Greenberg recommends moderate strength training, calming activities like yoga and nature walks, swimming for cardiovascular health, and concludes that longevity is tied to mindset, community connection, purpose, and social engagement.

00:00 Season Eight Welcome

00:40 Meet Fitness Gourmet

01:35 Her Aging Journey

08:01 Boomers And Ageism

09:16 Staying Active In Villages

10:55 Books And Break

11:38 Alzheimers Tip Segment

13:16 Show History And Diet

19:13 Weight Loss And Exercise

21:28 Swimming And Wrap Up

23:51 Longevity Mindset

25:50 Contact And Credits

New FAN MAIL features TXT & Voice Mial

Transcript

Patricia Greenberg & Mike Roth

Patricia Greenberg (“The Fitness Gourmet”) on Ageism, Aging Well, and Practical Nutrition for Seniors 

Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to Season eight of Villages Vitality Life, seniors Life unscripted. In this new season, we talk to leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live in and around The Villages. We also talk to people who have information vital to seniors. You will get perspectives of what is happening in and around The Villages, Florida, in addition.

We will add more information for all seniors. We are a listener supported podcast.

Mike: This is Mike Roth on Villages Vitality,

Life Unscripted.

Today I'm here with

Patricia

is also known as the Fitness Gourmet.

Patricia

Greenberg is a nationally recognized w- wellness educator and an expert on all things

well. Thanks for joining us, Patricia.

Oh,

my pleasure to be here, Mike.

Patricia has also written five books,

a

book on nutrition, [00:01:00] fitness, wellness,

life goals, and

in- has special interest in educating the general public and providing accurate health information to today's consumer. 

also hosts a YouTube show called It's Okay To Be Old, and at some point in the future you'll be able to find me and Patricia on that show too.

as well as a series of seminars throughout the country

empower older adults to embrace their age, fight ageism

and has a YouTube channel,

is youtube.com/@itsokaytobeold/videos.

Patricia

thanks for joining us here.

Now- My pleasure, Mike

started you on the journey,

educate the public and seniors as a,

life's work?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: So I throughout the years,

