NATCHEZ — At 60 years old, James Norman Jr. is doing all he can to stay positive.

When The Dart landed Saturday morning on Magnolia Street, Norman was unloading groceries from his car after a recent trip to the store.

In his shopping bags, Norman said, was food for the first day of his new diet.

“I should have started a few months ago,” he said. “When I went to my doctor, everything wasn’t adding up right. It worried me a lot because of my age, so my doctor gave me a book and now I’m going to try and eat anything nutritional.”

Norman said to keep his health balanced he is especially going to focus on eating more vegetables such as broccoli and spinach.

Norman also said he wants to cut down on things such as pork.

“As you get older, you have some other things start happening to your body. I don’t really eat pork because of my blood pressure,” Norman said. “It also gives me a headache, but I love ribs.”

While Norman said the lifestyle change is based on improving him physically, he thinks it will keep him healthy in other ways, too.

“It’s really only a mind thing. If you want to do it, you can do it,” he said. “They say 60 is not old, and I don’t feel old. I just hope it gives me another 60 years.”

Norman also said he wants to make the most out of life as he gets older.

After nearly 30 years of work with Natchez Water Works as a maintenance and repair specialist, Norman said he wants to work one more year before retiring.

“I love my job, but if I come home my wife will still have me working,” he said. “When I retire, I just want to do nothing and enjoy life. I want to live a little bit because I don’t know how long I (have) left on this earth.”