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Sometimes it can feel overwhelming trying to sift through all of the content around a healthy lifestyle plan. If your goal is longevity, you are in the right place!
There are simple key elements of a healthy lifestyle for ultimate longevity if we look at Blue Zones and what their daily lives look like.
What are Blue Zones?
Blue zones are areas around the world with a high concentration of centenarians (people who live to or past 100 years old). So, when trying to design a healthy lifestyle plan a place like that would be a pretty good blueprint.
The blue zones around the world are Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, and Icaria, Greece.
Why is longevity Important?
Life can be beautiful at any age, and ensuring your physical health is easily one of the best ways to ensure high quality of life down the road.
There are people who are in their 80s- 90s and still healthier than many 40-50 year olds purely because of their healthy lifestyle plan and choices.
Do you want to grow old and be bedridden and constantly in pain? Or would you rather make a couple small but significant lifestyle shifts to be one of those 70 year olds with complete independence doing advanced yoga?
#1: Nutrition
The general diet is focusing on having 95% being plant based foods.
- Veggies, beans, and plant based oil (olive oil is a big one in blue zones!)
- Lots of water daily (~7 glasses per day)
- Swap meat for tofu!
- Try not to eat too much fish. If/ when you do, go for a common fish that isn’t as threatened by overfishing like
- No more than three eggs per week
- Drinks (other than water) – wine, tea, & coffee
The communities in blue zones typically share meals with friends and family and practice moderation and mindfulness when eating.
#2: Exercise
Now, any kind of regular physical exercise is fantastic, but there is one key detail about the way it is practiced in blue zones.
Rather than our usual system of sitting all day then going to the gym for intense activity, the ideal heakthy lifestyle plan is to simply have a good amount of physical activity throughout the day.
For example, things like walking to wherever you want to go (easier said than done in a car centric infrastructure), tending to a garden daily, swimming, or easy hikes. Heck, maybe you have a passion for Just Dance on the Wii! Just make sure you are getting enough fresh air and sunshine along with it.
Go on a walk! If you can’t do it your mental health at least do it to outlive your enemies.
(*GROWinTIME does not recommend enemies and resentment unless it fuels your passion for a healthy happy life)
“… suggests that walking can improve one’s mood, sleep quality, and lower the risk of bone fractures.”
– Bluezones.com (NEWS: Blue Zones Study Reveals the Various Healthy Aging Benefits of Walking)
#3: Purpose and Mental Health
Our minds have an incredible impact on our physical health. People heal faster when they are happy, and people who have more negative emotions paired with stress tend to develop more illnesses.
If you don’t feel you have a purpose in life, create one. Many people have a religion or faith that guides them and gives them purpose and joy. If you aren’t wanting to join a church anytime soon, there are still plenty of ways to give yourself purpose.
If you are struggling to figure out the things you truly care about and what you want your life to look like, this blog post has 21 questions to help you understand yourself better.
Here are a few to get you started:
Who do you want to help?
Who do you care about most?
What do you love to do?
It is incredibly important to know yourself and be grateful for your mind and body. Gratitude fuels our minds ability to see beauty in anything and everything around us.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. Maybe your purpose of living is just to live and experience. No matter what stage of life you are in, it is in fact beautiful. Just simply because you are doing it. You are living. A good healthy lifestyle plan needs a deeper foundation.
If you have passions or hobbies, you can dedicate yourself to using it in a way that gives your life purpose and meaning. Do the crafts you make bring joy to those who have them? Does your art resonate with another person? Does your cooking bring your family together?
In Japan the name for this is ikigai.
#4: Community and Kindness
In the digital age, it’s no secret that making friends and forming a close-knit community of people physically around you can be difficult.
There are many wonderful communities online that can be very fulfilling to be a part of, however, it is always good to strive for others you love to be around you often in person.
You can use the internet to your advantage by searching up groups that have interests similar to yours in your area. There are plenty of opportunities to form fulfilling relationships all around you! It just takes a bit of time and effort.
Service is a big one in blue zones. When you decide to be kind and go out of your way to serve others, you are boosting your longevity as well as your mental health. It is one of the most fruitful and rewarding things we can do.
Another reason people are drawn to organized religious faith is the community that comes with it.
If you are in a loving and healthy long-term relationship, great! That is something that can really improve your overall health. Especially if you are both committed to creating and maintaining your healthy lifestyle plan. Keep in mind that it is always a good idea to have friendships and community along with a romantic relationship.
The bottom line, having a support system of some sort in your life is incredibly important. This can be obtained and nourished if you prioritize it.
#5: Environment
Be attentive and mindful of your space. Does your environment reflect your aesthetic and the things you care about? Does it promote productivity? Are you comfortable there?
Do you regularly get sunshine in the mornings and throughout the day? How does your environment make you feel? And what are the things you can change?
Maybe your wardrobe doesn’t really feel like you anymore, or your cluttered room is subconsciously making you feel overwhelmed and sad.
You don’t have to go full minimalist, maybe you like a room like Howl’s from Howls Moving Castle, Maybe you want plants and paintings everywhere. What do you want your safe place to look at to make you happy to be there?
You can start small, maybe clean it all out before you put more in, really listen to you and only you. Make it perfect just for you.
