I was hearing about the Blue zones everywhere. But I had no intention of watching the documentary,I wanted the source. That’s why I decided to read the book. The Blue Zones 9 Lessons for living Longer by Dan Buettner.The best part about the book is, it focuses on food habits and longevity secrets from both the East and the West. Boiled down, its about eating healthy, and less meat seems to be a big takeaway.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

11 Nuggets of Wisdom from the Book

1. Less meat
2. More nuts
3. Daily exercise or gardening.
4. Eating fresh
5. Having a reason to live or the ikigai.
6. A well knit social connection where laughter, community building and kindred spirits help move things along well.
7. Drink more water (6 to 8 glasses daily but what’s the size of the glass?)
8. The long-term power of eating unprocessed food. Eat fewer calories light dinner
9. Light dinner early in the evening
10. Everyday physical chore
11. Naps? 3 times a week 30 minutes or so.

When do you get up? When the sun rises.
When do you sleep? When the sun sets
Work for health or wealth.The secrets of timeless congeniality and socializationWhat grows in Nicoyan garden?Corn, beans,papaya orange.

Okinawa has ikigai .Costa Rican talk about and plan di vida-strong sense of purpose.

What works for me

The book is written a very lucid language and takes us on a journey with the author as he delves into the lives of the centenarians in different countries. The language and culture barriers make things slow but our author is determined. He visits Okinawa, the Greek blue zone, American blue zone, and a few others while sharing tips on how to create your blue zone.

1. The positive message and the author’s intent of spreading the right message
2. Well written with engaging personal stories which helps to keep the pace interesting
3. Lucid language
4. Good book cover.

A few things need work

Charlie Munger was 99 when he died.I want to know what he ate and what he did daily too. He was a billionaire who managed one of the world’s biggest investment companies and lived an active life making money. None of the people our author interviewed had a modern-day life story like him.It was mostly in out-of-the-way places, people who didn’t have the trappings of modern life or a career as such. For most people, the connection to the people interviewed will be lacking,even though their simple eating and simple living will resonate. Few of us can manage to live in a mountain village rearing goats and eating the same food every day even with the best company. So there’s a need for examples from the world as we know it too.

In the blue zones, many seemed to hear and see less as they grow older and those functions are crucial for good quality of life and fighting dementia. I found no mention of the use of aids for seeing better or hearing aids to help those who didn’t hear so well. Both of which improve quality of life,overall functionality and brain functions.

The data presented is mostly hearsay and even the bibliography lacks hard data. That saying it’s interesting that the author received a budget for traveling and doing the work he did. Goes to show that longevity research has a lot of interest and everyone wants an option to do it right where they are.
Living longer and better is a wonderful goal to have.

Give this book a reading when you can do so with an open mind, otherwise, you might fall victim to a different sort of bias. A flag bearer of time-proven common sense advice that would benefit everyone when backed by more scientific data.