He showed them what he thought of that diagnosis

Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1976, Stamaitis Moraitis left the U.S. and moved back to Ikaria, a Mediterranean island, to be close to his family and enjoy his last 9 months on earth. He rested, planted a garden and vineyard, got lots of fresh air and sunshine, ate fresh local food, slept late, took naps, ate and drank with friends at night, and started going to church.
He radically changed his diet and lifestyle.
He slowed down, simplified his life and guess what happened…his body healed!  30 years later he’s 96, still alive and cancer-free. No surgery, no drugs, no chemo. Not even any alternative therapies.   It just so happens that the island of Ikaria is classified as a “Blue Zone”.
Blue Zones are areas around the world with the longest living people. Ikarians live on average 8-10 years longer than Americans. Here’s what they do:

They eat fresh local food that they produce themselves. They get exercise working in their gardens and walking up and down the hilly terrain. They eat lots of olive oil, vegetables, potatoes, wild greens, and six times more beans per day than Americans, like garbanzo beans, black-eyed peas and lentils.  They eat fresh caught fish about twice a week and other meats about five times a month. They drink goat’s milk and eat honey. They drink lots of herbal teas like wild marjoram, sage, mint, rosemary, artemisia, and dandelion.  They consume very little refined sugar. 75% less than Americans.  They spend a lot of time socializing and sharing meals with each other.  And get this. They drink on average 2-3 cups of coffee and 2-4 glasses of wine per day. Wowzers! Here’s a link to the full New York Times article by Dan Buettner.  www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die

Stamaitis, still rockin'

 

 

Thanks to Chris Wark of Chris Beat Cancer for this link and story.  I think I’m going to do my best to follow in Stamaitis’s footsteps, what a way to defeat cancer!  And here’s a start…
The Former Boyfriend and I were treated to another “Behind the Scenes” tour of the Columbus Zoo.  A special gift from our friends Jim and Mariann.  This year’s tour was of the animal hospital. The Columbus Zoo is rated one of the best in the world and the work they do there is amazing.  Also, we had no idea how many local people doctors actually donate their time to the Zoo to help out the Veterinary staff.  One of the best stories was of an Ophthalmologist from Nationwide Children’s Hospital helping the staff diagnose an eye problem a resident puffer fish.  They chose a pediatric ophthalmologist because they are accustomed to squirmy, very uncooperative patients.  To get the diagnosis the Veterinary staff would lift the fish out of the water and the Ophthalmologist would get a glimpse of the affected eye. After a few attempts they had their diagnosis and the fish is living as they say…happily ever after.  Thank you so much Jim and Mariann – we loved our visit.

At Jack Hanna's yurt