Happy New Year!

2013 is going to be a great year. I have faith. Based on what I've been reading, watching, and feeling I know this to be true. I have many goals for 2013. It is, of course, a year full of great expectations.

I started the Xeloda on December 17th. All was fine. The second to last day I started experiencing major fatigue. I have to admit that I have been lacking in my diet and my exercise plan. I realized that during the Houston trip when I hit rock bottom and had a burger with David at Five Guys. I did have tons of veggies on it but still...hadn't had red meat in over a year or more. I keep telling myself that I am drinking poison pills so why is a burger going to kill me? However, I am going to stick with everything in moderation BUT a mostly plant based diet. I can't put myself under that kind of pressure to eat Vegan and cook separate meals from the family, etc. especially since I need to have lots of protein while on the chemotherapy.  The last day of the chemo "on" week left me feeling so exhausted I thought I could sleep standing up. But two days later, after a few walks outside, I was feeling back to normal. Not that I don't love Holidays but I am so glad that they are OVER. I need to get back into the routine of things...

I had a great lunch with my friend and mentor Julie C. She is a beautiful person inside and out and I am so proud to call her my friend. We chatted about mutual mom-of-two issues. As we ate our vegan Umami burgers, she told me about two things she had come across that I could explore. Julie is always giving me new books to read, photocopying articles of interest and sending me vegan baked goods. We heart her. Of course, with all the materials Julie introduces me to I was hooked.

Tig Notaro
"Just a few days after comedian Tig Notaro was diagnosed with breast cancer, she found herself on stage at Los Angeles' Largo theater, revealing the news of her illness and delving into other personal struggles. The performance, which is now officially known as "Tig Notaro Live," was destined to make waves across the Internet and inspire all who listened to it." In this piece, available on itunes, you can really hear her process her diagnosis and what it means to be a cancer patient. It is a little surreal but funny as hell. My favorite line was - oh, you want to fly here and "watch me have cancer on the couch"...?!?!?

Power Nine.
This is an interesting study from National Geographic; the results were called The Power Nine: Secrets of long life from the world's healthiest humans. I sent this info to a few friends and my friend Lorraine told me that this is being practiced right here in our own beach communities! Check it out at BlueZones.com. 

Reverse Engineering Longevity
By Dan Buettner
Life expectancy of an American born today averages 78.2 years.  But this year, over 70,000 Americans have reached their 100^th birthday.  What are they doing that the average American isn’t (or won’t?)
To answer the question, we teamed up with National Geographic to find the world’s longest-lived people and study them.  We knew most of the answers lied within their lifestyle and environment.  (The Danish Twin Study established than only about 20% of how long the average person lives is determined by genes.)   Then we worked with a team of demographers to find pockets of people around the world with the highest life expectancy, or with the highest proportions of people who reach age 100.
We found five places that met our criteria:

• Barbagia region of Sardinia – Mountainous highlands of inner Sardinia with the world’s highest concentration of male centenarians.
• Ikaria, Greece – Aegean Island with one of the world’s lowest rate of middle age mortality and the lowest rates of dementia.
• Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica – World’s lowest rates of middle age mortality, second highest concentration of male centenarians.
• Seventh Day Adventists – Highest concentration is around Loma Linda, California. They live 10 years longer than their North American counterparts.
• Okinawa, Japan – Females over 70 are the longest-lived population in the world.

We then assembled a team of medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to search for evidence-based common denominators among all places.   We found nine:
1. Move Naturally. 
The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms.  Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it.  They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.
2. Purpose. The Okinawans call it “Ikigai” and the Nicoyans call it “plan de vida;” for both it translates to “why I wake up in the morning.”  Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy
3. Down Shift. 
 Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress.  Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease.  What the world’s longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress.  Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.
4. 80% Rule
.   “Hara hachi bu”  – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full.  The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.  People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.
5. Plant Slant
  Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets.  Meat—mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month.  Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of deck or cards.
6. Wine @ 5
 People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly.  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers.  The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food.  And no, you can’t save up all weekend and have 14 drinks on Saturday.
7. Belong.
 All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed belonged to some faith-based community.  Denomination doesn’t seem to matter.  Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.
8. Loved Ones First. 
Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home. (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.) They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love. (They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).
9. Right Tribe. 
The world’s longest lived people chose–or were born into–social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created ”moais”–groups of five friends that committed to each other for life.  Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious.  So long-lived people’s health behaviors have been favorable shaped by their social networks.

To make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery.  But most of us have the capacity to make it well into our early 90’s and largely without chronic disease.  As the Adventists demonstrate, the average person’s life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle.

Last night while ringing in the new year with some friends, eating fabulous food, singing karaoke (sir mix-a-lot has nothing on me), high off eating 1/8th a special cookie, I toasted the New Year with 4 Xeloda pills and a glass of Sancerre...and I was grateful and at peace. Good times. 

Happy 2013!