My Fruitive Challenge: Day 163 — Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones Episode 1

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I’m watching Dan Buettner’s beautiful series about the famous Blue Zones around the world where communities have the highest longevity on average in the world. He explores why researchers believe these people outlive the rest of us generation after generation. It’s true that diet and exercise has something to do with it. It’s also true that there are diverse contributing factors for why they live to 100 or more.

Here are the key factors presented in episode one of four in the Netflix series:

Okinawa, Japan:
Medicinal Food / Caloric Density / Hara Hachi Bu / Balance / Moai / Ikigai 

  • Always have fun, be easygoing, forgive quickly
  • Food is medicinal
    • Meat, eggs, fish is less than 1% of their diet
    • Purple Sweet Potatoes that are full of complex carbohydrates, antioxidants 
    • Mulberry leaves
    • Okinawa Tofu lowers heart disease 
  • No single ingredient but the range of nutritionally dense whole foods
    • They eat 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day compared to 3,200 to 4,000 plus for Americans 
    • They can indulge in a large quantity of quality low calorie food 
  • Hara Hachi Bu: eating only until you are about 80% full. It promotes moderation in food consumption and helps prevent overeating, which can contribute to maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding age-related diseases.
  • Balance: both physical and mental equilibrium. Physically, it includes practices such as staying active through gentle movements like walking or gardening. Mentally, it involves maintaining emotional resilience and a balanced approach to stress, often supported by strong social connections and mindfulness.
    • Walk with speed 
    • No modern furniture; getting up and down off the floor 30 times a day instead of sitting down for extended periods in a couch or La-Z-Boy
    • Gardening (low impact a few hours a day)
  • Moai: community of people who gather together for friendship and financial support; in the US, we are increasingly isolated and lonely 
  • Ikigai: a sense of purpose; No word for retirement: they keep their minds engaged, they have a community who values them

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