Thank you for reviewing this open message to many, many backers who have voted in this year’s Mr. Health and Fitness competition, and /or have donated to the Mr. Health and Fitness-designated charity.
May I re-share my convictions?
What fuels your passion for health and fitness?
My passion boost is (sadly) the millions of unhealthy Americans who can benefit from a lifeline like mine.
My proven 7s.fit process to thrive and strive is dedicated to them and their journeys..
It is my nature to tackle complex issues, such as healthspan and longevity, to help my clients and followers succeed.
My three specialty books and scores of weblog posts are sweat-based and science-backed to help them and you.
My personal experiences as a Master’s champion underscore my art of the possible with GenX and BOOMER followers. Yes, we can change the trajectory of PREVENTABLE Diseases with motion and clean, lifestyle sustenance!
What’s your favorite way to train or stay fit?
Fifty + years of elite athletics, and lifestyle lessons taught me that a successful Dolce VITA stems from progressive Volume, Intensity, Tempo, & Adaptations.
✓ My favorite sport is rowing. Yet rucking, road bicycling, swimming & good-old functional training with heavy stuff complement my lifelong passion for guiding others.
It is vital to enjoy what I do to improve my “healthitude“.
Only sexercise and Grandpa activities are as fun for me as mentoring others & competitive rowing.
What would you do with $20,000?
I will charitably donate it all to non-profit causes that Mr. Health and Fitness acknowledges.
✓ I never want money to impede the efforts of committed Americans who want to improve their physical bank accounts.
It would be a true honor to contribute that treasure, plus my time and talent as a Master Fitness Trainer, KABOOMER role model, and coach to the emerging Big KAHUNA project. Thank You.
Please Stay Tuned!
As a refresher; I was sought out for the Mr Health and Fitness 2026 Invitational competition in January. About 700 dudes agreed to compete.
Sure it might be nice to get featured in Muscle and Fitness magazine.
And sure, the prospect, however slim, of getting to the Podium as the Lone Survivor in a long competition can be appealing.
Yet, I accepted this competitive offer because my Big KAHUNA movement can always leverage donations, such as these prize monies.
In my third act, I am all about giving back and fortifying this pro bono platform to Keep America’s Healthspan UNAbated. America’s Glothic habits are costly and deadly!
Yup, Gluttony and Sloth, as two original sins are a big part of bulging waistlines, polypharmacy, and of living a bit longer but certainly not better.
Together, we can do much better!
Stay Well Past Forty!
Koach Dave
Ps. (1) The next round of the competition begins on March 9th, 2026.
I will be honored and truly grateful if you cast your Ballot for “Doc” Frost.
Friggatriskaidekaphobiaafflicts millions of people when Fridays fall on the 13th day of a calendar month. These Friday-the-13ths, like today, happen justy1 to 3 times in each of our solar laps.
I am a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat. So I don’t like or watch Jason Voorhees attack people at summer camp, or view Freddy Krueger scissoring folks on Elm Street…
Credit: Gemini.Google.com
Superstition
Like many notable days in our zany world, including tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day, the rest of the story about their origins is fascinating.
Our Greek word origin comes from triskaideka, meaning 13, and phobia, meaning “fear”.
Irrational, intense fear of the number 13, particularly when it lands on a Friday, started with Christian traditions about a 13th guest at Christ’s Last Supper. Good Friday wasn’t all that good for three people crucified on a Friday, was it?
Not to be outdone, Scandinavian mythology asserts that a trickster named Lodi showed up as guest #13 at a party before bad things happened to good people. This was definitely not a case of wintry hygge!
This superstitioncauses avoidance of the “baker’s dozen” floor number in buildings like Hilton hotels, shown on this elevator panel here:
Some commercial airline flights skip row 13, and our daily lives can be impacted financially or mentally. Wedding planners tend to avoid Friday the 13th, and some frigga-fearful folks will not fly on Friday the 13th.
As the lyrics of a classic song by Stevie Wonder go, seven years of bad luck for things you don’t understand can become the way.
What would Emerson share?
You may recall that I share written pearls from a forbear of mine, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Well, my great-great-great uncle shared that we should “break through cobwebs of fear“. Sounds appealing – yes?
I offer yet another Frosty acronym for you to ponder:
False
Expectations
Appearing
Real.
This beckons the question, “What about you, Koach Dave?”
My mini-fears?
I get white-knuckled and knee-buckled when I am at a height where I can see over the edge like a restraining rail at the Empire State Building’s observation deck, or see clear to the ground or waterline – like walking on the “catwalks” from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.
An episodic dream in my REM sleep is that I miss flights or classes. I have read that “missing movement” is a common dream and fear of sorts.
One Newsweek report offered that “Planes take off, and rise higher and higher and take you places, so the dreams of missing a plane likely represent the pressure to accomplish something that will ‘take off’ and help you rise in your career or reach a high goal before it is too late.”
Could it be a Frosty case of FOMO, or that Fear of missing out?
And/or is it my quest to promote the big KAHUNA movement to Keep America’s Healthspan UNAbated?
I sense that these answers are YES.
Dream on, and believe in achieving. Forego Friggatriskaidekaphobiaand work your way through cobwebs of false expectations as I do.
This image below looks more familiar to you than it does for us Cali denizens. I hope that warm Epsom soaks are easing your back strain from snow-shoveling! I just heard from a rowing and bike-riding buddy in North Carolina who was monitoring his heart rate while shoveling. Yup, it is very good exercise!
What’s Going On?!
I just read that colorectal cancer is going non-linear for those under age 50 in America. Oy!
According to the Wall Street Journal, Colorectal cancers surpassed breast cancer for American deaths (aged 20-49) in 2023.
It was colorectal cancers in men – not prostate cancer that was a top issue in prior studies.
