A Little Town in Italy where people live longer

[TangoFoxtrot]

They call them Blue Zones, an area where a higher than usual amount of people live much longer than average. This is one of them:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhtc3EX12Z8

[Gabriel Suarez]

I read all about them. Okinawa is another one.

The question you need to ask is this. What does quality of life look like to you? Living in a village, eating mediterranean diet and having zero stress from day to day, year to year, decade to decade seems quite boring to me. I would not prefer a Los Angeles, Chicago, NY place either, but I am interested in being fit and muscular and living to the edge and the hilt of the sprint in everything...not just staying in the stroll for as long as possible.

[IANative]

I've read the book, too. Interesting for the commonalities of the various zones. From a dietary standpoint, although contrary to our view of protein/keto, the avoidance of the western obsession w/ fast/processed foods is not unlike what we've discussed here for years. The Sardinia chapter's focus on their red wine is something we've touched on here, too. (Side note, I bought a few bottles of various Cannonau di Sardegna wines after reading that chapter, and I've found all of them to be very good. Try a bottle of Dolia's Cannonau wine for ~$15 to see for yourself.) From a fitness standpoint, while there is no emphasis on strength training, the book's focus on mobility, manual effort and continuous movement is of value, IMO.

Again, no book or diet or pill is gonna "fix what ails you," i.e., mortality, but there's nothing wrong with borrowing good bits from many different philosophies and incorporating them into your plan.

[AZRiding]

My wife's doctor instructed her to take fish oil and 2 tablespoons of olive oil daily. While I'm not planning on living in an Italian fishing village, parts of the life style are attractive and the diet seems both doable and effective.

[henri]

Factors other than diet can contribute to a longer life span, pollution and assorted environmental contaminates could be a factors, also how accurate are the birth records? I recall a dannon yogurt ad from the early 70's where Russians who consumed a lot of yogurt lived into their late 90's, and many in the 100-102 range . They (dannon ad agency) interviewed some one who claimed to be 93, when same individual interviewed a few months later he was 98 ! This was a recurrent issue. The people in the blue zones may have longer life spans, but do they really live ?

[Gabriel Suarez]

The people in the blue zones may have longer life spans, but do they really live ?

I don't see too many of those gals in bikinis at 60 nor guys sporting muscles. Quality over quantity.