Batting superstar Willie Mays always was outstanding in his field – in his case, centre field and at the plate with a bat in his hands. Now 75, the Hall of Fame laureate has a brand new job. He’s become spokesman for HealthSpring, one of the leading private health-care organizations in the U.S.

“Finding good, affordable health-care coverage becomes so important as we get older, and the various Medicare options can be confusing, Mays says. “I’m excited to be able to help spread the word that there is good coverage available for people on Medicare.” He will appear in HealthSpring advertisements and at company events.

From Active Adult Magazine: activeadultmag.com

Are you a “young-old” senior or an “old-old” senior? This question has been making the rounds in some print media, prompted by a comment in the press that a person is probably considered “old” when she/he reaches the age of 60. This set off a flurry of indignant comments (undoubtedly mainly from 60-year-olds) objecting to the labeling of a person as old at age 60.

Traditionally in North America, you’re considered a senior at age 55 and above. So at age 60, you’re definitely a senior in most areas of the country. However, the argument from 60-year-olds seems to be that they shouldn’t necessarily be described as “old.” Some may think this is just semantics, but 60-year-olds who don’t consider themselves as being old make a valid point.

It they’re relatively physically fit and healthy, and don’t really feel old, then perhaps they’re not really “old-old”. But why stop at 60? I venture to say that they’re plenty of men and women, age 65, 70, 75 and even 80 or more who may be considered “old-old” because of their physical appearance and the date on their birth certificate. But we’ve all read and heard about seniors in their latter years throughout history down to the present accomplishing great things.

Age isn’t necessarily the only criteria in determining when a person is old. Many younger persons can be considered “old” because they fail to keep growing mentally and spiritually. Far too many people allow their dreams to die long before they reach traditional “old age”. Such people may die at 25, 35, or 45; they just haven’t been buried yet.

This can even include “older” persons, age 60 or more; they, too, can allow their negative thinking to defeat them, resulting in the death of their hopes and dreams, long before the individual’s physical death and burial.

So, how do we answer the question of whether we’re “young-old” or “old-old?” That depends on how each individual thinks about himself/herself and their life.

It’s a cliché, but it fits here, “Think young.” I also like the sign I saw in my former dentist’s office many years ago: “Age is just mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

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Pat Moauro is a former veteran journalist, and currently a writer and editor specializing in seniors’ issues. For more articles check his website at maxxseniorslife.com

I happen to prefer a vegetarian diet, so I eat a lot of veggies and salads. However, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy the wonderful variety of vegetables available today. They come in a wide array of varieties, sizes and colors. In recent years dieticians and government food experts have been recommending that we add a healthy serving of veggies as part of our main meals.

In fact, the U.S. government’s new food guidelines recommend that All Americans eat at least five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. That may seem like an awful lot of veggies to eat in one day. However, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to achieve this goal.

Grocery store shelves are overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables. Did you know that vegetables and fruits are among the least expensive, most nutrient rich, foods in the supermarket? Since you have such a wide choice of available fruits and vegetables, you can easily make these nutritious, delicious foods part of your daily meals and snacks.

The recommended daily amount of five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day actually equates to a reasonable two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables daily. The wide variety of available fruits and vegetables and the relatively low the prices makes it fairly easy to reach this recommended daily goal.

Eating the same thing every day can quickly become boring. So why not break up the monotony by picking up a variety of fruits and vegetables? They’re available in just about every color, and in every conceivable shape, size and texture. Fruits and vegetables in different colors contain different types of nutrients. Therefore, choosing a variety of colors will help ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need every day.

Finding new recipes is another innovative way to ensure you get the five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. This also gives you the opportunity to try out some fruits and vegetables you’ve never tried before. Most people have eaten oranges, but have you tried kiwi fruit or mangoes? What about spinach or kale?

Vitamin supplements are important, but they don’t replace the daily serving of five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain far more than the macronutrients identified by science and synthesized in vitamin pills. These macronutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E are important to good health; however, the hundreds of micronutrients contained in healthy foods like fruits and vegetables are also important to one’s health. These micronutrients aren’t available in any pill; they must be ingested through a healthy, balanced diet that contains plenty of fruits and vegetables.

It seems that your mom was right when she reminded you as a child to “eat your vegetables. They’re good for you.”

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Pat Moauro is a former veteran journalist, and currently a writer and editor specializing in seniors’ issues. For more articles check his website at maxxseniorslife.com

Recently a rather strange message appeared in my e-mail inbox. It’s from a “Melanie” and the subject is “Calvary Greetings.” Her opening words are: “May God grant you the wisdom and sympathy to understand my situation and how much I need your help, herein I plead however strange or surprising this contact might seem to you, as we have not meet (sic) personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly ask that you take due consideration of its importance and immense benefit.”

