By Frosty Wooldridge
January 5, 2026
New Year’s resolutions come and go as fast as 2025 vanished in our review mirrors. What promise did you make to yourself for 2026? Are you going to be kinder and gentler to your friends and loved ones? Will you work harder and smarter to earn a living? What are you going to do in the New Year to benefit your life?
When you look out over the American landscape, what is the most important resolution you can make for your life, for your spouse, for your kids, for your family, and for your friends?
Point blank: YOUR HEALTH! YOUR BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT!
To give you an idea of how much I treasure my health, I work out 1.5 hours six days a week. I swim a half mile. I meditate for 20 minutes in the hot tub. I lift weights. I run on the elliptical. I lift weights. Finally, I stretch every muscle in my body. I treasure my health so much that I make it my first priority.
Why? Because in my teens, my father died of a massive heart attack at 46 years of age. He loved sports. He loved umpiring in his later years. He inspired everyone with his energy. His youthful death devastated our entire family. His passing changed how I looked at and lived life. Every day gives most Americans an opportunity to live, thrive, laugh, work, play and enjoy this grand adventure.
As I entered my mid-twenties, I became a cardiac catheterization medical technician. That job showed me how my dad died of heart failure. I asked Dr. Moberg what could I do to NOT die in my forties? He said, “You’ve got a health heart. What you inherited are the eating patterns of your parents.”
“What can I do to change for better health?” I asked.
He replied, “Don’t eat anything with a face on it, and avoid dairy products like the plague. Plus avoid sugar.”
“Isn’t that a “cult group of vegans” that eat only vegetables?” I asked.
“Healthiest plant-based nutrition on the planet,” he said.
For a month, I studied Vegan cook books on how to combine fats, complex carbohydrates and proteins into a solid program for health. That was back in 1971. Today, as I am only 12 months away from 80, I am in better shape physically and internally than most American 40-year-olds. High fiber (40 grams daily) keeps everything flowing along my colon. I don’t take any pills or drugs to save myself from pain, high blood pressure or joint problems. I ski, bike, climb, swim, backpack, tennis, pickleball, and enjoy sports of all kinds just like I did in my teens and twenties. That job saved my life. I’ve been a Vegan for 55 years.
Ironically, I tried to talk my brothers into eating better. They blew me off because they liked their junk foods at the burger joints. My brother John, 60 pounds overweight, died of a massive heart attack at 50. Howard suffered a massive A-Fib stroke at 55. He changed his entire eating paradigm after that stroke. Many of my friends at my Buchanan Recreation Center have died of heart attacks in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. All of them overweight with 50 to 60 pound “food bellies.”
Those same friends struggle horribly on the treadmill trying to lose weight. They suffer discomfort trying to lift those weights. Yet, they won’t lose the weight. One lady, at least 100 pounds overweight, comes into the recreation center six days a week. She waddles into the pool, walks around the vortex pool, waddles out and goes home. Why she hasn’t suffered stroke or heart attack beats the heck out of me.
So, because of my wife’s challenges, I have bought every book on the market as to health and wellness. My latest book: OUTLIVE—The Science & Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia describes just about everything that I already practice as to exercise and nutrition, plus emotional/spiritual balance. I could have written the book because I have practiced it for 55 years.
He said, “Exercise is the best medicine in the world. Good, nutritious food is second.”
So, as I watch the ads on TV that present the wildest and craziest names for the craziest physical ailments, I want to laugh or cry because they always sell some chemical to “alleviate” your ailments, but never cure them.
In the book, Dr. Attia stated that 42 percent of the American public is “Grossly Obese”, much like my 100-pound lady friend in the pool, and dozens of my “gym rats” on the treadmills. The other 30 percent of Americans suffer 20 to 40 pounds overweight. That’s 7 out of 10 Americans who face horrible health consequences after the age of 60.
What Attia wants to do in his book: eat healthy, exercise daily, and maintain a spiritual balance. It goes without saying that you need a daily purpose in your life. You can read dozens of books on finding purpose after 60 years of age. Instead of an ever accelerating decline after 50, you want to maintain your best health all the way up to 80 or 90—and then, just drop dead quickly. He shows you how to do it.
Additionally, you’ve got numerous books and websites on how to lose weight. That’s the biggest key to a long and thriving life. Get your body back to its healthiest weight. The fatter you are, the faster you will suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and a dozen other ailments. Obesity is now implicated in Alzheimer’s Disease. Remember: NONE of products on TV will save you from obesity, lack of exercise and lack of spiritual balance. If you’re looking for purpose, I recommend Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Read it! Live it! Get excited about your life.
For anyone with heart problems, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, A-Fib, congestive heart failure and other problems, obtain: The Sinatra Solution by Dr. Steven Sinatra, 30-year cardiologist and CNS. Brilliant book, and it works! My brother has been on it since his stroke and has not suffered another A-Fib event.
Who can help you with losing weight? I recommend www.golow.com . They do a very good job of educating you. Do you have to go Vegan? No, but you really need to delete dairy, red meat and sugar. Go for salmon, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, coconut oil and virgin olive oil.
Me? I’m gunning for 95 to 100 years of participating in life. Every sunset stuns me over the Rocky Mountains. Every time I ski through 24” of alpine powder, I sing a song of joy. Every time I hit the saddle of my bicycle, there’s no telling where I’ll end up. Every day there’s a 20-knot wind, my windsurfer thrills every cell in my body. For going slow, I love to watch the water curl past my paddle while I’m in my canoe.
Spirit of Adventure
The adventure of life offers every human being the ability to live ‘the’ moment of his or her most passionate idea, fantasy or pursuit. It may take form in the arts, acting, sports, travel or other creative endeavors. Once engaged, a person enjoys ‘satori’ or the perfect moment. That instant may last seconds or a lifetime. The key to adventure whether it involves painting, dancing, sports or travel: throw yourself into it with rambunctious enthusiasm and zealous energy—which leads toward uncommon passion for living. By following that path, you will attract an amazing life that will imbue your spirit and fulfill your destiny as defined by you alone. In the end, you will savor the sweet taste of life pursuing goals that make you happy, rewarded and complete. As a bonus, you may share your life experiences with other bold and uncommon human beings that laugh at life, compare themselves with no one and enjoy a whale of a ride! —Frosty Wooldridge
So, for heaven sakes, get out there in 2026 to do what you love. Eat well, exercise daily, maintain your spiritual base, and keep purpose in your life. Life is a grand adventure!
© 2025 Frosty Wooldridge – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Frosty: frostyw@juno.com
