Seniors - Age-wise: Start a Winter Club

But hunkering down shouldn’t mean that we have to abandon our exercise programs. One of the really difficult tasks for us seniors in winter is to find ways to exercise and maintain our balance and flexibility. Of course you can always join a formal exercise class, a gym, or your local YMCA. But with the current economic stresses on many of us, we decided to try to think of an inexpensive, healthy way to incorporate movement into our winter lives.

So we came up with the idea of a book club clone called a Soup and Exercise Club. You can band together with one friend or as many as can fit into your living room. Many of you probably already have Jane Fonda’s or Richard Simmons’s exercise videos gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. Or you could borrow exercise DVDs from your local library or buy inexpensive used videos from the Book Bag Shop at the Saratoga Springs Public Library and your club is on its way.

I have a great video that lets you “take a walk” in just a few feet of space in front of your TV. As you walk in place along with the group on the screen, the video prints out a notice announcing, “you have just walked a half mile” or “you have walked a mile.” The home exerciser can work up to two or three miles with just this one video. And believe me, you will be winded and know that you have had a real walk by the time you finish.

Maybe you won’t get up and move by yourself, but with a few friends it can become more fun.

Maybe you want to try out yoga, or T’ai chi. Maybe you just want to stretch and do light exercises. We scanned the library offerings and found DVDs designed especially for people over 50 and even exercises that you can do sitting down. That means your club could include your friends and neighbors who aren’t too steady on their feet.

As for the soup part, perhaps every three to four weeks over the winter each of the club members would make up a pot of soup, freeze individual portions and then have a soup exchange with the other club members. Maybe one time you’d decide on a chicken-based soup or a vegetable soup. Individual diet needs can be addressed by having a vegetarian day or a low-salt day. You’d only be limited by your imagination and creativity. Sharing ethnic soups can open up interesting discussions of club members’ backgrounds and travels.

And for those who have a culinary challenge, there are many acceptable pre-packaged dry soup mixes where you just add water and with a bit of meat or onions or carrots individualize the result. Even chefs on the Food Network use canned stocks and broths, so every club member should be able to participate. Most soups are one-pot productions and many can be pureed in a blender or food processor for members who need a gentler version.

One of the most important aspects of healthy aging is to maintain social interaction. If we get stuck alone in our homes during the winter, we often start to feel isolated and depressed. Even if a storm strands your club members at home, you can still communicate by phone or e-mail to discuss the next soup challenge or to suggest some simple stretching exercises to do when you wake up in the morning. Or you could share recipes from magazines or cookbooks or even give up that treasured recipe from Aunt Flossie.