So I mainly follow the Mediterranean diet and also strength train 4x a week. I try to get a good amount of protein per day (around 100g) from beans, legumes, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy to build muscle. A big part of the reason I do this is for my health and longevity - I have seen many articles and studies showing that muscle mass increases lifespan and healthspan:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38893-0

https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/muscle-mass-beats-bmi-as-longevity-predictor1/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5772850/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035379/

BUT I have also found numerous papers showing that lower protein diets are more beneficial for our health:

https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00062-X

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246850112100002X

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6562018/#:~:text=Abstract,role%20in%20longevity%2Fmetabolic%20health.

How can both of these be right? And what would be the healthiest approach to take in terms of diet? Should I decrease the amount of protein I eat or keep it up to maximise muscle gain? For reference I am female, early 20s, 5’5” (168cm)and 58kg (about 130lbs).

If you had the opportunity to ask Dan Buettner a question, what would it be?

Hi there!

I'm interested in eating more of a BlueZone/Mediterranean diet, and was wondering if anyone has been using Weee! (Asian grocery delivery) for their compliant groceries. They seem to have a much better selection of fruits and veggies then local grocery stores, but I'm curious if anyone has recommendations for things like condiments, broths, fermented foods, etc. Their selection is very extensive so I could stand to be pointed in the right direction.

Thanks!

Today is the first day of my 30 Days of Health Journey where I'm living in the Blue Zone of Costa Rica to learn the healthy lifestyle habits for longevity.

Here are the key takeaways from Day 1:

🌎 BLUE ZONE INSPIRATION
Centenarians thrive with a clear purpose like Japan’s ‘ikigai’ or Costa Rica’s ‘plan de vida,’ fueling vibrant, meaningful lives.

💬 QUOTE
“Pay attention to the things you are naturally drawn to. They are often connected to your path, passion, and purpose in life. Have the courage to follow them.”
— Ruben Chavez

🧬 SCIENCE
Purpose adds up to seven years of life expectancy; write down one purposeful activity today to boost your well-being.

🧘 HEALTHY HABIT
Visualize your best self, heed advice from future you, and create three actionable steps to align daily with your purpose.

📿 MANTRA
I did not come to Earth to just pay bills and die.
Use this mantra to remind yourself of your life’s greater significance.

✍🏼 JOURNAL PROMPTS
Reflect on time spent on urgent vs. important tasks and identify small steps to align more with your life’s mission.

📣 AFFIRMATION
I live vibrantly, driven by purpose.

🙌 KUDOS
Congratulations on beginning your purpose-driven journey! Engage in purpose-aligned actions for a vibrant life.

💬 COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
What excites you to jump out of bed in the morning? Share your reply and let's inspire each other to live with more intention!
Explore full Blue Zone Journey into Health here: https://intentioninspired.com/health/

Cheers!

I'm curious about the average weight and height of men in blue zones and other areas with a high concentration of centenarians. Currently, I weigh 148 pounds and stand at 5'11". Despite people urging me to bulk up, I feel good about my physique. I wonder if individuals in blue zones are slightly heavier than me and if I could benefit from gaining some weight, or if it's better for me to stay lean and relaxed.

Let’s post things each month on a habit change each month! Get closer to the blue zone people!! As we know that their lower body strength and core work keeps them from being a fall risk + they get in quite of bit of cardio to just get around.

For April let’s walk more in all areas.

1. Take a walk each day outside for a min of 20mins

2. When shopping at a store, park far away from the entrance so you have to walk farther.

3. If there are stairs vs elevator - always take the stairs up as down.

If you’d like to add anything to the list, post it below!

I took liberty and added some spices (oregano, rosemary, bay leaf, some mushroom that adds taste I got in Peru, salt, and pepper).

Turned out really good! Interesting how it felt like a simple recipe a grandma gave him. If anyone has cooked with a traditional elder, they typically direct the recipe in a simple way. Aka “toss all the veggies in!”

For those trying it, when adding the veggies, add the hardest ones first and as those cook make your way to the softest. Ex Onion (hard), tomato (medium), green leaf (soft).

