The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
Healthy Huddle: Eat Like The Blue Zones
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We talk through what Blue Zones are and why the world’s longest-lived people tend to eat well without calling it a diet. We unpack simple eating patterns that reduce cravings and decision fatigue, then turn them into small challenges you can try this week.
• what Blue Zones are and what makes them different
• why copying a “perfect” diet fails without the right environment
• what Blue Zones meals tend to include, mostly plants and beans plus occasional fish or meat
• stopping at 80% full rather than eating past 100%
• predictable meal rhythm, less snacking, simpler repeated meals
• eating socially and slowing down without distractions
• environment over willpower, limiting junk food cues and making home cooking easier
• marketing triggers, food as reward, and decision fatigue from too many choices
• small experiments, repeat meals, one distraction-free meal, one 80% meal
Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle.
Welcome And Weekly Call Setup
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Healthy Hell. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. This is your first time to join us. Each week, we join our live call that we have at M2B Fitness just to talk about different health food-related topics, more of so, how to live a healthier lifestyle in regards to diet, nutrition, and food versus being on a diet. So let's join today's call and today's topic. But we are going to talk about eating like the blue zones. Um has anybody ever heard of the blue zones?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00No. No, yes. Um, so the blue zones are very interesting. Um, there's typically not many of them. Um, so basically, a blue zone um is a region in the world where people live significantly longer. They live longer lives, they live healthier lives than average. Often they reach 90 to 100 plus years old, and they have lower rates of chronic disease. Um, there's a whole bunch of factors that go into that um from diet um to daily living to stress to disease, all kinds of things go into that. Um and um so there's a there's several different ones of them, but I can't really pronounce them. So um just search blue zones, and you'll see about five or six different regions that are blue zones. Um they're probably all places you've never heard of. So, but so we are gonna talk about the one thing that they how do they eat, and we're gonna talk about that and what that looks like in a blue zone. So if we were to take um from any of the blue zones, there's five of them. Um, if we were to take what they eat from the blue zone, and I said, okay, um, here's the exact diet intake, food intake, nutritional intake that the longest living people in the world are consuming. Um, would you follow it?
SPEAKER_02Well, I would like to say, oh, for sure, until I looked at the list of foods, and then I'd probably be like, and I and I think that's what a lot of us would do, like be okay, what well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Let me see what it is.
SPEAKER_01Most of it may you may not even be able to access here yet.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Because some of it, probably a lot of it, is um whatever region they're in, um, is what they have.
SPEAKER_01French here.
Why Perfect Diet Plans Fade
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, so it's a so and really probably the the the whole lifestyle is different in blue zones than it is here. Um, I mean, there's all kinds of things that go into the blue zones, um above and beyond just food. Um, so it's very interesting. But so if if we could have, let's say we had it was a perfect world and we could get all those things and we could do all that. And I said, here you go, here's the diet you need to eat to live the longest you can. And let's say I gave it gave it to you now. There'd probably be a you know, you might do it for a week, maybe two weeks, even and and then what would happen after that, typically.
SPEAKER_02Uh, you would uh lose interest in that.
SPEAKER_00You lose interest in that because there's other things that I mean when in the mornings when you used to leave Synergy Fitness, you could smell the wonderful aroma of bacon coming from Longhorn. Longhorn, thank you. I mean, it was just like, oh man, it was the best smell ever. That's one of the things I miss is that great smell. But you'd go, man, I've been on this, I've been on this live the longest diet for like two weeks now. Man, some bacon would really taste pretty good right now.
SPEAKER_02And if you if you left there in the evening, you could smell the fajitas.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah. If you left in the evening, you could smell fajitas. So you had two different smells coming.
SPEAKER_02I could smell that at 7:30 this morning in Bliss parking lot. I started earling. We could already smell those chilies.
