Longlife Remedies From my Grandma

Eating habits and daily rituals that helped her live a long and healthy life

Yes, she passed away about a month ago. We all do, eventually. But my grandma didn’t just reach the impressive age of 91, she also lived a fulfilled life. She was happy. And healthy.

There are things in life we still do because generations have done them. Remedies that our ancestors used to do to stay alive. But most of those habits and rituals are long forgotten. Or how my husband always says

“This is old people’s stuff. We live in the 21st century now. Don’t believe in such stupid things.”

(translated from Afrikaans, certain things he only says in Afrikaans to me)

But it is really? Is it right we should forget about all those things that kept our ancestors alive for centuries? I don’t think so. I surely believe in modern medicine. But I also believe in a healthy immune system and eating habits that help you stay fit and happy.

And so did my grandma. And she was for very long my living proof of why all those “superstitious” habits are everything else but outdated. Her remedies made it into the 21st century with all her glory.

My Grandma’s Daily Rituals

And, if you’re curious what those habits and rituals are all about, let’s get started. My grandma has been a busy woman until her last days. She’s been active, helping out wherever she could and visiting other people. Despite her sometimes tight schedule, she had certain daily rituals without which she would never get her day started.

A glass of warm water to wake up

Just after getting up in the morning, my grandma would drink a glass of lukewarm water together with a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of honey.

Sounds like a strong combination for an empty stomach? My uncle said after drinking that he wouldn’t even make it to the toilet in time. Well, my grandma would drink that combination without twitching just a single muscle in her face (and without needing to run to the bathroom).

Marigold salve

In the bathroom continued her morning routine where she would use a marigold salve on her upper body and legs for healthy skin. But this wasn’t just any marigold salve. It was a self-made salve.

My dad was growing a field of marigolds each year in his garden plot. He would pick them, dry the flower heads and then hand them over to his brother. My uncle would then create the salve out of marigolds.

Breakfast with seeds and fruits of the season

Finally, my grandma would be ready for breakfast and a good cup of coffee. She would eat her coffee with a spoonful of oatmeal, wheat bran, one tablespoon of sunflower seeds, and or other grounded nuts.

Her breakfast was always completed with some fruits of the season (if possible fresh out of my dad’s garden) and a slice of bread with jam (self-made from my mom or my aunt).

Surely my grandma loved fresh and self-grown or self-made products. This probably reminded her of her upbringing in Romania where they were rather poor but had lots of vegetables and fruits growing in their garden or in the surrounding fields.

But the morning routine wasn’t done yet. Now was time to sit in front of the TV and watch the morning sports show where she would try to imitate all movements as much as possible.

Eating raw garlic

Everyone knows that garlic is healthy. I do know there is a fair amount of people out there ignoring and trying to fight that fact simply because of the intense smell of garlic.

I love garlic. I always cook with garlic. I don’t think I make a dish without adding garlic to it. Which is probably also because of my grandma.

But my grandma took this whole thing to a next level. She ate every morning (at around 9 a.m.) a spoon full of raw, chopped garlic. And I say every morning. Except for when she went to the dentist. Then she’d take it after the appointment.

She always asked us if she’d stink of garlic. My aunt always tuned her about it. But we never discouraged her from continuing her ritual. She believed in the health benefits of it and I’m convinced it worked. She would often eat a piece or two of ginger afterward. To cancel out the extreme smell of it. It didn’t work, I can tell you that.

These days I often eat raw garlic in thin slices on my bread during German “Brotzeit”. Which is in the evening. Together with my husband. If one of us eats garlic, so has the other one as well. But we limit our garlic consumption to the evenings.

I’m just not as hard-core as my grandma. I don’t think I could get down a spoon of raw garlic in the morning. Flushing it down with a glass of lemon water. Wait, what?

This brings me to the next point…

Lemon-water

Right after eating the spoonful of raw garlic, my grandma had a glass of water prepared with lemon juice in it. The lemon juice was squeezed out of an organic lemon. Unfortunately, those weren’t growing in my dad’s garden but she got them from the local farmer’s market.

