{"id":272211,"date":"2026-02-07T10:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/272211\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:36:12","slug":"eat-your-veggies-and-stay-positive-the-secret-to-living-to-100-according-to-perth-woman-elsie-cotton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/272211\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Eat your veggies and stay positive\u2019: The secret to living to 100, according to Perth woman Elsie Cotton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eat your veggies, fruit twice a day, and always stay positive. According to Elsie Cotton, that is the secret to living to 100.<\/p>\n

Ms Cotton marked her 100th birthday last month, surrounded by family and friends who gathered from around the country to celebrate the milestone.<\/p>\n

Ms Cotton told PerthNow that she credited healthy eating and always looking on the bright side for helping her make it into the centenarian\u2019s club.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I cook for myself, which I do often, I always make sure I have five veggies and fruit at lunch and dinner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a positive mind as well, I never let things get me down. . . my cup is always half full, it\u2019s never half empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElsieCamera IconElsie Cotton pictured with her great-grandchildren Kayden Craen, 6, Asher Craen, 2, Flynn Craen, 3, and Noah Craen, 4, during her 100th birthday celebrations. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Age is certainly just a number for Ms Cotton, who still cooks her own meals, emails jokes to friends and dances with fellow residents at her retirement village in Samson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was out dancing \u2014 well, the top half anyway,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feet were good to start with but not by the end of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Cotton was born in a tent in Pemberton in 1926 and left school at 14 to begin working, pushing her to learn to be resilient and independent from an early age.<\/p>\n

Her daughter Marilyn Browne spoke fondly of her mother\u2019s ability to adapt and learn new skills.<\/p>\n

\"ElsieCamera IconElsie Cotton pictured with daughter Marilyn Browne, son Geoff Cotton, and her 100th birthday card from King Charles and Queen Camilla. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always been independent and very smart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a fantastic seamstress too and used to make all of my dancing costumes and my brother\u2019s work trousers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Cotton shared 66 years of marriage with her late husband Ron, and both loved adventure and spontaneity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne time mum was upset about being stuck at home on a Saturday night,\u201d Ms Browne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they jumped in their van, drove to the corner and dad asked her, \u2018left or right\u201d, and they ended up camping out there for the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Browne said her mother\u2019s adventurous spirit remained with international holidays and camping trips well into her later years.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been to the UK, and went to Europe with a girlfriend, she\u2019s has campervans, caravans, everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d be off somewhere tomorrow if she could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on making it to 100, Ms Cotton kept it simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had a wonderful life, a wonderful family and a wonderful husband,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eat your veggies, fruit twice a day, and always stay positive. According to Elsie Cotton, that is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,263,111,139,556,69,72,5013],"class_list":{"0":"post-272211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-lifestyle","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nutrition","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-perth","15":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}