#85: Blue Zones + How to Add 10 Years to Your Life
Dan Buettner is an award-winning journalist and producer at National Geographic who has spent most of his life identifying and studying “Blue Zones.” Blue Zones are the 5 areas of the world where people live the longest, with the lowest disease rates. Today Dan is telling us all about how a plant-based diet ties into health and longevity based on his research.
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Hi friends!
Have you ever heard of the world’s “blue zones”? Blue zones are the five areas around the world that have been found to have the populations with the most health and longevity. But how?
We're going straight to the source—Dan Buettner, who discovered the Blue Zones and invented the name. Dan is an author, award-winning journalist, and producer at National Geographic. He has spent most of his life identifying and studying “blue zones," and he’s on the show to tell us all about his findings (which influenced him to adopt a plant-based lifestyle).
Dan tells us stories of his many quests and expeditions with National Geographic, and explains exactly how the concept of blue zones was created. He shares some of the common themes within each of the world’s blue zones, and gives us practical tips to incorporate into our lives, no matter where we are in the world!
This is a fun episode that will have you inspired to expand your idea of what it means to live a healthy life. Plus, it will give you some advice that may even help you live to 100.
Happy listening,
♡ Toni & Michelle
EPISODE SHOW NOTES
- Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer from the people who live the longest
- The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100
- The Blue Zones American Kitchen Cookbook
- Dan’s unique stories from his many quests and expeditions with National Geographic
- Dan’s experience with archeological expeditions
- What are Blue Zones?
- Where are the five Blue Zones?
- How Dan discovered the 5 blue zones and why they got the name “blue zones”
- The characteristics the people in blue zones
- Carbohydrates: the confusion and why you shouldn’t be afraid of them
- The difference between good and bad carbohydrates
- How the Standard American Diet came to be
- How the Standard American Diet ended up including so much added sugar
- Why it can be so difficult to make diet changes even when we know something is bad for us
- The role our environment and community play in our health
- Blue zone-like habits that you can incorporate into your life without travelling anywhere
- Why Dan transitioned into a plant-based lifestyle as a result of studying blue zones
- How to make it easier for others to make more plant-based diet choices
- The importance of surrounding yourself with people that inspire your health goals
- Some simple guidelines for adopting a healthier, plant-based lifestyle
- A little challenge for you to start incorporating healthy, delicious recipes into your life long-term
- Evidence-based tips to get young, picky eaters to eat vegetables
- Healthy cultural ways of eating that we should take note of
- About Dan’s books
- Thank you to our sponsors Caraway Home (check out their cyber season event) and Yai’s Tai (use code PLANTPOWER at checkout for 20% off)
RESOURCES
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
We are so grateful to have the support of some of our favorite vegan-friendly brands this season. Many thanks to the sponsors of this episode.
Caraway makes the most beautiful modern non-toxic, eco-friendly, non-stick, easy-to-clean cookware. It features a ceramic coating with a naturally slick surface that food literally slides off of. Caraway pans come in gorgeous colors and we are absolutely obsessed with ours!
Visit CarawayHome.com to take advantage of their Cyber Season Event and score up to 20% off your next purchase.
Yai's Thai is bringing the bold flavors of Thailand to your kitchen with ready-made sauces you can cook with at home! Most of their products are vegan, and they're all totally delicious.
Yai's Thai makes weeknight cooking a breeze, even if you're busy. We love it spicy, but if you're not really a "spicy foods person," the Yellow Curry is a great place to start. And the Massaman—made with cardamon, cloves and cinnamon—is especially great this time of year (cozy fall curry).
They're offering 20% off for our listeners with the code PLANTPOWER at yaisthai.com!
LET'S BE FRIENDS!
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