I wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t try to live as long as you can, but to accept that there’s a limit to what you can do to prevent heart attacks or strokes. Both are survivable, and much more so if you are alert to their symptoms and get fast treatment.
There’s no way that I’d ever tell anyone to quit trying. My DNR and MPA basically say that if I can tell what’s happening to me, decide what I want to be done to and for me, and direct it, and I’m not a burden to those who would have to support me, then I want to continue to live.
I’m also in my 70s, never expected that I’d live longer than my father who died of T1D at 68 after blindness, lameness, multiple heart attacks and a stroke. We were both diagnosed at age 29. We had the same diets. He was stronger than I am, more active, smarter. We used the same insulins for all but his first years. Until early last year the only tech I used that he didn’t soon enough was a BGM.
The two medications I’ve been taking take to get slightly lower numbers that my doctor likes, now have multiple studies with statistics that show they aren’t beneficial in extending outcomes or quality of life. I’ve outlived several of my doctors, am now older than most of my current ones.
imo, Better information and learning to use it, not medicine, is what has preserved my health.
Medicine today is about suppressing symptoms, repairing damage, preventing infection, not curing disease. What’s known about the effects of what we can do as individuals to change our health outcomes is very limited, and all statistical, not scientific. For every person who believe that cardio exercize is life-extending, there are counter examples like Jim Fix who died at age 52 from a heart attack.
There were promoters of two radically opposed extreme diets. Both had “suggestive” evidence from limited studies. They theorized that low fat or low carb diets were healthier than the average north american diet. They took those two theories and pushed them to their limits, promoted their application. Both died in their early 70s, Dr Pritikin and Dr Atkins. They believed that if a little was better, then a lot must be a lot better.
What you have described you do is more than most people do, and from what we know about diet, nutrition and lifestyle on individual health, it is reasonable and into diminishing returns.
There are things you can do, but only you know how much of them you can.
Work for balance and moderation. There is more evidence that excess of any kind is harmful to health than there is that anything specific that isn’t a medicine or poison is helpful.
Think carefully about any changes you make. Make them small changes, one at a time, wait and pay attention to how the way you feel changes.
Try to optimize exercize. Keep your body flexible and stronger than you need to be to do what you must do, rest and don’t knowingly extend activity beyond the point where it hurts. It takes us longer to heal from injuries. If you haven’t been doing a physical activity freqintly, approach it cautiously to find your limits.
imo The most important things anyone can do to maximize their life are to stay mentally healthy and not become stressed over things beyond their control. Stress can make you ill, while an unstressed mind can make better choices between options.