Mrs. Ida is more than 100 years old in good health and still runs races thanks to a healthy diet

Living past 100 is an important achievement in life and more impressive when one can still compete in sports tournaments.

Ida Keeling, who lives in New York (USA), has been recognized as the oldest female athlete in the world when she continued to run until her death in 2021 at the age of 106.

Along with perseverance, Mrs. Ida also has health good thanks to a number of factors, including diet. According to her daughter, Shelley Keeling, Ida ate a lot of vegetables.

“My mother eats all kinds of vegetables, a small amount of meat. All the organs in the mother’s body are working properly,” Shelly recounts.

Recently, experts discovered that going out and connecting with outer space will help you eat more vegetables and fruits. A plant-based diet containing enough nutrients can affect your health.

Benefits include lower blood pressure, lower risk of heart disease, stroke, eye and digestive problems, and prevention of certain cancers. This habit also has the potential to have a positive effect on blood sugar levels.

Along with healthy eating habits, Ida’s long life is thanks to exercise.

Throughout her life, she was always active. She loved to ride bicycles and jump rope as a child. She started participating in running competitions at the age of 67 thanks to her daughter, who is also an avid runner.

Shelly signed her and her mother up for a run in Brooklyn. She only informed her grandmother a day in advance.

“At first she thought I was taking her to see me in the race. She was surprised when I showed up at the door in a pair of sneakers,” Shelly recalls.

“I told her to just run after other people and not know how she would compete. But I think she can finish the race because she is always active.”

Upon completing her first run, Ida was immediately drawn to the sport. She felt her body feel light and excited. Since then, she has continued to compete in the city’s 5km or longer races.

In 2011, at the age of 95, Ida set a world record for her age group when she ran the 60m with a speed of 29.86 seconds at a track in Manhattan.

In 2017, she broke her femur and had to undergo surgery and rehabilitation. After fully recovering, she decided to run again, setting another record in 2018 at the age of 102.

Shelley said: ‘It was the thrill and joy that kept her running. Mom is extremely flexible, it can be said that exercise and jogging are the best medicine.”

An Yen (Follow Eatthis)