The Blue Zones Eating Basics
SPEAKER_00That was a leftover aroma. That's leftovers, but a lot of times, or you'd go, well, I don't have time to fix the food, so I'm just gonna get something quick. So within a week, I mean, I'd say probably a week, you'd start to have reasons why you weren't continuing the food. Um, and and so the thing about the blue zones is um they're not succeeding because they know more. Um, it's they're succeeding because the environment makes it healthier eating by default, um, of the location, of what's available, of all, you know, all the different things that are going on just by default, the environment uh makes it for healthier eating. Um and so if you go to a blue zone, you say, What diet are you on? They're not gonna tell you, oh, this is the diet I eat. They're gonna say, Well, I have this for breakfast, I have this for lunch, I have this for supper, um, and if I'm out in the uh the grove, I'll get one of these for a snack. I mean, so it's not like here's my diet. It's like, well, this is what I do. This is my lifestyle. It's nothing that I do out of the ordinary, it's just the way I do it every day. And so how do they eat? Pretty, pretty simply, simply put, on average, they just eat a lot, they're mostly plants, beans, vegetables, grains, nuts, meat occasionally, and probably, you know, we're big meat eaters. Um, so you know, and and again, you can find all kinds of data to support a vegan diet, a vegetarian diet, a carnivore diet. You can find whatever you want to find to support those. But when you look at the people, what are the people actually doing? How are they living longer? You know, diet along with other environmental factors going on, but beans, vegetables, grains, nuts, meat occasionally. Typically in the blue zones, they eat to 80% full. And what do we usually eat to?
SPEAKER_02120.
unknown100 full.
SPEAKER_00110, 150, 120. Yeah, nobody mentioned 100%. It's all above 100% because it's so good. And and those foods are designed to make us want more, so we eat more. I doubt the the beans and vegetables and grains and nuts that they're getting from their environment are manufactured in a way that they're wanting to eat more. They're gonna be pretty much straight from the land. There's nothing saying, you know, eat more.
SPEAKER_01So so they're just both those blue zones on the water.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01So they eat a lot of fish, yeah. So each of chicken, but more fish.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I don't think they eat a lot of meat in general, but what they do eat is fish out of the sea. They're they're crippling our ecosystem, but you know, it's whatever they're doing their job.
SPEAKER_00So they could be saving a starfish.
SPEAKER_02They could be, but they're choosing not to. They're saving themselves, so yes.
SPEAKER_00So you're saying they're being selfish in the blue zones.
SPEAKER_02I am, because they are crippling the ecosystem.
SPEAKER_00But do they necessarily know that?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. They may not. I do.
SPEAKER_00So maybe they don't know what they don't know.
SPEAKER_02They might not.
SPEAKER_00Maybe they're just looking at is this is what was provided for us to eat from the land and sea.
SPEAKER_02Um I'll send them a letter.
SPEAKER_00Send them a letter. Um, they'll get it uh in a couple years. Yes, yes. Um, just just address it blue zone and it'll find its way there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and and they they also have just a constant uh meal rhythm. So, in other words, their meals are pretty pretty predictable. So um, kind of like I've mentioned before, if you log your food, you would find within a two-week period, three-week max, you're kind of eating the same things over and over again. Um they're really kind of the same way. They're it's predictable meals. This is what we're eating because why? This is what we have available um around us. Um and it's probably less snacking. Again, unless they're getting something from the land, there's not a whole lot manufactured that they're gonna eat. And and they also in the blue zones, they also eat socially, so meals are shared at a slower pace.
SPEAKER_02So it's not socially. We sure do.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we got that going.
SPEAKER_00But then do you eat slow socially, or then do I think what we talk about?
SPEAKER_02Uh when when some we do, we eat slow so that we can listen to what the other person says and wait our turn to talk.
SPEAKER_00And then and then sometimes you're you're I can't think of the words, you're swayed by the person ordering goes, oh well, I was gonna eat healthy, but that sounds pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Well, that does happen. Yeah, it goes both ways. It goes both ways. So I'll get a salad soup. Yeah, yes, that's true.
