Pen and Page Journey

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Whenever we take a look at healthy people, especially those who’ve lived long lives, by modern definition, we become curious of their lifestyle habits. People wonder about the person’s diet, physical activity, relationships and more.

When I examine my grandmas life, over the 27 years I’ve known her and from the stories of before I was here I am amazed. I’m sure I’m biased 😉 However, I know there have been other people who were curious on her lifestyle as well because I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. Whenever we went somewhere and someone found out her age, a lot of the times they’d follow up with “whats your secret”? She had funny answers most of the time, the most memorable one being “drinking my glass of milk”. I don’t know if she was serious or just trying to be funny, but for those who may read this and are curious into the lives of the old and healthy, here’s some insight on her diet from what I observed.

Breakfast- her breakfast was normally bacon, coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. On Sunday’s it was a banana with a glass of milk.

Lunch- most days her lunch was simple and normally, baked chicken, turnip greens and a piece of baked cornbread.

Dinner- most days dinner was a baked sweet potato and chicken.

Dessert- a few times a week she ate a red delicious apple or a slice of lemon cake.

Beverages- she enjoyed Pepsi, water, coffee, milk

This is what I call her staple diet. This is what she ate most days, especially as she got older and preferred familiarity and convenience. She normally prepared these foods in advance and always had them stocked up. Now obviously she enjoyed going out to eat, eating what other friends or family made her and once and awhile some pig feet or chicken and noodles or my childhood memory of us delighting in grapefruit & strawberries.

What I’ve learned from my grandmas staple, everyday diet was that it was low in sugar, low in processed food, and low in experimenting with the latest fads. In fact, most of it were the foods she grew up learning to make in her youth that she never drifted too far away from. She prepared these foods very simply, reminding us constantly that the only condiment she liked was salt. Most of the time cooking and eating an entire meal with salt only.

• Baked chicken
• Bacon
• Turnip greens
• Baked sweet potatoes
• Cornbread
• Milk
• Coffee
• Pepsi
• Bananas
• Salt

I always find it fascinating to get insight on how others have lived and how humans have evolved in different areas of life, and sometimes that means examining my very own loved ones.