Now, colorectal cancer is the sad chart-topper for both Mars and Venus 🙁
In conventional thought, cancers were thought to rise with age. A Doctor named Madapa Kundranda in Phoenix advised that this new finding is “absolutely disconcerting.”
We do know that these insidious cancers can progress more rapidly in young people than in folks like me. [I am on a 3-year cycle for screening due to my age, and prior intestinal polyps (thankfully benign ones].
Is it processed foods that are killing our young?
Why did our western medicine system think that 45 years old was a benchmark for starting colorectal cancer screening?
Much remains to be studied and concluded about what is going on with the colorectal death rates, and what is a proper age for screening – in cases of genetic risk, and no risk from heredity.
Yet, clearly HOUSTON – We have a big problem!
Next, another big and truly unhealthy problem is getting just press…
I suppose we can feel a wee bit better as this trend is not for what we used to call “cancer sticks” smoked by Marlboro men and housewives. Rather, these rises are for nicotine pouches and vaping.
Is this a social phenomenon of concern? You bet, Red Ryder.The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research reported last August (2025) that ““The patterns of substance use are changing over time, with cannabis use, vaping of both nicotine and cannabis, and psychedelic drug use increasing across all age groups.” What is good about that trend , absolutely nada.
4. Good? Grief!
No, I’m not quoting a Peanuts character. I am working my way through the untimely and tragic loss of a fine man of God.
This now-heavenly soul was my Reverend for a fleeting period of time.
A Grief Observed, written by C.S. Lewis is now on my reading list!
Here is my reason why as suggested by another man of the cloth, Iowa’s Evan Welcher …
“Those of us in bereavement must continue to take care of ourselves. We must try to eat right, exercise, keep house, do laundry, and for the sake of our fellow man, shower.
We must continue to stimulate our minds even though it hurts to not be able to share new things with our cherished one. We must endeavor … to work at our vocation and hobbies, because whether we find the joy in it all at the moment: we still live.”
Keep Calm and Carry on?!
5. Akkermansia Municiphila
Does a good gut support glory? I think so! So let’s broach a “gut bomb” that is gaining visibility – the Akkermansia bacteria.
These microbes “break down mucin in the gut, which strengthens the gut lining. This helps prevent toxins and harmful particles from leaking into your body and causing inflammation. Less inflammation means better control of blood sugar and a healthier metabolism. This makes Akkermansia important for managing conditions like obesity, Type II diabetes, and even some heart diseases.”
However, comma… we don’t know what we don’t know about long term effects. We do know that high levels of this bacteria correlate to the incidence of Parkinson’s Disease – yup. And, if it becomes excessive in some folks, leaky guts may result which is the opposite of what is intended for metabolic health,
“monitoring how much Akkermansia is in your gut is essential”,
especially if you have underlying health issues. Talking to a healthcare provider before taking Akkermansia supplements is always good.” Stay tuned as I’ll report back as your lab rat with a sample size of one…
.
6. Sugar Substitutes ?!
A topic that has bothered me for a half-century is America’s growing use of sugar substitutes such as aspartame, acesulfame potassium (ACE-K), and sucralose.
Science Direct offers a “big picture” (below) of what Ace-K can impact – from developing babies in womb, to the gut, endocrine system, and our liver.
Sure, our FDA approved the measured use of ACE-K.
Yet some concerned citizens like me shy away from ACE-K and artificialities as crutches for America’s sweet tooths.
I wager that you aren’t surprised that the American Beverage Association claims artificial sweeteners are safe to ingest.
We know that sugar can be inflammatory and lead to obesity and diabetes. What about artificial sugars? Results are mixed.
The Wall Street Journal just reported that “large scientific studies show a connection between consumption of non-sugar sweeteners and certain health problems and gut dysfunction.”
I ask – Who needs more of those? You may recall that I quote the legendary Jack LaLanne often about processed and unnatural foodstuffs:
“If man made it, don’t eat it.”
Shifting from these public service notifications – – – how is your vitality faring in your winter wonderland?
Welcome to our December edition, fellow Healthitude enthusiasts!
Thank you for investing a bit of your personal capital to sustain your long-term physical portfolio with a lifeline from my operating system!
When you reach the bottom of this article, you will find attractive Deals that become a Win-win for the big KAHUNA and for you.
Resolve?
We are halfway through this 2025-2026 Holiday season.
How are you doing, physically and mentally, at this Halftime show?
Those two to 5 pounds of added white fat for many Americans are harder to shed as we age. ‘Tis far better to avoid the storage of white fat – unless you plan to be a member of the next Donner Party…
Naughty and Nice
Here’s hope that those North Pole elves have you covered.
Please be uber-nice to those strangers, acquaintances, and compadres with whom you chinwag through and beyond this most wonderful time of the Year.
Well, whether the Holidays (Hannukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Festivus…) are truly wonderful depends on matters within and beyond our control. So, let’s commit to working on those factors that we can control – like mental anguish, loneliness, and poor lifestyle choices. Surely I know that you get plenty of coaching from Madison Avenue and digital sources about Holiday Happiness.
I pile on with my counsel that motion and sweat can tackle the causes of Holiday unhappiness. And, it does not take hours to move your muscles and joints or generate happy hormones. Here is one of my “atomic” Holiday habits:
a. before a party or social event – I do 25 bodyweight squats, 25 pushups, and 25 Dead Bug moves.
Granted, these are all in our sagittal (front to back) planes of motion. Yet I said “atomic”, didn’t I? If you go for the gusto before the fruitcake, eggnog, glögg, or lutefish helpings, add sets of side-to-side and twisting motions. Trust me that these little efforts count toward your enduring physical portfolio.
Recall that a prime reason for failing resolutions is that folks choose goals that are too ambitious and actions are too irregular. Yes, we can fix that!
