Dan Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and author of Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from People Who Have Lived Longer. In 2000, Buettner traveled to Okinawa, Japan, to investigate why people lived to be 100 years old or more there. With support from National Geographic, Buettner and his team then traveled the world in 2004 to explore other regions of high longevity, better known as longevity.

He identified five places, which he named “Blue Zones“, where people live the longest and healthiest lives. The five original Blue Zones were Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. Research and lessons from the five populations where he interviewed many centenarians living high-quality lives became a Netflix Documentary entitled “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”. Within these communities, people prioritized family values, community, Mediterranean diets, and living in walkable neighborhoods.

I've known Dan for years, and while I don't hold his three Guinness world distance cycling records, we share a common passion for cycling and the outdoors. I aimed to dig deeper into his insights about how people, especially in America, are always looking for the quick fix and jumping on the latest fad bandwagon. Be it Ozempikno alcohol, cold immersion or eating a carnivorous diet, I asked Dan his thoughts on these trends, more of which included CrossFit workouts, keto diets, and intermittent fasting.

I said to Buettner, “Among all these protocols, trends, supplements and meal plans, where does the magic of longevity lie?”

“There is no short-term solution,” he replied. “We keep looking for it and we keep failing. None of it has been proven to work in humans for more than a single digit percentage of people.”

Every year, we show up to try new diets, supplements and Drills and three months after them, 90% of people fail in what they started. Buettner explained how he found out five populations that live long because their everyday unconscious behaviors are healthy and sustainable. And guess what? It doesn't cost much.

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Nutrition and specific foods

Starting with food, Buettner explained how people eat so much processed food and tend to rely on a “watch food” diet. If we see it on our counter or pantry, or there are snacks in the office, we eat them and we're crazy eating.

These data were supported by research at Cornelland in his books, he encourages people to put bowls of fruit in their kitchens and keep healthy food accessible, including beans and nuts, both of which have strong nutritional benefits and help reduce inflammation. Beans are also loaded with fiber, something 80-90% of Americans need more of, and they're inexpensive, shelf-stable, and benefit healthy gut bacteria. Buettner also relies on a handful of walnuts each day, and his research shows that walnuts add 2-3 years to life expectancy.

Buettner eats a plant-based diet, and the five crops in the Blue Zones mostly do the same. These communities eat meat about once a week, while the average American eats 240 pounds a year — “about a tub full of meat.”

He explained that meat is like radiation in that we know we are likely to die sooner of type 2 diabetes or gastrointestinal cancer. He also loves his coffee and explains that coffee drinkers have lower rates of type 2 diabetes or Parkinson's and also have better physical endurance and cardiovascular output.

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Community and purpose

Yours circle of friends it affects happiness, health and sense of purpose. For example, if you have active friends, you're likely to be active, and if your best friends are obese, there's a good chance you'll be influenced in that direction. “Enhance your circle of friends” for people who will encourage you to be happy and healthy, make you laugh and make you feel good about yourself when you're with them.

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Moving naturally and avoiding health trends that fail

So how about the sauna and cold plunge? Buettner occasionally takes a sauna and believes the cold plunge is already on the decline. Unless you're swimming in the ocean, surfing, or doing something you enjoy, he believes intense cold diving at 35-40 degrees, which is what most cold dive studios do, is painful As with most fitness and nutrition trends, people get excited for a few weeks or maybe a year, and then almost everyone says, “Enough.”

I enjoyed hearing Buetter explain that the “no pain, no gain” mentality is wrong. The opposite is correct and true: “Less pain, more gain,” and doing it long enough to make a difference is exactly what populations in the Blue Zones do. Blue Zone populations interact with the outside environment, sit down to meals with their family, socialize with friends, and prioritize sleep.

These are the human things that bring joy amidst the everyday and inexpensive habits that extend life — such as living in walkable neighborhoods where you walk to get food and run errands, eating mostly fresh, raw foods, and avoiding things that cause you pain.

When I asked him about Ozempic, he exclaimed, “Who the hell wants to stick a needle in their gut to lose weight?” Again, it's another fad miles away from longevity.

The number of obese people in America has tripled since 1980, and Buettner explained how this is an unmitigated failure of mental health. Most Americans get less than 20 minutes of exercise a day, while Blue Zone people walk most places, garden or weed in their yards and practice stress-reducing activities, unlike CrossFit, which can cause inflammation and cause injury.

Buettner, also an outdoor enthusiast, is passionate about ultralight hiking and pickles, explained that 75% of Americans could benefit by simply walking to work or taking public transportation. The morning we spoke, Buettner told me he went to get a haircut, had a physical therapy appointment and then had breakfast, all on his bike.

I encourage you to watch the Blue Zones documentary to learn more about specific longevity lifestyle habits. If we all fixed just a few small daily habits, it might just help us 'Live to 100'.