Parade magazine recently ran a story on 94-year-old Olga, a competitive runner, long-jumper and high-jumper.* Clearly, she defies the story we’ve come to believe about aging, i.e., that it is inevitably a time of disease and decrepitude. Olga is fit and spry and looks to be about 68.
Researchers are all over “super seniors” like Olga, trying to figure out what helps them “apply brakes to the aging process–defying the slide into a foggy decline, remaining sharp and healthy deep into old age.”
The answers are unsurprisingly familiar–some might say boring. In a nutshell, Olga does not sit around watching TV and eating pretzels, cheese and crackers. In scientific terms, “longevity is probably about 70 to 75 percent lifestyle,” says Angela Brooks-Wilson, Ph.D., a geneticist in the Genome Sciences Centre at the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver.
How does this translate into news you can use? Easy: Get into the habit of staying active, staying on your feet, enjoying life–and eating real food. Olga doesn’t rely on processed foods nor does she “skip meals or scarf fast food and count on a handful of supplements and vitamins to pick up the dietary slack.” Instead, she figures a balanced diet ought to do it. As she says, “nature had a couple million years to get this right.”
Statistically, we are on track to live longer, but with a deteriorating quality of life. If you prefer the Olga model of aging, NOW is the time to switch to an Olga lifestyle. Join us for class and learn how to translate real foods theory into real foods meals on the table, day after day, for life! This class is Free:
Putting Good Nutrition on the Table: Tasty and Easy Meal Making for Happy and Healthy Aging
- “Magnesium Protects Against Stroke”
- “Vitamin E Helps Prevent Alzheimer’s”
- “A healthy lifestyle is the only proven way to prevent heart disease”
Practically every day we see a study showing the powerful connection between good nutrition and good health. But how can we translate those exciting revelations into actual meals on the table, day in and day out? In this hands-on meal making class, discover secrets for making good nutrition a natural part of every day meal making. Get inspired to take an active role in creating your own good health. Cook and chat together as we make and taste nutritionally powerful, delightfully delectable dishes.
Thursday, March 20
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
West Boulder Senior Center Kitchen
FREE — but call to register: 303-441-3907
Instructor Mary Collette Rogers is a master of easy, efficient meal making for good health, good energy and a good weight. A veteran cooking instructor, author, speaker and kitchen coach, she happily and enthusiastically shares a wealth of tips, skills and tricks from nearly 25 years in the healthy cooking and eating fields. Join us if you are ready to reap all the wonderful health benefits of a healthful diet.
* Based on “Going the Distance,” Bruce Grierson, Parade Magazine, December 29, 2013