Older sards are absolutely integrated into life, many of them still work. A shepherd who retired at age 70 is typical. Fit and cheerful retirees live in their own houses, do promenades, read and gossip with neighbors despite age.
Looking through numerous interviews with centenarians, anyone can distinguish two main "secrets of success" they are talking about. Although the sards themselves claim that there is no secret. Everything is extremely simple - their homeland has spiritual and physical food that is just right.
SPIRITUAL FOOD
Indigenous Sardinians spend their lives in several social circles. And as elders, when in other regions people often remain alone, in Sardinia these links between people do not disintegrate, but, on the contrary, even grow stronger.
First of all, integration into community life: small towns are usually interested in with what their neighbor lives and breathes. Indifference is a bad form.
Secondly, a resident of Sardinia is involved in all of the affairs of his family, which by the time of retirement grows bigger with grandchildren, and then with great-grandchildren due to the long period of actual working activity.
Finally, Sardinian pensioners actively communicate with their peers. School friends often cherish their friendship until old age, and warm relations between families are transferred as a valuable legacy from generation to generation.
It is difficult to say, is the Sardinian temperament the cause or effect of longevity, but it is fact that locals are incorrigibly optimistic. A virtuoso sense of humor and a balanced attitude to what is considered a "problem", allow sards to always or almost always be in good mood. Stress-resistance is a unique natural antioxidant, which in Sardinia will be cultivated and considered a feature of the national character.
DAILY BREAD
The basis of the diet of sardines is simple: vegetables, beans, some dairy products, regularly, but not daily - meat and fish. The trick is that due to the local volcanic soil, each product is charged with an additional dose of antioxidants.
This applies to products that grow directly on the ground - for example, the grapes from which the local cannonau wine is made contain twice as many flavonoids as any other red wine.
The beneficial effect does not weaken with the extension of the food chain. The lush vegetation that covers the pastures of Sardinia affects the composition of sheep's and goat's milk. Goat's milk, due to its properties furthermore nutritious than cow's, which locals drink several times a day. Sheep cheese "pecorino" is rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated acids. Even in the era of a craze for vegetarianism, the question of meat - eat or not to eat? - Sardinia sounds alright. You can and even need to periodically treat yourself with baked pork on a skewer - in Sardinia, they are grown on natural fodder ... or come straight from the forest. Being on the coast of the bay, it is criminal to deprive yourself of pasta Sarda with freshly caught shellfish, languid in white wine. Products of aquatic culture, aqua farms? No, this was not heard in Sardinia.