Healthy at 100 Through Lifestyle Medicine

Our experience in China, contrasting recent changes in disease profiles in rural and urban environments, may further support Dr Rippe’s observations about “lifestyle medicine.”1 In the village of Fu Rong, many residents achieve the age of 100 years in robust health. The record is held by Mrs. Chen Ai Xiang at 116 years, though you do not get on the “scoreboard” until you attain 104 years. The village diet is largely dried fruit and vegetables, with some small fish from the fast-flowing Nanxi river; their bowel habit requires the squatting position (that prevents straining during defecation2,3); their work is largely agrarian, and their community exercise regimens promote good postures and gaits.