Lessons from Luigi. How to Live to 102.
Who doesn't want to live long and be happy?
This is an interesting story about a man named Luigi Cornaro who overcame his own illness and lived to the ripe old age 102. Apparently here’s a man who discovered CR back in the 14th century as a lifestyle choice for better health. Here’s a pretty good overview about Luigi from Wikipedia:
Alvise (Luigi) Cornaro (1464-1566) was a Venetian nobleman who wrote treatises on dieting, including Discorsi della Vita Sobria (Discourses on the Sober Life). Finding himself near death at the age of forty, Cornaro modified his eating habits on the advice of his doctors and began to adhere on a calorie restriction diet. Twelve ounces of solid food and fourteen ounces of wine was the daily allowance he allowed for himself initially. He later reduced his daily food intake to no more solid meat than an egg.
Let us see more about his story from this main article on his life.
Let’s look at Luigi Cornaro, a man who at age 35 was weak, sick, and dying. At the time, he consulted the medical heads of Genoa, Italy. He asked the doctors, “What can I do?” Finally, one smart doctor said, “Look, Luigi,” (Luigi was a nobleman) “cut down on your riotous living, stop the drinking, cut out the rich food, eat as little as you can, and don’t abuse your body. You can get well.”
When he died, he died in an ideal way. He was in his rocking chair. He closed his eyes, took a nap, and didn’t wake up. There was no pain or suffering, ever. His mind was clear as a bell until the very end, no senility, no memory loss. Indeed, one of the things he wrote about in his discourses was that his hearing and vision were perfect He retained all his senses. That’s something you don’t see today.
Luigi ate a little meat; he ate an egg yolk; he had panado, which was a vegetable soup with a little tomato; he had grape juice; and he had bread. He used to dip the bread in the soup. That was his diet. That’s all he ate. He didn’t want to eat fish because it didn’t agree with him, and he didn’t eat chicken. He ate a little meat. On that diet, which we natural nutritionists would call low quality, he lived to 102.
an individual who was dying at 40 years of age brought himself to a state of good health in less than one year, and through the careful exercise of self-control prolonged his life to 102 years of age with the full preservation of all his faculties to the very end. The living of each day was a joy in his life at all times.
The amount of food necessary to sustain life. Since the quantity of food needed to maintain excellent health and spirits is so small, it is rather shocking to realize that all of us, with very few exceptions, overeat and produce an endless array of miseries in our lives in both mental and physical afflictions.
Our states of mind are dependent upon our health and closely related to the amount of food we consume. Dejection and melancholy are a projection into our conscious minds from our inner environment. Exhaustion of our energies by the excessive labors involved in metabolizing excess food reflects in our minds as melancholy, depression and negativity.
The KEY to health and happiness is inextricably associated with the QUANTITY of food we consume daily.
Each morsel we consume beyond what is absolutely necessary to sustain life, wastes physical and mental energy at a fearful rate. If any single factor were to be considered as the most important for health and happiness, this would be it. Those who are compulsive overeaters should study, restudy and ponder deeply upon this question, for herein is contained the key to the solution of most of their daily problems. ……
Quite an interesting story about someone who was able to heal himself and live long without all the science, research and other medical advanatges of today. From his story there are important points to really take notice….and then see how they can apply to our lives.
- He took personal responsibility – It’s one thing to know what is healthy, it’s another to act upon it. Look around and you will find most people saying “I know it isn’t good for me…but….”. People are not really getting it, not really comprehending deep down inside that they need to drop things that are harmful. Once you come to that pure realization, then you will drop whatever harmful things you are doing to yourself. The solution is there! People just need to “see” it truly, to become aware to the fact of what is going on. Could it be the only real “cure” to obesity and disease is just personal “awareness”?
- Calorie Restriction – This should be nothing new in everything we have talked about but in the 14th century to come up with this conclusion shows just how long that wisdom has been out there.
- With excess eating comes mental decline – When do we experience depression and other serious mental conditions? Could it also be centered around excess food and lack of quality of food? The brain on a high sugar diet does not do well, nor does it perform well when eating to excess.
- He did not think he was missing anything or feel deprived, to him living daily (as he was close to death to have to learn that) was the ultimate joy in life….not food or drink - The biggest battle we face in life, is the one within….as we always have total control. He was happy with living daily, enjoyed his food and never once did he put himself in a mental state of sabatagoue. Weight loss and health are huge mental battles…..ones we MUST learn to control and win if we are looking for long term success and happiness.
