How do you explain
the Blue Zones diet and the long life of these mostly vegetarians?
I don't buy extreme Paleo lifestyle as I said but there is a lot of truth to their basic claims andI think extreme claims on both sides are obviously invalidated by the evidence of
the blue zone diet of longest lives humans who do neither.
The Blue Zone diet talks about an island in Greece where people live to be over 100 years.
Not exact matches
In contrast, when you look at the «
Blue Zones», populations of people who have the longest life spans, and lowest incidence of disease, they almost all consume a 90 - 95 % + plant - based
diet.
I heard a story yesterday about «
blue zones» — places in the world where people live the longest and one of the things they all had in common was a plant based
diet and snacking on nuts.
To really adopt the habits of the
Blue Zones isn't to tweak your
diet; it's to tweak your life.
I called Nyree Dardarian, M.S., R.D., assistant clinical professor of Nutrition Sciences at Drexel University, looking for an outside take on how I might revamp my
diet,
Blue Zones — style.
If you want to live in your own personal
Blue Zone, though,
diet is a good place to start.
Their
diet comes straight from the Bible; they eat almost no meat, supermarkets even stock more beans than meat, bread is from lactobacillus instead of yeast, and people walk a lot — which is another commonality of all the
Blue Zones of the world.
In most of the
Blue Zones, beans make up a considerable part of the
diet.
Let's take a look at the
diet in Okinawa, Japan, the
Blue Zone thought to have greatest longevity and freedom from chronic diseases.
We're looking back at those long - living adults from the
Blue Zones and finding many of them have had plant - based
diets, for instance.
This staple of the Mediterranean
diet is commonly consumed in so - called «
blue zones.»
Also explains why those in the
Blue Zones (longest living groups on the planet) eat a
diet that is mostly plant based!
The Okinawans are part of the
Blue Zones (longest living populations on the planet) and their
diet of old was 96 % plant based by calories.
The longest living populations on the planet (
Blue Zones) also eat a mostly plant based
diet (95 % + of their
diet)!
I look to the the longest living populations on the planet (
Blue Zones) for inspiration — they eat a mostly plant based
diet (95 % + of their
diet)!
Is this type of
diet followed by any of the 5
Blue Zone populations?
Knowing we can be healthy on a vegan lifestyle (I know, I know, stay with me please), for example: The
Blue Zone populations that ate 99 % vegan
diet, e.g. the adventists, the Okinawans, knowing that it is possible - not saying it's not also possible eating animal products - what is better: Taking the life of a being that has inconvenienced us in no way, or not taking the life of them.
All the populations in the
Blue Zones eat plant - based
diets which include some animal foods.
But combine
diet with exercise, mindfulness and meditation and stuff, community, support, purpose and so on and do all the things the longest living populations (those in the
Blue Zones) are doing and I'm sure you too will love to a long, healthy age and hopefully happily too?
Additionally, we tend to think that a macronutrient ratio of 60 % carbs, 15 % protein, and 25 % fat makes a lot more sense — is much more aligned with
diets in the
Blue Zones — than the Paleo - recommended 10 % carbs, 30 % protein, and 60 % fat.
The top healing
diets in each category share similar attributes including balance, higher vegetable and some fruit (especially low sugar like berries, avocados), wild caught fish / increased Omega - 3s, fermented food, awareness of EWG toxin recommendations, along with self - awareness and monitoring of what you eat through journaling, and most important, finding a like - minded tribe of experienced healing
diet eaters able to support your learning thereby establishing
Blue Zones within families, to friends, to communities.
I am not one of those people so a whole plant - based
diet including nuts / seeds and avocado is the proven road for me as validated by the Five
Blue Zones.
Physician and biochemist Cate Shanahan, M.D. examined
diets around the world known to help people live longer, healthier lives —
diets like the Mediterranean, Okinawa, and «
Blue Zone» — and identified the four common nutritional habits, developed over millennia, that unfailingly produce strong, healthy, intelligent children, and active, vital elders, generation after generation.
«
Blue Zones» by Dan Buettner is less scientific but really interesting because it focused on what different populations who live the longest around the world eat (I'll give you a hint, there wasn't a ton of meat, cheese or milk in those
diets!).
The top
diets in each category share similar attributes including balance, higher vegetable and some fruit (especially low sugar like berries, avocados), wild caught fish, fermented food (see the 2017 D. D. Rosa et al for the benefits of kefir which are also listed below), awareness of EWG toxin recommendations, along with self awareness, finding a like minded tribe of experienced healing
diet eaters able to support your learning thereby establishing
Blue Zones within families, to friends, to communities (Dr. David Katz, Episode 11 of Awakening From Alzheimer's, and monitoring of what you eat through journaling.
While reading «The
Blue Zones» it really struck me how all of these health and longevity
diets are similar: whole food, plant based, with no sign of the high fat Paleo type
diets so popular today.
If you want to consider the possibility of long life in this modern day world, you would do well to look to the
blue zones where they eat low fat plant based
diets.
In my case I look at the five
Blue Zones to determine my
diet in the case of differences, for example nuts / seeds and avocado are in my
diet but not Esselstyn's plan.
The value of legumes and grains in the human
diet is validated by people of the
Blue Zones — the longest lived, healthiest populations in the world — all of whom consume legumes and grains as part of their traditional fare.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/526S.long Both of these ideas are somewhat more supportive of the
diet in these
Blue Zones vs being a Vegan.
And, finally, you'll be shocked by some myth - busting related to the «
Blue Zones» take on the traditional
diets of Costa Ricans.
The
Blue Zones proved that diverse people in 5 totally different regions of the world that on average lived longest (typically to ages 90 - 100) in excellent health ate different
diets, largely based on whole plant foods, but NONE of these groups were vegans.
One of these
Blue Zones is located in Sardinia, off the coast of Italy, a country that enjoys some of the better parts of Italian
diet and culture.
There are NO civilizations that didn't consume oils in their
diet including all the
blue zones.
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