Long healthy life discussion

[Patchouli]

Recently watched a few episodes about "The Blue Zone." Areas in the world where there are significantly long-lived citizens. I forget the name of the show or the creator, he's a world cyclist and into being healthy and fit.
He had some statistics on where the people who have very low or non-existent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, live into their 80s, 90s, 100s. He was trying to figure out what it was about these obscure locations that made for healthy lives.
The biggest thing above all is having healthy relationships with those in the community, being constantly involved with one another, but also a blend of being outside, gardening, fresh locally grown food, preparing food together, staying engaged with others...in one area he credited the way the wine was made, the purity of the honey, going to church and faith, another was the activity of the elderly (like the guy who was nearly 100 and still running around a horse, herding cattle), swimming, walking up and down hills in a higher elevation all day as well as living in small homes with 2+ levels. Being happy people was another factor. Really interesting program.
Of people you know who have lived a long time, what do you attribute their long lives to? Attitudes? Activities? Associates? Diet? Culture? Genetics?
These places were in Okinawa, Loma Linda (California), Ikaria (a Grecian island), Sardinia (an Italian island), and Nicoya (Costa Rica).
*edited a couple of spelling errors

 

[LadyLocust]

Interesting. There are/ have been quite a few centurions in my family: great aunt 102, my gpa’s sis. Gpa made it to 98? Other side of the family gma 97, her bro 100 (both now passed) youngest is still alive at 98+. One side was “comfortable” so to speak and the other was near poverty. Both had great love within their families.
It does make one wonder.

 

[Patchouli]

My husband's mom, her mom, and the great grandmother lived to be 99, 101, 102, something like that. They were tough old broads, honestly. And did a lot of service work in their communities. I wouldn't have necessarily defined my mother-in-law as happy but she made it through a lot, always gardened until she couldn't, canned, cooked, sewed. My grandma lived to be... I think she was 97. The grandmother was declared legally blind and kept on knitting mittens and hats for the great-grandchildren, correctly, beautiful work.
You go ahead, @LadyLocust , and keep up with that family tradition of being a centenarian or close to it.
"Live to 100 --- Secrets of the Blue Zone." Dan Buettner, on netflix currently.

 

[Supervisor42]

Of people you know who have lived a long time, what do you attribute their long lives to? Attitudes? Activities? Associates? Diet? Culture? Genetics? ... You go ahead, @LadyLocust , and keep up with that family tradition of being a centenarian or close to it.

Be careful what you wish for.
Many of my ancestors lived to 100 - genetics.
All of them were constantly angry after 80 - attitude.
Their heirs were screaming that they were "too mean to die".
You could tell that their lives were nothing but misery after 90.
My goal post is at 82.
I saw how much my dad suffered from 82 and 85 and I don't want to go down that road.
Being trapped inside a body that no longer functions must be the worst torture that can be imagined.
Sure, I have seen plenty of happy people past age 90... but the vast majority, no.

 

[Amish Heart]

Agree, Supervisor. The women in our family typically live long. Except for my half sis, that I've met once, just saw on facebook that she passed on Monday. She was 76. Not very old.
Mom is 91, has always been mean, but is now very mean and demented. Uncle Melvin will be 100 in two months and he doesn't have a clue what's going on. Partly because of the crazy meds they have him on, too.
So, I hope I live long, am not mean, and not medicated. That would be good. I've already apologised to my kids in advance in case I am.

 

[Patchouli]

@Supervisor42 Point being healthy and happy. Usually if you're not healthy you're not happy. The stay active part, be involved with others, keep your mind busy, love on others, drink healthy stuff (the episodes mentioned particular wine, particular herbal teas), eating good food. Can't imagine that any of these people Dan interviewed or met with watch tv, see doctors, take medications of any kind.
I watched the last episode. He mentioned a Greek man who moved to America as a young adult, got married, etc. In his late 60s diagnosed with lung cancer by three doctors, told he'd be dead in 6 months, decided to go home to Greece (an island), and lived on another 30 some years because of his new healthy environment and lifestyle.

