What do people living in the Blue Zones eat?

Although food choices vary from region to region, Blue Zone diets are primarily plant-based, with as much as 95\% of daily food intake coming from vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes. People in Blue Zones typically avoid meat and dairy, as well as sugary foods and beverages. They also steer clear of processed foods.

What do people eat in the blue zones of the world where people live the longest?

The best-of-the-best longevity foods are leafy greens such as spinach, kale, beet and turnip tops, chard, and collards. Combined with seasonal fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and beans dominate blue zones meals all year long.

What do blue zones have in common?

If you look at four of the major dietary quality scoring systems, which have all been associated with extending lifespan and lowering heart disease and cancer mortality, they all share only four things in common: more fruit, more vegetables, more whole grains, and more nuts and beans.

Do people in Blue Zones eat cheese?

People living in the Blue Zones also eat some meat, on average about five times a month and fish once or twice a week. They also have a “little bit of sheep’s milk cheese or goat’s milk cheese, but very little sugar. Probably a quarter of the sugar that we eat, and almost no processed food.”

Do they eat meat in the blue zones?

While people in four of the five Blue Zones consume meat, they do so sparingly, using it as a celebratory food, a small side, or a way to flavor dishes.

Do blue zones eat honey?

In Ikaria, Greece, one of the original blue zones that are home to the world’s longest-living people, many older residents eat honey at least twice a day. They stir it into their coffee in the morning and prior to dinner.

Do Blue Zones eat eggs?

Eggs are consumed in all five Blue Zones diets, where people eat them an average of two to four times per week. As with meat protein, the egg is a side dish, eaten alongside a larger portion of a whole-grain or other plant-based feature.

Do Blue Zones eat fish?

In most Blue Zones, people eat up to three small servings of fish each week. However, they are typically middle-of-the-food-chain species (like sardines, anchovies, and cod) that are not exposed to high levels of mercury or other harmful chemicals.

Do blue zones eat chicken?

In most Blue Zones diets people ate small amounts of pork, chicken, or lamb. But chicken meat, likewise, was a rare treat savored over many meals. Averaging out meat consumption over all Blue Zones, we found that people were eating small amounts of meat, about two ounces or less at a time, about five times per month.

Do blue zones eat rice?

About 65 percent of the diets in the blue zones is whole grains, beans, and starchy tubers. Grains including oats, barley, brown rice, and ground corn also play a key role in the diet.