Ask anyone you know. Ask your doctor, a dietician, or a holistic practitioner. Ask them what the best preventative measures are against illness and disease. The odds are very good that no matter whom you speak to, you’ll hear something along the lines of, “eat a healthy diet, exercise a lot and don’t smoke.”
But this has been the advice we’ve all been hearing for decades, yet we have done very little to better ourselves.
There are more instances of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes than ever before. I was shocked to read the latest data from America showing that more than 700,000 people a year are dying from heart disease and there is a heart attack almost every 40 seconds.
Couple that with the acceleration in weight gain and obesity, and the downturn in life expectancy. So with all this good advice, why are things still getting worse?
I try my best to keep up with the latest research in the worlds of both lifestyle and mainstream medicine. In the world of lifestyle, particularly nutrition, things change very quickly. New, responsible studies are coming out with unbelievable frequency – it’s hard to stay current.
I follow all of the lifestyle medicine researchers, but I also get my mainstream medicine newsletters daily. Over the last few years, there has been more and more overlap between the two.
I was really excited last week to see coverage of Dan Buettner’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Aging. A Guinness record distance cycler, he wrote Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, and co-produced the Emmy Award winning documentary TV mini series based on it.
It was the longevity researcher’s work with National Geographic that isolated five places in the world where life expectancy and quality of life, even in very old age, greatly exceed the norms of Western societies. Living to 100 or more is not a rare event in these places.
These locations have become known as the Blue Zones, and we have much to learn from the lifestyle of these places.
Blue Zones
THE BLUE Zones that he studied are Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Loma Linda, California; and Nicoya, Costa Rica. There are other places on the planet with extremely good longevity as well.
As you can see from the variety of regions, there is nothing so geographically similar, but their lifestyles, although not identical, have a lot of overlap.
When Buettner came before the Senate committee, he was asked a simple question: Why are the people in Blue Zones living 10 years longer than the average American? If you were waiting for some highly complicated and long-winded answer, you will be disappointed.
“Because they’re avoiding the diseases that shorten Americans’ lives and are bankrupting us in many ways,” Buettner answered. “None of them are dieting or exercising or running down to Latin America for stem cell treatments,” he said.
Instead, “every time they go to work or a friend’s house or out to eat, it occasions a walk – they’re getting 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day, mindlessly.
“The cheapest and most accessible foods for them are peasant foods – they’re whole grains or tubers,” he said, adding that “the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world is beans.
They’re eating about a cup of beans a day. They’re not spending time on Facebook. Instead, they’re spending time in face-to-face conversations, living in extended families, and connecting with their neighbors.”
None of the Blue Zone residents go to the gym, have a personal trainer, take supplements, or go on crazy – and, quite frankly, stupid diets. They don’t run marathons or even go out for a daily jog. Everything they need to do is just built into their daily lives.
They aren’t even totally whole-foods, plant-based healthy vegans. Their diets are, however, plant predominant, without ultra-processed foods. On occasion, maybe two or three times a week, a very small amount of meat or fish might be used as a flavoring in their rice and vegetable dishes.
Those of us who grew up in the West have always looked at meat, fish and dairy as what takes up most of our plate. In the Blue Zones, it is the opposite.
Animal protein is less than 10% of their diet. And, as Buettner said, they have real friends and great social connectedness and aren’t on social media and the internet all day. Extended family is a must. But there’s more!
THIS PART of his testimony is intriguing. “We know that people who have a sense of purpose live about eight years longer than people who are rudderless.
They manifest their purpose usually in family, but also with religion. We know people who show up at church or temple or mosque live about four years longer than people who don’t show up at all.”
Other witnesses testified that even though our medical system has managed to lengthen life over the last several decades, the quality of life is not good. We may be living longer but not healthier.
We spend enormous amounts of money in order to stay healthy – in the United States, $90 billion a year is spent on weight loss alone.
A survey in 2020 by the Global Wellness Institute shows that while the US leads overall spending with $828 billion in the physical activity market, meaning going to some kind of gym, it ranks 20th in participation. America spends more per capita on medical care than anyone, but their outcomes always rank very low in the group of industrialized nations.
Dr. Michael Greger often points out that it can take over a decade for new findings to make their way into the clinical setting. Unfortunately, there are treatments and preventions available that are taking way too long to be implemented.
Buettner’s research and testimony needs to be implemented now – and can be. It’s cheap and it’s the best return on your effort and money you will find! That return is a longer, healthier, and more productive life.
Dan Buettner and his colleagues are on to something really important. Sure, going to the gym is beneficial. But it seems that it is the most basic, inexpensive and simple habit that brings good health. You’ve heard this from me before, eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lots of legumes, some nuts and seeds.
Stay active in your daily routine—and walking is a great and free exercise. Sleep at least 7 hours a night. Don’t smoke or abuse any other substance.
Instead of befriending your phone, befriend real live people. Keep your stress in check. Guess what? You can create your own Blue Zone with fantastic quality of life and “add hours to your days, days to your years and years to your lives.”
The writer is a wellness coach and personal trainer with more than 25 years of professional experience. He is a member of the International Council of the True Health Initiative, the board of Kosher Plant Based, and director of The Wellness Clinic. alan@alanfitness.com