Living to be a ‘healthy 100’: Maimonides specialist tells all
Recently my wife and I were invited to celebrate the 100th Birthday party of one of my patients. She was one of my first patients shortly after we moved from Minnesota to New York. I performed surgery on her more than thirty years ago (it was not for cancer). After surgery, I have seen her from time to time, and I am always surprised to see how healthy and fit she is. She still lives alone in her house in Brooklyn Heights, she has no help from a home attendant or any other help, she is completely independent. She still works as a volunteer in a soup kitchen, walks about thirty blocks every day, meets with some younger friends daily either at home or in church, and a few times a year she goes to Atlantic City, since she likes to gamble. She eats everything, most frequently Italian – lots of vegetables, fruits, a moderate amount of red meat, cheese and pasta. When I first saw her as a patient, we went over lifestyle, and I advised her that drinking red wine goes well with Italian food. For the past thirty years she has religiously followed my advice – she always has one glass of red wine with dinner.
Why is she so healthy at her advanced age? She has no diabetes, her blood pressure is well controlled with medication, she never had cancer, and her cholesterol is low. She uses glasses but no hearing aids. Her memory is excellent. She still has her own teeth. She never smoked. She was never obese. All her life she worked hard, endured some tough times, raised three sons and was working in catering business with her husband. When I asked her what’s the secret of her healthy aging she replied, ‘There is nothing secret in my life, it’s your attitude”.
We now know that lifestyle is closely related to longevity and diseases of old age, especially cancer and cardiovascular disease. Epidemiologists tell us that approximately 60% of cancers are preventable with a healthy lifestyle. It matters what and how much we eat, how physically active we are, how many hours we sleep and, especially, whether or not we smoke. She is active in her church and still many friends and acquaintances.