Environment Over Willpower
SPEAKER_00That's true. So it, I mean, we so we've named four things so far. So you got one of it, and that's just half of it, eating sl eating socially. Um okay, so so we got half of it. A half of one. That's good. Um, that's a start. Um, and and and really, they also eat simple. They're not, they just and they're repeating meals. Um, they're not chasing, looking for a lot of variety. Because sometimes what do we find ourselves saying? I'm just tired of eating that. I'm bored. Um and and they might say it, but they still don't have much of an option. We say we're bored or we're variety. We can just drive down um Y Street and find five different places to eat. Um, minimal. I mean, we don't have to look that hard. Five places that we can go through a drive-through and eat. We don't have to get out of the car um to get our steps in. We can just drive through. Um, so we have a tendency of chasing variety, which they do not. So nothing they're doing is, you know, revolutionary. It's nothing like craziness that we go, what's their secret to a long life? Um, it's no big secret. Um, so the one of the reasons that what they do works um in the blue zones is because their environment, um, it's environment over willpower. So, in other words, um they don't have to really rely on discipline. Why? Because there's the ocean. Um, if I want some uh meat, protein, I'm gonna get out of the ocean. Um, or I'm gonna grow it out of the ground. Or so it's not like what's the big manufacturer in town that I can go get these Lay's potato chips from? That's gonna have that one potato chip in there that makes me want to keep eating another one because that had the perfect mix of everything. So I'm gonna keep chasing that perfect crunch. They don't do that, their environment limits the junk food, it promotes home cooking because again, they're not going through a drive-thru. Um, and it supports routine because that's that's what they do, that's their routine. That's um, you know, what happens if everybody's cooking at home? That's what everybody's gonna do. Um so sometimes our environment makes it much harder to stick with an eating plan. Um, think about um, especially you gatherers. Um, you know, we're kind of like a blue zone over at our house. We don't we don't have I mean we're one day away from a snowstorm starving us out. One day away.
SPEAKER_02Um if we didn't count the days for yes, and you gatherers out there, I mean, you could live for a month.
Food As Entertainment And Identity
SPEAKER_00Um, so you have a lot of variety, so it so it's not so it's like, oh, what can I fix with these gazeta one ingredients I have at any moment? Um and so you're still cooking at home, but again, um sometimes it makes it harder because you know you might really want this really good dish, but then you have to use willpower and go, no, I'm trying to eat a little bit better. I probably shouldn't make that. Um so you have to use some willpower when the environment, if if you um just had fruits and vegetables and grains and nuts in your house, what are you gonna do? Um, and and let's say you can't go anywhere, you can't do anything, you're gonna eat what's in there. Um, because I doubt any of any of us would would starve ourselves because we didn't want to eat what was in there. Um eventually there's gonna become a time that we're just gonna go, well, I'll have some nuts, I'll have some grains, um, I'll have some veggies because that's what's to eat and I'm really hungry. Um, so they have environment over willpower. Um, they don't have to necessarily have that willpower because their environment dictates what they're gonna take in. Um so and and their food's not entertainment. Think about think about when you eat socially. Is it entertainment?
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, very much so.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's laughing, it's it's having a good time, it's um you're looking at the door closed on you, getting the door closed on you because you're getting too rowdy. Um so it we almost look at as um in our culture, you know, food is a reward. If I do good, I'm gonna have this. Um you know, sometimes it can be a hobby, a hobby, as in um, let me try this restaurant, let me try that restaurant. Um sometimes we use it just for an escape to get away from things. Um maybe that's where we have some drinks and some food, and um, it's to kind of forget the the world outside of the doors that just got closed on you. Um where in the blue zones, it's really about the food is really nourishment um and connection with those around them. Um so I would think for the most part, um how many of us eat strictly for nourishment? I do not yeah, I mean, I bet a lot most of us would say, no, I kind of eat because for stimulation of I like this or I like that, or um we're celebrating something, or it tastes good. But really, for if we're just eating for nourishment, doesn't that sound kind of boring? Like, ugh. Um, but that's really what they're doing, um, is eating for nourishment. Um so it, you know, again, their environment dictates what they're doing. Um, and and a lot of times they don't know any difference because that's how they grew up. That's that's the way it was. Um so if you, I mean, um, I think it's the Amish. The Amish grow up in in the way they do, and um it's called what's it called when they leave for a little bit? It has a name.
SPEAKER_02I can't remember. It's called uh go have a good time in the city. Yes, it's like breaking the Amish vacation. No, it's vacation for sure.
SPEAKER_00It's called it has a name.