Hoosier Daddy
Curt “I win, Google it” Cignetti is my unquestioned Coach of the Year. Talk about turnarounds! About-facing from the role of biggest loser in NCAA football history to this year’s undefeated Big Dog is remarkable.
Coach Cignetti is a mastermind of process. His key point for us aging athletes is that it is far more important to adapt and to work smarter than it is to work harder. I commend to you today’s Wall Street Journal article that highlighted Coach C’s adaptive, work-smarter system. Yes, it is important to do the work in that safe zone of your Dose-Response curve. When there, remember to adapt and make your movements count rather than count your movements. Go IU!
Stocking Stuff
This month, as we reflect on the past year and look forward to new beginnings, we’re focusing on the foundational element of Strength and a critical health topic: Hypertension.
Let’s dive in and keep our Healthspan UNAbated!
1. Medical Section: Avoid High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure, or HBP) is often called the “silent killer” because it frequently has no outward developmental symptoms. However, it significantly increases your risk for both a heart attack and a stroke. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is your best defense!
Dietary Changes: Follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, focusing on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins, and limiting saturated and total fats.
Sodium Reduction: Aim for less than 1 teaspoon of sodium per day, especially if you have HBP. – which too many countrymen do! Read nutrition labels carefully, as processed and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a major source. Fact: We Americans average 2 teaspoons of sodium a day. Even if you sweat a lot from healthy exercise, it is prudent to consume and absorb “right” levels of sodium from natural foods.
Exercise: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (like brisk walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Note that these are our Government’s “blanket” guidelines for Joe and Jill Six Pack. Many of you readers safely exceed these weekly guideline totals.
Limit Alcohol: For those who drink, it is prudent to limit intake to two drinks per day for men and one for women – or less. The jury is still out as to whether abstinence is a healthitude booster. For now, practically follow the adage that moderation is key!
Know Your Numbers: Regular blood pressure checks are essential. A normal blood pressure reading is generally considered below 120/80 mmHg when you are at rest.
2. 7-S Segment: Focus on STRENGTH
Strength is more than just lifting weights; it’s the foundational enabler for two other S’s in our framework – Stability and Stamina as we age. Building and maintaining muscle mass offers tangible benefits well past forty:
Boosted Metabolism: Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest.
Better Bone Health: Resistance exercises put needed stress on your bone matrices, stimulates bone density, and reduces risk of osteopenia/osteoporosis.
Improved Balance and Coordination: Stronger muscles support joint mobility, helping to prevent falls. Or, if a fall occurs, those sarcomeres serve as capable shock absorbers. Remember that rehearsed exercises for our neuromuscular systems and proprioception (as your sixth sense) are your flexible insurance riders.
Functional Fitness: Makes everyday activities—like carrying groceries or standing up from a chair—safer and easier.
Action Step: Incorporate 2 full-body strength training sessions per week if you are a Kaboomer. If you are a GenX, then 3 is your “go to” number of sessions per seek. Use resistance bands, free weights, or even your own body weight (squats, push-ups).
Repeat after me as your guide, resisted motion is fine medicine!
3. Myth Buster: The “Younger You” Myth
Myth: The key to longevity is trying to look, act, and exercise exactly as you did when you were 20-something.
Fact: Attempting to replicate your youthful self can lead to injury and burnout. The key to successful longevity is rational Adaptation and Consistency. Your body is constantly changing, but it remains incredibly adaptable. Take another look at Coach Cignetti’s winning recipe in this article to reinforce this point.
Focus on Healthspan, not just Lifespan: Prioritize exercises and habits that maintain your quality of life and ability to function independently, rather than chasing a personal best from decades ago.
Embrace Progressive Overload: Keep challenging your body safely (e.g., gradually increasing weight or distance), but always listen to what your body needs, including adequate recovery.
4. X Factors from KABOOMER, Strong to Save, and soon Burden? or Banish
X Factor aren’t secret pills, or fountains of youth. Rather, these “‘lil bit extras” can help us on our continuing adventures, with long-term returns in our physical portfolios.
Today’s subjective X Factor is Adopting a Growth Mindset and Purpose. With purposeful and immersive efforts- rather than brain-dead ones – (such as volunteering, mentoring, or mastering a new skill), your brain stays engaged, your stress levels decrease, and your motivation to maintain physical health soars. Purpose fuels Healthitude.
5. Dave’s Latest Checkout: Fitness Watches
This month, I’m highlighting the Apple Fitness Watch (or similar smartwatches/fitness trackers). These devices are powerful computational and tracking assets to monitor and motivate your Healthitude journey:
Activity Rings/Goals: Provides a visual, satisfying way to track daily movement, exercise, stress levels and resilience and step counts.
Heart Rate Monitoring: This watch function is crucial for tracking heart health, especially for those managing or preventing conditions like HBP (Hypertension) and even A-fibrillation. Remember that any device can offer false positives and miss actual occurrences.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Heart Age estimation are also vital measures for trending!
Sleep Tracking: Offers insight into the quality and duration of your restorative sleep. Yes, light sleep counts. Yet, Deep Sleep and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) segments are invaluable.
Fall Detection: A powerful safety feature that can automatically call emergency services if a serious fall is detected.
Tip: Use accessory data that the watch provides as insight, not as a stick to beat yourself with. Progress and favorable trends are our game for life!
6. Healthitude Humor
Why did the 40-year-old weightlifter break up with the 20-something cardio enthusiast?
He said their relationship didn’t have enough resistance!
7. December’s Fitness Haiku
Cold wind blows outside,
Strong muscles defy the frost,
Warm purpose remains!
8. Join Us in the Big KAHUNA Movement!
The KAHUNA Movement is about collective commitment to Keeping America’s Healthspan UNAbated.
We reject the notion that accelerated or “normal” decline is inevitable. We are committed to strength, stability, and purpose! Yes, we can change the nation’s trajectory of glothic behaviors, and prevent preventable dis-eases. Yes! We can chase yesterdays of 7-12 vital years. Trust me.