- Quality of food was important - The body needs amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals….does it really care what the calorie total is? Could we sustain life on less food if they are only of higher quality? This may be why so many people say that they can eat less on IF and still maintain muscle is because their choices for food increase in quality….and therefore so does our body’s ability to use it. Quality and Quantity of food is always going to be the more important factor in our health.
- He lived long with full mental clarity, writing, pain free, no medications….far from what we see today – I wonder how long he would of lived in today’s world if doctors would of perscribed statins for a natural increase in cholesterol as he aged or other medicines (that are supposed to be there to keep us healthy). He became his own physician….and lived long in the process.
- He found Happiness and Joy daily – It took Luigi a life of excess and to the point of death to realize the ultimate happiness in living each day….don’t let it have to get that far for you. Find your happiness…let worries and fear go….stress no more….food/alcohol/drugs are not solutions to any problems (they just are short term vacations we take…and which do more harm the more we do them)…..and you will just be focused on living each moment (and live longer in the process)
- “The Two Rules for Maintaining Health and Prolonging Life: These were reduced to two things, quality and quantity. The first, namely quality, consists in not eating foods or drinking liquids harmful to the stomach.” - So avoiding things that are irritants to our body/gut are key to health, along with getting the quality nutrients our body/cells need to repair and rebuild themselves for optimal function. See more about gut irritants in the Healthy Gut Post
- “The second, which is quantity, consists in not eating or drinking more than the stomach can easily digest, which quantity and quality every man should be a perfect judge of by the time he is forty or fifty or sixty……”I felt like singing a song after my simple meals.”" - Do you “sing a song” after a meal? Or are you asleep and feeling terrible an hour later? Sounds like he mastered the art of insulin control long ago.
“To state it clearly, the inevitable conclusion was: “eat what you like, when you like and die young.”"
Above photo by Zavosh
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Another good case for “quality over quantity.” The turn around point of 40 years old is fascinating because its a typical stage in life when people tend to let their health go. I’d be interested to know how Luigi fared against his immediate family members. How long did he outlive his relatives?
Wonderful stuff. Good information for athletes in all disciplines, too. It’s amazing how little of certain foods our bodies actually need. Take salt, for example. Contrary to present dogma, distance runners who habitually don’t add salt to their diets do very well in hot-weather marathons. Their bodies adapt and conserve sodium. (Doesn’t work if you’re eating lots of salt and suddenly opt to run 26.2 miles saltless.) This was the experience of legendary marathoner Ted Corbitt at the 1968 Holyoke Marathon, which became known as the Holyoke Massacre because it was run in 100-degree heat. Huge dropout rate – only Corbitt and a handful of others survived, and when they compared notes it turned out they were are on extremely low-salt diets. Same for saturated fats – our bodies need sat-fats, but very, very little. We get thin quickly and automatically when we eat huge salads, lots of fruit and nuts, and some but very little dairy and meat. I know – I’ve proved it – and high-nutrient food tastes so good!
According to the birthdate and year of death, he was only 98?
Yes, quality over quantity wins. Our body requires very little of the essential stuff…just most of the food people eat nowadays are so depleted of it that they need extra calories…and that in itself leads to other health issues. That and getting things in their “natural form” (aka real foods) means it has a natural built in delivery system and increased nutrient uptake and utilization (as many nutrients require other nutrients in order to be fully assimulated). Nature has a good design….processed food made by man however…is a different story.
Joe – Hmmm…yes it does. Did find another set of dates here…but I can’t read Italian (but it does have him living from 1464-1566). Apparently the source above was incorrect.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvise_Cornaro
Nice example to all of us, quality is everything, there are so many simple things that can bring more Life and more quality of Life to all
I have a question about balance: I love reading stories about people who cure illnesses later in life, only to go on living fulfilled, healthy lives for years to come, but I am 18. I eat mostly vegetables. I do yoga and exercise. I fast sometimes. I am always mindful of what I put into my body. For people like me, who are not on the brink of death, how much should we take away from CR? I mean, the body can’t live on nothing right? What is the balance between eating “enough” and overeating?
I hate to rain on the parade — but a couple cautionary thoughts:
1 – His diet sounds incredibly unhealthy to me.
2 – His diet could well have had nothing to do with his longevity.
3 – What about people who followed a similar diet and died early/average? We don’t hear about them.
4 – This is from Wikipedia. Do I have to say more?
I just re-read one more time — the story has all the hallmarks of an urban legend.
