Centenarians
Why Do Some People Live To 100 And Over?
Updated May/7/2022
There's many people who live to 100 and over. There are some folks who are isolated cases in their community and there are cluster places where there are many people in those communities live to be 100 plus years old. Why is that?
There's lots of speculation as to why and some people have tried to draw some conclusions but there's still more research that needs to be done before scientists can draw clear definite conclusions about why some people live to be 100 and over some times while eating & drinking all the things people are told not to drink or eat or if do only on moderation. And there are some people who eat all the "correct" things and live long healthy lives, who live to 100 plus years old. But ultimately we as a human beings don't know for sure why, if we did, whatever it is that is causing healthy longevity in some people, more people would do it and there would be alot more people living to be 121 like Jeanine Calment in France, Richard Overton in Texas and Dr. Ellisworth in California and so many more.
Knowing the facts that it isn't known for certain what the exact formula is that is causing some people to live to 122 is important. It's also important to acknowledge the successes that several whole food plant based nutrition doctors have had with many people reversing several diseases successfully. And thousands of individual who've improved their health doing various forms of plant based nutrition, both raw & cooked. Some folks do 100 % plant based raw. But the majority are doing a mixture of raw & cooked foods. Many of these doctors point to some of the areas mentioned below in the example section. However many of them caution about the use of oil.
When you watch the videos about test results from scientist who've tested folks in the blue zones for example, some of then have said people in these blue zones have very good micro-circulation and some of these seniors have hearts that are as healthy as people much younger. Some scientist from a project or study out of Germany have said folks in the blue zones have slightly high blood pressure and a couple of other things but they have extremely good microcirculation, which validated the other scientist's findings. And they all seem to live in communities where everyone is cared about, all the people matter.
Just maybe the successes of the whole foods plant based doctors points the way to get even better results with plant based nutrition and living longer enjoyable lives. There's some interesting research being done on this topic. Whatever the longevity formula is, it's obviously isn't the same for everyone, having the info is good for people to have, then they can decide how they want to use it.
There's a couple of predictions that are interesting concerning this, one is there are going to be more centenarians by 2050 than ever before in the United States and Dan Brunner said, in 10 years the current "Blue Zones" won't exist anymore. I hope the prediction about the blue zones is incorrect and I predict there's going to be more Vegan Whole Foods Plant based nutrition zones and Blue Zones because people will create new Vegan Whole Foods Plant based nutrition Blue Zones. Lastly there needs to more effort put into including homeless people /unhoused people and other people who do not always have ways to cook their food from scratch or store it in a fridge, because I don't hear people including them in their video about preparations of plant based food or in videos about not eating pre made foods. And all the plant based foods people who are homeless are not going to only eat raw fruits & veggiez which leaved them with foods made with oil, salt & sugar in many cases. There needs to be more efforts made to get whole food plant-based nutrition in soup kitchens, shelters and other organizations that feed the homeless as well as getting this food into food bags that are given out by food banks and into the kitchens of group homes for those who are intellectually challenged for those folks who are Whole Foods Plant-Based.
Just To Name A Few People Who Lived Long Lives
Ida Keeling lived to be 106 years old, she survive a severe depression and started running at 67 years old. "104-Year-Old Runner Shares Her Secrets To Longevity |" YouTube link
Fredie Blom: lived to be 116 years old Fredie is "South African is possibly world's oldest man" YouTube link "Cape Town's oldest man Fredie Blom dies at age 116" YouTube link
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Smoking
Some of the people listed on this page are smokers. I don't want anyone to see this as me encouraging people to smoke. I also don't see it as helpful to shame smokers or to victimize smokers and or non-smokers. If you don't smoke don't start. If you do smoke quitting works for some people. For those who don't quit, try to smoke less. Here's some of the things I've heard several plant based doctors say about smoking tobacco. In a lecture about plant based eating Dr. Esselstyn said to smokers who are interested in becoming plant based, this is a paraphrased not an exact quote: focus on your diet and you'll smoke less. Because you can only quit so many things at a time. So if you focus on your diet you will smoke less. He also gives some examples of people smoking very strong tobacco in another country I think it was Scotland, he said because of what they didn't eat they didn't have heart problems due to smoking, he does discourage smoking as well in some of is video lectures. In a joint video with his son Dr. Thomas Campbell MD, Dr. Colin Campbell said people who smoked did better on plant based diets, his statements he made surrounding that statement implied that he didn't want people who smoke to give up on caring about what they eat. Dr. Kim Williams says, "No one should be smoking." Dr. Greger said if you can't quit at least vape. None of these doctors said it is good to smoke and none of them shamed smokers with their statements. Smokers care about their health just like non smokers. So smoking is not a reason to discriminate against people and categorize them incorrectly as people don't care about their health, it doesn't work to shame or blame people. Now some scientific studies have led some scientist to conclude that eating some foods is like smoking was in the 1960s when the average smoker smoked a half a pack a day. Since the 1960s many folks quit and many cut way back to less than a pack a week. But as of 22019death related to food has now has surpassed smoking as a leading killer.
