11-27-2024 Primetime Living - Flipbook - Page 14
14 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Live forever,
continued from page 6
to Healthline.com, “improves digestion, brain
function, and blood sugar levels, as well as
protects against blood clots, heart disease,
and certain cancers.”
They are not vegetarian or vegan.
However, the amount of dairy and animal
products they ingest are reduced. Spurning
prepared foods saves money and isn’t nearly
as good for them. Most of what they eat is
prepared fresh, so the acts of chopping,
prepping and cooking keep them moving,
purposeful and connected.
Many of them share a glass of red wine
with their evening meals. “Enjoying the company of others, taking time to connect with
family and friends at the end of the day can
be meaningful,” Shah points out. “It’s not
necessarily healthy, but the benefits outweigh the negatives.”
Another key element in the Blue Zones
is finding the right tribe. Shah asked the
attendees at his seminar, “Can you name
three friends you could call when you’re having a bad day? One in three people with cognitive impairment live alone. In this country,
sadly, physical health is more important than
mental health. Loneliness is just as harmful
as smoking, and each day it’s the equivalent
of smoking 15 cigarettes. Healthy relationships are lifestyle medicine.”
Invest time in family and partnerships.
Family is most likely to be responsible for
caregiving and supporting you in old age.
Most of us have anecdotal evidence of how
true this is.
Shah wrapped up his talk with questions.
“Would you rather…
• eat healthy food alone or have two to
three friends to share it with?
• walk on a treadmill with headphones
or join a walking group out in nature?
• see a neighbor for coffee or run
errands?
• grow your own vegetables and share
them with a neighbor or buy groceries
and have them delivered?
• make a financial donation to a local
charity or volunteer once a month?”
He left us with a final thought. “At the
end of the day, this is for you, and you have
to decide if this is what you want.”
Beyond the Blue Zones
He and I spoke afterwards.
“Today’s centenarians,” he said, “were
born in the 1920s. If you know some history,
here’s what you would have had to survive:
• When their parents married, the
“influenza virus infected roughly
500 million people – one-third of the
world’s population – and caused 50
million deaths worldwide (double the
number of deaths in World War I).
They had to survive that to have you.
• From ages 20-40: for the first 20
years, you’d have to live through
WWII and then survive accidents,
injuries, emergency medicine, no
seat belts. No Medicare until 1965.
• From ages 40-60: Chronic diseases,
high cholesterol before statins, high
blood pressure, catheters, and questionable health insurance.
According to the National Library of
Medicine, The most recent U.S. life table
(2010) implies that half of males born today
will survive to 78 years and half of females will
survive to age 83 years (CDC/NCHS, 2013).
These ages were 55 and 58 years in 1900
(Bell & Miller, 2005).”
Shah continued. “Getting to 60-70 is
easier than living to be 100, but if that’s a
goal, you need to start working toward it a lot
earlier. And much of what will enable you to
live to be 100 years old is partially dependent
on your genes, your family history, where you
live, and your lifestyle.
“For instance, you may have genetic
markers for dementia, high blood pressure,
stroke or cognitive impairment. Those are
not death sentences, and the genes may be
limited to one side of your family. Maybe it’s
your father’s side that has those genes. And
if you take care of yourself, eat a better diet,
move purposefully, have good relations with
your friends and family, you can change the
prognosis, change your future.
“On the down side, we see more problems than ever before with mental health,
behavioral disorders, substance use, obesity,
and poor nutrition. Chronic diseases seem to
be everywhere.
“Try incorporating what residents of Blue
Zones do for a life well lived. You, too, may
live longer and healthier so as to be happier.
Lifestyle is medicine.”
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