Book Review: The Blue Zones Solution
I'm not interested because I think I can change my destiny. Many of my ancestors lived into their 80s and 90s, More than a few lived well past 100. I'm interested in the similarities that weave through the diverse cultures where these large groups of centenarians live.
(These Blue Zones, in case you're unfamiliar with them, are centered around Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; the Ogliastra Region of Sardinia; Loma Linda, Califorina and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.)
Dan Biettener's book, The Blue Zones Solution caught my attention with the promise of the key to "eating and living like the world's healthiest people."
The book is quite interesting in it's discussions about the various regions and the habits of those who live there. But it doesn't really tell us much new. But, perhaps, that's the point. Living and eating well is a matter of common sense.
If you want to live to be 100, eat whole foods, avoid processed foods, get a reasonable amount of exercise, get enough sleep and don't stress, make your own meals so you know what's in them and find a way to commune with nature and hang out with positive people as well.
Maybe it's good to emphasize those things. Maybe if we hear them enough we will internalize the common sense ideas. By the way, Buettner does offer practical tips on how to blue zone your life, Again, these are not earth shattering revelations, but it's good to see them on the page in black and white.
The best part of the book for me, as usual, is the recipes.
I mean, if it's best to avoid processed foods and dining out, you're going to need a recipe for that.
There are recipes from each of the five regions. None of them use any ingredients that are too hard to find and the ones that aren't available at your regular market are commonplace at an ethnic market. You won't have to go far to find them.
Something to keep in mind is that these recipes (and the lifestyles that inspired them) are not 100 percent vegetarian or vegan, Flesh is consumed in moderate amounts infrequently. Lean pork or fish are sometimes on the menu in these places. You don't have to eat the flesh. Leave it out. Or find a replacement. I often use big fleshy mushrooms in place of meat in recipes.
The goal is learning how to move into a lifestyle that is healthier than the one you're living now. But don't stress over it.
Cook. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Commune. Repeat.
That's it!
