Most people live to be in their 80s. Only very few live to be 100 – and those who manage to do it healthy and fit fascinate us. how did they get so old With the four-part documentary «The Secrets of the 100-Year-Olds», FITBOOK has set out in search of clues. In Part 1 you will get to know Alfred (102).
Alfred (102) personally opens the door of his semi-detached house in Berlin-Steglitz. He’s standing there in his fir-green cardigan, looking frisky, his posture strikingly upright, his right hand holding a walking stick, more of an accessory than a walking aid. He leads the way into his living room. A large window overlooks a spacious hibernating garden with mature fruit trees. «Boskop apples,» says the 102-year-old with a proud voice. «Hold on until Easter. Very healthy!»
Alfred knows his way around trees and plants. If you like, he dedicated his life to them: the Berliner is a master gardener and has spent more than 40 years in this profession – most recently as a cemetery gardener for the city of Berlin. More than 40 years of hard physical work. But that was a long time ago. Strictly speaking, almost as long as the phase after that: If you are 102 years old, work life and retirement are easily balanced.
Plants as a source of energy
For people like Alfred, who have always seen their job as a calling, retirement doesn’t necessarily mean that life will change radically. Nature is Alfred’s greatest source of strength – and every plant is his role model. “It’s so beautiful to admire nature and to elicit mysteries from it. To see how everything grows! In the last few decades he no longer cut cemetery trees, but harvested fruit in his garden. The fact that he can still do this today, at the age of 102, is thanks to his fantastic physical condition.
«They come back every year. Then I go there and say: ‘You did well, see you next year!’ This power jumps over.”
The back garden is Alfred’s paradise. Just because he’s old doesn’t mean he’s given up his hobby. When it’s warm enough he’ll be gardening here again.Photo: FITBOOK
Climbing stairs every day
How did he do it? Why is it for most people at around 80 – and others are granted a high quality of life until over a hundred? Part of the answer lies in the genes – but, as we learned from this article, it also has a lot to do with how we live.
That Alfred just through his everyday work a lifetime of movement was likely to have had a positive impact on his aging process. And even at the age of 102, the Berliner does things that he is convinced will keep him fit and healthy. In order to maintain his mobility, he trains, for example, to climb stairs. Every day he climbs five or six times to the first floor of his house and from there back to the basement. He thinks it is important to be out of breath regularly in order to grow old healthily.
“I think climbing stairs is very, very important. For the muscles and all the breathing.”
By regularly climbing stairs, Alfred has maintained his mobility into old age Photo: FITBOOK
Also interesting: These types of training make us age more slowly
Lots of fruits and vegetables, no butter
In addition, Alfred has always valued a healthy diet. His rules of thumb are (to this day): don’t eat too much and eat as naturally as possible ((dried) fruit, vegetables, potatoes, meat, fish, nuts), little alcohol, no fast food. When it comes to animal fats, butter is at loggerheads – but a slice of sausage or a piece of cheese for dinner is fine. (See the gray box below for more on Alfred’s dietary habits).
«Not an ounce of butter at all since ’45. Butter is taboo for me, I don’t eat it. (…) That is fundamental.”
When it comes to nutrition, Alfred leaves nothing to chance: there is a lot of fruit and vegetables – and in the evenings, usually elderberry tea with honey. Photo: Xenia Kuhn
His wife is 30 years younger
His second major source of strength besides plants is Alfred’s wife, who is almost 30 years his junior! In the mid-1960s, Renate (73) was an apprentice in a garden center where Alfred also worked. The two were able to argue so passionately about plants that it became a love that has unmistakably lasted to this day: as soon as they sat next to each other on the sofa, they found their hands and kissed. And tease each other with little mean things. Every now and then, the couple have a fruit day together – “because of the vitamins,” explains Alfred. Difference in age? Doesn’t matter to these two.
Also interesting: Men’s and women’s brains age differently
In love like teenagers: Alfred (102) and his Renate (73). In the photo the only granddaughter.Photo: Xenia Kuhn
The feeling of being needed and being part of the family gives Alfred wings and contributes to his health, he is convinced of that.
“I live for my wife, for my son, for my family. For me, that’s what it means to stay healthy for as long as possible, not to be a burden to anyone, and to give others a lot of joy.»
Also interesting: The secrets of the 100-year-olds – Part 2: Theresia
Finally, it is also Alfred’s fundamentally positive attitude towards everything that allowed him to grow old without major health problems or loss of quality of life. Does he have one last tip for us to celebrate our hundredth in good health?
«I would recommend: No smoking, no drinking (…). love nature. being outside a lot. Look at everything with love. Don’t take anything for granted.»
CV
Alfred was born on September 25, 1916 in Blankenburg (Saxony-Anhalt). At the age of two he saw Kaiser Wilhelm II. He went to elementary school. After World War II, for which he was drafted as a soldier, Alfred went to Berlin. He becomes a gardener, later he does the master’s degree with a specialty in cemetery. Alfred’s first marriage remains childless. He has a son with Renate, whom he met in the mid-1960s (she is his apprentice), and they are now proud grandparents. The couple lives in Berlin-Zehlendorf and is self-sufficient to this day. Alfred still likes to work in the garden. His favorite flowers are tuberous begonias.
nutrition
The 102-year-old’s rule of thumb: don’t eat too much, don’t drink too much (alcohol). Alfred eats as naturally as possible: lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts, meat and fish. His favorite food: boiled potatoes with linseed oil. Alfred doesn’t eat fast food, he doesn’t eat butter at all. Other animal fats (such as in sausage or cheese) are (in moderation) on his menu. Alfred eats white bread every day: for breakfast with homemade jam. Every now and then Alfred makes a fruit day (preferably with apples and pears, also dried fruit). When it comes to vegetable oils, he prefers linseed oil. Alfred drinks coffee every morning and a glass of malt beer before lunch. In the evening there is a cup of elderberry tea with honey.
Sleep
His two-hour nap is sacred to Alfred. He does that every day. Alfred goes to bed around 9 p.m. and gets up around 7 a.m. He says he sleeps very well.
movement
Alfred was always on the move in his job as a gardener. He went hiking every day until old age. Today he keeps fit mainly by climbing stairs. Alfred climbs about 160 stairs a day at home. He also tries to take lots of short walks around the house during the day, and then outside and in the garden in the summer. For example, if something needs to be fetched in the kitchen, he asks his wife to remain seated.
Have revealed their secrets for a long, healthy life to FITBOOK: Ella (106), Johanna (100), Alfred (102) and Theresia (†101).
Photos/Collage: FITBOOKPhoto: Photos/Collage: FITBOOK