What is a personal KAHUNA Commitment?
Know Your Numbers (Blood pressure, cholesterol, weight).
Actively Engage in Strength Training and Stamina efforts.
Are you ready to become part of a Big KAHUNA? Share this newsletter with friends who are also dedicated to thriving well past forty. Let’s inspire the nation!
Here is the Deal (cited in your welcome above)
By joining the big KAHUNA movement and our mailing list by MLK’s Holiday (Monday, January 19th 2026) –
you will receive from Well Past Forty LLC a digital copy of either Kaboomer or Strong to Save as your Healthitude operating system and guide,
You will be eligible for a Buy one Get one (BOGO) Deal when our new FutureFit online training package is released in 2026,
You will be eligible for a Half-price offer for my new Book, Burden? or Banish! to be released in 2026.
Stay #strongtosave. Stay #wellpastforty.
Back with you next month for 2026’s first newsletter,
Greetings, and thanks for following these #strongtosave posts…
Before we consider my cryptic title, please tip your hat to the lone dozen survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor on that fateful Sunday morning, December 1941.
God bless this special dozen of centenarians for what they endured. We are indebted to them, and to the millions of service veterans who wore, wear, and will wear the fabric of our country in wartime and peacetime.
Can we agree that No one wants to catch Crabs?
Full disclosure:
I stand before you with a malignant disease, yet with the prospect of thriving and striving for a very long time…My words are words of conditional hope for coping and beating a dis-ease. They are cancers far more insidious than mine, as they are usually visible.. .See something, say something – right?
Please stay with me as your tour guide on this journey from ancient Egypt, to Hippocrates, to the Dermatology clinics of America that help some of us fend off America’s top Cancers.
Under My Skin
A decade ago, a Navy Dermatologist noted, then biopsied a freckle on the back of my left calf.
He offered, “I don’t think this spot is anything, yet let’s biopsy it – just in case…”
Then, a year ago, a civilian Dermatologist biopsied a freckle on the helix of my right ear. “Just in case”…
Are there similarities in my paired parable?
You betcha
I received same-same yet abnormal messages – outside office hours – to call them right away.
These skin problems of mine were defining issues with my largest bodily organ – namely my skin. As a six-foot mesomorph, the surface area of my skin is about 2 meters-squared.
Nature and nurture, by these I mean inherited and acquired cell growth that has gone viral, so to speak, are my kryptonite for the balance of my days.
Yes,… I have skin cancers. My first diagnosed skin cancers were about 40 years ago. I’ll likely trend for more for the rest of my days…
As an equal opportunity host for abnormal cell growth, I have “earned” multiple battle ribbons for:
basal,
squamous, and
melanoma cancers.
Plus, I sport more pre-cancerous knife fights and uncomfortable treatment scars than I care to count.
If you could see me now, I have blue eyes, very light skin, and I live in sunny climates. My traits are not exactly a royal hand for winning a card game with harmful UV rays as my adversary.
Nor can you examine the double helixes of my sainted Mom’s DNA after she succumbed to melanoma.
Remember inherited traits? Boy, do they matter. By the way, my younger sister has also been treated for melanoma… Three is bad company for inheritance of “onkos” gene sequences!
El Sol contributes to many, many deaths in our world. Yes, solar rays can inflame our bodily systems in the near-term and for decades after exposure.
Granted, the Universe doesn’t owe you or me anything at all.
So… we should be smart… We need to be smart in an uncaring universe.
We owe ourselves self care that is “in time”, affordable, and effective.
Yes, a PREVENT Defense can help you and me extend our game of life via self care and early interventions!
Back to that largest organ in our bodies, by “real estate” …that expansive Epidermis and its underlying layers… And, back to Crabs….
Did you know that the gent whose oath defines western medicine generated the term “Cancer” 25 centuries ago?
– Good ol’ Hippocrates observed bodily spots that were swollen, hard, and showed radiated blood vessels resembling CRABs or KARKINOS in his language.
– Or, perhaps the image of some “thing” grasping or pinching a body to generate pain factored into his terminology?
If a ancient Greek patient had KARKINOS, her or his treatments might include one of these 3, namely:
1) cauterization,
2) binding the CRAB (Tumor) site with fresh meat, then shifting to grease, honey and lint as topical treatments until the patient recovered, or DIDN’T.
3) Nothing – if the CRAB was growing in a female’s breast region.
Aren’t we fortunate that we have progressed from fresh meat and doing nothing?
I’ll toss in another scary word of Greek origin “ONKOS” meaning Tumor.
Do you remember the IMMACULATE RECEPTION in Pro Football history?
Well, 1 in about 100,000 patients with an ONKOS may miraculously gain Spontaneous Remission.
Yup – 0.001 percent of patients that oncologists treat heal themselves. Get this – The experts don’t know why Spontaneous Remission can occur.
Is the Universe laughing at us?
As laughter can be medicinal in our world, what do you think of this situation in an Oncology Ward…
An Oncologist walks into the exam room with 2 types of news . He says, I have not so good news – you have a tumor .
Our “Good news is that your small tumor has a big sense of humor.” The diseased patient asks, “Really? How do you know?” The oncologist replied: “Because we radiate it… and it lightens up.”
I told my Mohs skin surgeon I was worried. He said, “Stay positive — we’ll shrink the problem together.”
Whether it is nature or nurture that causes cell growth to grow outta control, what I call Fire water can be applied early and with gusto – for pre-cancerous patches and non-malignant, superficial tumors.
Fire water? Informally Yes. Formally no, although I have been tempted to swill an alcoholic fire water as an analgesic in this regimen…
For 35 years, my Dermatologists have prescribed my topical chemotherapies with the official name of Flurouoracil (phonetically pronounced floor-oh-YOOR-uh-sil or in medical shorthand 5-FU).