 

[Supervisor42]

@Supervisor42 Point being healthy and happy. Usually if you're not healthy you're not happy. The stay active part, be involved with others, keep your mind busy, love on others, drink healthy stuff (the episodes mentioned particular wine, particular herbal teas), eating good food.

Yep.
And don't forget to do yoga!
I remember watching a tutorial for older people to do yoga and seeing the little blonde 20y/o girl teaching it...
"First you sit down with your legs crossed, then simply put the leg on top behind your head like this, and then rock back and forth with your hands together like this while meditating":

 

[Morgan101]

Yep.
And don't forget to do yoga!
I remember watching a tutorial for older people to do yoga and seeing the little blonde 20y/o girl teaching it...
"First you sit down with your legs crossed, then simply put the leg on top behind your head like this, and then rock back and forth with your hands together like this while meditating":

You would have a better chance of seeing God than seeing me in that position. The women in my family seem to outlive the men by a significant margin. If I make 85 I will consider it a good run. Health is everything. If you aren't healthy you aren't living, you are existing. Sadly, I have seen way to many that exist.

 

[Supervisor42]

You would have a better chance of seeing God than seeing me in that position. The women in my family seem to outlive the men by a significant margin. If I make 85 I will consider it a good run. Health is everything. If you aren't healthy you aren't living, you are existing. Sadly, I have seen way to many that exist.

There are 2 sides to that coin...
I know people that are miserable-possessed with eating only celery, carrots, kale, etc. , no meats, no fats, no sweets, no salt and getting their 2-mile walk in every day, that it becomes their life of misery.

On the other side, there are people like me who believe God put us here to have as much fun as we can, while we are here. We watch our weight, watch our blood numbers, and have as much fun as we can without getting our numbers out of line.
...Fear not, you won't catch me doing yoga either.
If I need some 'Zen', I'll have a beer and pull up a historic football game to watch.

 

[lonewolf]

we have an obesity crisis in the UK, many people cant or wont eat a healthy meal and live on ready meals.

 

[snappy1]

we have an obesity crisis in the UK, many people cant or wont eat a healthy meal and live on ready meals.

We definitely have that here in the US, also.
I watched the whole series of The Blue Zones. Loved it.
The common thread that I noticed was everyone did their chores and cooked like their grandparents did. No modern conveniences. Lots of exercise.
They ate fresh and local. Much better than we eat today (here).

 

[lonewolf]

when I grew up we ate what was in season and if it wasnt in season we didnt have it to eat.
now it comes in from all over the world and its available 12 months of the year.
most people havent even got a clue what it looks like in the wild, many people dont even know apples grow on trees, I know this for a fact.

 

[Morgan101]

most people havent even got a clue what it looks like in the wild, many people dont even know apples grow on trees, I know this for a fact.

So sad, but so true. There are a lot of people that don't know beef comes from cattle. They think everything magically appears in the grocery store.

 

[Cabin Fever]

....I know people that are miserable-possessed with eating only celery, carrots, kale, etc. , no meats, no fats, no sweets, no salt and getting their 2-mile walk in every day, that it becomes their life of misery. ....

Sounds like me and my wife....except, we're not miserable. We eat a plant-based diet, and strictly limit processed food like meat, dairy, eggs, white sugar, white flour, white rice, stuff that comes in boxes, oil that comes in bottles, etc. We eat the rainbow (colorwise) of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. We also walk a lot. Been doing this for five years.

Our results? I lost 80 pounds and my doctor took me off of every prescribed med I was on prior to eating whole-food, plant-based (5 meds).

 

[lonewolf]

good luck to you but we love eating meat, we are definitely carnivores but we recently cut out all the "munchies"-chocolates, cookies and biscuits, I lost 14lbs and wife lost a similar amount. its the munchies that are the problem, nothing wrong with eating meat-in moderation.
we walk every morning around 40 minutes or so.

