以前に投稿した記事『LIFESPAN：老いなき世界』のなかにも出てくる『無病法〜極少食の威力：102歳を生きた偉大なルネサンス人ルイジ・コルナロの食生活と教訓』を再読した。
16世紀のイタリアに、暴飲暴食に明け暮れた貴族がいた。30代で成人病を患い、40代で生死の淵をさまよう。そして、死を前にして、意を決して医者の教えに従い、食を節していく。健康を取り戻した後は、公私にわたって人生を謳歌し、病気とは無縁のまま、歳を重ねていく。いつもの午睡と変わらない様子で穏やかに息を引き取ったとき、彼は102歳。なんとも理想的な逝き方ではないか。
それなら、私もと言いたいところだが、彼の食事の量は「極少食」なのだ。今の私には、とても真似ができない。パン、卵の黄身、少しの肉、スープをトータルで350グラムとワインを400cc……これを1日2回に分けて食べるという。
真似はできないが、コルナロのことは常に頭の隅に置いておこうと思う。少食が時代や場所を超えた普遍的な健康法であることはまちがいないようだ。
今日もジョギング（6.4km、6.56分/km、152bpm）と20分ヨガ。
This is a very impressive story of Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, who lived to the ripe old age 102 in the 16th century. You can read the English version, "The Art of Living Long: The Method of Preserving Health to Extreme Old Age", which was translated from Italian.
At the age of 35, Cornaro suffered from serious lifestyle-related diseases due to his excessive eating and drinking, and found himself near death at age 40. Thus he finally accepted his doctors' advice and totally changed his eating habits. Actually he began and continued to adhere to a calorie restriction diet: he ate a little meat, an egg yolk, bread, soup (only 350g in total), and drank 400cc of wine. That's all he had in a day.
After recovering from diseases, he had great times with his family while contributing to the nation's development, engaging in social activities, enjoying his personal interests such as horse riding, climbing mountains, reading science books, writing dietary essays and playbooks......Remaining disease free for the rest of his life, his daily life was full of enjoyment and happiness.
One day, when he was 102 years old, he took a nap in his rocking chair as usual and didn't wake up. His mind was very clear, and his hearing as well as vision were also perfect until the very end. This is an ideal way of dying, isn't it?
Although it's very difficult for me to follow his dietary habits because of the very small amount of foods, I'll keep in mind his strict dietary habit and his life with a happy end which such a habit brought him. It's probably true that the quantity of food necessary to stay physically and mentally healthy is not big but small.
