Living Optimally Past 100-years-old

What if living to 100 wasn’t about luck—but about how you live today?

In this episode, Autumn Carter explores the powerful lessons behind the world’s Blue Zones—regions where people don’t just live longer, they live better. We’re talking about vibrant, active, purpose-filled lives well into their 90s and beyond. But instead of overwhelming you with rigid rules, this episode invites you into something more sustainable: curiosity, awareness, and small, meaningful shifts.

You’ll walk through the core habits these communities share—from natural daily movement and a strong sense of purpose (ikigai), to stress-reducing rituals, plant-forward eating, and deeply rooted social connections. Autumn breaks down what actually matters, what might be overhyped, and how to realistically apply these insights to your own life—without guilt or perfection.

This episode also connects Blue Zone principles to the 8 dimensions of wellness, helping you see how one positive change can ripple into multiple areas of your life. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on your current lifestyle, your environment, your relationships, and your future—especially how you want to age and what kind of life you want to be living decades from now.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, disconnected, or just not fully alive in your day-to-day… this is your nudge. Not to overhaul everything overnight—but to begin.

If you’re feeling stuck on your purpose or unsure where to start, Autumn invites you to connect and explore that together.

For more wellness tips and exclusive content, join my newsletter! Sign up now at https://wellness-in-every-season.kit.com/5-days-to-mastering-mornings-and-evenings receive a free 5-day guide called "Awaken and Unwind: 5 Days to Mastering Life's Mornings and Evenings." 

Transcript

Blue Zones Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:01

This is episode two of five, and we are going to be talking about blue zones and living well, living optimally until you are a hundred years old plus. Welcome to Wellness in Every Season. We talk all things wellness to help you align yourself, align with your goals, get find balance in your life, and just recalibrate yourself. If you are listening for the first time, welcome, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. And let's get started in the rest of the podcast. So Lego kits that go until you're 99 years old, you can't use them anymore. I love that joke. It's so funny. Because why put an age on things? That's really what we're talking about here. And I have an intern who put forth a lot of research in this. So I'm gonna be sharing a lot of her stuff. So let's first of all talk about blue zones. So we know these are places around the world where a community lives and they live well past 100 years and they live well. They're not in any medical crises. They are acting like they're young. Their body moves well, they're cognitively young. Everything about them is young except their actual age. So there are blue zones around the world. There's one in Loma Linda, and that's in California, Costa Rica, in Italy, Greece, and Okinawa, Japan. And that one shocks me because that is also where an atomic bomb was dropped. So interesting, right? So here are the common denominators. And I want you to really think about them and compare them to your life, but not in a judgment way, more in curiosity and what can I do to add this into my life? And know that when you add good things into your life, other things naturally drop off. So when that happens, make sure that it's the bad habits that are dropping off. So the first one is they're moving naturally. They don't pump iron, they don't run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and do not have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work. So time to get that sickle for cutting the grass, I guess. But really think about it. What ways can you add natural movements into your life? We know that science talks about how we need to be getting more steps in the day. That could be a thought. Along with that, there's getting up and down throughout the day. From videos that I watched on it, it showed people who were like in Japan, they sit down on the floor to eat. So I have to get up and down off the floor. What things can you add into your lifestyle in that way? The second one is purpose. And in Okinawa, they call it, I can spell it for you, but I can't pronounce it. And in Costa Rica, the Nicaraguans call it plan de vida. So it translates into why wake up in the morning. So what is your sense of purpose? Do you have a sense of purpose? Do you need to work on that?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

And know that your sense of purpose can change throughout your life.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

So think about that. And in her work, she is saying that it's worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy. Yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

How many of you have lived a time in your life where you just felt stuck? And you felt like you just need time to get to for me until I was 18 to like finally move out. And how many of you need to adjust your life so you don't feel stuck? What needs to change for that?

Downshift Stress Routines

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And what will help you to define your life purpose, your reason for being here, and this reason that lights you up and that wants you to give to the rest of the world. The third one is downshifting. I really like her wording for this, this intern. She said, even people in the blue zones experience stress. That's huge to realize, right? We all experience stress. It's what we do with it. She says stress leads to chronic inflammation associated with every major age-related disease. What the world's longest lived people have that others do not are routinely to shed, think of a snake here, the stress. Helkenoguans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors. Adventist prey. Some take a nap. Sardanians do happy hours. So what do you need that helps you shed the stress? And then going further, is it something that's healthy healthy? Is it a healthy coping? Maybe you need to add in meditation. Maybe it's listening to some fun music. Maybe it's sitting still for a moment. Sitting on a swing. Maybe it's doing Zumba.

Eat The 80 Percent Rule

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Getting some movement in it. What helps you? The next one is the 80% rule.

