108 years. The good Lord has blessed me with 108 years on this earth. I've seen two world wars, a man walk on the moon, and and phones that talk to you.
And in all that time, I've seen a whole lot of foolishness, especially when it comes to what people put in their bodies. My [clears throat] name is Hattie May, and every doctor who ever told me to watch my cholesterol is dead and gone. Every single one.
Mhm. They come in with their fancy degrees and their new pills and they tell you to eat this and not to eat that. And half of it is just nonsense.
Paid for by some company trying to sell you something in a box. I'm here to tell you the truth. The real truth.
The kind of truth that gets passed down from your great grandmama, not from some commercial on the television. It ain't about magic powders or expensive diets. It's about the food that comes from the earth.
The food God gave us. And I've got seven of them that I've been eating my whole life. Seven foods that are the reason I'm still sitting here talking to you today.
Now, the first one, this is the one they love to argue about. Coffee. Yes, Lord.
A good, strong cup of black coffee. [music] I've had one every single morning since I was Oh, I was about 16 years old. They tell you it's going to give you a heart attack, make you nervous.
Child, please. What's going to give you a heart attack is worrying about every little thing. [music] That coffee, it wakes up your brain.
It's full of what they call them, [music] antioxidants. It's a message to your body [music] that it's time to get up and get to work. The good Lord wouldn't have made it smell so good if he didn't want you to drink it.
[music] Just drink it black. Don't go putting all that sugar [music] and that chemical creamer in it. That's the devil's work.
Mhm. Second is God's candy. Berries.
Any kind you can get your hands on. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. [music] When I was a girl, we pick them wild from the bushes behind the house.
[music] Now I get them from the store. But but I eat a handful every single day. [music] They're sweet, but they don't have that fast nervous sugar that rots [music] you from the inside.
They're full of polyphenols. That's a fancy word for the color. And just like my daddy said, God rest his soul.
The medicine is in the color. It's what protects the fruit [music] and is what'll protect you. keeps the inflammation down.
[music] Number three, this one comes from the water. Fatty fish. I'm talking about salmon, sardines, mackerel, the oily kind.
We didn't get a lot of salmon when I was coming up in Georgia. [music] But we got sardines. Ate them right out of the can.
My husband, he used to call it a poor man's lunch. [music] I call it a rich man's medicine. M [clears throat] [music] your brain is made of fat and it needs good clean fat [music] to keep working right.
That EPA, that DHA, that's the oil that keeps [music] the engine from rusting. It keeps your thoughts clear. It keeps the sadness from creeping in.
[music] They tell you to worry about mercury. I tell you to worry about a brain that can't remember your own children's [music] names. I'll take my chances with the fish.
All right. Number four. This is another one.
They lied to you about eggs. The whole egg, the yolk and all. [music] For 50 years.
50 years. They told us the yolk was going to clog our hearts. scared a whole generation away from the most perfect food God ever made.
It's a lie. Mhm. The yolk is where the power is.
It's got that choline for your brain, that luteine for your eyes. It's a perfect little package of life. I eat two every morning, fried in bacon grease, and my heart is still ticking just fine.
Thank you very much. And that brings me to number five. And this one's going to make all them young folks clutch their pearls.
Red meat. Yes, Lord. Good grass-fed red meat.
[music] The kind that comes from a cow that actually walked around in the sun. They tell you it's going to kill you. Your body needs what's in that meat.
It needs that iron, that B12, that that carnitine. Those are the things that give your muscle strength, [music] that keep your blood strong. You feel weak, you feel tired, it ain't because you're old, it's because you're eating chicken breast and tofu.
[music] You need the power that comes from the earth. And a cow is just a machine for turning grass [music] and sunshine into strength. It's that simple.
Number six, this one's a little different. Fermented foods. Now, we didn't call it that.
We called it sauerkraut. We called it pickles. We called it buttermilk.
M. It's food that's alive. It's full of good bacteria.
Your gut is like a garden. And you got to have good soil. [music] If you just got weeds in there, you're going to be sick.
These fermented foods, they put the good stuff back in. They keep your digestion right. [music] A happy gut is a happy life.
You remember that? Mhm. And the last one, number seven.
This is my little secret, my treat. Raw cacao. [music] Not chocolate, not that sugary junk you buy at the checkout counter.
[music] I'm talking about the real bitter dark powder. [music] The stuff that tastes like dirt and magic. I have one spoonful every morning in my coffee.
It's got something in it called Oh, what is it? [music] PQQ. That's a mouthful.
But what it does is it tells your body to make new mitochondria, [music] new spark plugs. At my age, it wakes up your brain. It gives you a little fire.
It's the best kept secret there is. [music] So, there you have it. Coffee, berries, fatty fish, eggs, red meat, fermented foods, and cacao.
[music] That's the list. It ain't what they're selling you on TV. is the opposite of what they're selling you, [music] but it's the truth.
It's the food that built me. The food that's kept me here for over a century. [music] But I'm going to tell you one more thing.
And this is important. Now, [music] it ain't just the food. The food is the fuel, but it ain't the engine.
The engine is your spirit. You got to have a reason to get up in the morning. You got to have people to love.
You got to have a little faith. You can eat all the red meat in the world, but if your heart is full of bitterness, you're going to get sick. So, you forgive people.
You laugh even when it hurts. You sit on the porch and you watch the sun go down. You thank the good Lord for another day.
You do that and you eat your eggs and you might just stick around for a while.
