Health Tips From a HEALTHY 98 Year Old
Yes, that same fun-loving grandma that you see on TikTok is the same grandmother that I’m referring to. If you’re lost, please check out her accounts here:
https://www.instagram.com/miscellaneousgranny/
She had just recently came back from a checkup with her doctor and the doctor was begging to know her secret for being in shape for this long.
She takes no pills, she needs no assistance to get out of bed, to shower, and she is completely coherent and mentally aware.
She recently turned 98 last month and she’s far healthier than some people in their 50s and 60s.
She’s completely independent.
After a while when living with a medical miracle, you begin to grow curious as to how one’s able to stay this healthy for this long.
When you see her peers need walkers, pills, and home aids you really start to appreciate what you are witnessing in front of you and shouldn’t take it for granted.
People on her TikTok are constantly bombarding the comment section asking for her health secrets. This is what inspired this article.
I’m going to give you all the cheat codes to her healthy lifestyle.
One thing that she mentions regularly when asked how she is able to stay this healthy for so long is her love of God.
Now I know there are a group of people who will roll their eyes at this notion, but this is noteworthy as she mentions this ALL THE TIME when people ask her what her secret is.
Your beliefs are your beliefs. I’m just the messenger. She adds that being kind and loving coupled with her love of God have helped immensely in coming this far in life.
It certainly doesn’t look like it takes a rocket scientist to know that being kind and having good intentions leads to a longer life.
Personally I think a belief in God goes a long way in living a long prosperous life because you always feel like you have something to live for, you always feel like you have a reason to wake up.
This becomes all the more important as you age.
She prays, she reads her Bible, she sings her hymns randomly. Her belief in God has certainly kept her happy. It adds a little pep in her step knowing that God has her back.
More specifically Jesus Christ.
Because of her kind and loving disposition people often want to surround her and check in on her. This is yet another reason for her to wake up happy, energized, and eager to start her day with a smile on her face.
She knows that people care about her, which also encourages her mind to stay active.
Being kind to others helps you stay healthy mentally and physically for longer.
There seems to be a recurring theme here: the more reasons someone has to get out of bed in the morning, the longer they’ll live. For a 98 year old she has more than her fair share of reasons to wake up.
The Japanese are the oldest living nation in the world and one of the main reasons is because they don’t retire.
If you’re a Shoemaker you’re a Shoemaker for the rest of your life, the longer you have a purpose to get up, the longer and happier your life will be.
I think that a lot of 98 year olds don’t have a ton of reasons to wake up and be productive.
People need to feel useful, especially at that advanced age because at that age feelings are emphasized because you are alone regularly.
It can be daunting to be alone with just your thoughts when your children have all grown up and most of your loved ones have passed.
It is without a shadow of a doubt that a loving community surrounding her has extended her life greatly.
Tons of old people are bitter because they don’t feel useful and feel as though their family and community have abandoned them.
Your life has to feel meaningful, if you have nothing to live for, then why keep living? Your body will eventually recognize the lack of fulfillment and give up much like you mind already has.
It’s easy to feel useless at an elderly age because your body simply can’t do the things it once could and you often have to rely on other people to get a lot of things done for you.
How can you feel impactful, useful and fulfilled when you have to depend on someone to stand up, wash your back, get your mail, and cook your food.
You lose that ever important sense of independence. It’s empowering doing the necessities by yourself, most of us truly aren’t grateful enough for this ability because so many of us have it.
It’s important to have your mind stimulated, if your mental health isn’t in order, your physical health isn’t far behind.
My grandmother can sometimes get annoying with all the talking she does on the phone, but if that’s what she needs to feel important and to stimulate her mind then so be it.
She has endless conversations with the people that she knows, loves and cares about with regularity.
Speaking on the phone forces you to use your senses, it forces you to listen, act, and respond.
If you don’t use your mental muscles, you will lose them.
Getting into the more scientific answer, her eating habits have helped her live this long as well.
Her favorite food of all time has to be soup. No one on the face of the planet has consumed more soup than this woman, and all the soup she drinks is homemade.
We’re Jamaican, so there’s a lot of vegetables in there. There’s yams, there’s boiled banana, there’s carrots, there’s boiled dumpling, sometimes there’s chicken, sometimes there’s pig feet, sometimes there’s hog feet, any miscellaneous animal body part you can think of has been in her soup.
One of her most prevalent eating habits is the fact that she barely eats at all.
She much rather undereat than overeat, she fears feeling bloated and being backed up. When she does eat, she eats until she is content and not until she is full.
I rarely see my grandmother eat a large meal, all of her proportions are small.
This may also be a habit because as we age our body loses its ability to break down food as well as it did in years past.
She also eats later in the day. For some reason she loves staying up until 2–3 a.m., and then starting her day at around 3 p.m.
I’m not sure if I would recommend this tactic or if it’s even useful, I’m just informing you on what she does.
Her tendency to start her day later leads to her having her first meal at around 4 or 5 p.m.
I’ve witnessed her drink half a cup of coffee for the day, watch Steve Harvey and head to her bed.
She rarely touches juice or soda.
She doesn’t define herself as a vegetarian or vegan, she actually hates those people.
She says this although she rarely eats meat herself, and when she does it is in small proportions.
When she does eat meat it’s one chicken leg, or a small piece of whatever meat I have.
What she primarily consumes is liquids and soups, everything else she just takes bits and pieces of here and there.
I like to keep my articles real and raw. It might come as a bit of a surprise that she still drinks wine, Wray & Nephews white rum, and Hennessy.
Please be advised that all of these things are done in moderation and when it’s done it is consumed in small doses. She’ll drink it straight but she’ll also take her time.
Even at 98 years of age, you’ve got to take a load off.
I hope this article helped you out. Overall keep your mind active, keep that love in your heart, keep God first and push away from the table.
