Learn the Health Secrets of the Longest Living People in the World

Holistic Health and Raw Living Food Educator Lou Corona talks about the importance of eating a raw, living plant-based food diet and how adding high-grade multiple digestive enzymes to every meal will help you counteract the ravages of aging on the body and live like our ancient ancestors used to — and perhaps become one of the longest living people in the world!

LOU CORONA – Developer of PURADYME Digestive Enzymes, shares his health secrets!

Here are some more health secrets of the longest living people in the world, sourced from Ben Greenfield Fitness:

1. Only Eat Until 8 Parts Full: Okinawas say “Hara hachi bu” which means “belly 80 percent full”. So instead of eating until I actually feel full I should stop just short of being stuffed. There has been a good bit of science done to support this. It may be that there is some value in calorie restriction, or that it just keeps our body fat down, or that if you always eat till you feel full you train your stomach to expand and need more and more to feel satisfied. I wonder what the Okinawans would think about the ‘all you can eat’ buffet restaurant ideas? They’d probably think it was the worst idea ever.

2. Eat 7 times more vegetables than meat: It’s interesting because all the groups of longest living people in the world the author studied ate meat, dairy and animal products. Just like in the book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” Weston A. Price says in his exhaustive studies none of the world’s healthiest people groups were vegetarian. But that doesn’t mean they ate like the average modern person. Even though these 5 long-living, healthy groups ate meat they had a different ratio – they ate way more veggies and fruits than meat. They also ate a lot of fish, it wasn’t always read meat. I have read almost every book on health secrets ever written and the only thing they all have in common is saying we should eat lots of vegetables. From Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paleo advocates, to the USDA recommendations, to the most hard core Vegan, everyone agrees – Vegetables should be the highest volume food type we eat. I try to be sure every plate of food I eat keeps this ratio – 7 times more vegetables than meat.

3. Drink 5 Cups Of Green Tea A Day: The book says that green tea was the basic drink of choice for the longest living people in the world residing in Bama, China and Okinawa, Japan. The author says that you need about 4-5 cups a day to get the maximum effect. Green tea basically has the most antioxidants you can get from any one food type. A tremendous amount of modern science backs up what the Chinese have known all along. If you are a coffee drinker, green tea is also a great substitute that still has the caffeine. Or you can rotate between coffee and green tea to maximize the health benefits of both. But it seems more likely that green tea is better for you and can actually have the same ‘pick me up’ effect as coffee. The people of Bama, China already knew what this Harvard Health newsletter confirms: “A study of 40,530 Japanese adults found that participants who drank more than five cups of green tea a day had a 26% lower risk of death from heart attack or stroke and a 16% lower risk of death from all causes than people who drank less than one cup of green tea a day.

4. Eat Food With Seaweed: People in Okinawa that ate food from soil that had once been below sea level were the healthiest. This probably stems from the trace minerals left from the sea water and sea plants like seaweed and kelp. These micro nutrients have a tremendous positive effect on health. It could be the iodine, or the fiber, but most likely it’s all the trace minerals that are found deep within the sea. When I was on the farm with Joel Salatin we used to feed the cows seaweed. They loved it. We literally had to restrict how much we gave them because a cow can eat a 50 lb. bag pretty fast. But the change in the health of new cows that we started on seaweed and kelp was almost instantaneous. It was the same for chickens, rabbits, plants, sheep – it was like magic. So a good start is to buy some Bragg’s Seasoning Sea Kelp Delight and sprinkle it on your food. It tastes kind of like salt.

5. Grass fed eggs: This is one close to my heart because when I was just out of high school I went and did a 2.5 year apprenticeship with Joel Salatin who is one of the pioneers of the grass fed movement. In fact in 1978 my other mentor, Allan Nation bought a magazine and turned its focus to the tremendous benefits of grass fed meat, milk, and eggs. It has taken literally 30 years for the doctors and nutritionists to catch up. I remember when I was on the farm, we sent grass fed eggs and chicken down to the National Institutes of Health and they literally called back and said “Hey our machines are broken can you send some more samples for testing.” The nutritional differences between grass fed and conventional farmed food were so different that they thought they had faulty lab equipment. But they didn’t. The grass fed eggs and chicken was just off the charts, especially in terms of the Omega 3 – Omega 6 ratios.

6. Try Apricots: The Hunzas in India were huge believers in the power of apricots, specifically apricot kernels. It’s actually become quite a controversial study with advocates on both sides. Some say the Laetrile in the kernels is an anti-cancer agent and others say it’s actually toxic. One of the issues is that apricot kernels basically have low levels of Cyanide in them. You will have to read the research on apricots and decide for yourself.

