Healthy at 100

Healthy at 100 is a book by John Robbins that I have recently started to read. It's not only about living to be a hundred and beyond, but about doing so and being functional and healthy still. You see, although people are living longer in our modern world, on average they aren't very functional or healthy. In fact, you may say that in stead of living longer, we are dying longer. In a quote from the book, "A century ago, the average adult in Western nations spent only 1 percent of his or her life in a morbid or ill state, but today's average modern adult spends more than 10 percent of his or her life sick." The book is full of statistics and facts based on research. As usual, John Robbins is superb at collecting his facts. But basically it is about research that has been done of four different societies around the globe that are known to be long lived. For the most part these cultures are in pristine locations with plenty of clean air and fresh fruits and vegetables. Yes, their diets are mostly vegetarian, but the book is not about that. In fact, it isn't even about promoting the lifestyles of these cultures. In general these people are very poor, and have little or none of the modern conveniences that we enjoy. Realistically, what John Robbins wants to do with the book, is change our mindset about how we look at getting old. Some of the biggest factors mentioned in the book, are how respected the elders are in these society, compared to our modern industrialized view of being decrepit and ugly. The other stuff in the book, like the differences in diet and exercise are, in my opinion common knowledge, and of no real surprise. The only thing holding people back in these aspects of health are our own decisions. But our society's mentality towards aging effects us greatly too. Look at the media today, and you mostly see commercials, television shows, and movies with young "attractive people". Especially where women are concerned. How often do you see an average out of shape guy with a more attractive woman? And even things like birthday cards talking about being "over the hill". There are not many positive terms used to describe older people, but plenty of negative ones, like "geezer," "old fogey," old maid," "dirty old man," and my favorite, "old fart." In the cultures mentioned in the book, there on no negative terms for getting old. In fact, everything about being older is so revered that the elders often lie about their age and say they are older than they really are.

John Robbins makes a point of being very honest in the book. Even though he is a vegetarian he tells about the meat and dairy that they eat. It is a very small part of their diets, especially compared to what our society consumes, but not enough so to omit. He could have focused on how old some of these people claimed to be, but he made a point of showing that research had revealed that many of them were 20 or 30 years younger than they said they were. But the point wasn't really to show that these people lived to be well over a hundred, but to show that even if they were only in their 90's, they were still very fit, healthy and active. Most of the time the researches couldn't keep up with these elders, as they went about their everyday lives.

So, what am I getting out of this book? That, yes, clean air, a good diet and exercise are important to live a long and healthy happy life, but so is attitude. Not just our own, but of our society. We need to be surrounded with love and positive energy. Getting old should not mean, a loss of health and vitality. It should mean a gain in wisdom and respect. Not too surprising either, I hope.

Is this important?