Eat To Beat 100

Emulating the eating habits of the residents of “Blue Zones,” where people enjoy extraordinary longevity, can help you stay healthy at every age.

- Stacy Baker Masand

Being around to celebrate your 100th birthday seems like a matter of luck, but it turns out that there are many similarities between the lifestyles of the world’s longest-living people. Dan Buettner, researcher and author of The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (National Geographic, 2010), explored these regions, uncovering the secrets to longevity of centenarians from around the globe. In addition to their long, healthy and happy lives, Buettner’s research found that they also have low levels of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Surprisingly, even though these people live in vastly different places, thousands of miles apart, there are many similarities in their diets—and their lifestyle. Some of his findings:

In Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy, Buettner believes that the local’s herding lifestyle, combined with plenty of wine, legumes and dairy from goat and sheep, are their secrets to longevity. Even more impressive: The ratio of male-to-female 100-year-olds is one to one, which is unheard of in other parts of the world.

The people of Okinawa, Japan—which has the highest concentration of centenarians in the world—focus on tofu, brown rice, garlic and shiitake mushrooms, along with seaweed and fish.

Buettner found that the diet of Costa Ricans in the Nicoya Peninsula is centered around beans, squash and corn, supplemented by vitamin C–rich locally grown fruits.

On Icaria, Greece, the islanders eat a traditionally Mediterranean diet, including feta cheese, goat’s milk, wild greens and wild-caught fish instead of lamb, which Buettner says is responsible for their longevity.