I used to look at centenarians and believe they must have inherited great genes! But although good health starts with good genes, it only accounts for 20% of your health makeup. The rest 80% depends on good habits and your lifestyle, which can help you live a decade longer.
So what’s the secret of the fountain of youth?
In an environment where looks are everything, you see an increase in the beauty industry, cosmetic surgery, supplements and you name it. It is easy to think that you have to spend thousands of dollars keeping up your good looks for a longer time. However, the real fountain of youth is actually less expensive, delicious, and totally attainable by anyone who desires to improve their health and longevity.
Researchers started to focus on regions around the world where people live significantly longer and marked the following regions as blue zones – Sardinia, Italy, Okinawa, Japan, and Loma Linda, CA. What was fascinating was to see the synergies and correlations among these centenarians who live in separate regions of the world despite their different cultural backgrounds and beliefs.
Here are the lessons learned from these centenarians, which as we learned are attainable and won’t cost you thousands of dollars:
Here’s how all these centenarians (found in the blue zones) live longer:
- All put family first
- All keep active every day
- All keep socially engaged
- All eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- None of them smoked
Lessons from the Sardinians:
- They shared the work burden with the spouse
- They eat pecorino cheese as well as other omega-3 foods (fish)
- Some of them drink homemade red wine in moderate amounts
Lessons from the Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventists
- Eat nuts and beans (more on the benefits of beans in my next blog)
- They observe the Sabbath
- They have a deep faith
Lessons specifically from the Okinawans
- They keep lifelong friends
- They eat small portions
- They find purpose in life
For more information on the blue zones study results click here
Also, here are some great resources regarding the Blue Zones research, which includes a delicious cookbook:
Growing up in a “blue zone family” of Seventh-Day Adventists (and going to college at Loma Linda University), I remember my parents talking about how our diet regimen and lifestyle should give us an extra 10 years of life or more! However, when you are a child those words don’t mean much. The real awakening of the benefits of this lifestyle finally hit me when I started to read about the blue zones in 2005; after National Geographic Magazine published the valuable results. Luckily once you are raised with this lifestyle is hard to break away. Today, I usually gravitate to a plant-based regimen and a lifestyle filled with optimism and a positive outlook in life. I will be forever thankful to my parents for raising me with these practices that are definitely contributing to my vitality and mental health.
I hope that in the search for the fountain of youth, people go straight to the science-based facts that have been established by the significant amount of scientific studies demonstrating that a plate full of vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains paired with daily activities, friends, family, and strong faith is the key to a long and happy life!
For more information:
- Fruits and vegetable research, benefits, and recipes click here
- Legumes/pulses research, benefits, and recipes click here
- Canned beans research, benefit, and recipes click here
- Grains research, benefits, and recipes click here
- Nuts research, benefits, and recipes click