Kimberly – That is probably the million dollar question. CR is just an example of the benefits for longevity, but also most people who only do CR are usually very low weight (not something more athletic people want such as myself). IF research is showing the benefits of CR with the additional benefit of maintain (or gain) of lean mass (muscle). Honestly if you are eating all natural foods, do not eat processed foods, strive for quality of foods….then you are doing great things for your health. Occasional IF may provide additional benefit and disease prevention as well, but at your age focus on quality of food first. It’s hard to really over eat on natural foods (that also keep our insulin stable)
Varangy – Like said above, CR people tend to be alot lower weight….so honestly CR is just a way to show that eating less is healthy…but it doesn’t have to go to the extreme of what Luigi did. He may of only been 115lbs for all I know, but there are important lessons we can take from his life of longevity and curing himself. Everyone is different…and who knows what the end date for any of us are….all we can do is take smart and preventative measures and then just live life. Luigi did extend his life…considering that he was dying around 40..and lived another 60+ years. As far as Wikipedia, ONLY the first paragraph about the summation of his life was used, the rest came from a different article as well as from his own writings/book (and there are plenty of other sources if you want to Google his name). I know it sounds hard to believe (as I don’t think you will find anyone from the 14th century around today to tell you more), but he did write in his later years and his book is still available today on Amazon that was published in 1942 (I haven’t read it, but I imagine it would be a very interesting read…but the message seems simple, more quality..less quantity).
“Art of Living Long (Paperback) by Luigi Cornaro (Author) “LUIGI CORNARO, often styled THE VENETIAN CENTENARIAN, the aged author of the famous treatise, “La Vita Sobria” (literal translation, “The Temperate Life,”"
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Long-Luigi-Cornaro/dp/0766102084
or looks like the same book, although says (1916) and is paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Living-Long-Luigi-Cornaro/dp/1594622264/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Hi Mike, I really love the site. I’ve been a dedicated IFer for about four months now and I’m loving it – I find it fairly easy to be pretty strict – no food till (typically post-workout) 5:00, but on the rare occasions I’m hungry during the day I’ll have some almonds or something.
I’m wondering if you can help me out with something – Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple has a post over at Rusty’s blog about how we NEED to eat meat because without it it’s impossible to get the daily 150 grams of protein required for “optimum health.” I’ve seen a lot of stuff, particularly related to CR and IF, that says that athletes actually require significantly smaller amounts of protein.
Mark supports this assertion with the uncited claim that on average, the hunter gatherer diet was 1/3 protein. First off, what we know best about aboriginal diets is that they were HUGELY varied, which means that our digestive systems evolved in very varied circumstances – why then, should the average automatically be the most healthful?
Secondly, Mark takes this 1/3 and applies it to his diet and comes up with 150 grams of daily program. While I’m having trouble finding any info about Mark’s daily calorie intake, I have a feeling it’s way higher than that of your run of the mill hunter gatherer, which sort of throws the whole article into question.
So my question is, do you have any info on the average hunter-gatherer daily calorie intake? It’s easy to find a lot of info online about the content of aboriginal diets, but I’m having trouble finding anything about total caloric intake.
I realize this is pretty off-topic but as an IFer and as a vegan it really bugs me when people make crazy claims about protein requirements
Thanks again!
Alvaro – Protein requirements will depend on many things like amount of muscle you do have, how much training you do and what your goals are (to just maintain or build more muscle). Your body wants amino acids, so amounts of dietary protein can really be independent to what you are actually utilizing/digesting. There are other factors like IF, ketones, muscle sparing, amino acid pool recycling, etc. If you want to build muscle, then you will probably need more protein. On average it is said that an active person should have about 0.6g protein/lean lb of bw to maintain muscle. Most wanting to put on muscle and do more resistance training usually need to bump it up to 0.8-1g/lean lb of bw. (or more depending on volume of training) As for Paleo intake….well that is I am sure debatable. Plus you have periods of feast and famine that they dealed with. In the end, most people wanting to get more muscle need more protein. Whole food proteins also help to keep people who want to lose weight feel full (so they don’t over eat on other high calorie processed foods). If you want to do some of your own research here are a couple sites with LOADS of info…..could keep you busy for a long time. In the end we are learning more interesting things about the body and what it needs (especially when looking at IF), so if you can find something that works for you….then that is what matters.
http://paleodiet.com/
http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/paleodiet/index.shtml
You whole food healthnuts are all the same. You must realize exercise done moderately and calorie restriction with a fair amount of nutrients is best. It comes down to portions.
Whole food is a scam. Look at PIERRE MARTIN on youtube He is either 96 or 101 . He ran the Marathon.
He smoke and drank almost everyday of his life since age 8.
TELL ME SOMEONE BETTER THAN HIM AT THAT AGE. NO ONE I have ever seen is better.
MARTIN RULES!
Ashley – Thanks, needed the laugh today.
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[...] Lessons from Luigi, How to Live to 102 [...]
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