I I on to teach nutrition to culinary students and I got very entrenched in the world of food I opened up a restaurant and I really saw the power of how healthy p food helped people But also the downside of is it some [00:02:00] people get very obsessed about eating healthy and take care of themselves at the expense of living well meaning enjoying their lives over time I became more athletic I went on to run 20 marathons and 110 half-marathons and fitness and eating well professionally and personally became my life then I got married a little later than most people in my generation I got married at 37 and I had my daughter at 40 So when I was taking my daughter to nursery school I was 42 and the other mothers were 25 maybe 30 And there was a lot of ageism being thrown at me that I didn't even realize or know what it was but people were saying to me Aren't you a little old to be running marathons Don't you think you should stop running around in spandex You're over 40 Things that were really I'm like What are you talking about I had no I grew up in a very posmo cosmopolitan environment and it just sounded so provincial like I can't do something cause I'm 40 And then it became [00:03:00] more and more pervasive throughout life I would see it that people would say Oh I don't wanna be old or Only old people do that And I thought to myself That's interesting cause I was running marathons alongside people in their 60s and 70s when I was 40 and doing all kinds of extraordinary things And I remember s seeing emerging information about aging and what are we gonna do with the aging population And baby boomers are the talk of every scientific experiment known to man every sociology class It's in the news What Seniors boomers geezers silver tsunami so forth I didn't truthfully even understand it was a business opportunity I just thought This is interesting And my husband's a boomer My husband's 14 years older than me we'd do these non-scientific experiments to see what my husband was interested in as opposed to what I was interested in and we come together on a lot of things But my husband has this fascinating [00:04:00] background due to his age when The Beatles came to the United States in 1964 he ushered at the Hollywood Bowl when he was a teenager and he headed up the speakers program at UCLA and he met Bobby Kennedy and JFK and Martin Luther King and Gene McCarthy and it goes on and on and his stories were amazing And actually that experiences that he shared with me was instrumental in me looking at w how do the boomers feel I'm a boomer I was born in 1960 But then I did some more exper experimenting on actually asking people what they thought about their age Do they feel old And there was this un incredible divide how people felt how old they were actually how old they really are And that was the very interesting thing that I saw and I thought what do we need to do to age well What do you need to do to stay healthy in your 50s 60s and 70s And I embarked on the journey of that research and I wrote Eat Live Age on the eve of the pandemic and that's when [00:05:00] online everything exploded And I was doing all these seminars and classes and literally online retreats about how to stay healthy as you age And as it started to wind down books were coming out Radical Aging Radical Acceptance da So I said to my brother Why don't we do one it's okay to be old I loved my grandparents I love being around older people It's okay to be old Radical acceptance And my brother said Why does it have to be radical How about thoughtful acceptance like Yeah let's tone it down a few notches So It's Okay to Be Old is very tongue in cheek but it really is about a cohort a baby You're a toddler You're an adolescent Adolescence is a fairly new term in the history of people Young adulthood older adulthood and old is just a cohort I also have to tell you I didn't realize how triggering the word old was gonna be when I do my lectures and seminars and classes People don't mind [00:06:00] age well or aging nicely or I'm like fine wine but the minute you mention the word old people go nuts And people say to me You're not old I'm 65 I feel like I don't know where I fit sometimes in the spectrum I'm at that that retirement age The Social Securities Act of 1933 told all of us You're old at 65 Time to retire again I wound down from running marathons and doing extreme athletics because you just do with age and I had a hip replacement then I really started to see people doing extraordinary things and now that's all I do Not that I'm out of nutrition and wellness I really practice it personally and love to have guests on my show and talk about it but I'm really delving into what does it feel like to be an older adult How do you feel you fit in society There's millions of us Mike You know that The baby boom is what There's 118 million people in this cohort want to [00:07:00] share an interesting distinction if those of you listening haven't heard this before but the baby boomers are now split in two There's baby boomer one baby boomer two also known as Generation Jones So those of us born 1946 to 1956 are genuine boomers of us born late 50s to mid-60s depending on who you ask is called Generation Jones and it's the generation that follows the boomers So for example my my in-laws came from refugees from the Holocaust They came to the United States My husband never lived in a house They didn't speak English They had to really pick them up from their bootstraps and pull a life together When I was born in a house My parents already had prosperity The 60 early 60s were incredibly prosperous So our view of the world is very different I don't I don't see the world as a struggle and that is one of the key distinctions between the two age groups So it's an interesting distinction[00:08:00] 

Mike: distinction.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: The boomers really embrace it Hey I'm 80 Here I'm here get used to it Love me or hate me I'm here on this is where the cosmetic surgery and the hiding your age and the lying about your age they're creating their own ageism I really believe that that cohort and I'm somewhere in the middle don't feel like I'm 

Mike: Don't feel like I'm old.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: get old I love every minute of it When I go and do my little 5Ks on Sunday afternoon I'm there with my friends who are 75 and 80 and still out there doing things writing books I've been knitting my whole life My my aunt taught me when I was very little and now I I'm teaching people 20 years older than me how to knit when I go out exercise walk go to the gym I'm 65 Not only am I the only 65-year-old I'm the only girl in the gym and there I am still weight training and doing it And then I go out and I see there's plenty of other people doing this too

Mike: let

You know, I, I'm 80 years old. [00:09:00] I was born in 1940... so I've always considered myself a boomer.

It's kind of

disheartening to to see

pe-

"Well, you gotta be born in 1946 to be a boomer." That doesn't

Makes any logical sense to me at all.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: And

Mike: A process, okay?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: And the

Mike: body wears out, and the question that I see every day here in The Villages is there are those people who are younger, and they're...

a- and they can participate in sports and other activities because their knees haven't given out, or their shoulders haven't given out, or in many cases, their brains haven't given out. 

