What The Oldest People In The World Eat And Drink Every Day

For Bon Appetit, by Alex Beggs.

DEBBIE EGAN-CHIN/NY DAILY NEWS VIA GETTY IMAGES

When we’re stuck on a rickety elevator, or on a plane landing in turbulence, or in a taxi driven by an Nascar reject, we never think to ourselves—well, if this is it, I’m so glad I ate all those salads. Because at some point in the scheme of things, a life well-lived is measured by the things that made us happy. Is this terrible medical advice if taken literally? Definitely!

But in that spirit, let’s look to the world’s oldest people, who when interviewed, always have pretty particular, and surprising, eating and drinking habits. Take this asinspiration:

OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Emma Morano, 116, in Verbania, North Italy, 2016.

How To Break A Bad Habit — For Good

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit, only to give up in frustration? The problem isn’t that you’re weak or that the bad habit is too ingrained; in all likelihood, you just gave up too soon.

Researchers at University College, London, found that it takes 66 days for a new habit to form. Likewise, as long as there is no physical addiction involved, it takes 66 days for you to shake a bad habit. But before you can develop the motivation to stick it out for that long, you need to understand how bad habits form in the first place.

Bad habits are formed and reinforced via the habit loop. First, something triggers you to initiate an undesired behavior. Maybe you’re feeling stressed, so you decide to numb out on Facebook for an hour or eat a whole bag of Flamin’ Cheetos. The trigger event is whatever puts this idea in your head. The second step is the behavior itself. Your brain says, “Sure, you deserve some Flamin’ Cheetos,” so you dig in.

The third step — and this part is crucial — is the reward. The behavior has to reward you in some way. That doesn’t mean it’s good for you or that it’s smart, just that it does something that your brain likes. Numbing out on Facebook might help you forget your problems for a while or to put off something that you don’t want to do, and we all know, all too well, the reward that comes from eating a bag of junk food. For better or worse, these rewards increase the likelihood that you’ll repeat the behavior.