Jacline is a hundred years old and in great shape. His secret? It simply combines all the factors of a healthy lifestyle as you age, starting with an excellent choice when it comes to the table.
“I don’t feel old.” At over 100 years old, Jacline is in great shape. The one who defines herself as “the centenary of Bois-Colombes”, French commune located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine, shared a day in his life with the media Neo. And we can say that Jacline is still autonomous and active. “I cook, I wash my dishes and I tidy up.” On the activity side, Jacline pursues her lifelong passion: painting. “I was already painting before I retired, I wore out four teachers” she shares proudly. Otherwise, she looks “very little” television and “stays standing a lot”. “I have a little chair, I sit down from time to time but I often stand.”
Jacline knows how to keep in shape. And it starts as soon as he wakes up. “Before getting up, I place myself perpendicular to my bed and with my legs, I do 20 small bicycle movements and then I get up.” On the other hand, she refuses what, for many elderly people, is essential: a nap. She says it clearly: “Naps are for old people, they’re not for me.” What she appreciates on a daily basis: interacting with the people she meets. “I live alone since I have been a widow for 20 years but I need contact so I talk to everyone.”
Jacline is a bit like the mascot of the city, and especially of its market. “She comes every Friday, she does her little market, she’s really a loyal customer who brings a smile and is always laughing, she’s funny” laughs a young fishmonger in the video. And Jacline takes care of her diet. “I eat everything” she explains. Fruits, vegetables, fish but also meat. Often criticized as an accelerator of aging, meat, for Jacline, is an essential. But not just anyhow. She always consumes it in moderation and favors a particular meat: “I only eat meat once a week and it’s calf’s liver.”
This choice is not trivial. Calf’s liver is one of the foods richest in essential nutrients, which can become a real asset with age. It provides quality proteins which help maintain muscle mass, a key issue for remaining independent. It also contains a lot of vitamin B12, involved in the proper functioning of the brain, as well as very well assimilated iron, useful for limiting fatigue. Added to this are zinc and selenium, which support immunity. In other words, in small but regular quantities, this type of food helps cover needs that the body sometimes absorbs less well as it ages.
Movement in the morning, little sitting time, a creative activity that stimulates, walks to the market, constant exchanges with others and a simple but balanced diet. At over 100 years old, Jacline ticks all the pillars of a healthy lifestyle: moving, eating well, maintaining your mind and maintaining social connections. Nothing extreme, nothing restrictive, but a regularity that makes the difference. More than a secret, it is a complete, coherent way of life, which today seems to be bearing fruit.
