It Must Be the Diet

A woman in Minsk, Belarus (an old stomping ground of mine) has reached the ripe young age of 116:

Today, [Hanna] Barysevich moves with difficulty but unaided. She complains of occasional headaches and worsening vision “but nothing else bothers me.”

She attributes her longevity to genes: Her paternal grandmother was 113 when she died. As to diet, Barysevich prefers simple village food: homemade sausages, pork fat, milk and bread.

Daughter Nina said her mother has a good appetite, a tough character and very strong nerves.

Ah..sausages, pork fat, milk, and bread. Dr. Atkins would be proud.

This is terrible, but Mrs. Barysevich should be warned of that continuing trend among the world’s oldest: they keep dying.

4 thoughts on “It Must Be the Diet”

  1. Cheese? You got cheese? When I was in Minsk there were only a couple of months when cheese was available due to gov’t. restrictions. When cheese was available, the only kind you could get was whatever kind they had.

    It was still good.

  2. When were you there? We were there in the summer of ’95 and had cheese in abundance. Now bananas on the other hand…One day the kiosks would be selling them like crazy, and then a day later the entire city would be out. Same thing with peanut butter.

  3. Swamphopper,

    I was there in the summer of ’96, and then from August ’98-October ’99. Bananas were coming out our ears then, but every once in a while, there were shortages of everything from staples like eggs, cheese, and milk to luxuries like the Nesquik brand of Coco-Puffs.

    Of course, what good are Coco-Puffs without milk?

Comments are closed.