What Is A Blue Zone Diet And How To Apply It, Imitating The 100-year-old People's Eating Pattern

What is a blue zone diet (freepic)

YOGYAKARTA - The secret of the Blue Zone people diet is interesting to follow for those of you who want to live a long life and are healthy. The Blue Zone is a term for calling areas in the world that have the highest level of life expectancy and the centenian population (residents reach the age of 100 years or older). However, not many are familiar with the blue zone diet and how to apply it.

There are several areas in the world that fall into the blue zone category, including Okinawa (Japan), Ikaria (Yunani), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Kosta Rika), and Loma Linda in California. People in a number of areas are known to live a long life and have good quality of life.

A researcher who wrote the book The Blue Zone American Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100, Dan Bueetner revealed the fact that food is an important factor that affects health so that it can live a long life. To be able to imitate the healthy lifestyle of people with a long life, you need to get to know the diet of the blue zone and how to apply it.

The Blue Zone Diet is a diet that follows a diet from the population of five blue zones in the world. The location of this Blue Zone is spread across North America, Central America, Europe, and Asia, where the population has a ten times higher probability of living longer than residents in other areas.

The name "Blue Zone Diet" comes from the blue circle used by researchers to identify these areas on the map when they first discovered them. According to research published in the journal Nutrients in May 2018, residents in these zones also have lower levels of chronic disease compared to those living elsewhere. Their diet is considered a major factor in shaping long and quality life.

To implement a blue zone diet, you need tips on imitating the diet of people living in the following 5 blue zones:

Okinawa is known as one of the regions with the highest centenrian levels in the world, which is around 6.5 out of every 10,000 people. This figure is higher than in the United States which only has 1.73 centenrians per 10,000 people.

Based on Buettner's writing, the population of Okinawa began to reduce food consumption such as seaweed, turmeric, and sweet potatoes after 1949, due to Western influence. Instead, they consume more rice, milk, and goats.

Buettner revealed that the key to long life in Sardinia comes from the existence of clean air, consumption of local wine, and undergoing the principle of 'lovering every Sunday.' In addition, the practice of pastoralism or grazing livestock from mountains to the plains is also considered an important factor that affects the long life of the people of Sardinia.

In its writing, Buettner says that ancientherders in Sardinia often consumed goat milk, lamb cheese, flat bread (flatbaread), suurdough bread, barley,Locnuts, adapters, fava beans, tomatoes, milk thistle tea, almonds, and drinks from Grenache wines.

In an article entitled 'The Island Where People's Forget to Die' written by Buettner in 2012, it was stated that the people of Ikaria, Greece, have a long-lived secret with the habit of consuming pheta cheese, lemon, and various spices such as sage.

Buetttner also revealed that what distinguishes Ikaria residents from other places is prioritizing the consumption of potatoes, honey, goat milk, nuts (especially cicer beans, black beans, and lentil beans), several types of fruit, wild vegetables, and fish with relatively few amounts.

Buettner said that one of the dishes favored by residents of the Nicoya Peninsula who were 100 years old or older was rice served with nuts, cheese, ketumbar leaves, corntortilla, and an egg.

The people of the Blue Zone in the United States consist of Adventist Christians who do not consume cigarettes, avoid alcohol, do not dance, and rarely watch television, movies, or other media disturbances.

They apply a diet that follows "biblic" principles, focusing on seeds, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, as well as drinking only water as the main drink. Some of them eat only a little meat and fish, and avoid sugar.

Such are the reviews of getting to know the blue zone diet and how to apply it by following the healthy lifestyle of people living in the blue zone area. The concept of a blue zone diet is interesting to understand and imitate because it is based on research from people's habits that live a long life and have good quality of life.

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