The Blue Zone Regions Of The World!

Did you know there are 5 cities in the world where the people residing within that community live to be centenarians, that means they live into their 100’s!!! These cities are:

• Icaria, Greece
• Okinawa, Japan
• Nicoya, Costa Rica
• Loma Linda, California
• Sardinia, Italy

I learned about the “Blue Zones” while I was taking courses at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and thereafter I kept seeing/reading about it everywhere! What’s unique about these zones, residents only suffer a fraction of the diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world. The common habits that were shared amongst these individuals were healthier lifestyle choices including spending time outside in nature, gardening, social circles/family engagements, constant moderate physical activity, and no smoking or alcohol.

In addition, these communities practice their faith (spirituality or religion), don’t have a “time urgency”, and also tend to know their life purpose which all in turn directly relate to stress reduction. The diets consist of a plant-based or semi–vegetarian diet, legumes, nuts, soy, whole grains, high polyphenol wine, and turmeric.

So even though we may not live in these geographical regions, or if you do, lucky you! That’s not to say that we can’t pick up these healthy habits and incorporate them into our daily lives to achieve longevity and reduce the rate of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are high blood pressure (hypertension), certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, etc. diseases that are preventable!

In Icaria which is a Greek island, the people eat a Mediterranean diet which is rich in olive oil, red wine, and home grown vegetables. In the Ogliastra region of Sardinia, the region is mountainous where the residents work on farms and also consume lots of red wine. In Okinawa, Japan the people eat a lot of soy based foods and practice tai chi (WHICH IS TOTALLY MY JAM!!!), the oldest women in the world live here. In Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica the Nicoyan diet is based around beans and corn tortillas. The residents perform physical jobs into their old age and also have a sense of life purpose known as “plan de vida”. The Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California are a very religious group that are strict vegetarians and live in tight knit communities.