Our bucket lists, our bodies

ROBERTA: Last week we had great fun chatting about our bucket lists. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm a little worried about keeping my mind and body chugging along so I can keep checking items off my list. To that end (and because my dad suffers from the disease,) I've become a fan of Vincent Fortanasce's THE ANTI-ALZHEIMER'S PRESCRIPTION. He maintains that while you can't control your genetics, there is much you can control--diet, exercise, stress, sleep, social support, brain boosters... Doesn't this all sound familiar? Anyway, I'm chipping away at my bad habits and adding these: pilates or yoga three times a week, walking as often as I can make myself do it, blueberries and flax seed on my cereal, a mostly Mediterranean diet. And my hub and I have been trying to work on our faded memories--practicing phone numbers from memory rather than hitting redial and so on.

HALLIE: (who didn't have much time to ponder as she's off on one of her dream trips!)Eat well but not too much. Exercise. Spend lots of time with friends and loved ones (nourishment for the soul). And have extraordinarily good luck.

JAN: Roberta, I'm a big fan of both Pilates and Yoga - which work on brain and importantly, posture. I also meditate every day, eat well, walk a lot, weight train, and play way too much tennis. But I lost a friend this week to a massive heart attack, and he did all the right things, so I can't help but think that the real benefit of any of this stuff is to calm yourself by THINKING you have control. The lesson I've learned is: have fun NOW.

RO: I try to exercise - hiking and kayaking when weather permits and weight training, rowing machine and boxing when it doesn't. Just as important I try to sing, dance, laugh, see friends, play with my dog, work in my garden, and not take it all so seriously.

More specifically...calcium, flaxseed, lots of fruits and veggies, not much red meat (except for pepperoni pizza which I indulged in at Mystery Lovers Bookshop!)

ROBERTA: Okay, Ro you've hit upon a real weakness for me: Pepperoni pizza. My stepdaughter now lives in Wooster Square (New Haven, CT), home of Peppi's Pizza, home of the most amazing pepperoni pie ever. Irresistible!

HANK: What was the question again? There was a hilarious button some people were wearing at the Malice Domestic convention--it said something like: "Don't worry, I don't remember your name, either." I wish I could wear that every day. I can NEVER remember names, and no matter what tricks I try, they don't work. SO, so much for that.
But as for self-preservation: I try to keep moving. I don't eat white food. And I try not to agonize over things--most things we worry about don't actually happen, right? SO I try not to worry in the first place.
Sometimes it works.

ROBERTA: Now it's your turn to dish special secrets about keeping mind and body in top form! Or as Jan put it more succinctly, how to have fun now... And then, don't forget to check back in on Wednesday and Friday, because it's guest "hunk" week on Jungle Red! (And thanks to diamondmountain and the pizza review for the photos)