Many people look for the secret to living a long life. But in some places this “secret” has already become an ordinary habit: less meat, more plant-based products.
A longevity expert, Dan Buettner (a National Geographic fellow), studied the world’s “blue zones” where people over 100 years old are most commonly found. These areas are: Okinawa, Sardinia, Nicoya, Ikaria, and Loma Linda.
According to the expert, people in these places have not completely given up meat — meaning they are not vegans. But they do not make meat the “main hero”: they do not add it to every meal; the center of the diet is vegetables, fruits, greens, nuts, and seeds. Meat is most often consumed once or twice a week, in small amounts.
In Buettner’s view, from a health perspective it is possible to eat one portion of meat per day, but exceeding the norm and “filling” every meal with meat is not good. Because if the amount of meat increases, the risk of chronic diseases may also increase.
Studies often note that the diet of long-livers in the “blue zones” is rich in legumes (especially beans/chickpeas/mung beans), greens, and unrefined carbohydrates. That is, they often get strength and fullness not from meat, but from simple and natural products.
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