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: And 

Mike: I think

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: that

Mike: there's kind of a sharp divide, between those people who are

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: old 

Mike: abled-bodied, and those people

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: who 

Mike: old and

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: parts of

Mike: So physical health

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: really 

Mike: A, critical ingredient.

Agree that exercise is a, a key component to [00:10:00] people in our age group being healthy,

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: And 

Mike: in the active group. In this, The Villages where, where I am,

Motto is a senior active community,

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: okay 

Mike: It's very active with 3,500 clubs and activities

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: but 

Mike: And activities that are

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Require

Mike: stamina like ba- baseball or softball, tennis. Pickleball is

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: extremely

Mike: in our generation

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: here

Mike: I think we have more pickleball courts than any place in America.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Yeah 

Mike: you never want a house near a pickleball court 'cause the so- the banging of the ball, the balls is is tremendous.

But the... that sport itself creates the most injuries here in The Villages, whether it's ankles, knees, shoulders. Falling is one of the critical diseases o- of the senior age group, and there are classes here in The Villages on balance,

in various different terms. 

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Now 

Mike Roth AI4: you've written, like, five books.

Which 

has been the 

 The most [00:11:00] popular?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: popular book ,

is 

Mike: interesting, is the one I have out now.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: S 

Mike: Really s- very

very to cooking and nurturing and nutrition and,

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: calories 

Mike: calories and all that kind of stuff. But now I'm finding people are very, very interested

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: how 

to 

Mike: how to manage their lives on every level.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: is important the e you exercise 

Mike: e- exercise, eating well. But what's really, what's really, really people are finding, "How do I stay youthful internally?" That book is It's Okay to Be Old. 

Let's take a break here and listen to an Alzheimer's tip from Dr. Craig Curtis.

What differentiates Lewy body from Alzheimer's?

Dr. Craig Curtis:  It's caused by a completely different protein buildup. In Alzheimer's disease, there's a protein called amyloid that builds up leading to the death of brain cells in the [00:12:00] memory area of our brain. In Lewy body dementia, it's a buildup of a protein called alpha synuclein that builds up.

In the cortex, the outside part of the brain that damages initially, usually our emotional side of the brain. So we do tend to see emotional changes in patients with then go on to have memory problems later on, and they can be diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, but it's a disease where we diagnose, looking at clinical symptoms and makes it very challenging, for example.

In the old days, 20 years ago and beyond. Mm-hmm. Even in Alzheimer's disease, even the best experts in the world only had around a 75% accuracy of diagnosing, using just clinical symptoms. And it usually took an average of three to four years of symptoms to where they felt confident enough. Calling it something such as Alzheimer's dementia.

But if that person were to ever go to autopsy, they were only accurate around 75% of the time, and now we're in the high nineties As far as accuracy. 

Warren: With [00:13:00] over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate The Villages community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, CraigCurtisMD.com, or call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 to attend a free seminar.

Mike: Okay. So let me ask you the, the next question here.

So Patricia, your newest book is the, the most popular one.

How long have you been doing your podcast?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: So that's a good question cause it's not even really a podcast It's more of a YouTube show and I started doing media in two 25 years ago so it's been an evolution I started at public radio here in Los Angeles at Cal State Northridge doing a show called The Fitness Gourmet and it was all about nutrition wellness and interviewing experts on food and nutrition and health and wellness And then I moved on to KABC and I did that for a few years which evolved into Eat Live Age And then the model of radio kinda [00:14:00] shifted and it ended up you had it was paid programming So I moved it over to YouTube and at first we were Eat Live Age Then we were Age and now we're It's Okay to Be Old So it evolved with my books and my titles and my research to where it is now but I've been at this for 25 years.

