Inside Marcy's Mind

How Simple Daily Habits Help Women Over 50 Live Longer

• Marcy • Season 1 • Episode 63

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Want a simple, human way to feel better after 50 without spending a fortune or living at the gym? We break down six daily habits that actually stick: prunes for bone health, coffee timed for focus and sleep, functional strength you can do with groceries or grandkids, flossing that protects your heart and brain, non-negotiable health screenings, and morning light that sets your body clock. No scare tactics, just clear steps and a few hard-won lessons from real life.

We start with the small wins that compound. Prunes deliver vitamin K and anti-inflammatory benefits in a snack you can toss into yogurt or a smoothie. Coffee gets a glow-up too—enjoy the polyphenols and mental boost early in the day, paired with a glass of water up front and a firm cutoff before mid-afternoon to guard your sleep. On movement, we champion strength you’ll actually use: carry both bags, practice getting up from the floor, or try water aerobics for joint-friendly resistance that keeps bones and muscles working. It’s not about numbers—it’s about confidence and balance that make everyday life easier.

We connect mouth and body by making flossing effortless: stash picks where you relax or try a water flosser recommended by dental pros. Then we get serious about screenings. Mammograms, bone scans, and colon checks save lives, and the easiest path is to book them like meetings you won’t cancel. Finally, a brisk morning walk with daylight anchors circadian rhythm, lifts mood, and supports metabolism. To make it all sustainable, pick just one habit for the next seven days, tell a friend, and track it. When you slip, restart the next day—no drama, just progress.

If this helped you feel more motivated and capable, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review so others can find it. What’s the one habit you’ll start this week?

SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome to Inside Marcy's Mind on this fabulous Halloween. Hello, my fabulous sisters, and welcome back to Inside Marcy's Mind, the only podcast where I spill the tea on midlife and beyond with humor, grit, and just enough sarcasm to keep your eye roll muscles active. I am your host, Marcy, coming to you from my well, my home. I'm no longer on the road. I was in Ireland for a couple weeks, but I'm back. Today we're diving into a real, real simple article titled Six Habits: Women Over 50 Should Practice Every Day for a Longer, Healthier Life. We'll talk about what out each habit actually really means and actually how to do it without needing a personal trainer or a nutritional degree. Yes. Anyways, back from Ireland. I hope all of you are fine. Today is Halloween. Well, I am recording this. I left you with a couple of um best of podcasts while I was gone. Again, if you need help finding my podcast, you can find them on your phone in the podcast app, Apple Podcasts. You can find them anywhere you find your podcast. You can go to insidemarcy's mind.com. I also have another podcast called Aging Ape for Sissies. We talked about some things you could do with your iPhone today because I'm really tired of seeing everybody use their iPhone like a microwave. So if you're wondering what that's about, you can go to um Aging Afor Sissies and get that information. Next month I will be uh, that's starting tomorrow, but next month at some point I'm going to be dropping a new podcast called Unbottled, all things sobriety. And if you think you have to be sober or wanting to get sober to listen to it, no, I think you'll find that things that keep people sober are things that everybody can use every day. So I hope you tune into that one as well. That leaves me with three podcasts to do a week, keeping me kind of busy. But you know what? I love it. I love doing my podcasts, I find this really fun. I hope you enjoy listening. And if you do, share it with a friend. All right. So I saw everything you could see in Ireland. I was in Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland. Ireland is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen. Green as can be, rainbows everywhere. Honestly, everything you've ever heard about Ireland is true and more. Uh, the food, not so great. That's fine. I lost two and a half pounds while I was gone. I'll take it. I'll take it, I'll take it. Um, food is not my cup of tea. I'm not a fish person, I'm not a stew person, I'm not a shepherd's pie person. That's just not me. I have to be honest, I missed salads while I was gone. I am going tonight to my favorite salad place and getting me a good salad with homemade dressing. Yes, I still have my cold. I had my I had laryngitis when I left. I felt pretty good on the trip, and then at the end I got smacked with it again. It kind of came back around. Um, it is not COVID. I do not have COVID. I did not have COVID. Um, I just have a good old-fashioned cold. All right, so what are some habits that we can do? The number one habit, and my sister does this, eats prunes. I know we have this thought of prunes are gross. They are not, they are very tasty, and prune juice is actually pretty darn good. So, eating prunes, these little wrinkled wonders are bone-building superstars packed with vitamin K. There's not a lot of things that give you vitamin K. Potassium and anti-inflammatory properties. Who doesn't need that? Are you getting leg cramps at night? You need potassium. Do you have um sore joints? Anti-inflammatories. I'm gonna go back. I did it for a while and then I stopped. I'm gonna go back to eating prunes because of reading this article. Now, how should you use prunes? Add them to smoothies, snack on a few in the afternoon. They also work with calcium absorption and they keep things moving. And who doesn't need that? The next thing that you can do is drink coffee. Yes, your morning cup might do be doing you some good. Coffee phytochemicals support memory, focus, and performance. But keep it before 2 p.m. to save your sleep. Now I love coffee. Coffee is definitely a ritual. The funny thing is, is when I'm in Europe, no matter what European trip we take, I drink more coffee. I drink coffee in the morning, afternoon, and honestly, I don't know what's wrong with me. And they have more coffee stores, like Ireland had them all over the place. Craig and I were walking. Oh, let's just stop in for a cup of coffee. I don't know, it just is seems like the European thing to do. So I will tell you, I got my coffee content while I was there in Ireland, uh, drinking a lot, a lot of coffee. So those are the first two habits. Add some prunes and drink that coffee. Just, you know, keep it before 2 p.m. All right, three and four. Lifting something heavy. Strength training isn't optional anymore. It's our secret weapon against bone loss and muscle decline. You don't need to deadlift a car. Lifting groceries, grandkids, or beach chairs counts. Just move with a purpose. So don't overdo it, but don't shy away from lifting things heavy. Now, I do, as you all know, I'm ad nauseum. I know I'm a water aerobics fiend. But moving that water with the weights in the water is great because it's easy on your joints and it gives you this lifting something heavy. I do it every five days a week. So getting back in that pool tomorrow. I'm excited. I'm happy to go back, but don't shy away from lifting heavy things, just don't do something that's gonna hurt you, okay? You know, again, don't hurt yourself. Flossing. Flossing. Your dentist isn't lying. Gum health connects to heart health and brain health. Keep floss picks near your TV remote or your computer and make it a part of your nightly ritual. I use the Sonic Flosser, it's a water flosser. It's not it's different than a water pick. I love it. It's like a um toothbrush, electric toothbrush, but it's a um flosser. It's with water, it's fabulous. I recommend it highly. It was recommended to me by a dentist, and I'm not sorry that I got it. Okay, habits number five and six. Scheduling health checkups. Now I've talked about this. They're boring but necessary. Mammograms, bone scans, colon checks, they all save lives. As we know, I had my mammogram last year because I felt the lump and I did have cancer. So these things are important. So yesterday I I flew home Wednesday night at 8. Yesterday at 8 a.m. I had my bone scan because one of the medications that I take that I have to take after cancer for five years is um does deplete your calcium in your bones. So I've I I am on it. I have all my tests, I am meeting with my oncologists, my hematologists, my I have more allologists than anybody, but I am keeping up on it. And if I can keep up on all my extra stuff, so can you book them like non-negotiable meetings? Book them and go. Don't cancel. Don't not go. Take care of yourself. You are your number one advocate. You know how I feel about this, people. Morning walks and light exposure. 20 minutes of daylight in the morning sets your circadian rhythm, boosts your mood, and helps metabolism. Start your day with a light and brisk walk and maybe a good podcast while you're walking. If you know any, let me know. Anyways, I walk every day to the gym. I go to the gym five days a week. That walk to the gym helps set that circadian rhythm. And I will tell you, even when I was on chemo, I walked to the gym. And that, even when I got in the water and I felt horrible by the time I was done with my workout and my walk home, I always felt better. And I keep that in my heart. I remember even on my worst chemo days when I felt the worst, I still went and I always felt better. So even now when I'm a little tired or I'm a this or I'm a that, because we can all have it. This aches, that aches, this hurts, that hurts. As it gets colder here, things hurt more. Um, I go, I feel better. So those, and it's a morning walk. It's really important. Getting that light, getting that circadian rhythm going, boosting your mood, it's all important. So I've told you a lot of things, we've talked about a lot of things. How does that work and look in your real life? These six habits sound simple until life happens. Oh, Marcy on her podcast told me to eat a prune, floss, blah, blah, blah, and then you forget about it. So let's talk about what how to make it consistent, not perfection. You know, if you forget to eat a prune one day, you forget to floss, or you don't take your morning walk, don't give up, number one. Even if you forget for a week, for God's sake, start again. It's kind of like the prune thing. I my sister does it, I did it for a long time, and then I quit doing it. Well, I'm gonna start up again. I'm not gonna be hard on myself for not doing it. I'm gonna do it again and reap the benefits. So, lift water jugs when you're hauling groceries, floss during TV commercials, drink water before your coffee. I have started doing that. I did that a while ago. We know coffee is good for us, but we also know water is. Get that water in before you start the coffee. Keep prunes in your purse, they come individually wrapped at your grocery store. Schedule health checkups like you do interviews or anything else in your life. Schedule them as you do your nails. Walk with a podcast, buddy, find some podcasts. And I'm not just saying mine, I love true crime, I love reality TV. I have a lot of podcasts that I listen to. It's not about restriction, it's about fueling your body with healthy foundations. So think about how you can incorporate all these things we talked about into your day. You don't have to do them all. I talked about six things today. Pick one, pick two. Eat your prunes and go for a morning walk. Make sure you don't eat your prunes before your morning walk because you may have to cross your legs on your way home from your morning walk. But you know what I'm saying. Get that morning walk in, have your prunes for your afternoon snack. When I'm done doing this podcast, that's actually what I'm gonna do. All right. Let's recap the six habits. Eat prunes, drink coffee smartly, maybe get that water in, a glass of water in before you do your coffee, lift something heavy, floss, schedule those health checkups, and get your morning light. Just pick one habit this week, not all six, write it down, tell a friend, check in after seven days. Share your story using hashtag inside Marcy's Mind, funny, messy, or inspiring. I'll feature the best ones in my next episode. So if I see any, I will do that. Thanks for joining me on this spooky Halloween. And joining me inside my mind. I know my mind is scary enough, even on a good day, but on Halloween it can be pretty scary in there. Aging isn't the enemy, boredom is. Stay sassy, stay strong. And I'll see you next week right here on Inside Marcy's Mind. Go out and do something positive.

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Marcy Backhus

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