EDITOR’S LETTER
Kate reveals the secrets to a happy life
WHEN MY ELDEST child was two, I read of a large European study claiming to have discovered the secret to a long and happy life. The answer lay in contributing to one’s family from a young age. It was not a journal of impeccable scientific credibility in which I read the article but one that generally published stories about “miracle” sharkattack survivals and being kind to cats. However, I actioned this gem of practical parenting the first thing next morning.
A toddler cannot reliably contribute much to their family but from that day forward, Charlie did so; first collecting the newspaper from the gate. Photos captured the little scamp in his PJs, grinning and proudly waving it. In recent years, he has claimed the article was a licence to exploit child labour. His list of “contributions” to the family grew as he did and, by his teens, was extensive. One Saturday morning things got heated, and he explained (loudly) that no other boy in his school had so many weekend jobs. I suspect that was true. But what was a single mother with a capable teenage son to do but encourage his life to be long and happy?
He is a wonderful son and his help was then, as now, enormously valuable.
A just-published study by the University of Auckland’s Living in Advanced Age* contains more reputable insights. This decade-long work with nearly 1000 Bay of Plenty residents (evenly split between Māori and non-Māori) who have lived healthy and happy lives into their 80s, indicates food and work are crucial. Avoiding fast food and takeaways, having a garden, volunteering and keeping active are magic ingredients. Keeping in touch with family and, for Māori, knowledge of tikanga and te reo is significant. Researchers noted that healthy people grew their food, were active enough to work it off and gave to their community through volunteering or supporting family. The happy, healthy seniors of the Bay of Plenty are showing the way.
It is not always possible to grow our food, but there’s generally a weekly farmers’ market nearby with fresh food and the chance of social connection with hard-working growers — two ticks on the long-life plan. NZ Life & Leisure believes producing great food is an honourable pursuit and we are proud to introduce the Berry family of Oamaru as winners of our Spirit of New Zealand Award, part of the 2019 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. New Zealand is lucky that fine folks such as Bob and Sue and their son Simon are prepared to face the challenges of creating delicious food, providing jobs and taking risks to do so. They generously share their story — successes and challenges — on page 126. We salute them and support Whitestone Cheese. That’s food good enough to take us
into a bright future.