I’ve been a vegetarian with a high plant diet and using anti-aging supplements for 15 years. I definitely see my aging to be a lot less than my meat eating counterparts.

I’m mostly posting to encourage this community.

Cheers everyone!

I love making bluezone recipes and I feel great but I have one problem. I can't eat beans because of my ibs. Any advice? :(

Would love the virtual moai-ish of others in blue zone practice…but looks like this isn’t a space where people are active? Does anyone recommend any other online spaces where at least a more active community might be found? (I am not on FB)

I’ve been trying to life according the blue zones for a while. I’m plant based, exercise, cut out alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. I’m relatively low stress, enjoy my job, and love my partner and life. The only area I need to improve is being a part of a community where I share similar beliefs with. I grew up evangelical southern baptist, and that is certainly not for me. I still pray once a day and believe that Jesus was real and a great person, but maybe some aspects of his life and mission were metaphorical. I’m very liberal in my beliefs and don’t think there’s one “right” religion. I think God/the universe is super understanding and intentions matter the most. I like the mindset of “we’re all looking at the same thing, but from different perspectives”. All of that said, I want to find others who think this way/are open to discussing other options. I’ve thought about exploring Judaism but know there are cultural aspects that I don’t identify with, and I don’t want to disrespect anyone. I’d love to get some suggestions from folks to see if I can find my people.

I was so pumped up after watching the documentary, I immediately bought the cookbook on amazon.

The first two recipes were a disaster!

I started with the first minestrone recipe. I followed the instructions and it had no flavor whatsoever. Broth tasted like water with a hint of garlic. I'm pretty sure they left out salt and pepper from the ingredients. The directions also didn't say when to add the garlic. I ended up trying it again using vegetable broth and adding salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Second recipe I tried was the cabbage with sundried tomatoes. Somehow I was supposed to fit two heads of cabbage, a whole onion and everything else into one sauté pan?! I had to use two and even then my pans were so full I had a hard time stirring the ingredients and some of the cabbage turned brown and bitter.

I'm contemplating skipping the recipes altogether and just using the ingredients as inspiration to google other recipes.

In the entire world, there are only 5 bluezones, listed here.

The bluezone nonprofit says that the reason people in these bluezones live so long is that they eat primarily a plant based diet, with legumes/beans, vegetables, and whole grains.

However, there are many cultures all over the planet that also eat primarily a plant based diet, yet none of them are bluezones. If you throw a dart at the map, so long as you avoid America and Western Europe, you'll likely hit a culture that eats a primarily plant based diet.

So what explains why all of these other plant-based cultures are not bluezones?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8881926/

Total Meat Intake is Associated with Life Expectancy: A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis of 175 Contemporary Populations

Abstract

Background

The association between a plant-based diet (vegetarianism) and extended life span is increasingly criticised since it may be based on the lack of representative data and insufficient removal of confounders such as lifestyles.

Aim

We examined the association between meat intake and life expectancy at a population level based on ecological data published by the United Nations agencies.

Methods

Population-specific data were obtained from 175 countries/territories. Scatter plots, bivariate, partial correlation and linear regression models were used with SPSS 25 to explore and compare the correlations between newborn life expectancy (e(0)), life expectancy at 5 years of life (e(5)) and intakes of meat, and carbohydrate crops, respectively. The established risk factors to life expectancy – caloric intake, urbanization, obesity and education levels – were included as the potential confounders.

Results

Worldwide, bivariate correlation analyses revealed that meat intake is positively correlated with life expectancies. This relationship remained significant when influences of caloric intake, urbanization, obesity, education and carbohydrate crops were statistically controlled. Stepwise linear regression selected meat intake, not carbohydrate crops, as one of the significant predictors of life expectancy. In contrast, carbohydrate crops showed weak and negative correlation with life expectancy.

Conclusion

If meat intake is not incorporated into nutrition science for predicting human life expectancy, results could prove inaccurate.

According to the new book,

Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity

by Nir Barzilai, M.D.and Toni Robino

the single thing that centenarians all seem to share is that they have minimal "visceral" fat compared to every one else.

Perhaps this is what the Blue Zone diets are accomplishing - it's certainly worth consideration.