It’s a Wonderful Life

I don’t know about you, but I think this has been a fun week of top ten lists that have helped me to organize my thoughts and share my opinions with you on a variety of subjects. Today’s list is a great one and necessary for everyone. Let’s takes some times to explore the top ten ways you can prepare your body for a long and healthy life.

1. Eat your veggies! This is so important. Centenarians world wide have a few things in common. One, is plenty of veggies in their diet and a good amount of raw ones to boot. If you prefer your veggies cooked, cook them as little as possible, particularly your cruciferous and dark green leafy vegetables. They are so healthy and full of nutrients that promote long, healthy living.
2. Omega-3′s: Not only do these fatty acids protect your heart and lower the risk of illness, they also keep you mentally astute! It’s one thing to live for a long time. It is another, much more desirable thing to live a long useful, fruitful, fulfilling life at full capacity. What do people who work with energy and purpose until they’re in their nineties have in common? Diets rich omega-3 sources such as fish, eggs, and walnuts.
3. Avoid chemicals! Chemicals in cigarettes, processed and packaged foods, sodas and many cosmetic and hygiene supplies all take their toll on the body. If it’s not helping it’s harming! Use natural products and stay away from processed chemical ridden foods.
4. Find what you love to do and do it! That’s right, food has a lot to do with our health, but our mental and spiritual well being has just as much or more that contributes directly to overall well being. It’s so important to find your calling in life, that thing you do well and enjoy. If you dedicate yourself to it, you will find success. A healthy and positive mind will lead to greater physical health.
5. Stay active. Did you know that busy people tend to live longer? I guess it’s because they just don’t have time to go just yet. Keep active mentally and physically.
6. Have a cup of tea. Here’s another interesting factoid about centenarians. Call it old fashioned, though I guess they certainly have a reason to be, centenarians from all over the world drink tea! Green tea, black tea, white tea, maté tea, find one you like and drink plenty of it.
7. Garlic: Eating garlic will improve your overall health and prevent life shortening illnesses.It is so delicious and good for you, I suggest you use it whenever you can.
8. Whole grains: Not only are they necessary to keep your body running in tip-top shape from day-to-day, but a diet rich in whole grains can help you live for a long time by protecting your heart and staving off long term illnesses such as diabetes. Plenty of centenarians swear by hot cereals such as oatmeal.
9. Antioxidants: Get plenty of dark fruits and berries. Lot’s of green tea. Drink a cup of black coffee and always put cinnamon in it. Here’s my favorite- eat chocolate! Yep, quality dark chocolate and cocoa powder are also quite common foods of centenarians. Same with extra virgin olive oil! In fact, regardless of other health factors you will see a definite increase in average age in places where olives are grown and pressed.
10. I think you know what I’m going to say next, and if you don’t already you should! WATER. Drink it, plenty of it. Drink water at every opportunity. Drink water all day! Drink, drink, drink. Nothing is quite so good for the body as water. Don’t mix it with flavors, don’t add anything (unless it’s a little mint or lemon.) Just drink water, for goodness sake!

So there you go and there you have it. I hope this week has been informative or at least as fun for you as it’s been for me. Like I said on Monday, top ten lists are a great way to prioritize and organize. Make a few of your own. Set aside a special notebook or journal just to make these helpful lists in, and if you feel so inclined, go ahead and share some with me!

The Incredible Egg

In the last few decades eggs have gone from being thought of as healthy to unhealthy and back again I don’t know how many times. It seems that the opinion of the medical community on eggs fluctuates wildly, but one thing does not change. They are one of the primary foods of many centenarians. So, that may be some indication of the truth around whether or not the egg is indeed a health food or not.

I generally refer to myself as a vegan as it is the simplest way for me to quickly explain my eating habits. In all actuality this is not entirely the case. You see, it is not that I avoid all animal products, it is simply that I avoid animal products that I do not feel are particularly healthy. Exceptions to this are the animal products that I feel my body simply cannot live well without. This list includes: honey, occasionally fish, and just about daily- eggs.

Eggs, as you may know, are rich in many important nutrients. They are a valuable source of  selenium, B vitamins, protein, iron and calcium, but what I value the egg most as is a fantastic source of both biotin and choline. In fact egg yolks are the best source of these fatty acids in the world. Biotin is a B vitamin that’s great for hair and nails. Choline is the substance that much of our brains are made up of. While our bodies can make choline, it is certainly important to have it in our diets. Eggs are incredibly beneficial for brain development particularly in children. Pregnant women should eat eggs regularly (fully cooked, of course) as choline, biotin and all the omega-3 fatty acids found in eggs have been shown to greatly help with fetal development.

