Centenarians and snacks (and oatmeal :-))

[reinhard]

Something I randomly came across today:

From:

http://www.seniorsworldchronicle.com/20 ... o-100.html

Marge H. Jetton is 104 and doing amazingly well. A retired nurse in Loma Linda, Calif., she still walks a mile every day through the halls of her retirement home and preaches healthy habits to anyone who will listen. She rides the exercise bicycle at a gym and lifts small weights six days a week.

A vegetarian for 50 years, she eats oatmeal and flaxseed for breakfast, green salad for lunch and soup and a vegetable sandwich for dinner. She has no diseases other than high blood pressure and "bad eyes," never snacks and proudly announces that she has never lost a tooth.

[Therese Z]

Good for her, but doesn't she sound like just the teeniest little pain in the heinie?

[reinhard]

Oh, absolutely. But I don't think you can make it past age 35 without being at least a little bit of a pain in the heinie.

[Mavilu]

My granny will 106 this november and she doesn't snack, either.
Three square meals, a little bit of everything, as she puts it.
She has always practized that, but, when my grandfather lived, he insisted on tons of meat and sausages and little else (so she says) and during her early forties she gained some weight and her cholesterol went really high and had to be put on a special diet; that's when her doctor (whom she survived) told her that "too much of just about everything is bad for your health, a little bit of everything is what she had to aim for" and she's been following that advice ever since.
She lives alone, stands on her own feet, doesn't take many pills (what she takes is to help that aged body function) she was overweight only once, eats and drinks whatever she wants and she still practices moderation; even when her sweet tooth comes calling.

[vmelo]

Good for her, but doesn't she sound like just the teeniest little pain in the heinie?

Go, grandma! This is actually refreshing to see. Usually, when I read about someone who has made it past 100, the article always says that he/she "smokes a cigar every day" or that he/she "eats sausage and eggs every morning" or something that makes you think that EVERYTHING is just about genetics.

[wosnes]

Good for her, but doesn't she sound like just the teeniest little pain in the heinie?

Go, grandma! This is actually refreshing to see. Usually, when I read about someone who has made it past 100, the article always says that he/she "smokes a cigar every day" or that he/she "eats sausage and eggs every morning" or something that makes you think that EVERYTHING is just about genetics.

I've read that up to age 80 it's habits and lifestyle and after that it's genes.

Eating sausage and eggs for breakfast might not be as bad as we've been trained to think it is. Fat in general and saturated fat in particular may not be harmful to health -- especially if the animals are pasture-raised instead of industrially grown. A lot of the research that showed that to be true (from 50+ years ago) is being questioned.

Don't know about the cigar, though! Although, we know that people in the Mediterranean live long, healthy lives with fewer incidences of heart disease and cancer, including lung cancer. They smoke a LOT. It might have something to do with the fact that they eat lots of vegetables and fruits and very little processed foods.

[harmony]

Marge Jetton was featured in the book The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. It was a very interesting book about areas with high percentage of fully functional centenarians, and it covered diet and other habits. These are people who are 100+ and are still working in gardens, driving cars, hiking in the mountains for miles a day, etc. etc.

I believe caloric restriction is associated with longevity. The Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventist residents, which includes Marge, would be less likely to snack because their religion discourages it. Sometimes the caloric restriction was due to economic reasons, or because people were still relatively isolated from modern convenience foods and worked hard to put meals on the table. The book explains it much better than I do, and the interviews with the centenarians are fascinating ('cause I like that sort of thing).

Looking through the "tips", the author mentions snacking on nuts a couple times, and ironically the first suggestion of that sort comes at the end of the Loma Linda chapter (the group that doesn't believe in snacking.)

There used to be an article online at the National Geographic site. There is also a Blue Zones site.

I think I might revisit that book tonight.

[wosnes]

Marge Jetton was featured in the book The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. It was a very interesting book about areas with high percentage of fully functional centenarians, and it covered diet and other habits. These are people who are 100+ and are still working in gardens, driving cars, hiking in the mountains for miles a day, etc. etc.

I believe caloric restriction is associated with longevity. The Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventist residents, which includes Marge, would be less likely to snack because their religion discourages it. Sometimes the caloric restriction was due to economic reasons, or because people were still relatively isolated from modern convenience foods and worked hard to put meals on the table. The book explains it much better than I do, and the interviews with the centenarians are fascinating ('cause I like that sort of thing).

Looking through the "tips", the author mentions snacking on nuts a couple times, and ironically the first suggestion of that sort comes at the end of the Loma Linda chapter (the group that doesn't believe in snacking.)

There used to be an article online at the National Geographic site. There is also a Blue Zones site.

I think I might revisit that book tonight.

There was a video that featured this lady, an elderly surgeon and a family with teens. The family definitely snacked. I'm not so sure that snacking is discouraged.

There's another book similar to The Blue Zones that studies populations that have low rates of the diseases common here: The Jungle Effect by Dr. Daphne Miller. I almost like it better than The Blue Zones because it makes recommendations from the lifestyles and diets of each group, rather than making recommendations based on all of them and readers can pick those that appeal to or would work best for them. It does concentrate more on diet than other lifestyle habits, but doesn't ignore them, either.

[gratefuldeb67]

That's cool
I think she just sounds like a very healthy lady and it's awesome that she walks and lifts weights everyday.
Awesome!!
And you gotta love the oatmeal plug
A friend of mine years ago, who is a surgeon, said that people have no idea how important it is to just have little fiber in your diet to make a difference in your staying healthy.
This is a perfect example.

Debs

[harmony]

wosnes said

There was a video that featured this lady, an elderly surgeon and a family with teens. The family definitely snacked. I'm not so sure that snacking is discouraged.

Perhaps I should have said that no snacking is encouraged. From what I have read, their religious suggestions for diet include vegetarianism and waiting at least 5 hours between meals to allow for proper digestion. This is encouraged, but not enforced. I imagine a family with active teenagers would have a difficult time not snacking. There are also many Adventists that are not vegetarian.

I am not an Adventist and nor do I know any personally, but I have read this from other Adventist sources in my studies of different diets.

Just to be sure I wasn't making this up (I don't trust my memory farther than I can kick it sometimes ) , I did a search on Adventist dietary laws. Here is the address to the Seventh Day Adventist Dietetic Association
http://www.sdada.org/aboutsda.htm

Like I said, I am not an Adventist, and I'm certainly not trying to push their ideas in a religious sense.

I was originally introduced to the dietary and health guideline from the book The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs as a way to gain health naturally. It is all a bit strict for me, but interesting to read if you like that sort of thing. And the people who live the longest seem to be the ones who are the strictest in following the suggestions. (Like Marge).

[harmony]

I have not read The Jungle Effect. I will have to keep my eyes open for it. I just gave away 4 boxes of old books I never read anymore, so I have room on my shelf for some new ones now .