Living 117 Years, Trust, Rising Food Prices, Lemniscates
In This Issue:
- How Did She Live 117 Years?
- Be Careful Who You Trust
- Stock Up on Staples—Prices Are Rising
- Draw Lemniscates in Your Energy Field
Find lots of healthy recipes in my
Whole Food Plant-Based, Gluten Free Recipes Facebook Group
Message from Bernadette Wulf
Greetings and Happy July!
America turns 250 this month—quite a run, with plenty of triumph and turbulence.
On the health front, things looked promising for a long time. Then the last few decades happened: life expectancy dropped, preventable deaths climbed, and the U.S. now ranks near the bottom among developed nations for basic health outcomes—remarkable, given that we live in one of the most resource-rich countries on Earth.
I won’t go into all the wrongs, past or present, for which America is responsible. I’d rather focus on what we can do right as we move forward. That’s why I share this health and wellness newsletter every month… for almost 20 years.
My hope is that it will plant seeds that sprout into healthy trees in your life—and maybe help spread a little more wellness around the planet we all share.
This month we’ll take a look at: the remarkable longevity of the worlds oldest woman, a warning about trusting everything you hear or read about health studies, a reminder that you might want to keep a few extra staples on hand for possible supply disruptions, and a fun way to enliven your energy field with lemniscates.
WulfWorks News
Most of my writing is now moving to Substack—on anything from philosophy to faery magic. Come on over and follow or subscribe if you’re interested.
No workshops planned until August… still debating on Saturday the 1st or Sunday the 2nd for our Lughnasadh journeys. Theme TBA (let me know if you have a request).
For now, I’m going to revel in the warmth of summertime and pick a few ripe tomatoes from my garden.
Have questions or comments? —>>> Email Bernadette <<<— Please use this link and do not hit reply to this post or I may never get your message.
To your health and happiness!
Bernadette Wulf
WulfWorks.com — HealItAll.com — Eat Plants for Life
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How Did She Live 117 Years?
Gleaned from Sarah Otto’s newsletter:
Maria Branyas Morera, the World’s Oldest Verified Person, lived to 117 years and 168 days, and was the subject of the most comprehensive multiomics study ever performed on a supercentenarian.
Despite biological markers of extreme age, her cells behaved over 17 years younger across every epigenetic clock tested.
Key findings:
- Remarkably low systemic inflammation (low GlycA/GlycB markers)
- Highly efficient lipid metabolism (low VLDL/triglycerides, high HDL)
- Gut microbiome dominated by Bifidobacterium, unusual for her age
Lifestyle: Mediterranean diet, three yogurts daily (Sarah recommends plant-based yogurt), olive oil, legumes, daily walks, no alcohol or smoking, strong family connection.
Though nothing can ensure you’ll live to be over 100, you will certainly feel better and have less chance of facing the most common degenerative diseases if you follow Maria’s example—a diet high in whole plant foods: fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, peas, whole grains, and small amounts of nuts, seeds, and maybe a little olive oil. Yogurt’s benefits are debated, but it obviously worked for her—she made it to 117.
Add a little exercise and supportive relationships and you have a winning formula.
My personal yogurt favorites are Cocojune Organic Cultured Coconut Yogurt—creamy and high in fat, so use sparingly, and Forager’s Kefir Style Drinkable Yogurt—with less than half the fat—great for salad dressings with a little dill and onion powder. Neither have gums added.
Making your own yogurt is fairly easy and much cheaper.
Don’t like runny yogurt: Use 1 tablespoon of tapioca flour (AKA tapioca starch) for every 2 cups of plant-based milk before heating and culturing. Tapioca flour is a very fine flour that does not easily blend into liquid. To integrate more easily, mix the tapioca flour into 1/3 cup of milk and then stir into the rest of the milk. Heat to 140⁰F/ 60⁰C to thicken, stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Allow the milk to cool below 108°F (42° C) before adding the starter culture.
Be Careful Who You Trust
I wish we lived in a world where everyone could be trusted, but I learned the hard way, that some people only care about themselves and their own profits… apparently quite a few people in powerful positions.
