By Rita R. Robison, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Controlling calories, especially after age 40, is the most important way to lose weight, according to recent research. About 1,600 calories is about right for optimal weight loss.

To rein in the extra calories and watch the weight drop off, Prevention offers these six tips based on recent research:

1. Trim down portion sizes at home.

2. Skip over-sweetened drinks.

3. Eat protein at every meal.

4. Start a meal with soup, but not the high-calorie, creamy-based types.

5. Drink vegetable juice.

6. Make your own snack packs.

See the article “Six Calorie Cutters to Fight Fat” for details on how to carry out these tips and what the research studies said about them.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

The Washington Toxics Coalition and the Michigan-based Ecology Center are releasing new chemical test data for more than 900 everyday products, including back-to-school products and pet toys, on a new website www.HealthyStuff.org.

The site offers information on more than 15,000 test results on about 5,000 common consumer items.

The site alerts consumers to the dangers of lead, cadmium, mercury, PVC, flame retardants, and other hazardous chemicals found in school supplies, pet toys, cars, and many other everyday consumer products.

I recommend baby boomer consumers make use of this information.

I took some toys, a plastic storage container, and a pair flip flops to a testing day offered by the coalition last year. All of the items I had tested contained PVC or a hazardous chemical.

It’s especially important to find out about possible toxins in children’s toys because children often chew on them.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Some baby boomers are continuing to use drugs into their later years, causing the rate of illegal drug use to go up among boomers.

Boomers aged 50 to 59 reporting use of drugs within the past year has nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The rates among all other age groups are staying the same or decreasing.

“An Examination of Trends in Illicit Drug Use Among Adults Aged 50 to 59 in the United States” is the first in a series of reports by the administration on drug use.

“These findings show that many in the Woodstock generation continue to use illicit drugs as they age,” said the administration’s Acting Administrator Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., in a news release on the report.

“This continued use poses medical risks to these individuals and is likely to put further strains on the nation’s health care system…”

The report includes information on the types of substances involved, different demographic and behavioral factors associated with higher rates of use, and other issues.

The data used in the analysis comes from many sources including 16,656 respondents aged 50 to 59 participating in the 2002 through 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, a national public health survey.

The study surveyed use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and prescription drugs used non-medically.

The report is available at oas.samhsa.gov/.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Baby boomers have their last best shot at helping to straighten out the mess they helped make.

That’s the opinion of Kurt Andersen, author of the book “Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America,” writing a four-part series in Time.

In part three of the series, “Boomers: Older and Maybe, Finally Wiser,” Andersen said the postwar generation was the first to refuse to grow up, but Gen-X and the rest have followed in their footsteps.

“And the selfish, heedless, if-it-feels-good-do-it approach enshrined by young boomers subsequently enabled the risk-taking, party-hearty paradigm that has governed so much of American life, economically and otherwise, for the last quarter century,” he said in the article.

In their empty-nested years, perhaps boomers can channel some of the vast energies and micromanagement they lavished on their children to pro-social enterprises and volunteer work, Anderson added.

It’s a series worth reading especially if you think like I do that we need a new economic model. The financial crisis presents an opportunity to change our economy and spending habits to create a more sustainable economic system.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Sunday I went to the Thurston County Fair to take photos of the animals, exhibits, and carnival.

It reminded me of growing up on a farm. We had our own apple ranch for about four years, and then, after tough times, my dad was the field manager for a large company that grew apples.

Prior to the 20th century, the typical American family lived on a small farm. They raised hogs, cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, fruits, garden vegetables, hay, and wheat.

This began to change during the last half of the 1800s, and life was very different in the next century.

With the development laborsaving machinery and fertilizers and pesticides, farmers could grow more on each acre. Not as many farmers were needed. Many people left the farms and went to work in the cities.

Corporate farming, with government subsidies, took over a large part of the food market and gobbled up farmland.

We now have more city dwellers than people living in rural areas.

When I was growing up, I didn’t appreciate living in the country. I didn’t want to be a farmer. I wanted to be a professional and not work from dawn to dusk in food production like my parents did.

So I went to college and studied journalism, consumer economics, and public administration. I’ve enjoyed careers in these fields.

But now, I have a different opinion about farming. I think people can learn a lot from the agricultural environment and being involved in growing food.

Today, there are almost two million farms in the United States. About 80 percent of those are small farms, and a large percentage are family owned.

More and more of these farmers are now selling their products directly to the public. And the sales of organic food are climbing steadily.

I appreciate young people who are taking an interest in organic farming. I talk to them at our local farmers’ market.

They’re excited and proud to be working in organic farming. Many of them grew up in the city.

I hope that you have access to fresh, organic food in your area. I think this trend is positive in helping Americans get healthier food. We’ve gotten so far off track with the highly processed food grown by big agriculture and marketed by corporate America.

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