Lessons in Longevity From A Hot, Fit 77-Year-Old Who’s Never Been To The Gym or On a Fad Diet

Maybe it’s time we looked to our own elders for the keys to longevity.

That hot, fit, energetic 77-year-old is my mother.

She still works part-time as a nurse and spends the rest of her time running around after my 2-year-old nephew. She refuses to get a cleaner and wakes up at 6 am to make fresh meals. My mother is a machine who’s never done a fad diet or been to the gym.

But she’s endured a tough life, which has made her stronger and enabled her to cultivate daily habits she still lives by.

The magical thing about her habits is that she’s never read books or listened to the Dave Asprey podcast for tips on healthy living.

She grew up well before the advent of social media but somehow managed to innately cultivate good habits.

Maybe it’s time we looked to our elders for the keys to longevity.

Here are some of her traits.

Overcame Adversity

My father passed away suddenly when we were younger.

Overnight, my mother had to bear the burden of raising two kids under five and become the sole breadwinner. Not an easy task but she got through it with determination and this gave her the confidence to overcome any challenges life threw her way. To this day I’ve never seen her stress about any situation.

In the words of Marie Forleo, my mother believes that ‘Everything is Figureoutable ’.

Post Traumatic Growth

Studies have shown that half the population will experience post-traumatic growth (PTG) after a harrowing event. Circumstances might include life-threatening illness, war, abuse, immigration or deaths of loved ones.

PTG happens when you’re able to transform trauma to your advantage. Initially, survival mechanisms kick in to help you get through adverse circumstances — my mother had no choice but to overcome her grief and go out and provide for us — but once the dust settles, trauma has the power to spur on positive long-term change.

Dr. Marianne Trent, a clinical psychologist and owner of Good Thinking Psychological Services, explains that:

People find ways to take new meaning from their experiences to live their lives differently than prior to the trauma.

The death of my father propelled positive change. It improved our relationship with one another, gave us a greater appreciation for life and our mortality and forced my mother to explore new ways of healthy living for her family.

She is living proof that the path of growth after trauma can lead to a happy, long life.

Fasting Twice A Week For 50 years

Every Monday and Thursday my mother has tea for breakfast and her first meal at dinner.

She has been fasting long before it was fashionable and does it for religious reasons. In Hinduism, fasting is an act of sacrifice in which one forgoes food as a mark of devotion and surrender to God. With all the chaos going on in her life, fasting grounded my mother.

Not only did it train her mind to persevere under difficult circumstances but it also benefitted her health.

Autophagy May Increase Lifespan

Fasting triggers a process known as autophagy which is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells to regenerate newer, healthier cells.

Biologist, Valter Longo, has conducted numerous studies which have shown that reducing calories without malnutrition extends healthy lifespans and reduces cancer and other diseases.

In times of stress, when cells are deprived of nutrients or oxygen, autophagy kicks in and provides an alternate source of energy from the recycled new cellular material to help them survive.

It helps the immune system by cleaning up toxins and infectious agents leading to a healthier, longer life.

Eats Good Food And Doesn’t Drink Or Smoke

My father was in the process of opening a restaurant when he passed away.

My mother decided to continue his legacy by running it and was meticulous about the ingredients on the menu. Everything had to be sourced organically and the meat grass-fed. Her obsession with clean food was also reflected on the dinner table at home.

We never ate processed food and never saw her drink a sip of alcohol or smoke.

A Healthy Diet May Increase Lifespan by Up to 5 Years

A new study found that eating nutritious food could extend lifespan by six to seven years in middle-aged age adults and by up to ten years in young adults.

The Mediterranean diet reigns supreme in matters of longevity. It consists of a mix of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes and fish, with a liberal amount of olive oil — a way of eating common in Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece.

Furthermore, berries, mushrooms and leafy greens have anti-inflammatory properties which contribute to longevity by enhancing immune cell activity, preventing DNA damage and killing free radials — unstable molecules that can damage cells.

Prohibiting processed foods which are high in sugar and saturated fats can also add years to your life as with limiting alcohol and smoking.

It all comes down to changing your eating habits rather than calorie restriction.

Swap out the bad and swap in the good. Your future self will thank you for it.

On Her Feet All Day

My mother has never had a desk job.

Instead, she stands on her feet assisting surgeons for up to 10 hours a day. She doesn’t know what a sedentary lifestyle is and often considers us, her children, the lazy ones. She is constantly on the move but has never stepped foot in a gym.

The moral of the story is that you don’t need to run marathons or kill yourself on the treadmill to live longer.

Move Naturally

One of the pillars of the Blue Zone way of life is to ‘move naturally’.

The Blue Zones are 5 places on earth where people live the longest and are healthiest: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece and Loma Linda, California.

Studies show that one factor which promotes longevity is low-intensity movement. Gardening, walking upstairs and even doing household chores by hand all benefit your body. Simple everyday tasks that burn calories.

Don’t overthink it — move naturally by doing things you enjoy.

Counts Her Blessings

When you’ve experienced death, your view of life changes.

No matter how tough or how good our situation is, my mother always taught us to count our blessings. She instilled in us a constant appreciation for life.

Whenever things don’t work out or life gets dull she reminds us of all the goodness we have in our lives and how far we have come along our journey.

Cultivating gratitude has strong positive impacts on psychological well-being, self-esteem and depression.

Grateful People Live Longer

Being grateful decreases stress and increases happiness.

This in turn slows down the effects of neurodegeneration, making you live longer. Writing one letter of appreciation decreased hopelessness in 88% of suicidal patients and increased optimism in 94%.

Furthermore, people who are in a constant state of gratitude value their life which motivates them to cultivate healthy self-care habits. Participants in this study ate, slept and exercised better.

You don’t need to wake up at 5 am and write in your gratitude journal. It’s as simple as saying ‘Thank you’ to yourself with every step you take or when you realise you have an amazing family, a roof over your head and clean running water.

Baby Steps Towards Longevity

Staying healthy for your future self should not seem like an onerous chore.

It’s easy if you take simple baby steps now, for a better future.

True life is lived when tiny changes occur

~ Leo Tolstoy

Make your mind matter by cultivating gratitude, forgiveness, happiness and love despite the tough situations life throws at you. Overcoming adversity makes you stronger.

Consume healthy foods and incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle. Don’t focus on calorie restriction or fad diets.

Remember to move naturally. Don’t enter a gym or start running if that’s not your thing. Doing simple household chores, running after your grandkids and going on walks with friends can do more for your longevity than watching box sets.

Centenarians have been found to live in Blue Zones all around the world. The key to their longevity is doing small things consistently. Very similar to my mother’s way of life.

Maybe we should cultivate these habits for a healthier, brighter future too.