King Abdullah: Eat the Wrong Food, Don’t Exercise, Be Overweight, Live to 90

One significant lesson from King Abdullah’s life is in that he is a poster-boy example of what the title here says.  Of all the cultures, especially the well-off Saudis inherently avoid any menial work, shun any and all robotic exercise routine.  And their diet includes all the wrong elements: lots of bread, lamb dishes, fatty and rich food with lots of cholesterol content.  Yet this man, who was overweight for most of his life, lived 90 years in an environment of abundant stress—he ran his country for the last 20 years—and without any hint of dementia.  In contrast, Emil Zatopek, the Czech long-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist, who presumably exercised strenuously most of his early life and maintained the right diet for his generation—same as King Abdullah’s--lived to age 78; Jim Thorpe, the all-around athlete from a slightly earlier generation lived only to age 65.  They did this in an environment that qualifies as “more advanced.”

No one who listened to the King’s death on Jan. 22 probably thought of the above-referenced connection.  Consider the promotional hype on American TV and news media, the incessant medical advice by medical professionals, nutritionists, dieticians and exercise freaks . . . all those athletic clubs, exercise equipment . . . tri-athletes, runners and swimmers in USA about all the supposed ingredients of a long life.  The lesson here: you’ll live as long as your luck holds out and as long as your genetic make-up allows.  I include in my example also my mother who died on Sep. 9, 2014 at age 97 in an admirable mental state, having never exercised, having eaten most of the wrong food, being a bit overweight for most of her adult life, and having lived through several very difficult cycles.