7. Eat Yogurt: I never realized that someone actually won a Nobel Prize because of their findings on the health benefits of eating yogurt. Élie Metchnikoff studied long lived Bulgarian peasants and the yogurt in their diet. He developed a theory that the natural bacteria in our stomachs could be supplemented with probiotics to increase our health.

8. Movement: Moving and exercising was by far one of the most shared traits of the longest living people in the world. Most were farmers who had daily chores. One woman in the book was over 100 and every day walked up a few hundred stairs to sell her eggs in the village. A study shows that smokers who exercise live as long or even longer than non smokers who don’t exercise. That’s how important moving, sweating, and exercise is – we all hear how bad smoking is but apparently not exercising is even worse.

9. Mind Games For The Brain: It’s not enough just to become one of the longest living people in the world, though. You don’t want to be some senile 100 year old who can’t participate in life. Playing games that stimulate the mind is one of the most effective ways to keep your mind young. I have been advocating for years that everyone play at least a few games of chess, backgammon, bridge, checkers, poker, or puzzles every week. The book “How To Be A Billionaire” talks about how games, specifically playing games of chance, is an activity enjoyed by most billionaires. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates play bridge, Peter Thiel plays chess, and H.L. Hunt played poker. There is something about playing games of chance that teaches you about the fine line between fate and controlling your destiny. My grandma is 96 and plays backgammon and chess almost every day. Her mind is young and this book says this habit is a huge reason for her mental vitality. Here is a pic of her beating me at scrabble: And if you like videos games there is good research that the multi tasking that happens when you play is great for the brain.

10. Sprouted Bread: Everyone argues about eating carbs, wheat, and grains. Interestingly the longest living people in the world all had some levels of carbs in their diet, whether it was the Okinawans and rice or the Hunzas and their sprouted bread. There are a ton of health benefits when you simply sprout the bread before cooking it. Scientists found that sprouted bread reduces the blood sugar response and increases the glucagen response compared to regular bread. I personally love Ezekiel sprouted bread. It tastes as good as regular bread and it’s healthier. I love to put some good grass fed butter or almond or cashew butter on top.

11. Mineral Water Over Distilled: There is always a huge debate about what type of water you should drink: distilled, mineral water, reverse osmosis, etc. The Hunzas lived high in the Himalayan mountains and drank water that flowed down rocky stream beds. The author says the trace minerals that accumulate as the water dissolves the rock is part of why the Hunzas live so long. (See our High ORMUS minerals like Himalayan Shilajit for sale.) Distilled water on the other hand is basically 100% free of any extra minerals, just pure H2O and so theoretically does not provide any important minerals like calcium and magnesium. Dr. Mercola seems to agree and goes further in saying distilled water is unhealthy.[Editor’s note: Lou Corona advocates drinking alkaline structured water, and Living Technologies suggests using a Water Vitalizer for double helix-structured H2O.]

12. Humming, Singing, Breathing, Meditating, Laughing: Another Nobel Prize was given on the subject of Oxygen and its effects on the human body. In 1931 Otto Heinrich Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his study on the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, particularly cancer cells. The longest living people in the world seemed to intuitively know the value of oxygen well before 1931 and regularly practiced deep breathing (which came naturally from rigorous daily exercise outside). They also did a lot of humming and singing. So next time you are in the shower don’t hold back – let your voice be heard. And during the day whistle or hum while you work. One note, Otto Warburg believed pollution to be a huge cause of cancer. So if you are like me and live in a big city like Los Angeles with a lot of pollution consider investing in a powerful air filter for your house. Another twist on the importance of breathing is meditation. The book “Happiness Hypotheses” says that there are only 3 scientifically proven ways to increase happiness: Medication, Cognitive Therapy, and Meditation. Many of the healthiest traditional groups and longest living people in the world cited in this book practiced some form of meditation. Download the Headspace free app and try it for 10 minutes a day. I love it. It helps my hyperactive brain. And last but not least, the author found that people over 100 years old laugh a lot. She tells the story of how Norman Cousins cured himself of Marie-Strumpell’s disease. He believed that human emotions controlled the biology of our body and led to health or sickness. The story goes: “Told that he had little chance of surviving, Cousins developed a recovery program… with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films. ‘I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter has an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,’ he reported. ‘When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval’.” My mom loves Dr. Schultz the naturopath and I remember him saying that we should all memorize like 50 jokes to keep ourselves healthy. For me personally I think it’s an ABSOLUTE must to see at least 1 comedy show a month. I go down to the Laugh Factory or Improv here in Hollywood. It gives me a natural high for at least 24 hours. A lot more fun and less expensive than a hospital stay.

