Her morning mantra on breakfast TV was “wake up and shape up”. And 40 years on, the Green Goddess is doing just that.
Diana Moran turns 80 in June but is often mistaken for a woman 20 years younger. Not that she minds getting older.
“Age is mind over matter – if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” she says.
Her prescription for a happy, healthy retirement is this: 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, at least five days a week, and a healthy Mediterranean diet.
If exercise isn’t your thing, substitute it with something else that is physical, such as gardening or dancing. But stay active.
Diana, watched by millions on BBC Breakfast TV in the Eighties, was diagnosed with bone thinning disease osteopenia a few years ago. She refuses to let it slow her down.
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She wakes with a full body stretch she calls The Monkey. Breakfast is homemade muesli, lunch a plate of fish and veg, dinner a similar offering with the odd dark chocolate biscuit thrown in for a treat.
“When we’re young we take our good health for granted,” she says. “But there’s no shortcut – building up strong bones and muscles is a gradual process over the years.
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“It prevents falls and injuries but is also crucial to maintaining your independence and social life. If you have an active body you have an active mind so it can stave of dementia.”
Happy relationships also help. Married twice, she has two sons and four grandkids. Now she is enjoying a romance with an 82-year-old widower named Robin.
And she is busy planning a big birthday party with her loved ones in a hall near her Middlesex home.
“People up to 40 think love is their preserve,” she says. “It’s not at all. It goes on and on and on whatever your age. And if you’re fit and active you can share things together.”
Here, the Lycra-loving Green Goddess shares the simple living room workout that could help everyone look and feel years younger.
BICEP LIFT
Palms up, hold small water bottles in front of you at waist level. Tuck elbows into your waist, shoulder blades together. Keep elbows tucked in and lift the weights to shoulder level and back down 10 times with control.
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QUAD STRETCH
Strong quads can help prevent falls. Stand, feet together, right arm holding support. With your left arm, grasp your ankle. Ease your foot towards your bottom. Keep thighs parallel and bring knees together. Hold for 10 seconds.
TUMMY TUCKS
Good for posture. Lie on the floor, bend your knees pull in tum, press waist on to floor.
Keeping feet flat, reach hands forward on your thighs. Breathe in. As you breathe out keeping chin to chest, lift your head and shoulders up as far as comfortable, sliding hands up towards knees.
Breathe in, relax back down. Repeat five times, gradually increase to 20.
LEG LIFTS
Great for balance. Lie on your right side, knees bent.
Support your head with your right hand, put your left hand in front. Pull in your tum, tighten your bottom. Straighten and lift left leg up, then down. Repeat 10 times on both legs.
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TWIST AND TURN
Maintains mobility. Stand or sit, shoulders back, tum tight. Bend elbows out to sides, fingertips together in front of you.
Twist from the waist, take upper body, arms and head to your right as far as possible.
Hold for five seconds. Come back to centre. Repeat five times on each side.
SIT TO STAND
Improves balance.
Sit up tall near front of a chair, lean upper body forward and push yourself up to standing. Bend knees and slowly lower your bottom back down on chair.
Repeat 10 times.
UP AND OVER
Improves flexibility. Stand with feet apart and stretch high above your head. With left arm up, place your right hand down on your hip and bend upper body over from waist only to right side as far as possible.
Hold, count to 10. Return to centre and continue with right arm up, stretching left.
UP AND DOWN
The key to strengthening bones is to repeatedly put measured pressure on them. Stepping up and down a stair builds stamina too.
Step up one stair only, right foot first followed by your left then down again. Repeat 10 times. Gradually build to 20.
