Betty White Revealed 6 Things About Her Health
Betty White’s fans care so much about her that they often worry about her health. Here’s what the Golden Girls star once revealed about how she’s doing.
1. Betty White said her eyesight isn’t as sharp as it used to be
In her book, If You Ask Me, White admits her vision isn’t the same. Once she hit middle age, she says she began noticing some eyesight changes.
“Sooner or later, some of our senses lose a little of their efficiency,” wrote White. “Eyesight, for example. It sneaks up on you. Reading and needlepoint have been passions for me since I was a child, and as middle age approached, I tried not to notice the fact that my eyes were gradually changing—things weren’t quite as sharp. I’m not sure how long I could have gotten away with ignoring it if it weren’t for my husband, Allen Ludden. I had my eyes done in 1976 and have let nature take its course ever since.”
2. She also says her memory isn’t as sharp
Another thing that’s not as sharp is her memory. White says she can be forgetful, so going up and down the stairs in her home is like exercise for her. “I have a two-story house and a bad memory, so all those trips up and down the stairs take care of my exercise,” she wrote.
White does crossword puzzles to help with her memory. “My obsessive addiction to crossword puzzles I chalk off as mental gymnastics,” wrote White. “I love games and puzzles. On the set of The Lost Valentine, a Hallmark movie, Jennifer Love Hewitt and her boyfriend, Alex Beh, and I played Scrabble during every lunch break. And I always have a book of crosswords or acrostics in my purse wherever I go.”
3. She has a cocktail before dinner
White said she doesn’t eat sweets often, but she does like to drink a cocktail before she has dinner. She also likes to indulge in fast food now and then.
“I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I do have a cocktail before dinner,” wrote White. “I also love french fries and hot dogs. The famous Pink’s hot dog company in California actually named a hot dog after me, and since I eat mine plain with no condiments, it’s the Betty White ‘Naked’ Dog.”
4. She went 20 years without a cold
Fortunately, White doesn’t have to take a lot of medications. She also says she rarely has a headache and hasn’t had a cold in 20 years.
“I’m not a big pill-taker, and almost never have a headache. But I once read an article about Dr. Linus Pauling, who took vitamin C every day to stave off colds,” wrote White. “I thought, If it’s good enough for Linus Pauling, it’s good enough for me—why not? I asked my doctor, and my doctor said that’s rubbish, vitamin C has nothing to do with the common cold. But I wasn’t taking any other vitamins, so I started taking vitamin C every morning. I haven’t had a cold in 20 years.”
5. Betty White weighs herself every morning
White is almost 100, but she still cares about her weight. She even weighs herself every morning.
“In terms of my weight, I weigh myself every morning,” said White. “And if I go up one pound, I take it off the next day. It’s easy to take a pound off, you just skip something. But if it goes to three pounds, it becomes more difficult and one of them usually just stays there. Or five pounds—even worse—sometimes those just stay. I watched it happen with my mother. So, I figure it’s easy to just take them off immediately, and it’s not too much of a sacrifice.”
6. She says she inherited her energy from her dad
White never seems to stop going. She says she inherited her energetic nature from her father.
“I attribute my generous supply of energy to DNA—my father was so filled with energy, my mom used to call him ‘Horace the Hummingbird,’ wrote White. “She’d say, ‘Honey, could you light long enough to sit down?’ I’m grateful to have inherited that gene. But in the end, the energy is also very much due to enjoying what I am so lucky to do for a living. Show business. If all this sounds too “Little Mary Sunshine,” please put up with me while I celebrate it.”
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