The world’s oldest woman, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones, just passed away. She was the last US person born in the 19th century.
What made her live so long? It’s impossible to know, but media reports something interesting:
Ms Jones always maintained that lots of sleep and no smoking or drinking were the main reasons she lived to celebrate her 116th birthday last year.
But perhaps it was due to the pleasures she allowed herself in life too. In an interview with Time Magazine last year, she admitted to eating four strips of bacon with scrambled egg every day.
An earlier article contains more details:
Jones’ favorite dish is bacon and eggs… The 116-year-old woman eats bacon and eggs every morning and her daily regime contains more than one portion of meat per day.
You would expect her to suffer from Type 2 diabetes and coronary diseases and yet, Susannah Mushatt Jones needs no special medical treatments. Doctors have all agreed she is in a perfect physical condition, in spite of the products she eats.
In spite of? Or because of?
Eggs and meat have been eaten by humans for millions of years, making us likely to be perfectly adapted to them. They should thus be perfectly healthy foods, way healthier than most modern processed foods.
It’s likely no coincidence that the fear of animal fats during the last few decades – and the corresponding increase in consumption of processed carbs – have coincided with an unprecedented epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
Susannah Mushatt Jones was perhaps already too old to care about the modern low-fat fad diet. Good for her.