5-FU has marketing names like Efudix and Carac. 5-FU is a prescription-only topical chemotherapy that treats sun-damaged skin and some early forms of skin cancer. It works by destroying abnormal, rapidly growing cells while doing little harm to our normal healthy skin.
(Parenthetically this chemotherapy is also used for some major malignant cancers inside bodies…)
Well, you may get a Freddy Kruger and/or a bad sunburn appearance for a few weeks, as I do, with my wacko skin issues. This guy “has it easy”.
Keep this water soluble drug away from your eyes as it intentionally causes pharmacological irritation to its applied areas in short order
You just heard that 5-FU (Fire Water or ointment) does not affect malignant melanomas. Yeti, it can deny some squamous cells that can evolve into malignant melanomas.
So, apply (don’t drink 5-FU Efudix) as early as possible.
Accept discomfort and pain to gain an upperhand over non-linear cell growths like mine.
Note: Yes, there are other topical treatments for what 5-FU tackles that involve irradiation with light. I’ve tried those too and naturally nicknamed those as “blue light specials”.
I have nothing against the high income and easy lifestyle that Dermatologists earn for treating my epidermis and dermis.
I am against stupidity, as I showed in my case with my few deep sunburns as a teenager.
If trivial pursuits interest you,
The oldest ONKOS was found in a South African humanoid’s skeleton that was dated to be 1.7 million years old.
Melanomas in the USA had a death rate of about 2 per 100,000 people in 2021, about 8,000 deaths annually… That is a high number, yet Australia and New Zealand have higher incidences. It is good to rank low when melanomas are the morbid matter!
Muerto!
A melanoma death occurs each and every hour in America. I don’t have a precise number or percentage of how many melanomas are preventable. Yet, whatever the number, it is too lofty. We can do better. Let’s start today.
Takeaways?
Cancers are not new. Tumors and Crabs have been diagnosed since 3000 BC.
Most skin cancers are preventable with common sense and avoiding “bad” sun exposures.
When prevention wasn’t present, or when nature picked on you and your BRAF genes, see your medical teams often. I mean that!
By all means, Accept a month of redness and irritation from topical fire water to hopefully avoid the scalpel and malignant tumors that can kill if not treated early.
Be careful out there and protect the largest organ in your physical portfolio!
DF
ps – Conservative MDs want us to apply sunscreen every day, whatever the season or UV level.
With these early days of autumn in the northern hemisphere this is a perfect time to chat about The Great Outdoors and our interactions with it.
Store shelves are full of pumpkin and maple treats and some healthy items, However, I caution that we should remember the Immortal words of Jack LaLanne. He advised,
if man made it don’t eat it.
LaLanne foresaw the unhealthiness of processed and ultra-processed foods, and their future prevalence. Sure, American food has become convenient. However when we’re talking about the inflammation and oxidation caused by excess fat, too much salt, and too much hidden sugar – I think it’s appropriate to go au naturel – what do you think?
Back to our 10th calendar month of 2025 with its Harvest or Hunter’s Moon.
Let’s celebrate quiet and rowdy times in our Great Outdoors, including the treasures of our national parks, our local parks, our beaches, mountains, our urban and rural trails.
Before “man” discovered farming to feed the tribe, “he” was on the move as a hunter and gatherer. I appreciate that lifestyle, as heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and obesity were most likely unheard of.
When in doubt, try to emulate some of our globe’s healthiest populations in Scandinavia and in Blue Zones. Just check how big is the difference between time that Scandinavians spend out of doors compared to us!
And while you’re at it, try to properly pronounce Friluftsliv. This Norse world means open-air living…. Don’t you just love the Scandinavian saying,
“there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes”?
Dressing in layers, as our Moms and Dads used to counsel us, is a great starting point to transcend “bad clothes”.
For me, early October meant donning “right” biking clothes for the hot, humid, and episodically wet Southeastern USA:
Next, I travel to Boston, then to Annapolis, Maryland for rowing and college reunion activities.
This year’s Head of the Charles Regatta is 17-19 October. Most of us know how dicey the autumn New England weather can be – from idyllic Indian Summer conditions to early sleet and snow… We Rowers will be on the water for ~ 90 to 120 minutes. The 3-mile race takes about 15-17 minutes depending on conditions for men’s crews on Saturday, October 18th. So, it is the warm-up and post-race time to get from and back to our boathouse that demands good clothing decisions.
Everyday a Holiday
With a mind-body alignment to make every day special, we can view holidays as milestones or benchmarks. And remember that living the open-air dream life doesn’t always mean exercise. Check out what Community Care Physicians offer as ten great autumn activities. Yup, raking leaves and rucking around to see fall colors are two of ‘em.
We can also celebrate that American Holiday of Skeletons, Ghosts, Goblins and Associates on October 31st.
At the Savannah/Hilton Head airport, I found my Economy class seatmate on American Airlines:
That passenger has a lean and hungry look – doesn’t it?
While checking on the Celtic origin of Halloween, I learned that the ancient festival of Samhain in Ireland marked the shift from light to dark days, and then from living to the dead. Irish immigrants wore costumes to ward off visiting spirits who crossed into the living world. Turnips were carved with spooky faces to ward off the spirits until pumpkins were substituted.
Then, sometime in the 8th century A.D, A Catholic Pope named Gregory established All Saint’s Day on November 1st. I find it interesting that some cultures honor deceased predecessors in their cultural or religious Days of the Dead. Honoring good folks, and not just miracle-performing Saints in the Catholic faith is a respected tradition.
Shifting from family to sweaty endeavors, you might ask:
Is there a “patron” saint of athletes and rigorous endeavors? – The answer is yes.
And wouldn’t you know that the designated saint was not himself an athlete?
