It seems I've found a new catch-phrase; one that epitomizes everything I am trying to accomplish in my own personal life and that is, simply finding my way toward health living. Last week, I spent a bit of time exploring the concept of Blue Zones in my post, Migrating the Blue Zone into Your Own Back Yard. Blue zones are places in the world where people live longer and healthier without medication or disability. Journalist Dan Buettner searched for reasons five areas of the world -- Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda California; Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica, and an isolated Greek island, Ikaria -- inspired people to live longer, healthier, happier lives. His findings? LIFESTYLE!!! I mean, really! Can it get any clearer to us that our lifestyle choices (and it IS a choice) is slowly but surely killing us?
When I did a little digging, I found communities that have truly embraced the concept of Blue Zone living. As they were all in USA, I went looking for what Canada has to offer. Did you know, in the 10 years between 1996 and 2006, the number of centenarians in Canada doubled and this rise is expected to continue? While we have known for some time that we are living longer, what I wasn't able to find are the statistics on that razor-edged line when age becomes synonymous
with poor health. Our hospitals and nursing homes are, after all, filled to overflowing with seniors that are no longer able to care for themselves.
Getting a shave
The fact is, it doesn't have to be this way. We control 70% of the factors influencing our health. Research by the US Urban Institute and Center for Disease Control and Prevention have documented four key factors on an individual's health: access to care: 10%; genetics: 20%; environment: 20%; health behaviours: 50%. Through a series of small meaningful changes within our communities as well as at home, we can make a difference in how we live, work and play.
I admit, I'm more than a little disappointed to discover that Canada has not really embraced Blue Zone Community living as some areas of the USA have. While I discovered that areas of southern Nova Scotia seems to have qualities much akin to Buettner's identified five areas of the world, I have not been able to find a single community in Canada that is actively pursuing Blue Zone philosophy and embracing its attributes. Whereas in the USA, there are 14 communities (10 of which are located in Iowa) striving to incorporate Blue Zone principles into its day-to-day life, this doesn't seem to be the case in Canada.
I have to ask, WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?Are we each not personally responsible to bring about some level of change -- within our communities as well as within our homes? Do we really want to see what our world will look like when debilitating chronic disease outweighs workforce productivity? How will Canada compete globally? We already have a health care system struggling to find affordable ways of providing services; do we really want health care to be a privilege as opposed to a right? What weighs on my mind more and more everyday is, what will be my experience in a few years; I have to admit, what I envision isn't exactly pretty.
All each of us has to do is adopt 9 healthy principles (dubbed 'Power 9 Principles'): focused on becoming more physically active, or moving naturally; eating wisely, having purpose; and participating in our community, to add years to our lives. It seems so simple -- so why do we make it so hard?
Who hasn't seen the Heart and Stroke advertising campaign that reminds us that our last 10 years are likely to be spent in sickness? While some folks might find this type of marketing offensive, it seems to me there are a lot more that are at least talking about making better lifestyle choices precisely to avoid declining health in our latter years. I for one have already partipated in lending support to my parents in the last 10 years of their lives; frankly, I would like to avoid this route if at all possible and it seems to me, there is something I can do to help in this regard.
Until a few days ago, I had never heard the phrase 'blue zone'. Have I been living under the proverbial cabbage patch leaf? Perhaps; but now that I have heard and explored what it means, it comes to mind that we have the tools to turn each and every community into a 'blue zone'. And if not the community, certainly our own domain -- our homes.
Blue zones are places in the world where people live longer and healthier -- to 90 or even 100 years of age -- without medication or disability. Journalist Dan Buettner, in a partnership with National Geographic spent five years searching for reasons five areas of the world -- Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda California; Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica, and an isolated Greek island, Ikaria -- are inspiring people to live longer, healthier, happier lives. His findings? LIFESTYLE!!! For whatever reason, the vast majority of these communities followed a simple prescription. They maintained a healthy diet, daily exercise, and a low stress lifestyle which incorporates family, purpose, religion, and meaning.
A healthy diet is one that is loaded with vegetables, fruits, fish, and nuts and low on meat, sugar, fat, and processed foods. All four cultures share similarities regarding their eating habits. Some stop eating before they're full while others make dinner the lightest meal of the day. There is also a strong belief in getting plenty of sunshine and taking in vitamin D.
Healthy Food Choices
A daily routine of regular exercise is another theme that is common across all blue zones. Common across all of blue zones is that people climb mountains, walk through the hills, work the land, and generally use their bodies as they perform their daily activities. Often the exercise is slow and relaxed, but ongoing throughout the day. These people are conditioned by daily routine to be fit and alert. Ready to fight disease. Quick to break down toxins and waste.
Active, Enjoyable Family Fun
Buettner has found that those who live long and healthy in the blue zones unanimously live low stress, happy lives enriched with strong family ties, a sense of purpose, a healthy dose of spirituality, and plenty of sleep. Unlike the straightforwardness of eating healthy and exercising, this third pillar of a healthy lifestyle is hard to precisely define. Stress is especially proven to have serious harmful effects on the body . The long-term effects of a life constantly full of stress, anger, and resentment are dramatic, increasing blood pressure, and generally increasing the onset and severity of heart disease and several other major diseases.
