Listen to the story, accept the science

Have you ever heard of “blue zones”?

These pockets of the world are known for having citizens who live exceptionally long and healthy lives.

Some of these areas may look familiar:

Okinawa, Japan (home of Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid!) Sardinia, Italy Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica Ikaria, Greece.

These areas have a higher percentage of people living longer due to their local whole foods diet, higher vegetable consumption, lower incidence of disease, richer social interaction, lower stress and more physical activity.

Books, documentaries, and countless news articles have promoted these communities, and millions of health-conscious individuals have modeled their lifestyles after these people.

It just exists. one The problem with this amazing story.

It’s not really true.

First Ig Nobel Prize in Demography

Last month, Dr. Saul Justin Newman was awarded the first “Ig Nobel Prize” in demography.

These awards are given annually to scientific research that “makes people laugh, then think.”

For this special award, Newman was recognized for simplifying all the findings of research related to Blue Zones.

Here’s what Dr. Newman found:

“The high level of aging is predicted by high poverty, lack of birth certificates and elderly people reaching 90 years of age.

Poverty and the push for pension fraud have been shown to be excellent predictors of reaching age 100+ in a ‘contrary to rational expectation’ manner.

Most of the “very old, healthy” individuals in these blue zones were easily found. .Poor records, pension fraud and outright lying..

Let’s see what happened in Okinawa:

Although vegetables and sweet potatoes are recognized as a staple of the Okinawan ‘blue zone’ diet, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the fewest vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index.

Ooof. So what do we do now!?

Beware of fairy tales that make fantastic promises

Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll come across people telling you to eat only meat, cut out carbs completely, “how this supplement saved their life,” or how doing XYZ cured their illness, etc.

These fairy tales, especially when they have villains, victims, and heroic stories about overcoming adversity, are unbelievably powerful. They are also often used to sell solutions in pill or powder form.

The good news is that we are constantly calling for data in science.

we don’t have Really We don’t need to know what the people of Okinawa eat, or study the daily habits of a particular community in Costa Rica.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good funny tale about faraway customs too, but it still comes back to reality and science!

And we can remember to do the best A special situation for us. That might include. .Treatment.may include .Weight loss medicine.Now that might just involve focusing on sleep!

It’s up to us to decide, and we can do so with confidence. Not because of what’s going to happen in Costa Rica or Greece, but because it’s what’s best for us.

Here are some ways we can positively impact our lives and/or our health.

Yes, some of these things are part of the “Blue Zone Diet”… without the sensationalism and retirement scams.

And many of them may be out of our control!

example – .Determinants of social health. (Financial stability, access to health care, education, our environment) are strongly associated with all-cause mortality, and many of these factors may not be available to large segments of the population.

Life is messy.

I bring all this up not to tell you to stay away from the Blue Zone diet.

Heck, you could do worse than eat Mediterranean food! of course Eating mostly fresh fish, whole foods, and vegetables can help you lose weight and feel healthier.

I bring all this up to remind you that life is messy.

A long healthy life is a combination of dozens of interrelated factors (as listed above), thousands of decisions in our lives. In addition Things like genetics, society and luck! What works for one person may not work for the next, and there is no “one size fits all” diet for our problems.

We might get hit by a bus tomorrow, we might get a cancer diagnosis even though we’re “doing everything right,” or a .An accident that changes everything. next week.

So, instead of chasing eternity with emotional stories, or getting caught up in the latest social media trend…

We can focus on things that we believe will make us better tomorrow than we are today.

Like the items in the list above! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do push-ups, eat some vegetables, and call my friend for a brisk walk.

– Steve

PS Hat tip to my friend Jodi Etenberg, whose heartbreaking acceptance story I linked above. has been. .Her newspaper. Which led me to this article!

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