Dr. Deb Ford discusses her visit to Acciaroli, Italy, a village known for its centenarians. She explains that the longevity of the older generation is due to their early life experiences, or epigenetics, shaped by nutrient-dense food, a clean environment, and physical activity. She highlights key factors like polyphenol-rich diets, a diverse gut microbiome, living in sync with natural rhythms, reducing stress, and avoiding toxins as contributors to their health.
Key Takeaways
1
The longevity of Acciaroli's elders is linked to epigenetics, meaning their genes were positively influenced by their environment and lifestyle when they were young, rather than just genetics.
2
Polyphenols from wild herbs and greens like rosemary, fennel, and oregano, along with omega-3s from fish, are crucial for building resilience and health as people age.
3
A diverse gut microbiome, established in youth by eating organic whole grains, beans, wild greens, and seasonal fruits, contributes to neuroprotection and lower rates of dementia.
4
Living in sync with the sun and seasons, incorporating daily physical activity like walking, and practicing time-restricted eating helps maintain a flexible metabolic profile.
5
Reducing chronic stress and fostering strong social connections are powerful longevity factors that help balance cortisol levels and promote overall well-being.
6
The absence of pesticides, plastics, processed oils, and synthetic chemicals in their early lives contributed to a healthy epigenetic imprint, free from hormone-disrupting toxins.
7
It is never too late to make small, consistent lifestyle changes to improve health, resilience, and longevity, regardless of where you live.
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0:01
Good morning friends. This is Dr. Deb
0:04
Ford and today I want to take you on a
0:06
little journey with me not just across
0:09
the ocean but back in time. I recently
0:13
visited Acheroli, Italy. Tiny little
0:17
fishing village that has kind of turned
0:19
into a vacation hot spot on the Sento
0:23
coast just south of the Amalfi coastline
0:26
in Italy. so far south, no one spoke
0:30
English. And this is where there's an
0:34
astonishingly
0:35
high percentage of people living past
0:38
100 years old. Not just living, but
0:41
living well. Sharp minds, active bodies,
0:45
smiles on their faces, and a sparkle in
0:47
their eye. No cataracts, no heart
0:50
disease, no broken bones. All those
0:52
things we think of are expected with
0:55
aging.
0:57
We have to go back in time to see why
1:00
they have such robust health. Because
1:04
when I got there, I have to admit, I
1:07
didn't exactly see what I expected.
1:10
Healthy, vibrant lifestyles, lots of
1:13
whole food, and people sipping green
1:15
smoothies. No, in fact, I saw a lot of
1:18
bread, a lot of pasta, and a lot of
1:21
young people vaping. And here's the
1:24
catch. The real story of their elders
1:27
isn't in what we see happening with the
1:30
habits that are being formed today, but
1:33
it's in the epigenetic imprint laid down
1:36
when these older people were young.
1:39
Lifestyles have changed. America has
1:42
done a really good job of exporting our
1:45
lifestyle. Levis's, Nike, Starbucks,
1:49
McDonald's, and yeah, vaping. Because
1:52
today's Italy is not known for its
1:55
longevity practice, but it is the lat
1:58
vita, the good life that was set into
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the genes for these octogenarians.
2:05
That means the lifestyle, the diet, the
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environment they grew up with way back
2:12
in the 1920s and 30s and 40s programmed
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their bodies for resilience and
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longevity. And that's what I want to
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unpack here today. And I'm going to dive
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into the big takeaways that I think we
2:26
can learn from Acharoli of old and
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figure out how we can weave some of
2:32
those things into our own life today.
2:36
Because number one, it's not genes, it's
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epigenetics.
2:41
These people are not genetically
2:43
different from them. You know, a lot of
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people may think, "Oh, they just have
2:46
good genes." But that's not what the
2:48
science says. Their genes are no
2:51
different than yours or mine. The
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difference is how those genes get
2:56
switched on or off by the environment
2:59
that they grew up in. That's
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epigenetics. That's the most important
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part of health and what we can control.
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Think of it this way. Genes are like
3:10
your piano,
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but epigenetics is the pianist. In
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Acharoli, that pianist
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played a song of resilience. Their
3:22
bodies were exposed to nutrient-dense
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foods, a clean environment, constant
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physical activity, and social
3:30
connection. Those early signals tuned
3:34
their metabolism,
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really honed the inflammatory pathways,
3:39
and even their cardiovascular health for
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the long haul. These people born in the
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20s, 30s, and 40s survived war, famine,
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war, occupation, and stress like we have
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no idea. Much like people here growing
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up during the depression, eating right
4:00
out of the garden, raised on what came
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out of the barn with very little sugar.