Buddhist Temple, Richmond, BC
Living long and healthy is not mysterious. It is a choice. If you aren’t living the lifestyle, then it is never too late to start. To live long and healthy requires a constant, daily lifestyle of positive enrichment for the body and mind. Find ways to make healthy food taste good. Find ways to make exercise a meaningful part of your daily routine rather than a burdensome chore. Surround yourself with others that share your interest in living a full life that is low in stress, happy, and meaningful. Get plenty of sleep.
A team of medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists searched for evidence-based common denominators among the 5 Blue Zones and found nine:
1. Move Naturally : live in environments that constantly nudge you into moving without thinking about it. Grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work. 2. Purpose: Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy. 3. Down Shift: Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. Develop a routine to shed that stress. Take a few moments each day to remember your ancestors. Pray. Take a nap. Have a happy hour. 4. 80% Rule : Stop eating when your stomach is 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. 5. Plant Slant: Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat—mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month. Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of deck or cards. 6. Wine @ 5: People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all weekend and have 14 drinks on Saturday. 7. Belong: Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy. 8. Loved Ones First: Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes). 9. Right Tribe : The world’s longest lived people chose–or were born into–social circles that supported healthy behaviors. Research shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious.
Enter 'Blue Zone Communities'. The Blue Zones Project initiative challenges communities to become a Blue Zones Community™ , a systems approach that allows citizens, schools, employers, restaurants, grocery stores and community leaders to work together on policies and programs that will make the most impact and move the community towards optimal health and well-being. Blue Zone communities don’t rely on individual behavior change but, rather, focus on making healthy choices the easy choice. Rather than nagging residents to walk more, walking is made easier and more desirable. By making wholesome foods more prevalent and accessible and less expensive than junk foods, more people begin to eat healthier naturally.
Take Albert Lea, for example. Starting in 2009, Albert Lea, a statistically average American city located about 90 miles south of Minneapolis, underwent an extraordinary transformation. For three years, this city of 18,000 residents participated in the Blue Zones Vitality Project sponsored by AARP and the United Health Foundation, making it ground zero for the application of longevity research in America! Amid a pep-rally-like atmosphere in a high-school auditorium, the community kicked off the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project. The mission of the Vitality Project was to add healthy years to an entire town by weaving the Blue Zones principles into every aspect of the community—restaurants, businesses, schools, homes, and everyday lives. Two-thirds of locally owned restaurants added life-extending foods to their menus; 35 businesses pledged to make their workplaces healthier by offering more nutritious catering menus and vending machine choices, and substituting fruit for doughnuts. Residents participated in 15 Vitality Project initiatives, from walking groups—including "walking school buses," where parents and grandparents stroll with children to school—to healthy cooking classes.
Many communities embrace most aspects of this lifestyle, Earlier this year, I visited a community in Michoacan, Mexico, where I met a vital, enthusiastically active and entertaining 90-year-old woman named Maria. Maria, I suspect, has never heard about Blue Zone Communities but, all the same, she lives the lifestyle. She lives in a multi-generational home with her nephew and great nephew. She eats locally grown food, much of which she grows in her own garden or picks in the hills behind her village. Maria actively participates in the well-being of her family; she weaves and embroiders robosos (shawl) that she is modelling in this photograph, and sells them on city streets. But what is most obvious about Maria is her friendly demeanor and easy laughter.
Maria - Angahuan, Michoacan
For many of us, there are lessons our parents and grandparents knew, that have been forgotten. The beauty of Blue Zone Communities is, while tools are provided to support transforming the entire community, the program lends itself to a bottom up approach. Start challenging yourself and your family: Here's a checklist to help you to introduce and monitor healthy lifestyle changes such as eating more fruits and veggies, eating breakfast; limiting screen time (TV AND computer); limiting sugar http://www.bluezones.com/challenge/students/
For those of us living in Alberta, Spring came awfully late this year. . . or perhaps I should say, Winter took its sweet time taking its leave. While some were more fortunate than others, I can honestly say that I, for one, am still anxiously awaiting the rows in my garden to pop up through the earth and be prepared to stand with me in the fight against the weeds. I haven't even transplanted some of the tender plants, such as peppers and tomatoes yet and this year I've made a conscious decision to drastically reduce the number of annuals. While I won't say that I am a steadfast die-hard sustainable/organic gardener, I continue to lodge my battle against weeds, primarily through the process of cultivation and good old-fashioned handpicking and the only watering I do is easily maintained by my rainwater barrel.
And slowly but surely, I'm converting the beautiful but highly labour-intensive flower gardens that my parents so lovingly created by the sweat of their brow, into mulched beds with a mix of perennials, shrubs and trees. It's true, they don't have the spectacular bursts of color but, except for a bit of hand picking weeds, they don't demand the attention and I rather like the less formal 'natural' look. Large shrub beds, and a solid refusal to fertilize, also keeps lawn care to a minimum. While we still have copious amounts of lawn (also planted by my parents), as long as I follow a few basic rules such as no chemical fertilizers and not cutting it too short -- the time is kept to a minimum.
then & now
When I walk through someone's yard or poke through a garden centre, my mind is always focused on ways which I can continue my hobby in a manner which is kind to the earth (and therefore to me) while keeping the maintenance to a minimum and the enjoyment to a maximum. Perhaps you're the same. If so, here's a few links for your reading pleasure.
.jpg)