We don’t need to, or don’t want to, be martyrs like that 3rd century Sebastien was. Yet, I see nothing wrong with a remembrance of a patron underdog who didn’t give up.
Mantras from Vince Lombardi, Yoda, Admiral McRaven, Sir Winston Churchill and countless others bolster my thesis for athletic perseverance and resilience.
Sebastien didn’t have the benefits of X Factors and many ergogenic aids that we can tap to be STRONG TO SAVE. Perhaps therein lies a lesson. Digital fitness devices, and synthetic X Factors cannot sweat for us.
I ask you to invest a little of your time for this chat about prudent and safe ergogenic (“work producing”) aids that can help us. You may recall my keen desire to have you pursue your endeavors and goals naturally. Thus, my emphases here will be on natural and legal aids that fall into these five classes:
Nutritional
Physiological
Psychological
Pharmacological, and
5. Mechanical.
You note that exercise pills, anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are rightfully missing from this classification of work producers.
I am not focused on #5, mechanical aids, such as shark-like body swimsuits that gave Olympians nicknames like “Human Thorpedo”. Luddite that I am – I advocate the same bike, clothing, rowing shell, etc for all competitors. I want to celebrate athletic achievement – not the boosted mechanical performance.
Nutrition? Caffeine drinks are a good example of natural and legal ergogenics that can be dietary or taken as supplements.
Physiological? I don’t like blood doping. Yet I do partake of massages, accupressure, and self-myofascial release (SMR).
Psychological? I advocate mental tips and hacks to get into a state of flow and inner peace to perform at my best. You and I certainly see Olympic gymnasts, and professional athletes wearing fancy headphones to listen to calming and/or motivational sounds before competitions.
Nutritional? I am just fine with 3rd-party approved substances like Acetyl L-Carnitine, and FDA-approved Creatine supplements. I speak from experience that my aging process impacts my metabolism and efforts to change my trajectory of sarcopenia. So, with physician awareness and approval, I do take carnitine to aid in my exercise recovery. Any creatine that I consume is from natural sources. Please know the difference between grass-fed and grass-finished meats. In short – if you don’t want grain-fed / corn-fed meats, invest a little more money to enjoy grass-finished meats.
Organ of the Month?
No – it isn’t the LA Dodgers’ organist that I’m mentioning. This month, it is our multi-talented and multifaceted liver to celebrate.
Thanks to Johns Hopkins for this image of a human liver”:
I ask you to be uber-enthusiastic about liver kindness – as in practical ways to make this invaluable organ healthier.
After all, healthy livers store glycogen to fuel endurance activities, and perform about 499 other important functions. Metabolic health is an overarching reason to treat our livers well!
Weighing in at about 3 pounds for an adult, our livers sit slightly to the right of centerline and just below our diaphragms.
Yes – these 5 guidelines for healthy livers sound simple. So – follow SIMPLE SELLS habits for Liver Health!
Moderate alcohol consumption
Exercise and be true to anti-inflammatory lifestyle diets
That’s a WRAP for the month of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Next month, I’ll delve into men’s health and tell you why I support the MOVEMBER Movement.
All Treats, not tricks in a spirit of Staying Well Past Forty,
Dave Frost
Ps. BOLO – Be on the lookout for Well Past Forty online training packages that are being produced.
Who doesn’t love September and its gradual transitions? Apples are ripening, days are getting a wee bit cooler, and Indian Summer awaits us in the Northern Hemisphere. For me, logging miles for a long Charity Bicycle Ride and training for the Head of the Charles Regatta (again) are highlights.
This weblog will soon shift to happiness with lyrics written by
First, with Old Glory flying in front of my house today on September 11th, here’s to Welles Crowther, the “Let’s Roll” heros of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, PA, and the thousands of others whose lives tragically ended 24 years ago on 9/11/2001.
National Grandparent’s Day [NGD]
Mary and I earned modest accolades from our grandkids on that first Sunday-after-Labor-Day holiday.
Did you recall that the Forget Me Not is the official NGD flower?
Here’s to you – Paddos, Nanas, Omas, Opas, and Abuelos/Abuelas as role models, counselors, and patient listeners. As my forebear, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote, the Felicities of Age can be super.
Learning what macronutrients can help an older metabolism like mine is one of those felicities…
Six Special Food Items
There is little doubt in my former military mind that “right” foods are MEDICINE. Very good medicine…
Dr William Li holds a complementary view on lifestyle diets – Mediterranean and MIND Diets as natural metabolic boosters. He champions a technical term that attracts me as I strive to down-age – Angiogenesis…
Angiogenesis – or the formation of new blood capacity that is diet-related.
Take these half dozen natural medicines to heart, mind, and body, please:
1 Tart Cherries
2 Lentils
3 Avocados
4 Beets / Beetjuice
5 Sardines/ Wild Salmon
6 Pumpkin Seeds.
Shop, then enjoy these items to improve your clean, anti-inflammatory diet plus rev up that metabolism of yours.
Important things can be both simple and hard. Here are today’s takeaways for lifestyle nutrition:
Balanced meals with protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Enjoy foods with good Omega-3/ Omega-6 ratios
Stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the day.
Limit processed foods and watch consumption of excess sugar – particularly in processed and ultra-processed foods!.
Monitor portion sizes of macronutrients to maintain a healthy weight.
This gets challenging as calendar years extend.
Include calcium and vitamin D to support your bone health.
Prevalence of falls is a major concern of aging. Yet fractures or injuries after falls are an even bigger concern.
Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) – Friend or Foe?
I don’t lose sleep over non-ionizing radiation sources that surround us in our lives. Such radiation is not thought to have the capacity to directly alter our DNA…Yet, I am concerned, nevertheless.
Why?
Low level energies emanating from mobile phones, 5G transmitters, microwave appliances, RF routers and hotspots, and power lines is pollution, plain and simple.
Who likes pollution?
