Are you elderly?

OMG, I'm almost 62, won't get my State Pension until I'm 66. I don't work as I took Early Retirement to care for my DH. I am no longer considered "fit for work" as I have "limited work capacity" due to periferal neuropathy which affects my feet & hands. No I don't consider myself old & most definitely not elderly. I am older than other people but younger than many of my neighbours.

My DM is 88 but if I called her elderly I'd get a clip round the ear. She is however "a little old lady" which she plays on.

Last year after a bad UTI my GP referred me to Eldery Care at our local hospital, I was horrified as I was only 69. I am now 70 and certainly don't consider myself eldery, that's at least 10 years away.

Old age definitely doesn't begin at 80! I am well over 80! Am just back from a school governor meeting and played swing ball tennis in the the garden with my grandson on Friday. I accept that I am "older" not elderly - that sounds decrepit! It is all about how you feel. I'm lucky to be healthy. I was cheered to see on TV a lady of 105 cutting her birthday cake!

I think the woman who died last week at 117 lived on 3 eggs a day, two raw, and a few biscuits. Never had any fruit or veg.
Perhaps she'd have given them up on becoming 'elderly'.

If you've got to 70 or so and nothing has killed you yet, a bit of raw egg or unpasteurised cheese surely won't have much effect. Our stomachs are probably tough as nails, having put up with all those chemicals in the 60s and through ingesting strong tea and coffee (most of us) for much longer than those NHS bods who wrote those recommendations have even been alive.

I'm just recalling an expression I heard a while ago .. Goes something like this - "I remember when being stiff in the morning was a good thing!!" Happy days?!!

mauraB that's precious!

My FIL asked his GP for a letter to send to the council requesting bin collection because he was old. His doctor replied 'You are not old, you are mature' The GP wrote him a letter to send to the council.
My FIL being of an enquiring turn of mind, steamed it open to read before sending it off. It said 'Please collect Mr B's bin because he is of mature years' then in brackets 'Old'.

I see what you mean. I'm 62 which is older, but definitely not elderly. I was on chemotherapy a couple of years ago and during that time my immune system was compromised but I don't believe that is the case now. Therefore I continue to eat the things I like such as shellfish and soft cheese. I cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Elderly is always at least 10 years older than your current age!

mcem I was surprised that you can still smile in a US passport, with all their Homeland Security paranoia. Maybe they want to be able to count teeth? I know when I did my husband's US immigration papers years and years ago that we had to submit a photo for each of us that was a 3/4 turn, with hair pulled back for me, to show our 'ear' profiles.

I heard recently on tv that our eggs are very safe in this country.

Oh age....errrrmmmm at 66 I am older. Elderly is definitely over 80. I suspect that by the time I reach 80 I will change my mind on that and still be older

I think I am getting old now. At the weekend I couldn't demonstrate to my Grandaughter how to stand on your head or walk on your hands.

Don't worry about your health, if you are eating these foods now and they are not making you ill, why worry? It's very rare that they cause problems and the health warnings are a matter of covering everyone's backs just in case, so unless you have a serious health problem, carry on doing what you enjoy doing!
On age and elderly, my great great aunt used to maintain that you went old until you were 80, once she reached 80, it became 82, 84, 86 etc as the years passed by. It's wasn't until she was well into her 90s and did develop health problems that the time to be counted as old ceased to be an issue, it just was never mentioned again. Life is for living, not for stressing about age and silly stuff like that, if I want to be daft and irresponsible, I'm jolly well going to do it!

I'm mid-60s, and my mother is 87. Now SHE is elderly. To her, I'm still 12.

My daughter is 40 and she thinks I'm older, but not old.

My grandchildren think I'm really old, but not as really old as my mother is. But that's OK apparently, because it's right to have old grandparents - that's what they're for...(?)

As for me, it depends on the arthritis - today I'm a spring chicken!

(But then - I'm not elderly)

Pate? I didn't know about that. Have it for lunch two or three times a week. Alternating with unpasteurised cheese.

My neighbour, who is 92, was affronted when her GP referred to her as elderly

PS When I watch DD1 with her kids I realise that I am certainly a bit elderly. I no longer have that kind of energy.

Judge for yourself, Petal, whether you want to eat any of those things. If you think you might be at risk avoid them. Otherwise don't avoid them. None of them bother me. Yet. They might do one day. I ate pâté when pregnant (not enough to show) because I couldn't bear to refuse (the politeness ethic I was brought up with + I wasn't ready to 'out' my pregnancy at that point) when it was part of a dinner at someone else's house. There were no repercussions.

I think the risk of illness from the things mentioned is really quite low but babies and elderly people are mentioned because, what with extreme youth and, possibly, extreme age there are a lot of unknowns about how well their immune system is or will work.

I decided that my recent passport pic is awful but not because of my age!
The harsh lighting.
Looking straight ahead and not smiling.
Having to swipe my full fringe to one side.
All add up to a very unflattering picture!
So not 'cos I'm old!

Was aware of the raw eggs warning but not pate although DD avoided both when pregnant. Can cope without the eggs but would really miss pate.

My passport photograph , fortunately now never needed truly looks like a corpse. It is so pale I did not think it would be accepted by the passport office but it was. My bus pass is definitely of a little old lady. not at all like me!!

We're the same age anno, I.e. not at all old. But as in your case, the camera definitely lies. You should see my bus pass photo. Thank goodness I never have to show it, just swipe it.

I'm 76. I didn't feel elderly until last Saturday when I had a passport photograph taken. They say the camera cannot lie but I do hope that one did. I haven't made mayonnaise for years so I don't think I've had any raw eggs recently. When I was 17, I lost my voice and my Classics teacher recommended swallowing a raw egg. Much as I admired my mentor, I didn't take that advice and my voice came back of its own accord.

I've had raw eggs three times this week. In homemade mayonnaise and mousse, and in a chachapuri (sp?) at a Georgian restaurant on holiday. The last one was a one off (but delicious!), but the other two aren't unusual.

My dad used to tackle a hangover by drinking raw eggs beaten together with sherry. It was probably kill or cure.

Definitely (not the raw eggs, elderly)