Looking more like 54 and 51, former Olympian athletes Doug and Diane Clement, who are actually 74 and 71, are taking aim at middle-aged Canadians who have allowed themselves to lead unhealthy lifestyles.
The pair is sharing the secrets of their healthy aging for those in the 44-to 60-year age bracket who consume too much rich food, don't exercise or continue to smoke in their book "Start Fresh: Your Complete Guide to Midlife Food and Fitness" (Whitecap).
"The digital revolution has robbed people of any opportunity to combine wage earnings with physical activity and consequently we are going to have to find some other solution," says Doug Clement of Vancouver, a retired physician who also holds an Order of Canada.
"I think we tried to demonstrate in the book that if we are going to have a hamburger, milkshake and a side order of fries for lunch it adds up to 2,700 calories and you would have to walk 50 kilometres to get rid of it," he says. "I think a large number of people in our population are doing things like that, which leads them to be overweight or obese."
He is a sports medicine clinician and an Olympic athlete as is his wife. Both participated in the 1956 Games and the 1958 Commonwealth Games where, as a sprinter, Diane won a bronze medal.
She is also an accomplished chef who has written seven cookbooks and owned and ran the Tomato Fresh Food Cafe in Vancouver. The pair were also founders of the 10k Vancouver Sun Run in 1984 which drew 3,200 participants. A few weeks ago, the run had 59,000 runners and walkers.
The book begins with Doug's recipe for getting started on a fitness program, which includes a 10k power walk program, and finishes with Diane's recipes which "are classics that I revisited to make them more nutritionally on target," she says.
"I didn't want to sacrifice the taste, the flavour and the pizzazz that we enjoy," she adds.
Her segment of the book also guides readers in the kitchen with meal-planning and food-shopping ideas.
Now that fresh locally grown asparagus is in season, here is Diane's recipe for roasting it.
Roasted Asparagus
1.5 kg (3 lb) asparagus spears, left whole or sliced into 8-cm (3-inch) lengths (about 750 ml/3 cups asparagus slices)
15 to 30 ml (1 to 2 tbsp) olive oil
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
45 ml (3 tbsp) lemon juice
15 ml (1 tbsp) lemon zest
Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F). Toss asparagus with olive oil, just to coat. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with pepper. Roast for about 10 minutes, until still crisp. Toss with lemon juice and zest and serve.
Makes 6 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 100 calories, 5 g protein, 5 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 5 g fibre, 5 mg sodium.