Hopefully we will learn better ways to shield our brains and bodies for safety. For now, experts discuss EMF pollution within these contexts:
Oxidative stress
Nerve system problems for some folks and
Cancer.
You may know me as a technology advocate for things that serve society. Yey, electric and magnetic fields have a dark side of some magnitude. Be careful out there in this seventh month of the old Gregorian calendar.
Opting in to a monthly “Wire” from Well Past Forty LLC and me is your act of trust. For that trust, I am grateful. These Wires are not marketing or sales-oriented. I’m not sellin’ nuttin’ – to coin a phrase.
I am sharing vetted information and knowledge to help you gain and sustain your healthitude. Think sweat-based and science-backed!
Peptides?!
If you are like me, you have recently seen and heard much ado about “ buzzy” Peptides as ergogenic nutrients for muscle gain, weight loss, skin support, and more.
Let’s start bottom-up with four organic elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Recall that ~90 percent of our healthy bodies constituted these four elements.
With the right chemical bonds, these elements can form vital biochemical building blocks for us that are called amino acids. What is an amine, and what is an acid?
Well, an amine is a molecule that has nitrogen (N), that is it.
An acid is a molecule that can accept electrons and form “covalent” chemical bonds. An acid does not always contain Hydrogen. An acid turns blue litmus paper red, and has a pH of 7 or less. The lower the pH, te “more acidic” is the substance. An acid often can taste sour – like citric acid. Yet don’t be cavalier in tasting possible acids – trust me.
These four [C,H,O, and N] elements can form nine (9) essential and eleven 11 non-essential amino acids that scientists know of. All can be found in macronutrients, or the 11 non-essential amino acids are fabricated in our quite amazing bodies.
The essential amino acids – nine of ‘em – cannot be made in our GI system, so we need to consume complete essential amino acids from individual food items or from groups of macronutrients. Yes, it is possible for vegans to consume adequate amino acids…
The mnemonic PVT TIM HILL helps folks remember most or all of our nine essential AAs –
P – Phenylalanine
V – Valine
T – Threonine
T – Tryptophan
I – Isoleucine
M – Methionine
H – Histidine
I – LeucIne (note that this second ‘I’ in the mnemonic is stylized to make the PVT TIM HILL acronym work)
L – Lysine (We skip the last “L” in HILL 🙂)
Brick Building
From little building blocks to impressive 3-D structures, here is a physical metaphor for how amino acids, peptides, and proteins are constructed::
Amino Acids are Individual bricks: Imagine them as the individual, unique bricks you have in your bin. Each brick has a slightly different shape or “color” appendage that gives it unique properties. Let’s take Leucine as an example, with essential AA food sources like these to promote muscle synthesis and growth:
Sarcopenia is the result of insufficient muscle synthesis from aging, underuse, or glandular dysfunctions. Most adult Americans, particularly baby boomer women are protein (and leucine deficient).
Next, Peptides are short “2 dimensional” brick-to-brick constructs of amino acids: Peptides can be from 2 to around 50 amino acids in length. Peptides are your simpler creations. If you were using a certain Danish version of plastic bricks, you could make a railroad, or a planar surface. Peptides have specific jobs in the body, like as hormones or signaling molecules.
An artificial sweetener – aspartame – is a dipeptide of 2 amino acids.
Long polypeptides – or those peptide chains of up to ~ 50 amino acids then become classified as proteins. Some proteins in our bodies can be formed from thousands of peptides. Now, that is POLY! These “polygons” have folded, three-dimensional shapes instead of linear chains.
Proteins (Long, Complex LEGO Structures): Proteins are much larger and more complex structures made by linking together a lot of amino acids (usually 50 or more, sometimes hundreds or even thousands!). Crucially, these long chains then fold up into very specific and often intricate three-dimensional shapes. This folding is essential for them to do their job. Think of a protein as a highly detailed, functional LEGO castle or spaceship. These complex structures allow proteins to perform a huge variety of functions in your body, from building tissues (like collagen) to carrying oxygen (like hemoglobin) to speeding up chemical reactions (like enzymes).
In a healthy walnut shell:
Amino acids: The individual building blocks.
Peptides: Short chains of amino acids.
Proteins: “Long and folded “3D” structures of 50 or more amino acids.
Danger Zone !
Prolonged use of what seems to be goodness may very well have its dark and dangerous side. Trust me.
Quoting Hone Health, “Long-term effects of many peptides remain poorly understood. Although some studies have demonstrated benefits such as increased lean body mass and improved body composition (in populations with clinical need for the drugs), these gains have not consistently translated to enhanced muscle strength, physical performance, or overall quality of life.
“Data on the safety and efficacy of such therapies over decades are lacking, creating uncertainty about their role in chronic use,” Roberts says. “while short-term outcomes appear favorable, the cumulative risks associated with prolonged GH manipulation remain a significant concern.”
Remember that I ask each committed Strong to Save person to be a true student or your endeavor, and to only take risks for which you are accountable. Period.
X Factors
As your experiential coach and operating system tester, I am inevitably on the lookout for X-Factors that I use to enhance my healthitude and to help me down-age. I do not suggest your investment in an X Factor item unless I have tried it and experienced a favorable outcome. For this month’s WIRE, I offer my feedback to you about my positive experiences with:
Heat, Vibration, and Red Light Therapy Device or “Sleeve”
TENS electrical stimulation unit and
Vibration Stands
Mindful of costs, I let you as an informed follower to do your own market survey for “best value” items. It is little surprise that a majority of X-Factor items are built offshore, many in a certain Asian country nicknamed “The Middle Kingdom.” Caveat Emptor.
=> A Heat, Vibration, and Red Light therapy “sleeve” or device may look like this model:
This device is great for my elbows, shoulders and ankles too. USB-rechargeable. The varied light wavelengths have different healing properties. Go ahead and make waves!
=> Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Unit
These reasonably priced units are USB-chargeable. I have had great success in use of a TENS unit for stimulation and healing.
My acupuncturist used a TENS with her acupuncture needles to promote healing of my Medial Cartilage tear:
I use a Vibration Plate for my personal training with a gent who has a spastic paraplegia. I also use the plate for me 🙂 This link provides some Vibration plate models with different features and functions. I spent about $85 for the plate that I’ve very happy with.
Benefits of Vibration may include:
balance, gait, posture, and motor coordination. Muscle strength and mass may also increase. Some reports suggest that a Plate can mollify fibromyalgia.
Safety first, and don’t invest more money than you afford for perceived benefits of X Factor.
August Haiku
Dog Days of Summer
Sirius crossing our Sky
Autumn draws closer.
Benefits of Exercise
As John Wayne’s character once shared on screen, “Life is tough enough without being stupid.”
And, as I believe, our Universe doesn’t exist to do me any favors.
So, what’s a KABOOMER or GenX to do?
Facing Cancer – Exercise.
Facing ASCVD – Exercise.
Staving off Dementia Related Diseases – Exercise.
Improve Night Life – Sexercise.
Carve out 7-12 extra healthy years – Exercise.
What’s not to Love?
It is my goal to help you learn to immerse and enjoy your “Motion as Lotion.”
Please contact me to build your habitual success to thrive and strive longer than your peers.
Well, May Gray days have passed for those of us in Southern California. And, with our May flowers brought to bloom, some of those allergenic (achoo) histamines that hit folks like me are lessening.
You won’t get complaints from me for that seasonal advancement, nor for the added “eco” presence of bees and monarch butterflies…
June Gloom in my San Diego region is upon us.
When we wake up to dog day summer mornings in July and August we can reflect that cool and gray days of May and June were appreciated.
About the only downside at our home is lesser power generation and energy storage in our solar panel roof system.
Odds Are
Our newsgram addresses what I call our 1-3-5-7 Summer Span Ex. And yes, I hope that we committed folks will make the most of our longer days in the northern hemisphere to thrive and strive a little bit extra. Even for vacation or staycation time… We have more daylight hours to take charge and move out after a rise and shine and of course making our bed. Do contact me if you want more rationale or context for these Odd number Challenges for June.
1 – Move 15% more each day to get ready for the pool or beach.
3 – Make it a 3-D day!
Move in all three of our body planes daily –
a. Front to back (sagittal movements)
b. Side to side (frontal plane movements) and
c. Twisting / Corkscrew (transverse plane efforts.)
5 – Move your body isotonically with 5 types of resisted movements
Lift things
Push Things
Pull Things
Twist while holding things and
Carry things.
7 – No, I don’t ask you to pursue extra METAs on all seven days of the week, or on the Beatles’ 8 days a week 🙂
I do suggest that you and I take a META holiday one day each week. (I use the term META to mean Metabolic Equivalent of Tasks and Activity.) I made a separate post that details this caloric accounting system for our physical banking.
Again, I don’t mean total skipping of motion on your “off day.”
I do mean a taper day with some stretching, plus balancing acts, so to speak, for spatial awareness/fall prevention, and perhaps a little bodyweight work in your activity of daily life (ADL).
When you resume your HEALTHITUDE movements on the following day, you will be revitalized.
Rest and Restoration are important at any any, yet more so when those calendar years creep up on us. Trust me…
Span Ex
7. And, the last entry in our 1-3-5-7 Rubric is a combination of Upgrade and X-Factors in my new book, Burden? Or Banish!
Are you ready, Healthituders?
Mentalspan (yup – Mind-Body Alignment or MBA reminder to treat your hippocampi well.)
Socialspan (No man or woman is an island – right? The social aspect of pickleball is nearly as important as the physical activity.)
Strongspan (Commit to 2 or 3 dedicated sessions of moving stuff or isometric muscle contractions every week. I do 2X/week, at my calendar age of 72. Gen X or younger may do nicely with 3 resistance workouts weekly.)
Windspan (strive for at least 15% more aerobic motion above our Government’s guidelines). And I quote, “Adults who sit less and perform any amount of moderate to vigorous activity achieve some health benefits.”
PNSspan (enhance parasympathetic feed and restore efforts including restorative sleep, as opposed to chronic fight or flight stressors)
Safespan (Remember that your living to 100 calculator highlights proper use of seat belts, dental floss, and sunscreen. Limit your exposure to forever chemicals, plastics, blue wavelength light, and beware of electronic radiation (5G EMF).
Here’s to your and my daily progress for HEALTHITUDE.
As a refresher, I use eleven (11) HEALTHITUDE letters to encapsulate enablers to Keep America’s Healthspan UNAbated – yup – the big KAHUNA:
Heart
Endocrines (Hormones)
Adaptation
Lungs (Cardiovascular Health and mindful breaths) and Liver function
Transcend for that “lil bit extra” –
Hormesis and Homeostasis
Investment in our physical portfolios
Training
Upbeat Attitude
Desire to move past glothic ways (of sinful gluttony and sloth)
Exercise efficiently and effectively
Stay well past forty,
Dave
Postscript. Here is my “gloomy” humor of this June day to help with our weather-guessing:
“I’m pretty sure the fog is just jealous of how beautiful and sunny our neighborhood is supposed to be.”
Medical Section: Avoid High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
7-S Segment: Focus on STRENGTH
Myth Buster: The “Younger You” Myth
X Factors from KABOOMER, Strong to Save, and soon Burden? or Banish
Dave’s Latest Checkout: Fitness Watches
Healthitude Humor
December’s Fitness Haiku 
Join Us in the Big KAHUNA Movement!
This device is great for my elbows, shoulders and ankles too. USB-rechargeable. The varied light wavelengths have different healing properties. Go ahead and make waves!
Safespan (Remember that your 
