Advice On Blue Zones: Living Longer

posted on 10/08/2009

Blue Zones are places around the globe where people live to and past the age of 100 usually because of their diet and without the aid of medications. There are five blue zones throughout the world. Okinawa, Japan is one of them and the women live the longer than the men but both still live longer than most other men and women elsewhere. The other four include Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy, Loma Linda, California, Ikaria, Greece and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.

What they found in these zones is that lifestyle plays a very important role. Only twenty percent of your life expectancy is determined by heredity. The rest is up to you. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, red wine, water and free from the processed packaged foods that we consume in the United States. In these zones, they stayed away from not only processed foods, but also extra sugars, fats and over indulgence in meats.

Dan Buettner and his team of scientists discovered these blue zones with financial assitance from National Geographic and a few other companies like AARP. Dan put together his research and wrote the book Blue Zones. In his book and on his site, http:// www.bluezones.com, he discusses his findings. He grouped them into four areas:

Move Naturally - Make your home, community and workplace present you with natural ways to move. Focus on activities you love, like gardening, walking and playing with your family.

Right Outlook - Know and be able to articulate your sense of purpose, and ensure your day is punctuated with periods of calm.

Eat Wisely - Instead of groping from fad diet to fad diets, use time-honored strategies for eating 20% less at meals. Avoid meat and processed food and drink a couple of glasses of wine daily.

Belong to the Right Tribe - Surround yourself with the right people, make the effort to connect or reconnect with your religion and put loved ones first.

Dan also has added a feature to the website that allows you to plan and partake in living longer It's called the Vitalty Compass. In Loma Linda, the Seventh Day Adventists live according to a Biblical diet. In Okinawa, they consume a vegetable that looks like a cucumber, called goya. In Sardinia, there is a culture that has, proportionally, 20 times as many 100-year-olds as the United States does. Their diet is rich in antioxidants from a wine that they consume. Religion, and purpose also play a huge part in their longevity. If you would like to get started on your quest to live until 100 and undo some of the damage you've already done to your body, click this link. http://www.bluezones.com/eat