Dr Maree Brinkman
A recent article in the Australian newspaper on why first-generation Greek-born Aussies live longer reminded me of a very enjoyable and thought-provoking conversation I had with a brilliant young epidemiologist from a Greek background a few years ago.
We were both attending a conference in Maastricht; he was over from the US, and I was there from Melbourne, and he started our conversation with, “you know the more I look into diet and environmental factors on the risk of developing disease, the more I can see the benefit of just eating (and living) like my Greek grandma.”
It was pre-Covid times, and he had recently visited his elderly grandma on her farm back in Greece. His grandma was in her early nineties, and he told me how she kept active by tending to her farm animals, olive trees and garden, and prepared all her own fresh food.
When you look at the lifestyles of the first-generation Greek-born Aussies reported in the recent Australian article, they are following most of the same practices as my young colleague’s grandma back in Greece. They have maintained their Greek Mediterranean style diet, which includes a high intake of plant-based foods sourced from their well-tended home vegetable gardens. Most of their food is fresh and home-made, and instead of using butter, they have kept using olive oil as their main source of dietary fat.
Apart from following their traditional diets and lifestyle from the villages they were born in back in Greece, these first-generation Greek-born Aussies have also appeared to maintain the strong social interactions with their communities and their cultural traditions and customs, including regular religious fasting, which helps to cut back on their dietary intake of red meat and dairy. According to the research, they have a 35% lower mortality rate compared to the Australian-born population and other migrant groups.
These first-generation Greek-born Aussies seem to have the answer to a happy, long, and well-balanced life. It certainly looks like it may be good for our health to listen to grandma and follow her example!