Shaming and blaming people isn't going to work to change the way people eat. Food manufactures offering better food choices and education will make easy access to healthier choice and will work to encourage changes in knock heart disease & food out of the number one slot. Everyone who eats ultra processed food isn't going to quit, some folks will and some folks will cut way back. Back to the list of people who live to 100 and over.
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Elizabeth Sullivan lived to be 106 she drank soda everyday and thinks thats what did it. "104-year-old woman's secret: 3 Dr Peppers a day" YouTube link
Jeanne Calment lived to be 122, she quit smoking when she was 117 years old. Was the Oldest Person To Have Ever Lived a Con Artist?" Zak's theory that she committed tax fraud was proven wrong. YouTube link
Dr. Ellsworth Warreham he lived to be 104, he didn't drink alcohol or smoke. "The 103 Year Old Vegan: Dr. Ellsworth Wareham | Loma Linda Blue Zone" YouTube link
Kane Tanaka lived to be 119 years old, she loved chocolate and was loved by lots of people. "World's Oldest Person, Kane Tanaka, Dies Aged 119" YouTube link
"Richard Overton, lived to 112 years old, in response to how do you live so long? Richard said, you can do it too just don't die. "109-Year-Old Veteran and His Secrets to Life Will Make You Smile" YouTube link
"119-year-old Gogo could be the oldest woman in the world" YouTube link
Centenarian Cluster Places
Some of the "known" places where there are many people livibg there who are over 100 and many still caring for themselves are: Costa Rica, Sardania, Ikeria, Okinawa, Loma Linda, Rural China. There may be other places yet to be discovered where there's clusters of folks 100 & over.
Nicoya, Costa Rica: TODAY Visits ‘Blue Zone’ Of Costa Rica Where People Live To 100 | TODAY" this is where I heard the prediction that in 10 years the blue zones won't exist anymore. It's also where I heard a cup of beans can add years to your life, doctor Greger talk about this as well as many other plant based doctors. In Nicoya they don't eat alot of oil in their food. YouTube link
"Fountain Of Youth" in Japan it is very interesting and fun to listen to the folks talk about how they eat. They include lots of sweet potaoes, along with other foods they eat, their diet is high in hyaluronic acid. They are pretty much wrinkle free and energetic happy people and some people believe it's the hyaluronic acid that is making rhem look young. There are many foods high in hyaluronic acid such as sweet potato, kale, lemons snd many more. YouTube link
"Greek Island a Fountain of Youth" There's ten times more siblings over 90 than any place in the world, it has more people living longer without severe dementia than in the United States. On this Island everyone is important and they treasure the elderly plus more interesting traits that are believed to be part of why they live long healthy lives, not only the food they eat but the ways they vaule each other in their community. YouTube link
Ikaria: They eat lots of plants, some seafood, with olive oil and local wine, some of them smoke. Scientist want figure why their hearts and memories are in such good condition at such old ages. "Island where people live longer than anyone on earth | 60 Minutes Australia" YouTube link
Sardania: Another village where lots of people live into their 90s and 100 years old and longer. "Longevity: Journey into the blue zone | TechKnow" YouTube link
Rural China "Does This Village in China Hold the Key to Living Past 100? | National Geographic" YouTube link
I'm Kuango Seilah. I'm a singer, songwriter, musician and a graduate of the Whole Foods Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate Program.
I completed the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate Program at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at eCornell.
Prior enrolling in the Cornell University online program I spent lots of time reading about plant based nutrition, vegetarian eating and a eating a non vegetarian diet that was basically a Blue Zones way of eating described by Dan Brutner. Although we didn't call it a blue zones diet during the late 70s and 80s. It was basically majority vegetarian and some times poultry and seafood. I did some reading about scientific studies and other research on dietary practices. I also spent lots of time listening to audio lectures and watching video lectures done by scientists, nutrition researchers, and health care professionals doing this research and will continue with my Interest in various plant based lifestyles & whole food plant based nutrition research.
Some of the things I enjoy is the whole foods plant based way of life, researching this topic, learning from, commenting and sharing what I find in research articles, videos, classes and books etc.
I like it because there's lots of every day kinda people doing their best to live their dietary goals, as well as setting new goals when or If they want to change things in their eating routine again. It's not a bunch of perfect people who snob people who are beginning or started and stopped their interest in whole food plant based nutrition. It's real people living real lives that some times eat only what's on their goal list they've set, and some times they have stray away from their dietary routine but won't give up, they keep going and won't give up. It's people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientations, all genders etc.
Thank You for visiting this site
2023
I don't know as much about diet and health as I would like to. Most of the things on these web pages were put here when I was homeless. I figured if I wrote about what I read to keep me going it might help me stay strong. I had to focus on various topics because it wasn't easy being homeless, it was not easy seeing how some people discriminated based on that and didn't care what happened to you. I cared about my life so I reminded myself of the people who do care about my wellbeing and I put alot of focus on reading about the kinds of nutrition and foods I was interested in before I was homeless, also teeth, music, news, activism plus other topics, it helped me deal with some of pain of being homeless. I'm still learning. Now that I have a place, I hope to put more of what I've read about and posted about into practice. I was able to do some of it while I was homeless, I can do more now that I have a solid place to live. Slowly but surely. A big thank you to all the people who helped me when I was homeless and to all those who helped me with my efforts to get a place to live.
