My emphasis and main reason for posting this is the mention of goji berries because I am currently growing them in my back yard, I am making them a big part of my diet and I intend to farm them in acres commercially.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen
Sun Gazing Li Ching-Yuen was a Chinese herbalist, martial artist and tactical advisor who lived to the ripe old age of 256 and sired 200 descendants during his life span, surviving 23 wives. Ching-Yuen lived off a diet of herbs and rice wine inculding lingzhi, goji berry, wild ginseng, he shou wu and gotu kola. In a 1930 New York Times article, Professor Wu Chung-chieh of the University of Chengdu discovered Imperial Chinese government records from 1827, congratulating one Li Ching-Yuen on his 150th birthday, and further documents later congratulating him on his 200th birthday in 1877 (Wikipedia, 2013).
More links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen.
According to the obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times on May 6, 1933 Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256. Was he really that old? Was he really married every 10 year or so , on average? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim wildly?
http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/li-ching-yuen-the-amazing-250-year-old-man/
“Keep a Quiet Heart, Sit Like a Tortoise, Sleep Like a Dog,” His Advice for a Long Life.
http://thecargoculte.com/archives/1266
In his book "Ancient Secrets of Youth" Peter Kelder brings a remarkable tale about Li Ching-Yuen, told by one of his disciples, the Taiji Quan Master Da Liu. He told that at 130 years old Master Li encountered an older hermit in the mountains who taught him Baguazhang and a set of Qigong with breathing instructions, movements training coordinated with specific sounds, and dietary recommendations. Da Liu reports that his master’s said that his longevity "is due to the fact that I performed the exercises every day – regularly, correctly, and with sincerity – for 120 years." As a master herbalist Li Ching-Yuen as well had a particular interest in Gotu Kola. The Hindu sage Nanddo Narian, who himself lived to the advanced age of 107, found Gotu Kola to be in practice the finest of all herbal tonics and nutrients. The leaves of this small, pale green creeper herb have a taste described as “slightly pungent but delicious eaten with rice and bread.” He is said to have used it successfully as a preventative of senility and claimed that the herb contained an ingredient which tends to prolong the vigor of the brain in old age and to prevent usual senile degeneration with advancing years. Nanddo Narian championed the properties of the plant by saying that it provides the missing ingredient in a man’s diet, without which, he can never control disease and decay.
http://plantcures.com/Lichingyun.html
According to all the data I could find, It seems that Li Ching Yun consumed mostly a diet of wild plants and fruit. There is evidence that he ate fish often and wild meat occasionally. (About two times a year)
The herbs that he consumed regularly were He Shou Wu, Ginseng, and Gou Qi Zi (Wolfberries) He ate the Wolfberries raw and cooked the He Shou Wu with the Ginseng.
It is also known that he consumed Gotu Kola regularly both fresh as a salad and brewed as a tea. There is also some evidence that he may have also put these four herbs in strong liquor as a tincture and drank a swallow or two every day.A concentrated powerful liquid extract of these herbs above called, "Li Ching Shou Wu" is available here.
If I had to say which single herb from these had the most "anti-aging" properties I would have to say He Shou Wu!
We also have fresh sun dried 1 Lb packages of True "1st Grade" Wolfberries called Gou Qi Zi - "1st Grade” is a true Chinese Classification entirely different then the regular grade. These are large, bright red, soft, chewy, much like raisons and tast wonderful!
Read an article by Li Ching Yuen himself!
In the fifties, the Domestic and Foreign Magazine reported the story of a Li Qing yun in Sichuan province, who died at the age of 250 in 1930. It’s more then possible this is the same Li Ching Yun mentioned above.
In his own account (from an interview in the 1920's) Li says;
“When I was 139 years old, and before I met my Master, I could still walk and do the power walk, as if I practiced Chinese martial arts. As a result some people thought I might be a deity or an accomplished swordsman.
At the time I thought it was really amusing. I think the reason that I have lived this long and am still perpetually healthy is because nothing has irritated me since I was 40 years old. Because of that, my heart is very calm, peaceful and divinely tranquil. That is why I am free from any illness, and always healthy and happy.At the age of fifty when I went to a mountain to collect some herbs, I met an elderly man who lived on the secluded mountain. He didn't appear to be a supernormal man, but he took big strides when he walked, as if he was flying in the air. No matter how hard I tried, I could not keep up with him. Later, I met him again. I knelt before him and begged for his secret. He gave me some wild fruits and said, “My only secret is that I only eat these fruits.” I took the fruits, and found that they were Chinese Wolfberries. Since then I consumed three qian of Chinese Wolfberries daily (a qian is the weight used to measure Chinese medicine which is equal to five grams). From then on I became healthy and agile. I can walk a hundred li (a li equals half a kilometer) and not feel tired. I became better in strength and stamina than an average person.”
