Blue Zones: Where People Live to be 100+ Years Old and Why
They are called Blue Zones, places in the world where people live longer and healthier than any place on earth. And they aren’t just living longer – these people are living healthy. In places outside the Blue Zones we do see individuals that make it into their 90’s but they are often frail. This isn’t the case in the Blue Zones. The people that are living into their 90’s and up to 100 are living active, normal lives mostly medication free.
Five Blue Zones have been identified
* The Italian island of Sardinia
* Okinawa, Japan
* Loma Linda. California
* Costa Rica’s Nicoya Pennisula
* Ikaria, an isolated Greek Island
What is their secret?
A longer healthier life is within all of our grasps. It is simply choosing a lifestyle of health, sadly many of us choose not to make the best choices.
A Healthy Diet
According to a mountain of data and the Blue Zone Data, a healthy diet is loaded with vegetables, fruits, fish and nuts. Low in meat, sugar, fat and toxic processed foods. Basically, eating good stuff and cutting out bad stuff.
Exercise
You won’t tend to see people in the Blue Zones going to the gym or running on a treadmill. They have activity built into their daily lives. Walking to work, gardening or working around the yard. Working the land or walking on trails and in the mountains. You won’t see high intensity exercise. Activity for people living in Blue Zones is part of their daily routine. They tend to keep their bodies active.
Low Stress
This can be difficult to define. Stress is very harmful to the body. Stress creates excess levels of the hormone cortisol. The basic fact is people living in Blue Zones have a “Simple” life that is much slower. Some level of spirituality and social connections are very important. The effects of reduced stress over the long term can be dramatic.
Based on the data generated from the Blue Zones it really is this simple. It’s a choice.