From there the message goes from the strange to the bizarre. She says she’s the widow of a late doctor and businessman. They were married for 22 years “without a child and he died last year after a brief illness.” Her message starts tugging on the heart strings: “Recently, My Doctor told me that I would not last for the next three months due to my health condition (cancer of the lever (sic) and stroke) having known my present health condition there is a deep secret which I want to share with you in full confidentiality as a co-worker in Gods vineyard.”

Here’s where she starts dangling a multi-million-dollar carrot: “Before my husband died last year he had a banquets (investments?) at a Trust Company valued at ($3.400.000 us dollars) Having known my health condition, I feel it will be legally proper to donate this fund to you to utilize in propagating the word of God and in building orphanage homes for less privileged people. I am therefore, inviting you to partner with me in this strategic ministry to handle the funds the way I have stated herein, and I also want you to always remember me in your prayers for my up coming Cancer Surgery.”

Oh yes, of course, madam. You don’t even address me by my name, but you found my e-mail address somewhere and are prepared to “partner” with me in “this strategic ministry” to handle $3.4 million U.S. - all the money that your late husband left. Then she urges me: “Please any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another person for this same purpose; I expect your favourable response urgently, indicating your full interest to this ministry partnership.”

Translation: Get back to me right away so that I can scam you out of lots of money that I’ll ask you to send me so I can ‘release’ my late husband’s millions. If I don’t hear from you immediately, I’ll just keep fishing for more suckers.

Warning, especially seniors: Please don’t fall for this, or any similar type of appeal. This is one of the oldest scams around, most likely coming out of Nigeria, which has been a continuing source of blatant, dishonest money appeals. Unfortunately these fraudsters have successfully scammed millions of dollars from trusting and, unfortunately, greedy victims. Don’t let the promises of Big Dollars, and even “poor-me” appeals tugging at your heart strings blind you to this type of downright deceptive and criminal activity.

It’s known as “The Nigerian Letter” scam. A letter or e-mail asks that you help the sender transfer a large amount of money out of Nigeria or some other African state. In return for your help, you’ll receive one-third of the cash once it’s safely out of the country. You’re then told to pay transfer fees to expedite the transaction. If you receive one of these letters or emails, forward it to wafl@phonebusters.com to help a joint taskforce of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) catch the scammers.

“Melanie” ends her email, “In Christ.” After carefully reading this particular e-mail and having some knowledge of these types of appeals, it’s glaringly obvious what “Melanie” seems to be really interested in. Her appeal, poor grammar and misspellings included, is nothing but a blatant scam using Christian terminology to appeal to the religiously and spiritually minded, or even to people’s greed. This particular message and others have been circulating for years.

Yes, “Melanie” I will pray for you. I pray that you will remember who you really are and refrain from this type of un-Christian activity. Remember, Christ taught us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. And that includes not defrauding your spiritual brothers and sisters.

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Pat Moauro is a former veteran journalist, and currently a writer and editor specializing in seniors’ issues. For more articles check his website at maxxseniorslife.com

Seniors buying drugs on the Internet need to exercise extreme caution. Recent media reports highlight the dangers of buying drugs from Internet “pharmacies.” Many are outright fakes and part of elaborate on-shore and off-shore scam operations bilking people and endangering lives.

In fact, on March 21, 2007 a coroner warned the public about the danger of buying drugs over the Internet after the death of a Vancouver Island woman. CTV reported that toxicology reports confirmed that the pills appear to have killed Marcia Bergeron, 57, believed to be a U.S. resident, who lived in the Campbell River area of British Columbia for part of the year.

The woman bought a sedative not legally sold in Canada; the sedative has been linked to overdose deaths abroad. She also purchased an anti-anxiety medication that’s for sale in Canada only with a doctor’s prescription, said Regional Coroner Rose Stanton. The coroner added: “in the days prior to her death, she was suffering from hair loss and vision problems and they are symptoms of poisoning.”

Some of the pills also had dangerous mineral traces that can pose a serious health risk, including uranium, strontium, arsenic and lead.

Representatives of online pharmacies say there are legitimate online drug stores that sell real pharmaceuticals at low cost. Karen Wolfe, National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities, encouraged the public to check the site’s credentials before keying in their credit card number. If you know that the pharmacy is licensed in the province, you can call the College of Pharmacists in the province that the pharmacy is licensed in to determine that it in fact is a true pharmacy, she said.

The bottom line for anyone, especially U.S. and Canadian seniors, is to double check the authenticity of any Internet-based pharmacy and to never buy drugs without a legitimate prescription from a health care professional. Your life could depend on it.

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Pat Moauro is a former veteran journalist, and currently a writer and editor who specializes in seniors’ issues. For more articles, check his website at maxxseniorslife.com