It should probably mean "normal for you". Often we think of it as "normal for people of my age."
Good News: The idea the "normal health" being average health, needs to be opposed. The health of the general population is much poorer than desirable, and could be improved, if people have better knowledge.
What we are looking for is normal good health. How should I be, at my age, if I was really healthy?
Eating a Healthy Diet
Too often bad health is considered "normal" in our society. We accept being over weight. We accept declining strength, and we accept the loss of walking and running ability. If you were healthy, you wouldn't let yourself fade away with no resistance.
It's common for people to put on weight as they age. Common, but bad for us, and not normal. If you add just 1kg to your weight every year, from the age of 50, what will you'll weigh at 90? To do that all you need to do is eat one extra mouthful every day. You see what a fine line we tread. And also perhaps, that our weight issues are not usually very badly out of control.
I always thought that the gold standard for diet was a vegetarian diet. I'm wrong. Modern dietary science doesn't give any support for the vegetarian diet. You might have personal reason for wanting to be a vegetarian. It can be done, but it's hard work, and you might struggle to be healthy.
Your weight should not be very different as an older person than it was when you were a young adult. Our experience of weight loss diets is bad, so we think it's a problem we can't solve.
We all know that smoking both causes diseases and reduces your lifespan. Don't do it.
Alcohol use is widely accepted and ignored. Alcohol misuse, is ignored, but it is a great destroyer. Excess use of alcohol destroys marriages, destroys businesses and undermines health. Don't be a victim of alcohol or drug misuse.
The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome could apply to more than 60% of all adults. Metabolic syndrome might be common, but it's not necessary, and it's certainly not "normal."
Fitness for Work and Play
You should have energy to the ordinary things of life.
You should be able to walk long distances, and go up and down hills with ease.
You should be able to walk briskly. Can you stand upon one leg while putting a sock on the other?
When your walk slows, and especially when you begin to shuffle, your health is seriously impaired.
Exercise increases your strength and your confidence, and improves your quality of life.
An increasing number of falls is a bad sign. A serious fall resulting in a broken hip is often a signal of near term mortality. Keep dancing, it improves your strength and your balance.
Fear of Cancer
We all have many pre-cancer cells in our bodies. These cells must multiply 40 - 80 times to form a tumour big enough to detect.
At each cell division, they are vulnerable to detection and attack. Cancer cells need an energy supply, glucose. They often manage to do without oxygen, so they might also be poisoned by high oxygen concentrations.
Your own immune system will eliminate most pre-cancers if you weaken the metabolic pathway of the cancer.
Cancers are vulnerable if you are using a strict LCHF diet, becoming nutritionally ketonic. That denies the cancer insulin, and makes it difficult to get glucose for growth.
It's thought that even for a few weeks a year, nutritional ketosis will be protective against cancers.
Social Connection
You need to be with other people on a regular basis.
Many of our eating behaviors are socially mandated.
Drinking saturated tea or coffee, is always something you can do. (Add a spoonful of butter.)
If others are eating, are salads, meat, quiche, or nuts available?
Freedom from Chronic Illness
Typically, people who are 75 suffer from five or more "illnesses." That probably means almost all of them have metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a set of six "diseases" that can all be corrected by dietary change.
It's not normal to suffer from pain, although that is a very common experience.
Saturated fats and high cholesterol do NOT cause cardio-vascular disease. We still don't know why atherosclerosis begins in the arteries. The best current theory is that it's caused by "inflammation" which might be a lot of things, but it's something to do with our modern lifestyle. I suspect something that changed when all or food was purchased from shops, and much of it came in packages. People we consider primitive didn't have heart attacks. They were healthy and well, deep into old age.
Sleep is the opportunity you body takes each day to do extensive repairs and maintenance. You should sleep soundly, sleep long, and you should wake up wide eyed, clear headed, and refreshed.
Taking None or Very Few Medications
Taking multiple medications is bad for you. Nobody knows how the different medicines affect each other. The best medicine is good food, and the best time to eat it was 20 years, before "lifestyle" health problems occurred. That's not possible, but it remains possible to change your diet today.
Alzheimer's is a metabolic disease. Therefore, a sensible prevention strategy is in your lifestyle and diet. Research is currently being done.
weight loss diets is bad, so we think it's a problem we can't solve.
Back