Well, and if you’re not awake by now I don’t know if anything will wake you up. My grandma would now only get her day started. After all her morning routine eating habits and daily rituals were completed.

Kefir

Later in the morning, another eating ritual would fall into place. Sometime before lunch. I don't actually know if this is something she was doing from the time back in Romania or something she only started in the last few years living in Germany.

Growing kefir and eating/ drinking the product. If you’re like me and think there is some spelling mistake because you’ve never heard of “kefir” before, here is the explanation for you:

“Kefir is a fermented drink, traditionally made using cow’s milk or goat’s milk.

It is made by adding kefir grains to milk. These are not cereal grains, but grain-like colonies of yeast and lactic acid bacteria that resemble a cauliflower in appearance. Over approximately 24 hours, the microorganisms in the kefir grains multiply and ferment the sugars in the milk, turning it into kefir. Then the grains are removed from the liquid and can be used again.

In other words, kefir is the drink, but kefir grains are the starter culture that you use to produce the beverage.” — healthline.com

Not really the type of drink I would consume. But hey, my grandma drank it believing it added to her health. The last one she made herself she drank the whole thing, including the kefir grains. When my uncle came by and asked where the “mushroom” was she just said, “I ate it”. And her body consumed it without issues.

A glass of wine after lunch

Soon it was lunchtime and lunch always had to be at 12 p.m. That was at least how it used to be when my grandpa was still alive. In the 13 years she outlived him she became more relaxed about the lunchtime and would sometimes only sit down by 14 p.m.

But the highlight wasn’t the self-cooked meal for lunch but much more the glass of red wine she would drink after the meal. Of course, it wasn’t just any red wine. It was my dad’s self-made wine.

My dad would make wine out of the countless berries growing in his garden every year and supplied my grandma all year round with red wine. She would drink nothing else but this one and would sometimes even bribe the doctors with a bottle of his “quality wine”.

When my grandma was diagnosed with a large tumor in her brain and got cortisone prescribed, my uncle took the wine from her saying she wasn’t allowed to drink it due to the pills. She was everything else but happy about it and in the next doctor’s appointment my uncle brought up the dispute whereupon the doctor replied “she can drink whatever she desires”.

Whereas my grandma was happy again getting her daily glass of red wine and my uncle was relieved knowing he didn’t have to take her this precious drink away.

It was really not more than a glass a day. In her later days, this glass got watered down a lot and a bottle of my dad’s wine would easily last her a week if not even more.

Afternoon/evenings

The afternoons my grandma would spend going to gym lessons, English lessons, working as a volunteer in the senior center serving food (to people often younger than her), and going to birthday and other celebrations. She was surely always busy but often put “couch breaks” in between. To rest and recharge the batteries.

Dinner time was at 18 p.m. and after that, it was time for the news on TV. Before and after my grandma would be doing lots of crosswords and sudoku. Not the easy ones, she would only do the extreme versions and extra difficult ones. To keep the brain fit.

Until eventually it was time for a goodnight's sleep and a well-deserved rest.

Final Words

My grandma has lived a long life despite breaking her back (literally) in the last days of my grandad when she had to lift him up and out of bed. She lived over 10 years with long screws in her back keeping all in place. But that didn't stop her from going to town on foot, taking the bus or train to the doctor’s appointment and going on excursions in the mountains with her children and grandchildren.

Reaching such an impressive age despite a hard upbringing and many setbacks during her adulthood don’t just come from nothing. She surely always looked after her health and listened to the doctors. Many of these remedies of hers come from back in the days when local doctors in Romania recommended her these eating habits.

And if you ask me — they surely did their job. My grandma didn’t take any prescription drugs up until she was diagnosed with the tumour two months before her death. She simply didn’t need to.

And that is what I am trying to learn from her. Eating healthy, having daily rituals and doing lots of sports in order to prevent taking drugs as much as possible. These days drugs are prescribed way too easily and too often so that when we really need them they don’t work anymore on our bodies.

P.S.: A big thanks goes to my uncle (Danke Pitz) who helped me write down all those habits and get them in a right order. And with this piece we all got to spend another day with her, my grandma. In our thoughts.