Blue Zones
Blue Zones
"Only 25 percent of how long you live is dictated by your genes,"
Buettner the author of Blue Zones said.
"The other 75 percent is lifestyle and environment, so what we did working for a decade with National Geographic
is essentially reverse-engineer longevity."
The Blue Zones of the world is a concept used to identify a
geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives.
1. Sardinia, Italy (Nuoro province Ogliastra): one team found a spot of longevity in mountain villages. Men reached 100 years at an amazing rate.
2. The islands of Okinawa, Japan: another that is among the longest-lived on Earth.
3. Loma Linda, California: researchers studied a group of Seventh-day Adventists.
4. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
5. Ikaria, Greece: an April 2009 study on the island of Ikaria uncovered the location with the highest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet, nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s. Furthermore, Ikarians have about 20% lower rates of cancer, 50% lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia.
Blue Zones Book Author
What do these Blue Zone groups have in common?
Family is placed ahead of other concerns
Moderate caloric intake
Majority of food consumed is derived from plants, unprocessed
Legumes, beans are eaten regularly
They maintain daily constant movement or exercise
Social engagement, all ages are socially active
Less smoking
They eat mostly vegetables except for celebrations when they splurge with animal protein. Their food is fresh from the garden, no processed foods. Their diets consist of 95% vegetables and fruits with perhaps 5% animal proteins once a year. They rarely eat sugar or white flour.
In Costa Rica, the perfect food combination was corn, beans and squash, providing the necessary proteins for life. In Sardinia, their staple is a sourdough bread, that captures the wild yeast with lactobacillus, lowering their insulin response to a meal. The Okinawans eat a purple sweet potato—high in beta-carotene—fueling centenarians for nearly half of their lives. Unfortunately the Okinawan diet is changing and aging diseases are creeping into their population as their traditional diet is undergoing a slow process.
