Make older years with diabetes healthy

Q: I’ve been panicking because I have Type 2 diabetes and narrowing of my arteries. I’m afraid I won’t get to do what I want after I retire in three years. How can I get healthy enough to enjoy my leisure years? — Lamar G., Knoxville, Tennessee

A: “The vast majority of variation in how old we live to be is due to our health behaviors,” says Dr. Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University’s School of Medicine. “Our genes could get most of us close to the remarkable age of 90 if we lead a healthy lifestyle.”

So, how do you reclaim your health? Try these:

1. Control your blood glucose, reduce your A1C to under 6.4 percent and improve your heart function. You can do that by eating no red or processed meats, no highly processed foods, no added sugars, no syrups, no simple carbs and enjoying lots of veggies, fruits and whole grains.

Plus, get in 300 minutes a week of physical activity and two 20-minute strength-training sessions weekly.

2. Sleep seven to eight hours nightly.

3. Reduce your stress response using meditation, yoga, tai chi, deep breathing — whatever suits you.

Q: My osteoarthritis is getting worse and worse. What can I do to stop the pain and joint distortion that’s showing up in my hands and feet? — Kelly D., Santa Fe, New Mexico

A: You’ve heard of “divide and conquer”? Well, that’s what you want to happen to the cells in your joints. Turns out one of the hallmarks of aging is that the body begins to slow down the process of cell division. As a result, old, damaged, tired cells don’t renew themselves. Instead they hang around, are out of shape and become highly irritating, causing neighboring cells to age and damaging your joints.

You will have to make lifestyle choices that tamp down certain stressors, like tissue-damaging free radicals that can interfere with cells’ ability to divide and conquer the aging process.

The five smartest ways to keep your cells young at heart: 1) Maintain a healthy weight; 2) move often, exercise regularly, avoid sitting for more than an hour at a time and make sure you take a walk after each time you eat; 3) ditch highly processed foods and red meats; 4) have an active network of caring family and friends and act generously to others, including strangers; and 5) see a doc at least once a year and keep immunizations up to date.