When our guest speaker asked the members

“Which diseases we would like to avoid?”,

Bud piped up Alimony!

Guests:

Frank Valen was responsible for all three guests today: Steven Wylie and Andy Pierce, both of the Durango Old Car Club, and returning guest Tyler Silvernail. Exchange student Yuta was again in attendance and PE Mike announced that Pam Bowen has offered to provide him shelter for the next several months.

Happenings:

Steve Redding provided a nice update on our Mentoring Program. It is a huge success with some twenty good folks providing support to these kids. He is looking for help from our members in three areas: Rotarians able to lead discussions of life skills, provide occasional supervision of projects such as field trips, and ideas for community service projects. Call him at 247-3451

Jennifer Lynn Simon announced three events sponsored by her ACS. Today she was exchanging bunches of daffodils for $10 donations. They are also sponsoring a Four-part educational series for people facing and coping with cancer. The two-hour weekly meetings start March 23 and run thru April 13. Call 247-0278. And of course her major fund-raiser [$127,000 last year!] is the annual Relay for Life event, this year planned for June 11-12.

Pam Taylor, from the evening Club, announced they will be celebrating the 75^th year of Rotary in Durango. A very special evening at the Strater has been scheduled for April 13^th. Call Mike McG for details.

This is Your life:

A Club member since 1991, geologist Michael Matheson was born in 1959 and spent his early years in Detroit. While there, the city went “down the tubes” economically, there were race riots, and he ended up in an overwhelmingly black high school. Moving to Chicago, he languished in school until rescued by his earth sciences teacher and a football coach. They helped him focus on becoming a geologist, but rocks are pretty scarce in the Mid-West. He found plenty of rocks in Arizona and attended NAU in Flagstaff. Following a fling with Edward Abbey devotees, Mike resumed his professional status, moved to Durango, and opened Plateau Environmental Services. He and his wife Sharon have two kids, aged 9 and 7, and he has served on many community volunteer advisory boards. Harking back to his early high school years, Mike implored the Club to reach out to Indians and minorities for service in Rotary.

The Queen of Spades remains in hiding. The pot grows!

Program:

Our guest speaker was Kristine Williams, RD, LD, a registered dietitian for 29 years. She served at Mercy’s Wellness and Cardiac Rehab Centre and currently works with the Jicarilla-Apache Tribe. Befitting her motto “Forever Young!”, she spoke on “How to delay the aging process and other nutrition tidbits”.

Delaying the aging process is really avoiding dis-ease, which is the absence of ease or comfort. We want to retain our strength and energy. The core key is diet, which is “medicine for the body”. The oxymoron is we know diet influences everything bodily, but it affects individuals differently. Moreover, we know the importance of everyday diet yet often ignore it.

She is also very involved with nutrigenomics, which seeks to identify diet-regulated genes. She predicted that within five years, once we know ones genes we could design a diet that is designed specifically for an individual’s optimal health.

The ten key elements to delaying the aging process:

1) Eat more fruits and vegetables!

2) Get your calcium and Vitamin D (via sunshine)!

3) Eat more fish! Those Omega-3 Fatty Acids is good stuff, especially to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

4) Love whole grains.

5) Chop on nuts.

6) Reduce big-time saturated and hydrogenated fats. That’s easing off on processed foods.

7) Bump up consumption of soy – but not too much. This helps generate the good cholesterol.

8) Drink mas aqua. Take your weight, divide by 2 – that’s the number of ounces required daily. Consume by 4 pm to ensure to an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

9) Cut way back on calories. Eat less, live more.

10) The best news, enjoy slow cooked real food. Relax. Love.

Rotarians: Clip the above and paste to your refrigerator door.

She did not nag us about alcohol, tobacco, or sugar-water. Nor the obvious – exercise as your body permits. (My wife gave me a bicycle for my birthday last week!) A very fine program! Who knew that diet was an anodyne!

Next Week:

Program: Dr. Andrew Gulliford, Center for Southwest Studies

Menu: Beef tips Diane. Yum!

Yours in Rotary,

Spencer, your scribe