There are places on earth where people live long, healthy lives – over 100 years old. Eat the way the nonagenarians do and perhaps you can become a centenarian.
— By John Jacobs
Age is just a number they say, but life can be short too unless you live in a Blue Zone. In Blue Zones, people live long lives. Living to be an octogenarian (80 years old or older) is partly due to living in a low-stress location, but diet plays an important part. What kind of diet is the question?
Sure, we all know about low carb/low sugar diets, but is that enough?
What if we could travel the world at will and visit the Blue Zones where people live well past 80 and into their 90s and 100s at an impressive rate? It is a trip around the world that proves a healthy diet is an important ingredient in the longevity formula.
Diets in the Blue Zones are not identical. What they eat in Sardinia, Italy, is different than what they eat in Loma Linda, Calif., two of the areas credited with having populations where people live the longest and healthiest lives. But all Blue Zone diets have one thing in common: All are mostly plant-based.
Feeling Blue
Dan Buettner has spent over a decade studying areas in the world where people live longer lives than the average population. They not only live longer; they live better he says, remaining active in their 80-90s and experiencing low rates of the degenerative diseases that impact most of the developed world.
The World Economic Forum has summarized the findings by categorizing the nine key factors for longevity. Six of them are to move naturally, having purpose in life, do stress-relieving rituals, belong to a faith-based community, have close and strong family ties, and develop strong social networks and close friends.
The remaining three factors concern food and drink.
One of the three is that people in Blue Zones stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full and their smallest meal of the day is eaten in the evening.
The second is that beans are a key food of most diets of people who live to 100 years old, with fruits, grains and vegetables making up a major portion of the rest of the diet. Only small amounts of meat are eaten.
The third is that moderate amounts of wine and non-alcoholic, high-antioxidant drinks are consumed regularly.
In Search of Blue Zones
The Blue Zones are called such because Buettner would circle an area on a map in blue ink when he found pockets of centenarians. Knowing the important role of diet, where would you go to experience the longevity meals?
To eat like the people who live the longest, begin by visiting the Italian island of Sardinia. There you will eat garden vegetables, fruits, whole-grain bread, fava beans and chickpeas, and pecorino or goat cheese. Olive oil is freely used in salads and for sautéing. Sardinians also eat nuts, almonds, and walnuts, and they use raw honey rather than sugar to sweeten foods. They grow red grapes and make Cannonau wine which is high in antioxidants, drinking a moderate amount with the evening meal. For your meal, try Sardinian "longevity" minestrone soup which is loaded with vegetables that include fava and cranberry beans, chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, yellow potatoes, celery, fregula (pasta), and a host of spices.
Next, you could visit Nicoya, Costa Rica, where most people avoid processed food. Most of the foods eaten are corn, squash, tropical fruits, and beans, especially black beans. The people living to 100 are healthy and active, and there are few incidents of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. The traditional diet includes bananas, plantains, black beans, squash, yams, papaya, and pejibaje. The last item is the nutritious peach palm fruit which is full of vitamins A and C. Visit Nicoya, and you will surely eat the national dish of rice and black beans (gallo pinto) with fresh tortillas made of lime-treated corn flour or a cucumber, tomato, and avocado salad.
Kale to Mugwort
Yes, there is a U.S. Blue Zone, if you need to stay close to home. Loma Linda, Calif., has a high Seventh Day Adventist population, and it is not a coincidence that residents eat a healthy diet. The Adventists encourage eating a well-balanced diet that include legumes, fruits, nuts, foods low in sugar, and refined grains. Recipes are low in sodium. People in Loma Linda live an average of seven to 11 years longer than other North Americans. The plant-based diet the Adventists follow includes dairy and eggs, but no alcohol. Try sautéed chickpeas with potatoes and carrots which can be wrapped in a lettuce wrap or kale, spinach, and coconut soup.
Blue Zone residents eat a mostly plant-based diet with some meat sparingly added to the monthly diet.
Now on to Okinawa, Japan, the largest island in an archipelago. The regular diet includes mugwort, soybeans, sweet potatoes, turmeric, and a bitter melon called goya. They also eat plenty of brown rice, turmeric, seaweed and shiitake mushrooms. When they eat meat, it is usually pork. The Okinawans practice hara hachi bu which is a Confucian practice of eating only until 80 percent full. Okinawan culture is based in the concept of champuru (to mix together), and that applies to the food. A good example is goya champuru which is made with goya, pork, eggs, tofu, and soy sauce. Papaya champuru uses the papaya fruit, stir fried with carrots and various vegetables and perhaps tuna or pork, and then seasoned with soy sauce.
Ikaria, Greece, residents eat a Mediterranean diet. It includes vegetables, fruits, beans, potatoes, whole grains, and olive oil. Residents drink moderate amounts of red wine and eat limited amounts of meat and sugar. Their dairy source is primarily goat milk. Many Ikarians have a year-round garden that supplies their fresh fruits and vegetables. Ikarians eat lots of salads, like one made with potatoes, beans, legumes, and fresh vegetables sautéed in olive oil. They eat a light dinner and drink moderate amounts of red wine.
Blue Zone Lifestyles
Blue Zone residents eat a mostly plant-based diet with some meat sparingly added to the monthly diet. This should be no surprise. This is the kind of diet that doctors have been recommending for years.
However, it is not just diet that leads to longevity. People in the Blue Zones live a healthy lifestyle, like walking miles each day and spending time with family and friends.
The lesson is this: If you want to live to be an active centenarian, then think in terms of lifestyle and not only diet.