4:06
Now it is predicted that each generation
4:09
is going to have shorter lives than
4:11
their parents because of how we live.
4:15
And myself epigenetically
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changed as a kid by bad diet, 10 years
4:21
of antibiotics. You know, you got to
4:24
work to turn those genes off and keep
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them silenced. But if youth is
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wellformed, you got a real heal up on
4:33
health. So, it's not the destiny of your
4:36
DNA. It's how your daily choices play
4:40
the song. And that's good news because
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that means we can learn from them and
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apply those principles no matter where
4:49
we live. Second thing, polyphenol power.
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Those herbs and the wild plants and of
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course tons of omega-3 from fish. Now,
5:00
that's something I found fascinating. So
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beyond the olive oil, the beans, and the
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fish, which we know are good, people of
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Sento eat a lot of wild herbs and
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greens. I'm talking rosemary, fennel,
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oregano, chory, dandelion. These aren't
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just flavor sprinkles, but these are the
5:22
chemical factories of polyphenols. That
5:25
scientific information on rosemary alone
5:29
has changed my daily routine.
5:31
Polyphenols
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are some of the 28,000
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phytonutrients, those plant compounds
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that basically tell our cells, "Wake up,
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repair, defend, that builds resilience,
5:48
especially as we age." Rosemary, for
5:52
example, has that rosemarinic acid
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that's linked to brain health and
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reduced inflammation. And in acharolei,
6:01
rosemary grows like a weed. They put it
6:04
in everything. It is flowing out of the
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window boxes. It's around every corner.
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So they put it in everything. And so now
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so do I. Matter of fact, I've got a bush
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of rosemary in my kitchen. Keeps
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growing, so I got to keep trimming it.
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So when you think of longevity,
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it's not eat your veggies. It's also
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season your food like life depends on it
6:31
because it might. Herbs, spices, wild
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greens aren't side notes. They are
6:38
actually the key players on that piano
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of the longevity piano. Our family took
6:43
a pizza cooking class there. Good
6:46
Italian lowg gluten flour. And the chef
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that was teaching us, he was great. And
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he looked at my pizza and he said,
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"Looks like a garden." Yeah. It was
6:57
delicious. You know, and I I went with a
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goal really of finding a way to enjoy
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anchovies because I really didn't like
7:07
them. But I knew it was anchovies was
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the staple of acharolei. Rich in
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omega-3. And almost 90% of Americans are
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low in omega-3. After all, we're
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farmers, not fishermen. And I found the
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secret to enjoy anchovies. You soak them
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in water to get the salt out, and then
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you marinate in olive oil and spices,
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and you serve with marinated tomatoes
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topped with basil. Oh boy, makes my
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mouth water right now. Okay, third
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thing, microbiome connection. You know,
7:46
there is more research going on on our
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microbiome than on anything else pretty
7:51
much these days. It's fascinating. It's
7:55
another piece of the puzzle. And the
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centinarians of Acharolei have an
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incredibly diverse gut microbiome. The
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gut microbiome is set in youth and
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besides they don't do antibiotics like
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we do. So, their gut microbiome is
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thriving. And it was set because what
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they grew up eating organic whole grain
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slow fermented breads, no preservatives,
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no sugar. Organic beans daily. A little
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chickpeas, a little fava beans, a little
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lentils, wild greens,
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garden vegetables, and a small amount of
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seasonal fruit, especially figs. All of
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this fiber feeds that gut bacteria
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creating this rich community that
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produce protective compounds for the
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brain, the heart, the immune system. In
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fact, researchers found these
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centinarians have higher levels of
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metabolites linked to neuroprotection.
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That may explain why dementia rates are
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so low there. It's really pretty cool.
9:04
You know, we are outnumbered by our
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microbiome that lives in and on us, more
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cells than we have human cells. So,
9:15
pretty important. Meanwhile, in America,
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the average diet is so low in fiber, so
9:22
high in processed foods that have been
9:25
sprayed with pesticides that also help
9:28
to shrink our gut diversity, you know,
9:31
and that's tied to higher chronic
9:33
disease. When I do gut tests on people,
9:36
even in the last 10 years, I have seen a
9:39
decrease in diversity. So the takeaway
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here is every bean you eat, every leafy
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green, every piece of real sourdough
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bread, you're just not feeding yourself,
9:51
you are feeding your microbiome army.
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And they're like fighting for your
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longevity. So longevity, we need to
9:59
retrain and transform our sugary taste
10:02
buds to eat for the microbiome army in a
10:07
super delicious way.
