For several ages, men have sought for potions that could heal all diseases and provide everlasting youth (or life) to the drinker. Within the mythologies of the Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Western Europeans, and the Asantes (of West Africa), there are stories of legends who tried to find such “keys to long life”
While this belief led to the killing and drinking of infant blood or sleeping with virgins in some heathen cultures (to perpetuate immortality), it led to the “science” of Alchemy in Europe, which birthed modern-day chemistry. Alchemists tried all sorts of weird and “fabulous ideas”, with the hope of turning base metal into gold and finding a recipe for everlasting youth.
Indeed, this old idea has found its way into modern movies where the protagonists fight tooth and nail and traverse the globe, searching for Oracles that might hold this magic potion. It is intriguing to note that the modern science of cytogenomics (cytogenetics) is also vehemently researching on the “ageing” and “anti-ageing” gene that can hold the “keys” to turning off ageing and perpetuating eternal life/youth. Subsequently, several agents, creams, and medicines have popped up, claiming to delay or prevent ageing.
For those who are versed with the Bible, the cause and source of death and ageing are known: when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and thus sinned against God. Since Eden, man’s age has deteriorated from immortality and 900+ years to 70-120 years in modern times. The tree of life that stood in Eden, was surrounded by cherubs (angels) to prevent sinful man from partaking of it until it was removed from the earth during the flood.
So, is there an elixir of life or youth??
I doubt there is… however, there are practices that can both prolong our youth and prevent several diseases: continual exercise and a plant-based diet.
Plants are naturally slow growers and green vegetables and fruits are abundant with living cells. When these living fruits and vegetables are consumed, they pass on their life properties to man to heal several anomalies in his body and lengthen his life. By eating living green plants, one eats living cells that elongate his youth.
Cooked foods are good, but they are made up of dead cells. Animal foods are rich in proteins, but they overburden the body with excess amino acids, fats, and cholesterol that intoxicate the cells with excessive waste: these toxins shorten the life of the cells. It is therefore no wonder that animal-rich diets lead to several lifestyle diseases.
The best “elixir of youth” is continual exercising, which
- pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body,
- drives deoxygenated blood back to the heart,
- removes waste from the cells through sweating,
- strengthens the bones and muscles for difficult tasks, and
- releases endorphins (happiness hormones) to make you happy and fulfilled.
One of the best effects of exercise and green vegetables on the body is felt in the brain. Exercise pumps blood to the brain,
- feeding the neurons,
- expanding the thinking capacity,
- sharpening the intelligence, and
- reviving the memory.
This is the “elixir of life” at this time: green food and good exercise. Let us keep the body in perpetual youth for the Glory of God.