Here’s one recent example:
When research threatens profits, some corporations don’t just defend their products—they spread misleading studies designed to shape public opinion.
The backlash to the World Health Organization’s cancer findings on processed and red meat illustrates how industries fund manipulated studies, amplify uncertainty, attack scientists, and promote the idea that “the science isn’t settled,” even when strong evidence exists.
Similar tactics have been used by the tobacco, fossil fuel, and sugar industries… and of course Monsanto. That’s why it’s wise to always look beyond headlines and advertising.
Follow the money. Ask who funded the research, whether findings have been independently replicated, and what the broader body of evidence shows before accepting industry claims.
From NutritionFacts.org:
The gloves were off. The meat industry in Canada tried to pressure the government to cut off funds to the IARC, asking the Health Minister to pull all funding from the agency after it dared to question meat. The U.S. meat industry did the same thing. It’s no surprise that the IARC is “under siege by corporate interests” trying to challenge their cancer evaluations on Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide and meat, discredit the agency, and undermine financial backing. For example, internal documents have revealed Monsanto scientists “casually discussing ‘ghost-writing’ scientific papers and suppressing science that conflicts with corporate assertions of Roundup’s safety.”
It’s like we’re goldfish in a fish tank and these corporate hotshots are messing with the tank water to boost their own profits, not caring how many of us end up floating belly up.
Fortunately people like Dr. Greger and his team comb through massive amounts of data and weed out the manipulated studies, which takes a lot of the work out of it for us. Let’s all send him a wave of appreciation.
Read more about industry lies — https://nutritionfacts.org/blog/the-backlash-to-iarcs-report-that-meat-probably-causes-cancer/
Stock Up on Staples—Prices Are Rising
You might want to think about tucking away a little extra food in your pantry right now, and here’s why.
Oil supplies have been tight because of the war in Iran and that ripples out further than you’d think… transportation, packaging, refrigeration, even fertilizer all lean on the cost of oil, which means grocery prices feel it too.
Add to that a string of oddly specific supply hiccups: Morocco cut off sardine exports and the U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest in decades, partly because screwworm has shown up in Texas cattle.
Even if you’re vegetarian, that can affect your costs as meat eaters turn to lentils and beans to supply their missing protein—you know, supply and demand.
Tomato prices were up 40% thanks to weather and tariffs—and that makes your catsup and spaghetti sauce a lot more expensive.
Since supply is a little less predictable than usual, prices can swing more, especially when everyone’s buying at once and inventories are running thin.
So you might want to keep some beans, lentils, whole grains (not too much brown rice, because it goes rancid quickly), peanut butter, and dried fruit on hand. They’re cheap, they store well, and they give you a cushion if things get wobbly for a stretch. You can even make your own mini veggies by sprouting lentils and other seeds.
A small pantry cushion can ease your mind if prices jump or your usual brand disappears for a while.
Draw Lemniscates in Your Energy Field
For those who love energy healing, try drawing lemniscates.
Donna Eden uses the lemniscate, or sideways figure-eight shape, as a movement pattern in her Energy Medicine work to support balance, circulation, and integration.
She and her students describe it as a way to help energy move smoothly between two poles, organizing scattered energy and encouraging a steadier, more centered state.
This is one of my favorite Donna Eden tips. I do it every morning.
Just use your hands to draw various sized lemniscates all around your body and follow the instructions in this video to create three big ones right down the middle.
Here’s the YouTube link —
New Earth Ambassador — Sharing Health, Wealth & Faery Magic to Uplift Your Life and the World!
What I love best is holding space for people to tap into the New Earth reality — a reality of harmony, cooperation and prosperity for all. I call it the New Camelot! I spend most of my time creating courses, workshops, blogs and art to support citizens of the New Camelot in their ongoing quest for health, abundant wealth and the magic of the Otherworlds.
I am passionate about protecting Nature, a healthy whole-plant-foods diet, artistic creativity, graphic design, connecting seekers with the faery realm, Celtic and Arthurian lore, my family, writing and gardening.
All my services are all listed at WulfWorks.com (my portal site)