14. Prayer: The longest living people in the world all had some sort of spiritual life with a common theme of prayer. The question is whether prayer helps the person doing the praying or the person receiving the prayers. A Huffington Post article states: “In one National Institutes of Health funded study, individuals who prayed daily were shown to be 40 percent less likely to have high blood pressure than those without a regular prayer practice. Research at Dartmouth Medical School found that patients with strong religious beliefs who underwent elective heart surgery were three times more likely to recover than those who were less religious. A 2011 study of inner city youth with asthma by researchers at the University of Cincinnati indicates that those who practiced prayer and meditation experienced fewer and less severe symptoms than those who had not. Other studies show that prayer boosts the immune system and helps to lessen the severity and frequency of a wide range of illnesses. A recent survey reported in the Journal of Gerontology of 4,000 senior citizens in Durham, NC, found that people who prayed or meditated coped better with illness and lived longer than those who did not.” So it seems pretty obvious that the person doing the praying gets all kinds of benefits. There is more controversy around the effectiveness on the people receiving the prayer. It does seem that having someone pray for you (even if you don’t know they are praying for you) can help you recover from illness faster than the placebo.

15. Be Part Of Something Bigger Than Yourself: Selfish people die younger than people who are part of a group and a movement. The longest living people in the world are generally surrounded by a community, by old friends, by child, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.Find something bigger than yourself. For many people its something spiritual like church and religion. For others it’s a movement like organic food, crossfit, or the peace corp. People who volunteer for something live longer than those who don’t. But what’s most interesting is that the science shows that people who volunteer for their own personal satisfaction don’t live any longer than people who don’t volunteer at all. It has to be selfless. I remember reading about a woman who had just held her great, great, great granddaughter and was asked “How does it feel?” She answered “Like heaven on earth.” That is the feeling we all want. So remember humans are social creatures. They say we need to have about 130 friends and be connected into a community. I lived with the Amish with no electricity for 2.5 years and they are the happiest people I have ever met. They are tied into a cause, a religious belief, and a community that is bigger than themselves. If you aren’t careful the modern world’s technology will isolate you. We don’t have to live near our families or friends, we relocate on a whim, we can withdraw into text messages and Netflix, we don’t know who grows our food, who built our house, or who makes our clothes. It’s all nameless and faceless these days. But the beauty of the modern world is we have the choice. Jump on a plane and reconnect with old friends. Like William Yutze an old Amish farmer told me, “Tai, new friends are good, but old friends are better.” Drive down to an old folks home and just walk in and find someone lonely to cheer up. I have done this and was surprised there is no security at the door. You can just walk in and talk to any of the older people. I realize why there is no need for security at the door, because NO ONE CARES about them. All that wisdom and knowledge locked up for us to learn from and few of us even take 1 hour a month to go do a good deed. I think it’s not just about volunteer work. You need to find a community of people with lofty goals, maybe changing the education system, or fixing the food in public schools with digestive enzymes as added supplements, or adopting handicapped children..

16. Low Stress: The longest living people in the world live extremely low stress lifestyles. They didn’t have monthly bills, mortgages, tuition, or debt. If we know anything about health we know that stress kills faster than smoking and potato chips. I recently read that The American Medical Association has noted that stress is the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease. Read that again! If that is even remotely true than we all seem to have our priorities on health all out of whack. I know on a personal note that when I measure my body fat, my weight, my waistline, the biggest predictor of staying in shape is the amount of good sleep I get, which is basically directly related to how stressed I am. I’m not sure dieting, exercising, or lifting weights are even helpful if you are under prolonged periods of stress. You would probably be better off focusing on getting rid of stress before any other health exercise. The question remains: How do we remove stress in the modern world? Most of us don’t live in one of these traditional villages so we have a different set of challenges. If you examine most modern world stress it relates to two major areas: Money and Love. So if we dissect our stress those are the two areas to fix. What’s the common denominator in both of those? I would say it’s fear. The amygdala part of our brain stores our fear memories. So, basically we spend our whole adult life stressfully reacting to past traumas and experiences instead of seeing life clearly. If you get bitten by a dog when you are 5 years old even when you are an adult the fear of dogs will stress you out. The amygdala fear response is insanely powerful in your mind. If you are not careful it will mean introducing massive stress into your life. When it comes to money, most people are driven by fear. Fear of changing jobs, fear of starting your own company, fear of not keeping up with the Joneses. The same with love. People fear rejection, fear breaking off an old relationship because they think they won’t find someone better, fear being alone. The antidote to stress is the management of fear and building courage is the fastest way to manage your fear.

Read more about the health secrets of the longest living people in the world at: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/anti-aging-articles/the-worlds-longest-living-people/ and http://puradyme.com/lou-corona.