The French say, she had her share of bad habits. She ate two pounds of chocolate a week. How did she manage to live so long? Jeanne never overate and was as a result never over weight. A closer look at this remarkable woman's life reveals some powerful health and longevity secrets that you can use, too. In her entire lifetime she was never fat or overweight. Read her secrets below.



Who is she?

Her name is Jeanne Calment, whose claim to fame was her longevity. She was born February 21, 1875, in Arles, France. She died in 1997 at the age of 122 years, 5 months, and 2 weeks. She held the record as the oldest living person in the world whose age had been verified by official documents.

What kind of a person was Jeanne Calment?

When a young girl, Jeanne played in the same country sides, and slept under the same starry-night skies Arles, France. That is where the inspired artist Vincent Van Gogh took up residence to create some of today's most-treasured paintings. Jeanne Calment even met Van Gogh in the late 1880s.

Jeanne Calment Secret #1 Interests and Exercise:

At the age of 21, in 1896, she married a successful businessman. While he ran the store, she studied the piano, attended the opera, rode in hunting parties, played tennis, swam and bicycled.

(Remember just 2 brisk 30 minute walks a week was recently shown to reduce the overall death rate by 44 percent!)

Jeanne Calment Secret #2 Stress Control:

Although longevity ran in her family, with her mother living to age 86 and her father to age 93, her biographer Jean-Marie Robine believed Jeanne Calment's greatest strength was her unflappability. "I think she ... was immune to stress." She also quoted Jeanne as once saying ...

"If you can't do anything about it,don't worry about it."

This quality of stress control may have helped her better overcome grief in her life, as well. Her only child, a daughter, died young of pneumonia in1934 and left her an eight-year-old grandson to raise. Her husband died of food poisoning in 1942, and her grandson died in an auto accident in 1960.

Jeanne Calment Secret #3 Maintained Good Relationships

Nevertheless, Jeanne Calment bubbled with activity, enthusiasm, and humor, right up to the end. She bicycled to her 100th birthday party. Then later, walked all over Aries thanking those who'd helped her celebrate.

Jeanne Calment Secret #4 Lived Life with Humor:

When her memory began to fail, she quipped to an interviewer, "When you're 117, see if you remember everything!" Upon leaving, another visitor said "Until next year, perhaps," Jeanne retorted, "1 don't see why not! You don't look so bad." But perhaps her most famous one-liner was about her face which she treated with olive oil. Jeanne said, "I've never had but one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it."

If you're smiling right now, note also how you feel. Good feelings pack a lot of health and healing power - and likely went a long way toward helping Jeanne Calment live so long.

The purpose in sharing Jeanne Calment's health and longevity secrets is to let you know that being healthier and not over weight and living longer is achievable and much easier than you may have thought. As we can see with Jeanne it was always Attitude! Attitude! Attitude!

There are several different educational food pyramid plans to guide you in your quest for weight control.

Notes: The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a food guide pyramid. And the Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with the May Foundation for Medical Education and Research, has their Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid.

Remember one food pyramid does not fit all persons. You will find a wide selection of food pyramids at the web site listed below.

These food pyramids vary from children to adults and those with special health problems. Lists of food pyramids are updated regularly at the USDA site: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pyramid.html

To your weight loss success and improved health...

John Schmidt - Weight Loss Nutritionist