Turning 100 is a giant deal. The U.S. is home to 101,000 centenarians, or simply 0.03% of the inhabitants — a quantity that’s projected to quadruple within the subsequent three many years, in response to the Pew Research Center.
Jimmy Carter joined the membership this 12 months, turning into the primary U.S. president to succeed in the century mark.
TODAY.com met a number of extraordinary centenarians in 2024. Some are nonetheless dwelling on their very own, working, driving and falling in love.
Many listed home-cooking as each an element of their longevity and one thing they love doing.
Here are a few of their prime suggestions for a protracted wholesome life:
Don’t retire — maintain working for those who find it irresistible
At 100 years previous, Miriam Todd works extra hours than many younger individuals. She’s at her household’s furnishings retailer in Stratford, New Jersey, six days per week, for no less than 50 hours whole.
“I can’t say I’m working after I take pleasure in what I’m doing, so I really feel responsible if I say I’m working,” Todd advised TODAY.com.
“It’s not for everyone, nevertheless it works properly for me.”
She nonetheless drives a automotive, does all of the grocery buying and cooks every little thing from scratch.
Many of the components she cooks with come from her backyard, the place she grows tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash and zucchini.
Todd doesn’t eat fried meals or quick meals, and she or he usually avoids alcohol.
“I attempt to eat proper, sleep proper and stay proper,” she says.
Find meals that maintain your physique and soul
Ruth Onley, who’s a supercentenarian at 110, says one in every of her longevity secrets and techniques is cooking and having fun with meals.
The Maryland girl used to organize a soul meals buffet each Sunday after church for her household and neighbors.
The menu included hen salad sandwiches, roast hen, ham, candied candy potatoes, greens, macaroni and cheese, cabbage, fried hen, peach cobbler and pound cake.
Food continues to be an essential a part of her life, together with consuming oatmeal, Cream of Wheat or whole-grain pancakes each morning, as is having enjoyable with card and board video games.
She credit her household’s love for dwelling so lengthy: “It’s the best way my kids handle me,” Onley advised TODAY.com.
Practice self-love and eat papaya day-after-day
Pearl Taylor, 103, is named the “Jamaican grandma” on TikTok, the place she shares her life recommendation.
What is the key to a protracted life? “Love. I actually love myself,” the centenarian, who lives in Dayton, Ohio, mentioned in a single viral clip. “You have gotten to consider your self first. You assist your self first.”
Self-love is the one approach you’ll be able to really feel blissful as a result of when love is coming from you, you’ll be able to prolong it to others, she advised TODAY.com.
Taylor eats papaya each morning, a behavior she urges different individuals to attempt. Papaya is packed with so many nutrients, it’s been known as the “fruit of lengthy life.”
Taylor additionally drinks inexperienced juice each different day, which she credit for her good digestion, and believes home-cooking is essential for good well being.
Don’t waste time on regrets
At 102, Deborah Szekely is a member of the “by no means retire” membership.
She works three days per week at Rancho La Puerta, the resort she began along with her late husband in 1940 in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.
“When nature says, ‘You bought to cease, Deborah,’ Deborah will cease. Until then, she’ll maintain going,” Szekely advised CNBC Make It.
Her well being routine consists of strolling day-after-day and staying constructive.
She additionally believes in a philosophy of no regrets.
“Don’t waste time trying again. That’s a complete waste of time. You can’t do something about it, it’s accomplished. Look ahead, and look ahead to issues that you really want,” she mentioned.
Focus on vegatables and fruits, skip the sugar
Dorothy Staten, 106, nonetheless lives in her personal condo in El Paso, Texas.
“Everybody wants their very own place,” her daughter, Rosie Lyles, who lives throughout the corridor, advised TODAY.com.
Much of Staten’s longevity recommendation is centered round eating regimen. The former skilled cook dinner likes to eat carrots, broccoli, contemporary greens and spinach — all greens with highly effective well being advantages.
Pinto beans — a superb supply of plant-based protein and fiber — are one in every of her favourite meals.
She additionally loves watermelon and cantaloupe
The centenarian doesn’t eat any sugar or sweets. “Sugar isn’t good,” she says. “It may give you diabetes.”
Love is highly effective at any age
Marjorie Fiterman, 102, and Bernie Littman, 100, got married in May in Philadelphia, 9 years after they met at a celebration of their retirement group.
With their mixed ages of 202 years and 271 days, the pair is the oldest couple to marry by mixture age, Guinness World Records confirmed in December.
They realized, “’I don’t need to stay with out you,’ and so it was only a ‘Why don’t we get married?’ kind of factor,” the groom’s granddaughter, Sarah Sicherman, advised TODAY.com.
“We’re simply so blissful that he’s discovered somebody that he loves spending time with.”
Have an urge for food for the nice issues in life
Felix Joseph Pelosi is the grandfather of cookbook writer Dan Pelosi, aka “GrossyPelosi.”
The 102-year-old, who goes by the nickname Bimpy, nonetheless enthusiastically tucks into lasagna, pasta, meatballs and different Italian American favorites his grandson prepares.
“He has an urge for food not like something I’ve ever seen,” the youthful Pelosi notes.
The centenarian says consuming three good meals a day is one in every of his longevity secrets and techniques — “plenty of fish, pasta, greens and sweets,” he advised TODAY.com.
Stay constructive and joyful
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, 105, is named the “basketball nun.”
She continues to work no less than 5 days per week as chaplain for the boys’s basketball group at Loyola University in Chicago.
“It simply makes me very joyful,” she advised TODAY.com. “I don’t think about it actually working. I simply have a lot enjoyable.”
The nun says she’s by no means been depressed and believes it takes an excessive amount of power to be stressed.
She wakes up at 5 a.m. and pauses for a 30-minute meditation. Then at evening, she takes time to consider all the nice issues she did that day.
“I nonetheless go to mattress each evening with a smile on my face, gratitude in my coronary heart, and love in my soul,” she writes in her memoir.