 

[sonya123]

good luck to you but we love eating meat, we are definitely carnivores but we recently cut out all the "munchies"-chocolates, cookies and biscuits, I lost 14lbs and wife lost a similar amount. its the munchies that are the problem, nothing wrong with eating meat-in moderation.
we walk every morning around 40 minutes or so.

That's my problem, junk at night watching youtube or something. I cook perfectly healthy food like 95% of the time and we don't go out to eat, well almost never. It's the late night chips, cookies , candy etc that gets me. Just looked up some ideas on how not to do that. I found something interesting : fidget toys to keep your hands busy ( or things like knitting, but I don't like doing that and could never do it without looking) . I need to lose 20 lbs. I gained them during menopause and right after my accident 3 years ago and I just never really got rid of all of it. I got rid of some but every winter it comes back
So I will start by trying very hard to not eat after 6pm

oh and as for being happy and involved in community to live a long life, my grandmother was a miserable person that had an extremely hard life. She had no friends, she complained about everything and she didn't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables but a lot of pork sausage and potatoes and lived to be 96 . She only went to the hospital twice , she had her gallbladder removed when she was already old, and then the stroke that put her in the nursing home where she vegetated for a long time until she finally died. She did not smoke , she was not overweight and she did a lot of gardening however

 

[Supervisor42]

That's my problem, junk at night watching youtube or something. I cook perfectly healthy food like 95% of the time and we don't go out to eat, well almost never. It's the late night chips, cookies , candy etc that gets me. Just looked up some ideas on how not to do that. I found something interesting : fidget toys to keep your hands busy ( or things like knitting, but I don't like doing that and could never do it without looking) . I need to lose 20 lbs. I gained them during menopause and right after my accident 3 years ago and I just never really got rid of all of it. I got rid of some but every winter it comes back
So I will start by trying very hard to not eat after 6pm

oh and as for being happy and involved in community to live a long life, my grandmother was a miserable person that had an extremely hard life. She had no friends, she complained about everything and she didn't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables but a lot of pork sausage and potatoes and lived to be 96 . She only went to the hospital twice , she had her gallbladder removed when she was already old, and then the stroke that put her in the nursing home where she vegetated for a long time until she finally died. She did not smoke , she was not overweight and she did a lot of gardening however

I started eating a big supper at 8pm, it keeps the 'midnight-munchies' away .

 

[sonya123]

I started eating a big supper at 8pm, it keeps the 'midnight-munchies' away .

If I did that I would not be able to sleep, we eat our big meal for lunch. My problem is not really I am hungry, it's just the desire to eat chocolate or chips or something. I think mostly it's a bad habit, that's why the fidget toys might help me
I go to sleep around 9.30 and sleep all night, so the eating just is between like 7.30 and 9.30
I should be able to NOT do that , never did that before I had that stupid accident. I sat in bed feeling sorry for myself and ate chips and had vodka....bad idea. I cut out the vodka but the habit of eating in bed watching crap on a screen remained . It's amazing how fast you can get a bad habit

 

[Sourdough]

I have zero regrets.....ZERO, that I have lived the "life theory/life plan" I have.

 

[Caribou]

when I grew up we ate what was in season and if it wasnt in season we didnt have it to eat.
now it comes in from all over the world and its available 12 months of the year.
most people havent even got a clue what it looks like in the wild, many people dont even know apples grow on trees, I know this for a fact.

Do you mean something like this?

 

[lonewolf]

we are early birds, we go to bed at around 9pm and get up around 6pm, long before most others are awake.
we eat a healthy diet, no ready meals or takeaways, we dont eat out not since the Pandemic, we both gave up smoking in the 1990s and we gave up alcohol in 2000.
eating late in the evening or just before bed will give someone bad indigestion, peoples digestion has to have time to settle down before sleep, eating late with upset this.
once people go "off their feet"/become housebound then thats when their health problems really start.