10:10
So then number four, another thing is
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life in Acharoli kind of flows with the
10:16
sun and the seasons. You know, people
10:20
wake quietly. They walk everywhere. And
10:24
because their cities aren't suburbs,
10:26
they don't need cars. They eat their
10:29
main meal in the middle of the day and
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they rest in the afternoon because it is
10:33
so dogone hot. And they have lighter
10:36
meals in the evening where they gather
10:38
with friends and family. This is just
10:40
like a daily rhythm. And you know, they
10:45
don't stress about working a lot. They
10:48
don't have late night snacking. They
10:49
don't have 24-hour drive-throughs. Their
10:52
food is seasonal and delicious. Tomatoes
10:55
in the summer, greens in the spring,
10:58
legumes in the winter. before
11:01
refrigeration and they don't have big
11:03
refrigerators. They could not stockpile
11:06
processed foods. So they just ate what
11:08
was fresh and available. So that kind of
11:11
created winters with mild calorie
11:15
restriction and daily what we know as
11:18
timerestricted eating. you know, kind of
11:20
intermittent fasting that gave the body
11:24
plenty of time to not only digest, but
11:27
to repair and reset for the next day.
11:30
You combine that with physical activity
11:33
built into daily life like walking and
11:36
tending gardens and fishing, you got a
11:39
metabolic profile that stays flexible
11:41
for decades. No cars, no suburbs, small
11:45
communities. And I can tell you these 90
11:49
year olds were moving up down those
11:50
cobblestone sidewalks like teenagers,
11:53
but never in a hurry. And it's not just
11:56
exercise. It's like the rhythm of life
11:59
that just keeps their mitochondria
12:01
humming. So now that ties in with the
12:04
next powerful lesson from this little
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fishing village where people don't just
12:09
live long, they live well. Number five,
12:13
stress less, connect more. One of the
12:17
biggest longevity factors I think we
12:19
underestimate isn't food at all. It's
12:22
stress. You know, keeping that cortisol
12:25
high, driving inflammation, driving
12:29
cravings, driving weight gain, wearing
12:32
down the immune system. Stress is a
12:34
killer. Chronic stress is a killer. But
12:37
in Acharoli, the rhythm of life for this
12:41
past generation is slower, more social,
12:46
more deeply connected. They go visit in
12:50
person. They go to church together, they
12:52
eat together. Leto vita, living well,
12:57
living slowly. The good life, you know,
13:00
ache is the pace of life is different.
13:03
Nobody's rushing. People aren't honking
13:05
in traffic or scrolling through endless
13:08
feeds of bad news. Life is slower, more
13:12
intentional, more connected. They walk
13:14
everywhere. And you know, when we were
13:17
walking with our backpacks, cars
13:20
stopped, waved us on so we could cross,
13:23
and then gave us a big smile. And that
13:26
matters. We know chronic stress pumps
13:30
out cortisol, disrupts blood sugar,
13:34
raises blood pressure, and accelerates
13:36
aging. But in aoli, stress is balanced
13:40
by recovery, a walk by the sea, an
13:44
afternoon rest,
13:47
deep breathing all the time, and a meal
13:50
enjoyed without hurry. And I mean no
13:53
hurry. at every meal.
13:56
You know, we Americans, we had things to
13:59
do. We had to ask for our check. Man, we
14:02
could have camped out there all
14:03
afternoon and been welcomed. Yeah. Those
14:06
elders
14:08
have experienced stress. I mean, they
14:10
lived through wars and poverty and and,
14:14
you know, occupation by the Nazis, but
14:17
they handled stress in the context of
14:20
community. And that's something I think
14:23
we've lost in our 24/7 society, both
14:26
here and in modern Italy. Modern
14:29
Italians live no differently than we do.
14:31
The young have their heads down on their
14:34
phones. And yeah, vaping. I saw it
14:37
everywhere. So, the takeaway here,
14:40
longevity isn't just about what you eat.
14:43
It's about how you pace your life,
14:45
protect your mind, and give your nervous
14:48
system room to breathe.
14:51
you know, centered time to enjoy.
14:55
Number six, this is a biggie and it's
14:59
not
15:01
what they have in their diet. It what
15:04
wasn't in their lives, especially during
15:07
those early decades in the 20s through
15:09
the 1940s. There were no pesticides
15:12
sprayed on vegetables, no plastics
15:14
leeching into their food, no, not even
15:16
sunscreen, no processed oils in every
15:20
packaged food. They ate from the garden,
15:22
fish from the sea, lived in homes
15:25
without synthetic chemicals. So, their
15:28
epigenetic imprint was free from all
15:31
these toxins that we know disrupt
15:34
hormones and damage our mitochondria.
