Can the Blue Zone Diet Help You Live Past 100?
Few diets have an origin story involving a globe-trotting explorer and the hearty centenarians encountered on his travels, but such is the case with the Blue Zone diet. It was created after National Geographic Fellow and explorer Dan Buettner observed undeniable commonalities in the eating patterns of the world’s longest-living populations despite these communities being spread throughout the globe.
Buettner named the regions he identified as having extraordinarily high rates of nonagenarians and centenarians “The Blue Zones” and set out to determine why the people who resided within them seemed to enjoy longer lifespans and healthspans. One result of this research was the Blue Zone diet, which offers dietary guidelines based on the foods most often consumed or not consumed in the Blue Zones.
The Blue Zones diet differs from traditional or fad diets in that it doesn’t involve calorie counting, macro tallying, or purchasing engineered foods, supplements, or powders. Instead, it offers simple lifestyle guidance that centers on traditional ways of living and doesn’t involve unsustainable sacrifice. “When you look at people in the Blue Zones, who live up to 10 years longer without chronic disease, their journey is joyous,” Buettner previously told GQ.
Excerpted from GQ