 

[Amish Heart]

Yep, you got that right. It's use it or lose it.
That keeps me going every single day.

 

[winds-of-change]

That's my problem, junk at night watching youtube or something. I cook perfectly healthy food like 95% of the time and we don't go out to eat, well almost never. It's the late night chips, cookies , candy etc that gets me. Just looked up some ideas on how not to do that. I found something interesting : fidget toys to keep your hands busy ( or things like knitting, but I don't like doing that and could never do it without looking) . I need to lose 20 lbs. I gained them during menopause and right after my accident 3 years ago and I just never really got rid of all of it. I got rid of some but every winter it comes back
So I will start by trying very hard to not eat after 6pm

oh and as for being happy and involved in community to live a long life, my grandmother was a miserable person that had an extremely hard life. She had no friends, she complained about everything and she didn't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables but a lot of pork sausage and potatoes and lived to be 96 . She only went to the hospital twice , she had her gallbladder removed when she was already old, and then the stroke that put her in the nursing home where she vegetated for a long time until she finally died. She did not smoke , she was not overweight and she did a lot of gardening however

I was addicted to junk food. It took a while but if you can force yourself to snack on healthy things like a bowl of cubed veggies or an apple, orange or grapes, you eventually begin to crave those healthier things for snacks. It takes about 3-4 weeks.

My goal post is at 82.
I saw how much my dad suffered from 82 and 85 and I don't want to go down that road.
Being trapped inside a body that no longer functions must be the worst torture that can be imagined.

My goal is 86. I don’t know why. It’s just the number I chose. But I agree. Sometimes “life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone”. It was like that for my Dad. My dad at the age of 86 but several years after suffering a debilitating stroke.

 

[Sourdough]

My goal was 49, which was totally unreasonable, given how I was living, burning the fuse from both ends.

 

[lonewolf]

my father and uncle lived until they were 96.
both previous fathers in laws died aged 57.
my aim is 95+ thats another 20 years or more.

 

[sonya123]

I was addicted to junk food. It took a while but if you can force yourself to snack on healthy things like a bowl of cubed veggies or an apple, orange or grapes, you eventually begin to crave those healthier things for snacks. It takes about 3-4 weeks.

My goal is 86. I don’t know why. It’s just the number I chose. But I agree. Sometimes “life goes in long after the thrill of living is gone”. It was like that for my Dad. My dad at the age of 86 but several years after suffering a debilitating stroke.

86 what??? I hope not pounds, unless you are a midget LOL. I would just like to lose the 20 lbs. I already eat plenty fruits and veggies, I just need to cut out the late evening junk. Not to be replaced by anything. So now I just won't eat after 6 pm. That should do it. I don't generally eat breakfast, or really late, so if I just eat my regular food I make during the day, I should lose some pretty fast.

 

[Pearl]

86 what??? I hope not pounds, unless you are a midget LOL. I would just like to lose the 20 lbs. I already eat plenty fruits and veggies, I just need to cut out the late evening junk. Not to be replaced by anything. So now I just won't eat after 6 pm. That should do it. I don't generally eat breakfast, or really late, so if I just eat my regular food I make during the day, I should lose some pretty fast.

They are talking about what age they would like to live to be!!

 

[sonya123]

They are talking about what age they would like to live to be!!

duh, I guess I need to read ALL the posts.....

Ok, I think mine would depend on how healthy and functioning I am. If it takes weekly or more doctor visits and a suitcase full of pills or something, and I can't do anything except sit on the couch , I am done. Not for me. So I will be happy enough if I reach 70 or something. After that few people are healthy.

 

[Sourdough]

After that few people are healthy.

An old person can be "healthy", It is just that everyting hurts and many things need repair or replacement.

 

[Sourdough]

-“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to
everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” -
(Andy Rooney)