15:36
But today, oh boy, vending machines, pop
15:40
candy, chips, junk. Pretty sad to see
15:43
knowing that the longevity lifestyle is
15:46
not being passed on. You know, these
15:48
elders, they had hardship. They had
15:51
poverty. They're they their bodies
15:55
weren't exposed to things and that gave
15:59
them a powerful health advantage. You
16:01
know, it's something we can work on
16:03
today. choosing organic whenever you
16:05
can, filtering your water, opening your
16:08
windows, breathing in fresh air, get
16:10
outside, dig in the dirt. You know, it's
16:13
not about perfection. I mean, that's
16:16
elusive. It's about just reducing the
16:19
bad stuff and adding in the good things.
16:21
So, you might be thinking, you know,
16:23
Deb, that sounds just beautiful, but I
16:25
can't live in a fishing village in
16:27
southern Italy. You know, I live in
16:29
Ohio. And you're right. But here's the
16:32
good news. You don't have to move to
16:33
acholi. Might be kind of nice, but we
16:37
can bring a little bit of older
16:40
into your daily life. And this is what
16:42
those centinarians taught me. It's not
16:45
one magic food or one perfect
16:47
supplement. It's just about a lifetime
16:50
of small consistent choices that add up
16:54
to health, resilience, and longevity.
16:59
And an important thing here is it is
17:02
never too late to change. You know, I
17:07
laughingly say look at MC Jagger. Look
17:09
look look at the Rolling Stones. I mean
17:11
they at 82 going back on tour again and
17:15
MC Jagger does a half marathon in two
17:18
hours. You know they have changed and
17:21
their bodies are resilient like ours
17:24
are. You know, you can change your
17:26
metabolic health in months. Little
17:30
changes changing the epigenetics. You
17:33
know, our bodies are shaped by
17:36
nutrientdense, meaning no sugar, simple
17:39
foods, and an active environment. Then
17:42
in acharolei, they had lots of
17:44
polyphenols. Heck, we can bring that in.
17:46
Rosemary, fennel, wild greens, good
17:49
medicine. And then lots of fiber to
17:51
build the microbiome. beans, lots of
17:54
vegetables, and natural rhythms.
17:58
Up with the sun, down when it goes down,
18:01
resting daily, moving constantly.
18:04
Another thing, low stress, strong
18:06
community, minimal toxins, caloric
18:09
rhythm, staying lean, and having a
18:12
pattern of modest, balanced eating with
18:17
plenty of fasting windows. None of these
18:19
in themselves are magic bullets, but
18:21
together it's a kind of a creating a
18:23
synergy that allows people to live an
18:26
extraordinary wonderful lifespan. Not
18:29
just in years, but in health. So, as I
18:32
left Acharoli, I didn't bring home
18:34
memories of a beautiful coastal village.
18:37
I brought home a vision, a reminder that
18:40
longevity isn't a mystery. It's a
18:42
recipe, you know, made of plants and
18:45
fish and herbs and unprocessed slow food
18:47
and movement and sunshine and
18:49
friendships and simplicity. Ah, enjoying
18:53
the journey, making little changes. The
18:55
doce vita. And here's the best part. You
18:59
know, I can follow that recipe right
19:02
where I'm at. And so can you. More
19:04
connection, more more rhythm, less
19:07
stress, less chaos. And you know if it's
19:10
uncomfortable don't worry keep trying.
19:13
You know like when I ordered anchovies
19:16
every single day
19:19
until I found a way that was oh
19:22
delissioso that's the gift of not just
19:26
years of our life but life in our years.
19:28
In fact, all the cities we traveled
19:30
through, I never saw a hospital or a
19:33
clinic. Unlike here, where hospitals are
19:36
usually the biggest, newest, growing
19:38
building reflects not only how sick our
19:42
communities have become, but how much
19:44
money is involved. So, thoughts for
19:48
today. This is Dr. Dr. Deb Ford
19:50
encouraging you as always to live well,
19:53
eat well, love well, and until next
19:56
time, my friends, be good to yourself
19:57
and those around you.
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Acciaroli Reflectioms
Deb Ford DCN RDN
24 views
Aug 24, 2025
20:01
I recently visited Acciaroli, Italy, a tiny fishing village turned vacation hot spot on the Cilento coast, just south of the Amalfi coastline- so far south that no one spoke English! But where an astonishing percentage of people live past 100 — and not just living, but living well. Sharp minds, active bodies, smiles on their faces, and a sparkle in their eyes. No cataracts. Heart disease or broken bones- all those things we think are expected with aging. We have to go back in time to see why they have such robust health.