Do You Want to Live to Be 100? This Researcher Has the Answer to Why Longevity is Not a Quick Fix or Trendy Diet

Dan Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and writer of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from nan People Who've Lived nan Longest. In 2000, Buettner traveled to Okinawa, Japan, to analyse why group lived to beryllium 100 and beyond there. With nan support of National Geographic, Buettner and his squad past traveled astir nan world successful 2004 to research different regions pinch reportedly precocious lifespan, amended known arsenic longevity.

He identified 5 places, which he named "The Blue Zones," wherever group unrecorded nan longest, healthiest lives. The 5 original Blue Zones were Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. The investigation and learnings from nan 5 populations wherever he interviewed galore centenarians surviving high-quality lives became a Netflix Documentary entitled "Live to 100: Secrets of nan Blue Zones." Within these communities, group prioritized family values, community, Mediterranean diets and surviving successful walkable neighborhoods.

I've known of Dan for years, and while I don't clasp his 3 Guinness World Records successful region cycling, we stock a communal passion for cycling and nan outdoors. I intended to excavation deeper into his insights regarding really people, particularly successful America, ever look for nan speedy hole and jump connected nan latest fad wagon. Be it Ozempic, nary alcohol, cold plunging aliases eating a carnivore diet, I asked Dan for his opinions connected these trends, much of which included CrossFit workouts, keto diets and intermittent fasting.

I said to Buettner, "Amongst each of these protocols, trends, supplements and nutrition plans, wherever is nan magic of longevity?"

"There is nary short-term fix," he responded. "We support searching for it, and we support failing. None of it has been proven to activity connected humans for much than azygous digits of a percent of people."

Every year, we are marketed to effort caller diets, supplements and workouts and 3 months into them, 90% of group fail astatine what they started. Buettner explained really he discovered five populations that are surviving agelong because their regular unconscious behaviors are patient and sustainable. And conjecture what? It doesn't costs much.

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Nutrition and circumstantial foods

Beginning pinch food, Buettner explained really group eat truthful overmuch processed nutrient and thin to trust connected a "see food" diet. If we spot it connected our antagonistic aliases pantry, aliases location are treats successful nan office, we eat them and are mindlessly eating.

This information was backed by research astatine Cornell, and successful his books, he encourages group to group retired bowls of consequence successful their kitchens and support healthy food accessible, including beans and nuts, some of which person beardown nutritional benefits and thief trim inflammation. Beans are besides loaded pinch fiber, thing that 80-90% of Americans request much of, and they're inexpensive, shelf-stable and use nan patient gut bacteria. Buettner besides relies connected a fistful of nuts daily, and his investigation shows that nuts adhd 2-3 years to life expectancy.

Buettner eats a plant-based diet, and nan 5 cultures successful nan Blue Zones mostly do nan same. These communities eat nutrient astir erstwhile per week, whereas an American eats an mean of 240 pounds per twelvemonth — "about a bathtub afloat of meat."

He explained that nutrient is for illustration radiation successful that we cognize we are apt going to dice sooner of Type 2 glucosuria aliases cancers of nan gastrointestinal tract. He besides loves his java and explains that java drinkers person little rates of Type 2 glucosuria aliases Parkinson's and besides person amended physical endurance and cardiovascular output.

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Community and purpose

Your circle of friends influences happiness, wellness and a consciousness of purpose. For example, if you person progressive friends, you'll apt beryllium active, and if your champion friends are obese, there's a bully chance you'll beryllium influenced successful that direction. "Upgrade your circle of friends" to group who will promote you to beryllium happy and healthy, make you laughter and make you consciousness bully astir yourself erstwhile you are pinch them.

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Moving people and avoiding wellness trends that fail

So really astir sauna and cold-plunging? Buettner occasionally saunas and believes that acold plunging is already connected nan decline. Unless you are swimming successful nan ocean, surfing aliases doing thing you enjoy, he believes that aggravated acold plunging astatine 35-40 degrees, which is what astir acold plunge studios do, is painful. As pinch astir gym and nutrition trends, group get excited for a fewer weeks aliases possibly a year, and past they almost each say, "Enough."

I loved proceeding Buetter explicate that nan "no pain, nary gain" mentality is wrong. The other is correct and true: "The slightest pain, nan astir gain," and doing this agelong capable to make a quality is precisely what populations successful nan Blue Zones do. The Blue Zones populations interact pinch nan extracurricular environment, beryllium down astatine meals pinch their family, socialize pinch friends and prioritize sleep.

These are quality things that bring joyousness amongst regular and inexpensive habits that grow lifespan — specified arsenic surviving successful walkable neighborhoods wherever you locomotion to get your nutrient and tally your errands, eating mostly caller and non-processed nutrient and avoiding things that origin you pain.

When I asked him astir Ozempic, he exclaimed, "Who nan hellhole wants to jam a needle into their gut to suffer weight?" Again, it's different fad miles distant from longevity.

The number of obese group successful America has tripled since 1980, and Buettner explained really this is an unmitigated intelligence wellness failure. Most Americans get less than 20 minutes of workout per day, while Blue Zone group locomotion to astir locations, plot aliases weed successful their yards and believe stress-reducing activities, dissimilar CrossFit, which tin raise inflammation and origin injury.

Buettner, besides an outdoor enthusiast, passionate astir ultralight hiking and pickleball, explained that 75% of Americans tin use by simply stepping to activity aliases taking nationalist transportation. The greeting we spoke, Buettner told maine that he went to get a haircut, had a beingness therapy assignment and past picked up immoderate breakfast, each connected his bike.

I promote you to watch nan Blue Zones documentary to study much astir circumstantial longevity manner habits. If we each adjusted conscionable a fewer mini regular habits, it mightiness conscionable thief america 'Live to 100.'