The food a 96-year-old doctor gives up to extend his life expectancy
For a long time in Spain, messages about the need to lead a healthy lifestyle , with a balanced and varied diet, exercise, and healthy social relationships, have been embedded in society. But this healthy lifestyle could guarantee the longevity we all seek for a high percentage of the population.
The champion of this theory, which places less importance on genetics and more on our daily habits, is Silvio Garattini, the Italian chemist and physician and founder of the Mario Negri Institute in Bergamo. Now 96, this scientist walks to his office every day, focuses on diet at dinner , and advocates for socializing as the main preventive health measures. Medication? "The further away, the better," he asserts.
Silvio Garattini, 96 years old and an active lifestyle
Extending life expectancy has long been the main objective of the scientific community, although the Italian expert confesses in an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Sera that "living many years without quality of life is absurd ." Genetics undoubtedly influences how we age and our longevity , "but it is not a definitive factor."
Thus, Garattini asserts that in his case, genetics has played a secondary role in helping him reach 96 years of age in top form: "I only knew one grandmother, and my mother died at 67." What has been decisive, in his opinion, is his lifestyle. " I work every day ; the secret is to achieve a balance where you know that tomorrow you may not be here. That's why, if you are here, you have to do something, move, live."
The Italian doctor confesses that, despite his age, he continues to work in his favorite field: research, which motivates him to stay alive and active, both physically and mentally.
What is the secret of the long-lived scientist's diet?
The expert, who also loves the work of dissemination, shares with readers that "you have to follow the Mediterranean diet , which promotes the consumption of fruit, vegetables, fish and complex carbohydrates, and limit the intake of meat and fat. The diet should be varied and moderate . I, for example, "I don't eat lunch. Calories should be proportional to what we burn through physical activity."
And he adds: " I skip lunch ; I have coffee for breakfast and little else, but I put all my effort into dinner," which is earlier in Italy than in Spain. The doctor, however, confesses that "I never say no to a small dessert in the afternoon, because our brain needs 90 grams of sugar a day, and not providing it with that sugar is unhealthy."
It's also important to engage in some form of regular physical activity. "Exercise, get at least seven hours of sleep , and cultivate social relationships—something more important than many people think. At the Mario Negri Institute, we conducted a study with 2,000 80-year-olds, whom we followed for 15 years. Those who maintained few social relationships were at greater risk of cognitive problems. We need to cultivate them even after retirement," he says.
"Many diseases do not depend on medicines, but on us."
Silvio Garattini focuses all his outreach work on prevention, confessing that he has n't taken an antibiotic for over 40 years . "We should all try to avoid taking so many medications. I myself have gone many years without medication, because I try to take care of myself so I don't get sick and don't have to take medicine."
“We forget one fundamental thing: that many diseases depend on our lifestyle. We have millions of people with type 2 diabetes , a disease that affects vision, the heart, kidneys, and other organs, yet it is a preventable disease. We urgently need to return to prevention.”
I propose that when our minds falter regarding a healthy lifestyle, we think about the last time we were sick; how the days of being in bed or the pain it caused us overwhelmed everything else. Think of it as a chronic problem , and we'll lose the laziness to strive for a healthier life. Basically, before overdoing it on medication, eat well and walk several kilometers every day .
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