By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

August 16, 2013

• Can you live to be 90 – or even 100 – in good health?
• Forget about heart disease, dementia and diabetes
• Discover your own, personal, Blue Zone oasis

I was talking with one of my colleagues the other day. And our conversation took an interesting turn.

He was complaining about the plight of the American lifestyle – and what it’s doing to his patients.

“I don’t know what more I can do,” he told me. “My patients are stressed out over their jobs and finances. They’re eating food out of boxes or from take-out joints because it’s cheap. Then they spend hours in front of the TV or playing computer games thinking it’s going to make them feel better. It’s killing them and they don’t even know it!”

It was a full-on rant. But I understood exactly what he was saying.

So I asked him a question…

“What if we could find a way to teach our patients to live in their own, personal Blue Zone?”

Now you may not know what a Blue Zone is. But my counterpart quickly latched onto the idea.

You see, there are places in the world where people live to be well over 90 – and even over 100 years of age. Regions of Italy, Greece, Costa Rica and Japan have unusually high numbers of centenarians. The U.S. even has one of these hot spots in Loma Linda, California. These are called Blue Zones.

We hashed it out for a bit and came up with some pretty solid ideas about what makes people live so much longer in these parts of the world. And today I’m going to share those ideas with you.

If you want to live a long and healthy lifetime – well into your 90’s or longer – here’s what you should know…

People who live in Blue Zones don’t worry about cancer, heart disease, diabetes or dementia. In fact they pretty much don’t worry about anything at all.

Their lifestyle is very different from what we experience here in the U.S. We tend to rush through our lives and create a stressful environment that results in chronic health disorders.

This is just the opposite of what you find in a Blue Zone…

…These folks don’t sit in traffic for 45 minutes every morning frustrated with other drivers on their way to the office.

…They aren’t worrying about their next promotion, the next round of lay-offs or what their bank balance is.

…And most of them have probably never seen a gym – or even wondered how they’re going balance a little bit of exercise into their busy schedules.

Blue Zone life is much less complicated than ours.

Many of these regions are filled with people who have unbreakable faith. They wake up every morning filled with purpose and a reason for being. For example, the Okinawans in Japan recognize ikigai – the reason for waking up every morning. Similarly, those in the Nicoya, Costa Rica Blue Zone nurture their plan de vida, their reason to live.

Strong ties to family and community are also very strong. These ties encourage a sense of well-being, lower rates of depression and motivate seniors and centenarians to keep moving forward.

Their work is simple, fulfilling and active. Retirement doesn’t exist. They work well into their golden years, because the years truly are golden. They don’t want to “retire”.

In Sardinia, Italy, people walk long distances their entire lives. And while the work isn’t strenuous, shepherds walk miles every day with their animals. All of this activity builds strong bones, sturdy muscles and a healthy heart.

In several of the Blue Zones people spend a great deal of time outdoors, working in their vegetable and herb gardens. This provides plenty of activity while exposing them to much-needed sunshine to keep their vitamin D levels high.

Their eating habits are straightforward. Putting dinner on the plate doesn’t always involve a trip to the grocery store. They get most of what they need from their own back yards.

There are no meats pumped up with antibiotics and hormones. No GMO foods filled with pesticides and fertilizers. Instead, they receive a mountain of abundance from their own hands… beans (which are a big part of their diet), veggies, fruits, nuts and fish. And it’s all 100% natural and delicious.

Additionally, they typically eat while sitting on the floor. Which keeps their body moving up and down. Gently – just like my recommendation for gently moving your body.

It may sound impossible, but there isn’t any reason you can’t build your own “Blue Zone oasis,” right at home.

I often imagine what the lives of our ancestors were like.

They walked thousands of miles to claim a piece of land to call their own. But once they reached their homestead, there wasn’t a building contractor waiting for them. They had to build their houses by hand – from cutting the wood to raising the roof. And the entire community would join in to help.

These hardy individuals lived off the land by growing their own vegetables and raising their own livestock. It was tough work, but it kept food on the table. And when times were hard, people from miles around would pitch in their food-stores to create pot-luck dinners. Everyone was welcome to join.
This type of lifestyle is very close to what we see in today’s Blue Zones.
I’m not saying we should revert back to our ancestor’s way of living, but we can certainly incorporate certain aspects of this lifestyle into our everyday lives.

Here are some tips my colleague and I came up with during our discussion:

Develop a true sense of purpose. Today we tend to equate purpose with our job titles, the amount of money we earn and the things we can buy with that money. But it’s important to find a purpose that doesn’t involve job status or earnings.

In the Blue Zones, family, community, religion and strong social values are often at the cornerstone of their life purpose. Socializing, caring for family, taking time to laugh and enjoying the beauty of life are all part of what keeps these folks healthy and happy well into their 90’s and right into their 100’s.

You can even take it a step further. If you’ve lost someone to cancer or heart disease, step up and become involved in fundraising events – or volunteer at your local cancer center. If you are a pet-lover, saving and nurturing abandoned pets may be your bailiwick.

Get back to nature by planting a vegetable garden. Growing their own beans, herbs and vegetables is a common denominator in several Blue Zone communities. It provides a fresh bounty of unadulterated foods to the table. It also gets them outside for some fresh air, sunshine and exercise.
You should try it. Just start off small, and take it from there.

It’s pretty easy to grow greens, onions, peppers, herbs, squash, beans and tomatoes. Once you get the hang of it, add more diversity and see where your green thumb leads you.

Let go of technology every now and then. Imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t have a computer, cell phone or thousands of satellite television stations to distract you from life. What would you be doing?
Try shutting all of these contraptions down for an hour or two each evening. Spend that time visiting friends and family, working in your backyard garden, taking a relaxing stroll in the neighborhood park or simply watching the sun set.

Make beans, fruits, nuts and vegetables the mainstays of your diet. Once you’ve got your vegetable garden going, it will be much easier to fill your plate with veggies. That’s what folks in the Blue Zones do.

In these regions, plant-based foods are the centerpiece of the dinner plate. They may add meat every now and then, but not much of it. I recommend keeping your meat consumption low – at about 13% of your diet.

Keep your body moving. The amount of physical activity people in the Blue Zones gets is tremendous. They are constantly walking. And they aren’t doing that walking on smooth concrete sidewalks.

These folks are hiking up hills and mountainsides, over and over again, several times a day. With this kind activity they never even have to consider going to a gym.

I always suggest walking for 30 minutes each morning and evening. If you do it at the same time each day, it will quickly become habit. However, if you want to live in your own Blue Zone, consider hiking through the woods or finding a hilly path for your next adventure. Once you master it, find new challenges.

You may not live in a Blue Zone, but you can gain many of the health benefits by adding Blue Zone habits and traditions to your own life. I guarantee you’ll have a much greater chance of living a longer and healthier life than you would otherwise.