People have argued that the egg is too high in cholesterol for daily consumption. I tell you that that there are many foods with just as much or more cholesterol as the egg without half the health benefits. Additionally the fat type found in eggs is actually good for your heart! Just be sure that if you do like your eggs fried or scrambled, to cook them in extra virgin olive oil to keep all the fats in your breakfast (or really anytime meal) healthy!

Here is the only hesitation I have about the marvelous egg. Eggs themselves are good for you, it’s the stuff that often ends up in eggs that is not.  Always buy organic. Yes, conventional eggs, like so many animal products are chock full of hormones and antibiotics. To avoid these in your omelet, purchase only organic, cage free eggs. The extra cost may seem extravagant, but when you think that only two or three eggs are needed to make up the better part of a meal, even 4 or 5 dollars a dozen is a bargain.

Eggs are an extraordinary food. People who eat eggs daily tend to live longer and look younger, not to mention stay mentally sharp! So, make sure the egg is a part of your day-to-day life.

How Important it is To Stretch

Well you know how fascinated I am by centenarians, it’s simply amazing to me how people can live to over a hundred in great health.  One of the things that many centenarians have in common is that every morning as soon as they wake they stretch their bodies.  I don’t mean they go to an exercise class, I don’t mean that they run to the gym and kill themselves working out for an hour, I really mean that they simply wake up and take five or 10 minutes to give their bodies a good stretch.  They touch their toes, they stretch from side to side, they stretch their hips, their backs; they simply give their bodies a darn good stretch.

If any of you have dogs, have you ever noticed that the first thing that he or she does when they get up in the morning, and I mean the very first thing, is stretch out their bodies.  So tomorrow, if you have a dog just watch and see; they will wake up, stand up and then immediately go into a long body stretch.  So take a lesson from the centenarians around the world and a lesson from man’s best friend, make sure you stretch your body each and every day, preferably when you first wake up.  Oh and by the way, come the weekend; take that dog of yours for a nice long walk, it’ll do you both good.

A Grandson’s Story

One of my most favorite things to research is how centenarians live.  I blogged about how to live to 100 and I received two really fantastic e-mails.  They happen to be from an executive at a large organization.  This lovely gentleman took the time out of his busy schedule to e-mail me about his grandmother.  I so enjoyed the e-mails I wanted to share them with all of you.  I did of course ask his permission.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I.

E-mail #1:

“Hi Vicky

I hope all is well with you.
I enjoy reading you blogs…thank you for sharing them with me.

Any how…thought I would share with you Grandma D’s secret to longevity.

Olive oil
Haley’s MO daily (got to move those bowels)
Keep busy…mind and body.
Use purpose soap daily (her skin was as soft as a baby’s bottom and not a wrinkle on her face)

She lived by herself in Paterson, NJ taking care of her garden, house and even shoveling snow to her 100 birthday when my dad became ill and no longer able to check in on her daily. Unfortunately, we had to move her into a nursing home at that time.

Any how….she lived to 105 and 1/2
Cause of death…not natural or old age…failure to thrive.

She gave up on life on 9/11 and died 5 weeks later.
Having lived in 3 centuries, immigrated from Italy to NJ when she was a young girl …she saw and experienced a lot (good and bad) including burying her husband and children. Since my grandmother still had all of her faculties, I visited her at the nursing home on 9/11 because I knew the terrorist attacks would greatly upset her. Sure enough…she cried on my shoulder saying over and over…”why are they bombing in our country. We didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve lived through too much”. 5 weeks later she died…probably more from a broken heart than anything else. I always wonder how old she would have been had she not given up.

Thought it was worth sharing with you.
Hopefully some of her longevity genes carried over to me.”

E-mail #2:

“Good Morning Vicky

I’m glad you enjoyed my Grandma’s story.

For a lady under 5 foot…she was one tough cookie.
When she was in her 90′s she had a double mastectomy and told the cleaning folks in the hospital not to clean her room because she was more than capable of doing it herself. She wanted the nurse and housekeeping staff to attend to those that couldn’t help themselves.
Also when she was in her 90′s and at her home in Paterson, a burglar entered her house one night. When the intruder entered her bedroom and shined his flashlight in the room, she jumped out of bed, grab a nearby broom and chased him throughout the house until he jump out of a second floor window. Instead of dwelling on what happened, she accepted as just another day in her life.
She was a neat lady….you would have enjoyed speaking with her.

So, of course you can share my Grandma’s story.
Have a great summer
Will speak soon.”

Great stories to share, please do I look forward to them.