The Garden Formula

by Angela Bautista

    On a recent trip to my Auntie's house, I was deep into surfing the internet when my head turned to a small photo of the oldest woman alive. I wondered how this kind of people stay and live their lives longer.

    In my previous research about it, experts find the world's longest-living people in a mountain village on a tiny island. As I read more, I found out that their secret isn't about the exercises, yogurt or diets. The key ingredient to living and somehow loving longer is growing right inside their gardens.’

    The Greek Island of Ikaria, some 35 miles off the coast of Turkey, locals there suffer 20 percent less cancer than the Americans, half the rate of heart disease and most surprisingly, none of the dementia. This was according to the National Geographic Magazine.
   
These Ikarians were discovered to have 150 days of religious fasting a year. All they eat are leafy greens, potatoes and beans. All of these things add to the ingredient of their long life.  But their very original way of having a long life is having an afternoon habit of picking garden herbs and putting them in boiled water for their evening drink, at breakfast they drink tea from other dried herbs. Ikarians used wild mint, spleenwort, rosemary, and purple sage as their tea. And all of these herbs have one thing in common: They are all diuretics. According to the dictionary.com, diuretics increase the volume of the urine excreted or simply, it means that it makes you pee. In so doing, they help you flush your body's natural waste products.
   
It may not sound appetizing but considering its use and importance, it may be a good everyday beverage for all. As Greg Plotnikoff, M.D. says, "Green tea is nature's best beverage."

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