Blue Zones
Blue Zone coming to the South side of Phoenix for boosting health and longevity.
It has been announced that Dan Buettner, the National Geographic explorer that discovered communities around the world where many of the citizens live into their 100th year is spear heading an effort to help Arizona citizens in southern Phoenix where longevity is a issue. Find the whole story at: Blue Zones community health project aims to increase life expectancy in south Phoenix (yahoo.com)
The following article was written by me a number of years ago on Blue Zones and the key is lifestyle changes to eat healthy and fresh and reject factory processed food sources.
The Blue Zone
A life style for centenarians
Fifty years ago, Prevention magazine was the stalwart for promoting prevention of disease states through healthy eating. Somewhere along the way, they lost their compass for a while and started to accept advertising from pharmaceutical companies promoting pharmaceuticals. Today, the majority of physicians in the United States believe in treating the symptoms of disease states and have a propensity not to explore the impact of life style, poor nutrition and lack of nutrients as the root cause in many illnesses. The term “allopathic medicine” describes modern medicines approach for treating illness. In turn, a growing minority of physicians practice “naturopathic medicine” a holistic perspective on the practice of medicine based on a belief in treating the "whole patient" (mind-body-spirit). Dr. Weil believes in Integrative Medicine. Using any treatment approach that does NO HARM. In more simple terms, it means there is a goal of reversing or preventing disease states by these physicians. The weight of allopathic medicine has dominated medicine’s approach for treating illness with the use of pharmaceuticals as being the main convenient treatment form in the last half of the 20th century.
New Comment: Pharmaceutical sales in the US will exceed 500 Billion dollars in 2022.
Several years ago, the National Geographic researchers launched a global search for those places on earth where people live into their 11th decade. After extensive research, they found five places on earth where the inhabitants live an extra decade longer than anywhere else. The locations are:
1. Sardinia, Italy
2. Okinawa, Japan
3. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rico
4. Icaria, Greece
5. Loma Linda, California
Unsurprisingly, there are no places in the United States that is a unique place, but research has found there is a unique group of people with a dedicated life style that allows them to be considered a blue zone, so named for these unique locations on earth where human existence is extended an additional decade or so.
In California, for over 150 years, the Seven Day Adventists, which believe in healthy eating which embraces a vegetarian dominant diet, exercise along with a religious view that believes in meditation and strong family ties has emerged as the Fifth Blue Zone. This runs contrary to the fact that demographers believe life spans for future generations will shorten.
It is now believed that those living in the United States will begin to have a decrease in longevity due to a life style that is being negatively impacted by fast food, toxins in our environment and in what we consume and a decline in physical activity.
New Comment Added: In 2021 life expectancy has dropped by 1 1/2 years due to the approach to battling the Sar2 man made virus.
Those living in the blue zone have some common characteristics. Strong family ties, plant based diet including legumes, regular mild exercise and socially active. One characteristic that I believe is very important is the fact that there is plenty of sunshine year round in these 5 locations. The best source of Vitamin D.
The research has been done by Dan Buettner and more can be learned at www.bluezone.com. He has written several books on the subject. The scientists say we can all live an extra 12 years if we shift gears and reject those life style habits that impede our ability in the United States to stay healthy.
Independently, N2E+ for Life has been created by this writer who has become totally convinced that each American has to find his or her right balance of good nutrition, specific nutrients which we lack for a variety of reasons and exercise to live a long healthy life plus a healthy mind body state.
N2E believes that the only way to improve health outcomes in the United States is through health education being offered at the community level. The Seventh Day Adventists from Loma Linda, California are showing us the way. They sponsor a healthy people conference at Loma Linda University. ( http://www.llu.edu/public-health/cpe/healthypeople/2011/index.page ) every year to educate all that are interested. The question is: Will we have the courage to exchange our current life style for a life style that will offer all of us an opportunity to live into the 11th decade?
New 2022 Comment: I wish the Blue Zone founder, the Vitalyst Health Foundation and all other active participants great success in their south Phoenix project.
Excellent. Timely and of great interest as we become newly interested in real health. First do no harm is really important.