The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Blue Zones are places with disproportionately large numbers of 100+ year old folks. Buettner’s book contains case studies on four of these blue zones: Sardinia, Okinawa, Loma Linda (California), and Hojancha (Costa Rica), and provides interesting insights on living from the places that produce lots of centenarians.
Even those who aren’t particularly interested in longevity will find a great deal of valuable information in the book. Not unexpectedly, nutrition is at the fore in this book. However, there are other factors such as family and social life, sleep, and being active that correlate strongly with longevity.
A few things I picked up:
– As in Okinawa, one should say hara hachi bu before each meal as a reminder to stop when one is 80% full– rather than 100% or 180% full.
– Most nuts make a good snack even if they’re roasted in an oil that isn’t particularly healthy (the density means limited saturation.)
– Despite our species’ history, which presumably involved gorging on meat when it was available,vegetarians (and near-vegetarians) live longer.
– When you eat is as important as what you eat.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 
when i saw okinawa in your first sentence, i remembered a commercial about 10 years ago….saying buy coral calcium from okinawa and you will live longer.
LikeLike
That’s interesting. I don’t recall that he mentioned calcium with respect to Okinawa, but he does say that the hard water (high mineral content) in Costa Rica may contribute to their longevity.
LikeLike
this is interesting.
maybe i should move there.
LikeLike
I live in one of these Blue Zones – in Costa Rica. Life is truly different here, especially coming from a metropolitan environment in the U.S. People work hard here, rest hard here, and don’t take the hassles of living in a remote area as an inconvenience. I’m getting there. Thanks for the review…got to get down to the only book store in “town” and see if the proprietor is open today and can order this book for me.
Later…
LikeLike
It sounds like a great place to live.
Thanks.
LikeLike