MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia revealed to reporters the secret of his health and age in an interview on the eve of his 70th birthday, marked on Sunday.
The patriarch received in his residence in Moscow the secular reporters, who cover his trips and events related to the religious topics. Each reporter got the chance to receive an exclusive answer to one question. TASS’ correspondent began the conversation.
The meeting lasted for one hour. The patriarch did not prepare for it. He was joyful, very open and friendly. In the very beginning of the conversation, he thanked everyone for the media’s grown attention to activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, for mostly positive character of publications.
"I am walking with sticks, and recommend it to all"
The question was - how he manages to support the active services with the many flights and meetings - whether he goes in for sports. "I used to," he replied.
"Sports develop the will, it helps, it teaches the person to manage the time, to overcome problems, to take reasonable risks," he continued. "But I have not been in for any sport now for a long time, but I pay special attention to walking."
"I try to walk, to walk quickly and at the same time to think over something, or to talk on the phone - now that it has become possible, and I recommend this to all," Patriarch Kirill said. "Now, it is even possible to walk with sticks, you know, there is the so-called Nordic Walking, and this is what I am doing."
"I have never followed any diets"
"By the way, speaking about the health: some are following diets, in order to lose weight and so forth," he continued. "I have never followed any diets. And my advice to all is: if you want to lose weight, you should remember we lose weight if the spent calories are above the consumed. That is it. Extremely easy."
"Whenever I do not have time to walk, I am gaining weight," the patriarch said. "Then, I stop and realize something is to be done, something is to be done to drop weight, and then I simply add physical activities. And I am telling you - the very natural activity for the body as walking, in my opinion, is the best physical activity.".