About fifteen or more years ago, I became interested in the Okinawa program and diet. The exact title of the book I bought was The Okinawa Program: how the world’s longest-lived people achieve everlasting health – and how you can, too.
I suspect I was not the only person who was looking for a program that would help me live a long and healthy life. There was a lot of good information in the book, even though I am not terribly fond of processed soy products that try to mimic “real” foods. I do like tofu if it is prepared well. I have a terrific chocolate pudding recipe that is made from tofu, for example.
Less than ten years later, when I began to hear about Dan Buettner, I was even more intrigued. Dan is a National Geographic Fellow, and in his travels he found spots in our world that have large numbers of centenarians, which he circled with a blue pen – thus the name “blue zones.” Loma Linda, California was one of the areas he found that produced long-lived people, primarily because they were Seventh Day Adventists. Dan found nine principles that were common to each of these areas.
Probably most of you who read this blog have heard of “The Blue Zones” by now. A group of people began to experiment with bringing Blue Zones to other cities in our own country, and the Blue Zones Project was born. Gradually, various towns began to incorporate the same nine principles and have become Blue Zone cities.
In Hawai`i, we are taking part in The Blue Zones Project in an effort to create a healthier population and become one more of the Blue Zones areas. I am a member of the Leadership Team for West Hawai`i, and we are creating strategies to accomplish this goal.
Watch for the Blue Zones logo at your grocery stores, restaurants, schools, workplace, civic organizations, and more. In the next few posts, I will explain the nine Blue Zones principles and what being a Blue Zones community involves. In the meantime, please check out https://bluezones.com to learn more.
A hui hou!
Lucy