A few days ago Vivien and I went to the French Alps, including the famous resort of Chamonix, beloved of skiers. The weather was still warm and summery, even though it was the last day of September.
Nevertheless, I was absolutely ASTONISHED to have a large and beautiful butterfly join us at lunch and settle right on my champagne glass! (see picture)
That’s Vivien, by the way, in the background
It spent several minutes at our table and seemed to like us! I did not recognize the species but a quick Google image search told me it was the rare and beautiful Camberwell Beauty! Camberwell is a town now swallowed up by urban London but in the rest of Europe and the USA this beauty is known as the Mourning Cloak butterfly and its velvety coloring is GORGEOUS.
It is an unusual creature in many ways and incredibly, it can hibernate. It is seen sometimes even in Minnesota in winter, on warmer days. Most butterflies, you probably know, don’t make it through winter.
OK, so what? Why this story? I’m a doctor, not a biologist, even less an entomologist.
Let me tell you, it was a most magical moment. A real joy. It was a super-feelgood happening! That this lovely creature seemed to seek us out and join us, in such a relaxed state, made the moment seem very very special. Indeed the surrounding tables too got their moment of delight, just looking on.
In other words, we had the feeling of positive wellbeing and that’s precious. It’s worth a lot in terms of health. As I teach, wellbeing is one of the most important factors in how long you will live. Forget hormones, vitamins, supplements… well, perhaps not! But you can take all the anti-aging stuff you want—if you don’t have a REASON to live longer, why would you?
Yet this factor is so often ignored by researchers who cannot see further than their pet theories and it gets scant mention.
You know that the Mediterranean diet is famous for health and longevity, right? But most descriptions of the Mediterranean diet ignore the alcohol! Well, it couldn’t be that, could it? The truth is it has EVERYTHING to do with it.
My friend the late Stephen Sinatra and I talked together a lot about this. Wine at the table brings relaxation, camaraderie, yes, even love, to the meal. You probably know the famous Italian saying “A day without wine is a day without sunshine.”
That’s worth YEARS of life never mind the calories, the carbs and the fats, etc.
Typical descriptions of the Mediterranean diet are like that from the American Heart Association: “plenty of fruits, vegetables, bread and other grains, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds; olive oil as a primary fat source; and. dairy products, eggs, fish and poultry in low to moderate amounts.”
No mention of the fact that the average Italian, Spaniard or Frenchman drinks around a bottle of wine a day (women a bit less). The Harvard website tries to imply that it’s 1 to 2 glasses. That’s just not true; that’s American puritanism served up as science.
Now I notice Joe Mercola has taken up the story that there is no safe level of alcohol. This coincides with the news that scientists are proposing to re-visit the science that shows moderate alcohol is good for health and re-work it, so it is no longer favorable.
Trust me, there are a lot of biases in studies such as these, not least the fact that they make no allowance for what’s called “heavy episodic drinking”. Those who get bladdered out of their (tiny) brains distort the figures for what the rest of us do.
The fact remains:
• teetotalers do not live as long as moderate drinkers.
• Italy and other Mediterranean countries drink a lot but have no excess deaths
• Usual studies never distinguish WHAT is being drunk and so lump beer (ugh!) and spirits (aagh!) with wine, which is technically a food.
• Wine, particularly red wine, has lots of good science, which I am not going to let get swept away
In fact some of you know I’m on record with the BBC in an interview in which I said, “Champagne is a whole food; there’s nothing in the bottle but grapes and bubbles”!
Look, here’s a brilliantly argued recent piece from Harvard Health (April 2024) that puts all the nonsense arguments and bigotry into proper perspective: https://harvardpublichealth.org/policy-practice/is-alcohol-bad-for-you-or-is-alcohol-good-for-you-yes/
Here’s What is Really Important
Another thing researchers rarely mention in this context: the meal, especially the midday meal, is a family affair. Grandma, Grandpa, husband and wife, the kids, and often neighbors dropping by too! You hear a lot about the Okinawans and Vilcabambans and extreme old age. But did you know that Italians are the 5th longest-lived country in the world today (82.5 years)? France has a pretty decent 82.3 years also. Remember Jeanne Calment, the French lady who lived to over 122 years, while smoking and drinking alcohol every day!
Meanwhile in the USA the average life expectancy is 76.3 (datacommons.org).
So forget the puritan nonsense, open a bottle of sunshine and relax with people you care about. THAT’S how you live long.
Contrast that with the typical American style—eating in a rush, eating manufactured garbage, wife can’t really cook to save her life (or her family’s) and bitterness often exploding at the table.
Just Enjoy It!
The point is to get more enjoyment out of life. If it’s not obvious, make a point of finding it! Don’t tell me pleasure costs money! It does if you are a spoiled brat and need sky diving, snowboarding or fast cars to feel alive. If that’s you, you have a problem.
Visits from butterflies are FREE! Flowers are everywhere FREE, the sudden smell of tasty food FREE, the stars (if you can see them in a city) FREE, even people watching can be great, if you approach it with the sense of Humankind’s vast array of shapes and sizes, faces and movements. Finally, (good) music is almost mystical in its power to charm.
Things NOT to do include: watching the news, surfing social media, answering emails if you have no professional need to, gambling, porn, lousy sick pop music and grumbling.
We really do influence ourselves with what we say about life. Wendell Johnson PhD wrote a book (1956) entitled Your Most Enchanted Listener, which is, of course, yourself! He used the word “enchanted” to maximize the point that we are actually hypnotized by what we ourselves say. What is really abundantly clear is that nobody else really listens to you—BUT you revel in your own voice. Haha!
Nasty secret. Anyway, the message is clear. If you moan and complain about all that is wrong with your world, you’ll feel down. You talked yourself into a depression. If you remark to yourself on all the beautiful things that are out there, you lift your spirits.
It doesn’t need a beautiful butterfly to come to you but there’s a really BIG secret that most of you know already: if you look for beautiful things, they’ll come to you! You’ll see unexpected surprises, often. There were over 50 people having lunch in the square that day in Chamonix. But the butterfly came up over the roof and chose to come down to our table, first to Viv and then sat on the champagne glass. After that it flew to the nearby flower display boxes, not the other tables.
We were honored and it “made my day”. I’ll swear the champagne tasted better after that visit too! It had been blessed.
To Your Good Health,
Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor
Want an extra snippet? Years ago (around 1995) I was on a retreat and had been working on some advanced thoughts about what may be called God. In the break I felt refreshed and sat outside in the sunshine. Turning around I suddenly noticed that the shrub right behind me was awash with butterflies—I mean 50 or so—mostly red admirals. Alright, you may say it was a butterfly-friendly shrub (can’t remember, though it was definitely not a Buddleia). But what was still a miracle is that I reached out and touched several of them (very gently) and they did not seem to mind. I was allowed to join the party! It felt like an extension of the conversation about God!
PLEASE SHARE YOUR DELIGHTS.
If you have had a “moment” of this sort (not just butterflies), do write and tell me, with permission to share, please.
One last photo of the Camberwell Beauty/Mourning Cloak:
