Since diet is some elements of the Power 9 learned from Blue Zones, Buettner has also launched the Blue Zone Food Guidelines which include 11 suggestions based on how the world’s most long-lived people ate for the majority of their lives.
“If you want to know what a centenarian [did to live] to be 100, you have to know what they ate during their whole [life],” he explained. “Working with Harvard for my book The Blue Zones Kitchen, we collected 155 dietary studies done in all Blue Zones over the past 80 years and averaged them.”
“It was clear that over 90% of their traditional dietary intake came from whole food, plant-based sources [and] was about 65% complex carbs,” Buettner said. Buettner. “The pillars of every longevity diet in the world are whole grains, nuts, greens, and other garden vegetables, tubersTrusted Source, and beans.”
Dr. Valter Longo Edna M. Jones Chair in Gerontology and Professor of biological sciences and gerontology within the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and Biomedical Sciences, created the Longevity DietTrusted Source after years of study into the effects of nutrition on aging, aging and diseases.
“The Longevity Diet, based on [the] five pillars of longevity, entails all of the everyday and periodic dietary habits that are associated with increased longevity and healthspan,” he told the MNT.
The most important aspects of Longevity Diet include:
- taking an extremely low-protein diet until 65-70, and then moderate protein intake later in life.
- intermittent fasting throughout 12 hours each night
- performing, on average, 3 cycles of a fasting mimicking diet every the year. The duration of each cycle is five days.
“Because diet [is] intended as ‘how and what we eat’ and not as a method to lose weight, [it] can regulate the genes that regulate the aging process, but also those that regulate the removal of damaged components of cells and the regeneration of parts of various tissues and organs,” Dr. Longo added.
In addition, research has suggested it is possible that the Mediterranean food plan may also have advantages when it comes to longevity.
A study that was that was published in January of 2020 concluded that Mediterranean diet may help to slow the rate ofTrusted Source the process of aging and the development in FrailtyTrusted Source as we years.
Research released in March 2021 indicates that sticking to the Mediterranean diet can bring years of Trusted Source to a person’s lifespan.
What is the reason diet is so crucial to longevity?
Based on Monique Richard who is Nutritionist and registered dietitian and owner of Nutrition-In-Sight, a business situated in Johnson City, TN, and national spokeswoman of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the area of eating to live longer diets like those of the Blue Zone Diet, Longevity Diet and the Mediterranean diet are distinct due to the common lifestyle elements they have in common.
“Examples of commonalities observed within these populations include more families and individuals growingTrusted Source and consuming their food [and] eating more whole foods, as in closest to what Mother Nature has made versus derived from a manufacturing plant, industrial farm, or fast food chain,” she explained to MNT.
“Overall intake and composition of these diets include less highly-processed foods, therefore often automatically decreasing levels of sodium, artificial flavors, colorings, and preservatives, fats or added sugar.” Richard observed.
“These dietary patterns often include foods lower in saturated fats, cholesterol, and calories, including more foods that are richer in nutrients such as fiber, antioxidants like vitamin C, E, A, [and] B, and higher in minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and iodine.”
– Monique Richard
How to alter your eating habits to enhance quality of life
If you are looking at diet modifications to prolong life, Richard said it is not just about extending the lifespan but also about enhancing the quality of life.
She offered:
- Take inventory of the food you have in your pantry and the items that should be added or removed
- Review your drinking habits, especially your sugary beveragesTrusted Source consumption
- Consider how much animal-derived products and other meals you consume, and then consider alternatives
- Cook more at home
- Make the effort take the time to go grocery shopping, rather than relying on a delivery service
- plants in containers or pots on a window or smaller deck if you do not have the space to plant the plants.
- Go to the farmer’s market
- Explore “new to you” foods
- make dishes more appealing by adding spices and herbs
- include more greens, beans, lentils, and other vegetables to your diet
- Take time to celebrate your food.
“The emphasis is not on restriction or negative consequences, but leaning into true quality, consistency, and overall health with a pillar of foundational pure, wholesome factors,” Richard said.
“Don’t forget to slow down with eating, with chewing, with making or creating a meal, with making time to stop and smell the flowers, [and] with making long-lasting meaningful changes,” she explained.