SPEAKER_02It has a name for the I look it up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I don't remember what it is, but anyhow. It's called like Rashahama something. Kim froze, so she can't tell us. I lost my train of thought. Rum rumspringer, rum, rumspringer, runs, yeah, rumspringer, something like that. It's when they so so I I remember now I don't remember where it's at. So the Amish, you know, that's the way they live. So they don't really know much about the outside world. So rum springer, I'm saying that totally wrong, but I think that's where they go out and experience the world a little bit. Then they come back. It's kind of like sowing your wild oats, and and they get to experience cars, electricity, all the things, all the things of the world. All the things they don't have, all the things that they don't have, and and cell phones, all those things. So they don't really know about that. So if you you know, if you don't know what's out there, you don't know. I mean, just like there's some, there's still indigenous tribes left in the world that have no idea we have airplanes and cell phone electricity, they have no idea about that, any of that. And so that's their way of life, and so we don't know what we don't know, and that's hard for us to believe that there's still people out there like that, but it really is. Um and also they have um in those blue zones, they have portion control. Do you think they're tracking calories in the blue zones? No, no, again, because they're eating the plants, the the vegetables, the occasional fish or meat. They're not worried about that. So they're eating slower, they're eating socially, they're stopping at 80%, so they're not having to worry about okay, I'm gonna have to go get my calorie tracker and track my calories. They're not having to worry about that, so their lifestyle regulates their intake. Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, and so their identity drives their behavior. Think about that. They're not saying I'm trying to eat healthy. How many times have we said that or have we heard somebody else say that? I'm trying to eat healthy.
SPEAKER_02How many times?
SPEAKER_00Huh?
SPEAKER_02So many times. I feel like it's everywhere, all the time.
SPEAKER_00Everywhere. I bet it, I bet if you came in contact with five people eating, they'd say, Well, I bet one of them at least would say I'm trying to eat healthy.
SPEAKER_02Getting the protein in.
SPEAKER_00Getting my protein in. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, that that's a big one. I'm getting my protein in.
SPEAKER_02My protein.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my protein. How about some carbs? Get some carbs and healthy fats in. How about that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean fiber.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, nobody really says, oh man, I'm I'm just I'm just getting those healthy fats in. It's all about the protein.
SPEAKER_02I'm killing my fiber.
SPEAKER_00I'm killing my fiber, yeah. Yeah. So because they're not saying that in the blue zones. That's just what they do. Because they're gardeners, they're they're community eaters, they're home cookers. I mean, that's just their way of life. And so when we really say we're trying to eat healthy, we're really telling people, I don't ever eat like this. Very, very rarely. And so I'm trying this thing. And chances are, is it gonna be very successful? Unfortunately, not because we say what? Trying.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna try.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna try. I'm gonna get, I'm gonna give it a good hearty try. If it doesn't work, I'll just say, well, it's not for me. So it and almost when we look at food as nourishment, then we look at it as that's just the way we eat. Which I mean, it's a very challenging way to look at food for us in our modern times as we're eating for nourishment. Because we do have so many triggers that we look at. I mean, why is Burger King and McDonald's red and yellow? Does anybody know?
SPEAKER_02Because those are your colors that you're attracted to and you notice or eye catching.
Marketing Triggers And Decision Fatigue
SPEAKER_00Yep. And those colors are eye-catching, but they also signify hunger. They also trigger your hunger senses, and so that's why when you see red and yellow together, you go, oh, yes, it's catchy, but also in your mind, they're they've done you're thinking of a hot dog, mustard and ketchup, mustard and ketchup, yeah. It goes on. I mean, so it it is designed to trigger those hunger senses. So I again, I doubt they're having a yellow and red sign in the blue zones that's saying, hey, it's time to eat. And you know, and we're almost at a disadvantage because we're so marketed to in all ways and everywhere we look, it's telling us to go eat, be hungry. You want this, you deserve this. You it'll make you happy. Go have this. I mean, think about all the all the alcohol commercials you see. You never see an alcohol uh commercial where the wino is is you know now an alcoholic and now he's homeless and now he's just grounding around. You don't see those. They're all having a good time, they're hanging out, you know, we're making rolling around in their own vomit. Yeah. It's not showing it it it's not showing that part of it. Because I want you that you go, oh, if I have that, if I have that margarita, that equals fun, happiness, excitement. Yay!
SPEAKER_02As it does, it does.
