Farrell: If you want to live to be 115 years old, you don't have to eat all the raw eggs
The New York Times ran a story last month about a 115-year-old Italian woman named Emma Morano who attributed her longevity to ditching her husband in 1938 and to eating three raw eggs a day since she was a teenager.
She is what's called a "supercentenarian," the term for those who have lived past their 110th birthdays and, I presume, are just so very sick and tired of being asked what their secret is to living that long.
Hence the raw eggs.
It's not that I don't believe Morano, but if I live past 110 it's the tip of the iceberg of what I plan to say.
"I only eat the left half of grapes!"
"Four spoonfuls of white vinegar and one semisweet chocolate chip daily!"
"Thirty-two ounces of goldfish water before breakfast!"
"Try it all. It's true."
A few weeks after the Morano story, Time magazine published its health issue. On the cover was a toddler -- sporting a hairstyle that he will also have when he is 50 -- with the headline "This baby could live to be 142 years old: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Longevity."
Living until you are considered a piece of ancient history is a terrifying notion, especially when you think about it pragmatically. It's not just "what will I do with all that extra time," society is simply not set up in a way that will accommodate the very old.
In fact, it's already a problem. Life expectancy has grown in leaps and bounds in the past 100 years. In the United States, we now have more 60-plussers than 15-and-youngers.
"The culture that guides us today -- that tells us when to get an education, marry, have children, buy a house, work and retire -- is profoundly mismatched to the length of the lives we are living," writes Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.
Everything is going to have to change, which gives humans the opportunity to completely restructure who we are and how we do life. That's an exciting prospect.
One thing that won't change? Death. We will all still die eventually -- no matter how much resveratrol or rapamycin or fish oil we take; no matter how many walks we go on or weights we lift; no matter how many Mediterranean dishes we eat.
No matter how many times we ask a super-senior what her secret is.
But it's OK. Done right, life will be even better than it is now.
After thinking about this march toward megacentenarianism, I talked to Dr. Philip Cusumano, an internist with Beaufort Memorial Lady's Island Internal Medicine, who is a good person to ask about the practical things we can do now to extend our lives (there are a lot). You might recognize his name from occasional lectures he gives on the anti-aging debate and the advice given in "YOU -- Staying Young," a best-selling book by Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz.
Cusumano is 64 but says he has the biological age of a man in his 50s -- "I could do better. I could do a lot more. I'm the first one to admit that."
He wants his patients to know that they can take control of their lives, but it's not easy or quick. It's all about lifestyle change -- lower your blood pressure, eat better, exercise more, stop smoking, reduce your exposure to stress. All of these actions add years to our lives.
"We can actually affect how our genes are expressed by our lifestyles," he said. "That is huge. That's really important for people to know."
In other words, there are no "secrets." It's lifestyle change, and we already have the prescription.
So, if you want to live to be 115 years old like Emma Morano, you don't have to go buying up all the chickens in Beaufort County.
"I don't think any doctor I'm aware of is recommending three raw eggs a day," Cusumano said.
Follow columnist Liz Farrell at twitter.com/elizfarrell and facebook.com/elizfarrell.
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This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Farrell: If you want to live to be 115 years old, you don't have to eat all the raw eggs."