Living to 100 Years Old – Emma Morano. Welcome to the 5th in our series on centenarians. Emma Morano lived from 11/29/1899 to 4/15/2017, a total of 117 years, 137 days. She is #7 on the list of all-time longest-lived people.
Our first super-centenarian from Italy, Emma is the only Italian in the top 10. She was born in Civiasco, which is in far northern Italy, near the Swiss border. It looks like it’s on the Swiss-Italian border, but in actuality, the Alps are there, so it’s really just on the Italian side of the Alps. Emma never married, and her sister Angela lived to be 102, so longevity runs in the family.
Quality of life:
She was still living alone in her home on her 115th birthday, which is awesome. I hope I am able to take care of myself at 90. That’s a goal. 115 is amazing. Ms Morano worked in a school kitchen until she was 75, though when she was a young girl, she worked in a factory that produced vegetable. Still working at 75!
Diet:
This is the unusual part. Emma Morano ate three raw eggs a day. I’m not sure if this really affects longevity in the average person, but Emma was prescribed eggs as a remedy for anemia early in her life. There is a YouTube video of this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7_ByWcH6NQ). She also drank a glass of homemade grappa every day. Grappa is a very strong grape-based liquor popular in parts of Europe including Portugal and Italy. It is like a brandy, or perhaps a type of brandy. She also enjoyed a chocolate and cookies sometimes, so in moderation.
Her secret for longevity:
Positive thinking about the future was most important (2013 interview), and, surprisingly, she credited staying single (2016 interview) as a recommendation for long life as well.
What do we learn?
This is first strange diet. The eggs were prescribed for her anemia, so take that into consideration before you start drinking three eggs for breakfast every day. Alcohol consumption matches up with Blue Zones suggestion that a moderate amount of alcohol daily is common among long-lived cultures. Sweets are okay in moderation as well. In my diet, nothing is completely off-limits, and I do occasionally have real sugar. Being single is counter-intuitive, usually we hear that married people live longer. However, it should be noted that all of the top ten are women, and those that were married usually lived decades after their spouses died. Probably, the correlation between marriage and lifespan is more relevant for men than women.
Raw eggs and cookies!
The Blue Zones books:
The Blue Zones Solution: https://amzn.to/2QpbGvS
The Blue Zones of Happiness: https://amzn.to/2Qpr0sC
The Blue Zones Kitchen: https://amzn.to/2Qpr0sC
The Blue Zones: https://amzn.to/2Qo4Tmb
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Morano
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grappa
Interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7_ByWcH6NQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAuPaKo3TU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psUlJ95hTac
Weight 7-day Avg. (change since Jan 2018): 215 (-60)
Workout time: 115 Minutes
Total Distance (total since Nov 2017): 7.23 Miles (494.02)
Steps: 18,938
Muscle Mass 7-day Avg. (change since Aug 2018): 151.94 (+9)
Body Fat 7-day Avg.: 29%
Daily Sleep Duration 7-day Avg: 6 hours
2019 Goal: 15% Body Fat