the secret of longevity in the blue zones

Raise your hand if you want to live a long healthy life!! Most people can agree on this one. However, I have heard the young opposition say, “I don’t want to get sickly and old and withering. I’d rather eat what I want now (meaning french fries and cheeseburgers) and not exercise, and die younger, than have to eat more vegetables and exercise!” Of course that person is not currently aware of any suffering or consequences of their choices, and they have no perspective on how they might feel at 60 when they are aging much faster than their vegetable eating peers, taking high blood pressure meds, cholesterol lowering meds, and insulin for their type 2 diabetes.

There’s a lovely term that helps clarify how one might view longevity: Compression of Morbidity. This basically means that in living a healthful life, full of healthy relationships, loads of nutritious plant based foods, and a body that is active and strong - one would compress all the bad end-of-life stuff into a tiny window of time, maximizing many decades of happy healthy living. In contrast to someone who lives an unhealthy life of toxic relationships, crappy food, and smoking cigarettes on the couch all day, resulting in several chronic diseases, multiple medications, recurrent infections, in and out of hospitals, and an earlier onset of a long slow decline with a corresponding low quality of life.

Dan Buettner’s book, The Blue Zone, really got me thinking about longevity. He traveled to and studied the Blue Zones of the earth, geographic areas of the earth with the greatest number of centenarians- people that live over 100 years old: Okinawa, Japan; Icaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, Ca. Is there something that these areas have in common that lead to a long healthy life? I suggest you read the book! It’s fascinating and inspiring. So much that I decided to travel to Sardinia to see for myself! Here I want to share the lessons that Dan concluded after much research, lessons that make sense and were apparent in my travels.

The Blue Zone area of Sardinia is located in the eastern central mountain area of the island. It’s about 150 miles off the west coast of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. The villages are nestled on the side of mountains with curvy roads winding up to the town center. Within the village are a network of narrow cobblestoned paths connecting the various parts as residents usually walk or ride a bike to where they need to go. There is always a central church with a cobbled piazza for community gatherings and a park with benches. On the edge of town are vegetable gardens and vineyards and olive tree groves. Stone walls with musical goats and sheep are part of every town, their commute from field to field often blocking the traffic. This sets the stage for some of the Sardinian Lessons on Longevity.

1. Eat lots of plants from the garden!

Healthy long-living folks from Sardinia have been enjoying the fresh fruits, beans, and vegetables from their own gardens for decades. Like the garden shown here, dinner is a short walk away! They cook using local extra virgin cold pressed olive oil and always add a variety of fresh herbs. Meat is eaten more sparingly, like once a week, and is usually a pasture raised lamb. Homemade cheeses and fresh milk from goat and sheep milk are very popular, though these animals are filling up on antioxidant-rich wild curry plants. Meals are enjoyed more leisurely with family and friends and almost always accompanied by red wine.

2. Speaking of wine…

The Blue Zone has it’s own special Vino!! Cannonau di Sardegna wine is produced from a Grenache grape grown in and native to Sardinia (pronounced ka-na-NOW) and has 2-3 times the antioxidants of a similar wine grown in France due to the unique topography and bedrock of this Mediterranean island off the west coast of Italy. Resveratrol is a polyphenol found concentrated in the skins of red grapes (also found in blueberries and chocolate) and may contribute to heart health. This wine is enjoyed by the long lived locals so while in Sardinia I visited the Jerzu Antichi Poderi Winery in the Blue Zone and tasted several varieties. I thought they were all delicious: medium bodied, red and blue fruit forward, rustic with spicy notes! Too expensive to ship and hard to find in the US, tasting this many varieties of Cannonau was really a treat.

3. Lead an active life!

Regular daily exercise which includes walking, gardening, and carrying food and water is their version of a gym work out. Many of the villages are built on hills so an incline work out is built into their daily lives. A shepard might walk 5 miles per day with their sheep or goats. Sardinians walk to the garden and markets for food, children walk to school, families walk to church together, and they walk to visit family and friends all within their village. Aging Sardinians are very active in planting, weeding, and harvesting their gardens which requires a lot of sweat equity as well. Having an active lifestyle was a common thread throughout all of the Blue Zones.

4. Be part of a positive social network of family and friends.

I visited the town of Villagrande Strisaili who claims to have the world’s longest living men! One of their secrets is strong social connectivity. Many men hang out together in the evening - sharing stories, laughing, relaxing, and bonding. The elderly are not isolated, but celebrated and respected. One evening I returned to my B & B at 11 pm and outside sitting on a bench were 4 woman who were in their 70s-80s just talking and laughing and being in the moment.

I am sure there are many more lessons to be learned from the long-loved peaceful people of Sardinia, but these four are the highlights. See this link to learn more about the Blue Zones of the World.

Cold Marinated Eggplant

After walking to your garden with your friends and picking a fresh eggplant or two.... (The Blue Zone Trio: walking places, connection with friends and healthy vegetables)…

Peel and cut eggplant into pieces. Brush with EVOO then grill or bake until tender but not soggy so it keeps its shape. Make marinade out of 1 T lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves minced, sea salt, fresh basil and thyme. Toss cooked eggplant in marinade, chill and serve!

Zucchini Salad

Cook 1 carrot sliced and 1 zucchini cubed until tender but firm. (Carrot will need more time)

Toss with 1/2 cup pitted black olives.

Dress with fresh chopped oregano, salt and a squeeze of lemon. Serve warm or cold. Easy and fresh!!

Figs with Vegan Ricotta and Honey

Simply cut a ripe juicy fig in half through the stem, place a spoonful of homemade vegan ricotta on each half and drizzle with honey. They can be served as is or briefly heated in oven until warmed.

Bon Appetito!