SPEAKER_00The first one, and then the second one. Get into trouble, and then the fourth, and then it just gets can go south from there. Um, but it but it's very so we're in those blue zones, they're not having those kind of temptations, though they're not having those kind of issues. Um, which those are all really a real thing for all of us in the modern world. Um and so for them too, they have less decision fatigue because you see all those inputs, whether it's social media, whether it's the television, whether it's the billboard. And now we don't just have a single billboard, we have those digital billboards that you know every time you go by it, it's something different, especially if it's it's one you pass quite frequently, it's something different. So you're always always thinking about that. And you're always thinking, and when we talk about decision fatigue, isn't it? It's not which one do I go to? Sometimes it's like, okay, don't do that, don't go there, don't eat that, but I really want to, but don't do it, but I really want to, but oh well, there's another side, but I really want to go there because that sounds really good. And and the the blizzard over the blast looks even better today than it did yesterday. And I really like the blizzard because they turn it upside down. I just saw that on the TV where they turn upside down and the candy to fall out. Man, that's really making me hungry. Well, I'll just go buy and have a McDonald's cone instead. So it's a lot of decisions, and you still ended up with something, so it tires us out. And if we have less choices, it creates more consistency. Think about if you have less choices in your refrigerator, you're gonna be more consistent because you don't have the options of let's see, what do I want? How many times have you gone to a vending machine to pick out something, some kind of snack?
SPEAKER_02Is it a convenience store that has multiple choices?
Simple Blue Zones Challenges To Try
SPEAKER_00So we went to uh Oklahoma this weekend, and Kim and I already decided we were gonna get a snack and a drink at the convenience store. We'd already planned it. But about an hour away, I said, Okay, what are you gonna get? And she said, I don't know. So, because is what happens is you go in there and it's like you see everything and you want everything. So we started, you know, do you want something to eat? Do you want something to snack on? Do you want something salty? Do you want something sweet? So we kind of had to work it out. Otherwise, if I sent her in there by herself, an hour later, I'd still be waiting in the truck because she wouldn't know what to do, what what to get. Um, because there is so much, and that's what happens to us. It's like, you know, if you went to the community store and you had a choice of chips or candy bar, pretty easy decision. Do I want chips? Do I want candy bar? What do you go in? You go in, you can get a little yogurt parfait, you can get a sandwich, you can get a hot dog, you can get a slurpee, you can get all sorts of candy. I mean, you can get a slim gym, you can get it all. And you go, I don't know what to get. So if we have less choices, it's easier to be more. Why is meal prep so so much better? Because you have your two choices of meals in there. You grab one and go. Whereas you say, I can have these 10 different things, what will I have? And it's harder. So, so how do we make that? How do we put that into our life? So maybe it's just we do one thing uh that they do in the blue zone. Maybe it's we are consistent. So maybe we repeat the same lunch or the same breakfast or the same supper for three or four days in a row, just to see what it's like. And see, when you get up, there's no thinking. You already know what you're having. Lunch, you already know what you're having. Supper, you already, you know, try one of those. Maybe it's you eat a meal with someone else without any distraction. Maybe it's, you know, at one meal in the day, you stop eating it 80%. So unfortunately, we don't have a little gauge on us that goes, you know, kind of like the gas gauge. It says half full, three-quarters full, all the way full. So 80% looks like I could keep eating, but 80% says, I'm not going to. I'm going to stop here. So that's what 80% looks like. Because typically, and and you'd find if you stopped at 80% how you currently feel, you're going to find that really is 100%. Because 20 minutes later, you go, Yeah, that was plenty. Um, so that's just a challenge, you know. Can you do a one meal without distraction? Can you eat a meal with somebody? Can you stop at 80%? Can you repeat the same lunch or supper or breakfast three times this week or four times? Not all of those, but could you pick one? Any thoughts, comments, or questions about the blue zones? And how how we eat like the blue zones? If we can only live like the blue zones, move to the blue zone, huh?
SPEAKER_01It'd be easier just to move to the blue zone.
SPEAKER_00It would be much easier just to move to the blue zones. So, so so maybe look into that. Maybe just say pick up roots and uh move to a blue zone. It's gonna be it's gonna be way easier. Way easier. Um and thank you to each of you for joining us on Healthy Huddle. Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Hut.