HOW TO BECOME 100 ?

Yesterday I saw on TV a 112 year old lady in excellent shape. I also learned that people are getting older and older and that Belgium has now 1559 people over 100 years for a total population of not exactly 11 million. That makes me think and doubt about the recommendations of a healthy life we hear today.

These men and women were born in 1910/11, they survived two World Wars and certainly didn't need weight watchers during these times. They ate what was eatable nobody cared about expiration dates, you ate it until it was not eatable anymore.

From the 50th on we swallowed everything prepared with chemicals, we ate eggs and chicken from industrial chicken farms, where the chicken just had to lay egg after egg. The cows got hormon shots and where locked in stables not to move only to become big and fat. The vegetables where all sprayed with chemicals to look more beautiful and fresh and of course to hold longer.

The majority of the people smoked like chimneys, and you were rather an outsider when you didn't smoke. I was born in 1943 and I don't know how many meat I have eaten from hormon prepared cows and pigs, how many vegetables I ate sprayed with chemicals, and how many eggs I ate coming from these chicken "factories".

Now suddenly all this is bad for your health, we all should buy bio or organic food, I don't know the difference, I only know it costs a lot more . It's bad to smoke it's bad to drink it's better to run on a treadmill inside then outside in the street or a park, to lift weights instead of lifting your kids or household stuff and you bike in your room instead on the street.

On the other hand the States complain because people are getting so old and they have difficulties to pay the pensions for such a long time. In Belgium the retirement age is 65. So if you live until 100 the State has to pay you 35 or more years pension for maybe around 30 years of work, it depends what you were doing. Only the politicians are allowed to work until 80 or longer and you are considered as a still young politician when you are only 65 ! And if they want to work that long that means they don't have a lot of work, a miner certainly doesn't want to work until he is 80.

All this makes me think that despite two World Wars with hunger, and then this unhealthy food with hormon meat, with chemicals sprayed vegetables, smoking etc. these people reached the respectful age of 100 years ! Maybe just because of all the chemicals to keep things fresh !

Now organic food is in fashion and the younger generation should only eat bio which is far more expensive and do sport in Fitness centers which is an excellent business. This way they would live less longer and the State doesn't have to pay a pension for such a long time. After all health is also a business and a quiet new one.

Unfortunately this kind of "health" is only for wealthy people, I doubt very much that a big family with an average salary can go into a "Bio shop" without going bankrupt.



I don't eat organic foods. At my age I can use all the preservatives I can get ! (That's me with a friend)