Mike: Patricia as an author on books on food, and I'm thinking about food for seniors, what's your opinion on a plant-based diet?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: I'm glad you're asking me this Mike because there's so much information misinformation People say the science keep changing The science doesn't change Our Evolution takes a lot longer than a couple of generations for your body to change The metabolic pathways are the metabolic pathways so when people say I can't eat a certain food I don't feel well could be an allergy it could be an intolerance But more often than not is that we're eating so much processed junk food What is processed food Let's start there it it there's this [00:15:00] perception that it's just fast food like fast food restaurants or chips in a bag or artificial color and artificial flavors which is true That's the worst That's the ultra-processed But every food almost Short of being has some processing in it And keep in mind that some processing like cooking vegetables does help you digest it easier Cooking enhances the nutritional quality of food as well But what it is people don't realize how much processed food they're eating I only have cake once in a while I only eat chips in moderation yeah I have a glass of wine but not that often But if you sat down and wrote it down you'd see how frequently you are eating it and it wreaks havoc on our digestive system So therefore a lot of people who don't feel well or feel they're aging badly skin conditions feeling sluggish gaining weight without feeling like they're eating more really needs to take a look at the overall picture So if you're mostly [00:16:00] plant-based and that's not to minimize The big kick now is extraordinary amounts of protein I do think you should have protein at each meal and it's okay And you can have cottage cheese you can have chicken fish beef tofu plant-based beans the varieties is endless so having that at each meal is okay So I always say if you wanna go out for that double cheeseburger on white bread make sure you have a salad on the side So even if you are indulging in those things always have a little bit of fruit or vegetable accompanying it Fruit does not cause diabetes okay There's this big misconception now people saying I have high blood sugar or I have diabetes I can't eat fruit You can eat it in moderation So here's my go-to guideline and I'd love to do more shows about this cause it's important a seven-day diet record It's really easy You can do anything for seven days Write down everything you eat from the time you get up in the morning till the time you go to bed for seven days [00:17:00] and that is a very accurate picture of the diet that you keep So when you get up in the morning and you have a cup of coffee with milk or soy milk or oat milk whatever it is that the d the milk du jour write it down I had two tablespoons of milk in my eight-ounce coffee.

Mike: We actually are doing a series of shows on eating healthy, and plant-based has come up a lot.

in fact, there'll be a plant-based show about two weeks from now on, on on my show.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: All the 

Mike: the

food groups, okay?

keeps, keep you healthy.

Now, processed food, I can totally agree with you that, that

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: you 

Mike: for you.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: So if you write down accurately everything you're eating for seven days at the end of the week you'll see maybe you're having more of something that you didn't realize or not of not enough of something that you should add in So just my thought on that is that's the most accurate Everyone says I want to eat a balanced diet Everyone says moderation but you really when you see it on paper you'll know [00:18:00] exactly what it is you're doing

Mike: That may take a, a l- a little bit of effort that some seniors don't want to put into it.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Eat as 

Mike: many of us do here in The Villages, you never know exactly what the ingredients were. Were they fresh? Were they come out of a can, or worse than that?

Do you know what the most feared disease is?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Alzheimer's Patricia It's probably Alzheimer's When I 

was 

When I 

Mike: Is the most feared disease, although it's number three or number four and the one that doesn't kill as many people

heart attack or strokes. 

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: And

Mike: Exercise, building muscle mass.

as we age, our bodies don't automatically

as much muscle mass as they did when we were in our 20s and 30s.

