What Is a Centenarian?
“A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below one hundred, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations in 2012 estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarians worldwide”. – Wikipedia
During the Covid outbreak in 2021, I made a declaration that I wanted to live to be a hundred and outlive all my ancestors who died at an average age of 75. In order to accomplish this life goal I needed a holistic approach which would include physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health programs.
Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food
As part of the food-as-medicine approach, I started taking ViraOne Chocolate Chaga Good Stuff which is an organic dry powder that contains Chaga mushroom, raw cacao, plant-based protein, and vegetables. I consume GoodStuff either as a smoothie or as a morning coffee replacement.
Combining Nutrition With Western Medicine
Part of my centenarian yellow brick road journey is creating health KPIs (key performance indicators). Healthcare KPI or metric is a well-defined performance measurement that is used to monitor, analyze and optimize all relevant healthcare processes. I am a type 2 diabetic who started with 2 related KPIs that I will need to maintain and along with a final goal of elimination medication.
- Normal fasting plasma glucose A1C result of 5.5 to 6.9 mmol/l
- Body Mass Index Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
I continued to take my doctor’s prescription for diabetes and hypertension and added Chocolate Chaga GoodStuff each day. After a few weeks of taking Chocolate Chaga GoodStuff each day, I noticed lower blood sugar, and more energy and made it to lunch without the urge to snack. In about 3 months I reduced my blood sugar levels from 7.8 to 6.5%.
Note: A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, a level of 5.7% to 6.4% indicates prediabetes and a level of 6.5% or more indicates diabetes. Within the 5.7% to 6.4% prediabetes range,
For more information about the health benefits of chaga, you can read this article from Cleveland Clinic.
If you’re old enough to remember The Hair Club For Men commercial then I will say that not only am I a customer of Good Stuff but I also invested in the company. I work there alongside our founder Mark Brown and my son Nick Ward.
I plan to continue to write a blog about my centenarian journey and share tips and ideas as well as encouragement for others to set the centenarian goal.
By the way, I recently reached 66% of my goal of living to 100 last April.
Do you want to join the centenarian club? How are you planning to live to 100?