you have any recommendations for people who are overweight but not diabetic

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Yeah so I I can speak to that cause I write extensively about that So w what the thing with obesity and diabetes is first of all it's very [00:19:00] complicated Sometimes it is There's a there's definitely a hereditary component to it and it is related to lack of activity and lack of exercise for sure and taking this on one thing we're learning now is that we when we exercise and we well or follow the recommendations there is this tremendous sense of deprivation And it really It's not mutually exc exclusive that you're taking care of yourself and you can also enjoy your life And unfortunately we often see this as an either/or I'm eating and I'm exercising therefore I'm not happy But I'm really happy when I can eat whatever I want and I'm not forced to exercise So the remedy for that is what science is showing now that we exercise and we eat in the same moderation that we rest and we enjoy our lives So it's part of the whole package You what I'm learning now for myself and for [00:20:00] again what the science is showing this exercising heavily until you're exhausted is really unhealthy for you especially as you get older cause you're wearing yourself out even more So moderate two to three days a week of weight training It can be light It doesn't have to be heavy progressive overload like these people all over the internet are telling you Five pound 10 pound weights full body couple days a week Couple days a week of yoga meditation taking nature walks something very calming and soothing to you wonders And the eating again is don't fast don't deprive Pay attention to what you're eating Make it majority plant-based and when you have that piece of cake or you have that glass of wine you can enjoy it It's all about the enjoyment cause if you're not enjoying yourself and you're not happy that's a whole nother level of unhealthiness 

Yeah 

Mike: I like your idea of

[00:21:00] weights. What do you feel about swimming a- as an exercise for seniors?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Swimming is fantastic I love swimming I think it's Really one of the best exercises you can do for your cardiovascular Also 

Mike: Yeah. Well, here in [00:22:00] The Villages you know, we pr-probably ha-have more than 110 swimming pools. Ev-every village has at least one, some, some two.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Which are 

Mike: are reserved for

grandchildren, and we have adult-only pools, and then we have sports pools.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Popular

Mike: And my friends tell me, " That's too serious for us. We play Splish Splash volleyball

with a [00:23:00] really loosened set of rules."

even in Splish Splash volleyball, when I've watched it, it seems that

participants are getting a, a really good half hour to 45 minutes worth of

activity in the pool, water resistance on their lower, lower limbs.

Now, our time is running out, Patricia, is there any question that I failed to ask you that you wanted to-- wanted me to ask you today?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: So I just wanted to close off I know we this there's never enough time to talk about all the things we wanna talk about right but science is showing that longevity is deeply connected to how you feel about aging how you feel about your own aging in relationship to the rest of the world let's say So I really say my closing remarks are always let go of what you think people think of you what the world thinks of you Focus on your own life stay strongly to connected to to to others to a religious community to a social community to a [00:24:00] hobby And the spiritual you know I never wanna put religion on anyone but the spirituality meaning do you have a sense that there's a higher purpose in life than just you do you wanna serve Do you wanna out go out be part of a community give back to others These have been showing the best way to stay healthy as you age is be involved so important You don't have to wake up every morning and say What's my purpose today What do I have to accomplish Just get up seek out some friends seek out group activities look for other ways to get out of your head and see how you can engage in the world Lastly for those of you who are single or looking finding love at any age is possible So I say the more you get out there the more you socialize the better you will age There's no question about it

Mike: The Villages, first year I was here, I managed to join twenty-one different clubs.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Ah

Mike: I quickly found myself busier than I had been when I owned the business, and I started reducing.

I [00:25:00] guess I'm down to

Now.

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: ran 

Mike: run--

two clubs for eight years.

Reduced that to running only one club.

on the religious side,

in The Villages, I've never seen more churches.

every 

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: every 

Mike: Twelve ads in the newspaper for various churches.

And there are even three Jewish synagogues here and some other assorted religions. But is a giving community here,

and it's a very caring place. Patricia, I wanna thank you for being on the show with me. And is there anything else you wanna add? If someone wants to contact you with a question, how should they do that?

Patricia Greenberg, Its OK to be Old: Yeah so you can reach me at www.patriciagreenberg.com and just go to YouTube and It's Okay to Be Old Yeah

Mike: Great. Thanks for being with us, Patricia.

Dolores: Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9:00 AM. Should you wanna become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mike@rothvoice.com. This is a shout out for supporters, Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Duane Roemmich, Paul Sorgen, and Dr. Craig [00:26:00] Curtis at K 2 in The Villages.

We'll be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show. Contact us at mike@rothvoice.com. The way our show grows is with your help. Text your friends about this show. If you enjoyed listening, use the fan mail button on our homepage, villages Vitality Life.

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