Plant Slant And Beans

Wine And Moderation

Belonging And Faith

Family Comes First

Choose The Right Tribe

SPEAKER_01 6:32

The Okinawas have a 2,500 year-old mantra said before each meal that reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. And there's a Netflix documentary that talks about this. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the blue zone eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening, and then they do not eat any more for the rest of the day. So that allows them to naturally fast, which is really it can be good for the blood sugar, especially overnight. You sleep better. That's why, if any of you have any apps, sleep apps that are coaching you through sleep, it is asking you, have you did you eat right before bed? As well as have you been looking at blue screens like I'm doing right now. So think about that. Are you eating your emotions? Are you really paying attention to how you're feeling while you're eating? And then the next one is she called it plant slant. And beans, including fava, black, soy, lentils, are the cornerstone of most centurion diets. And this is something that fills you up and keeps your blood sugar leveled. And it's something that has a ton of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, the good things in it. And they mostly eat quart, which is interesting. And it's eaten on an average of five times per month. The serving sizes are three to four ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. The fixed one is wine. And it says people in all blue zones except Adventists who are in these blue zones drink alcohol moderately and regularly. The trick is to drink one to two glasses per day. And she says in here, preferably Sardinian wine with friends andor with food. So the social aspect, which we'll talk about that next. I know you cannot save up all week and have 14 drinks on a Saturday. All but five of the 263 centerians interviewed belong to some faith-based community. Denomination does not seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add four to 14 years of life expectancy. And then the next note on all the research that has been done is loved ones come first. Successful centerians in the blue zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home, which is very different from the way we live in the US. It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home, too. They commit to a life partner, which can add up to three years of life expectancy and invest in the children with time and love. They'll be more likely to care for aging parents when the time comes. It's true. And the last one is The Right Tribe, the world's longest-lived people choose and were born into social circles that supported healthy behaviors. And I really like this one because, and I've learned about it in different books and in different podcasts, and I have no idea where it originally came from, but the idea that you are the sum of the people that you hang out with. So think about if you're trying to make healthy habits, it's a lot easier if you're hanging out with those people who are already doing that. And she says in her notes, Okanobans created once a group of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Farmingham studies show that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors. So think about that. Who are you pinging out with? What kind of energy did they bring to you? Do they energize you or do they deplete it?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Are they the ones that you really want to be the sum of who you are?

Wellness Dimensions Connection

SPEAKER_01 11:15

And she went even deeper for me on the critiques, and one of them is that it can downplay genetics. So think about the idea that their past family members probably had healthy habits that helped them to have healthy habits. They probably ate foods that helped them have the correct vitamins and nutrients. They probably weren't raised in stressful environments. This does not mean that you can't change your outcome, your health outcome. And this is whole talking about like preventative health and things that you can undo by living like these people do. And that's by moving naturally, having purpose. How are you shedding your stress? Are you making sure that you're eating until you're 80% full, not 100? And that doesn't mean that you can't overeat once in a while, but on average, are you having mostly beans in your diet? Are you drinking alcohol if you're a drinker? I am not. So I'll be having grapes and I'll be enjoying those. Do you have a sense of belonging? Some type of religious sense of belonging or spiritual sense of belonging. Do you have a family that you want to put first? And for people who don't have a healthy family, maybe you create a friend group that feels like family and you put each other first. And having social circles that support healthy behaviors. So eight and nine can kind of go together depending on what kind of lifestyle you have. And another critique from this study that I want you to think about is healthcare access. And how can you change that for yourself? Does that mean that you maybe need to get a better job? There are different ways that you can think about this if you want to lean further into traditional medicine or non-traditional, but thinking about your health care. Where is it going to come from and making sure you have the proper access to that? And how does this relate to the dimensions of wellness, which is something that I talk about a lot here? And I wanted her to look into the correlation because a lot of the blue zone studies seem like they can overlap with this, and she found that it does, and working through this can increase more than one dimension of wellness, which is always a favorite to hear.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

It's a lot of people living into their 100s and living well, healthy in there.

Design A Life Worth Living

SPEAKER_01 14:49

The idea is with all of this is to think about how I can make my life healthier. And how can I make it so I want to live until I'm 100 years old and not be that person who, and we've all seen news articles with them, where yay, they're 100 years old, but they're in a nursing home, and you can tell that there no lights are on upstairs, and there's a cake for them. I mean somebody who you find out that they are a hundred years old and you think they're in their 60s. Those type of people who are still actively doing things. And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, but I'm not enjoying my life right now, this is your wake-up call. What needs to change so that you can enjoy your life? So you can have your purpose back, find your spark. And how can you add in naturally being active? How can you add in having more plant-based foods in your diet?

SPEAKER_00 16:09

And how can you or what would it look like to audit your social circle?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

To have it be one that is uplifting, one that contributes to you and you want to contribute back to. And that can be that mutual investment. What do you need to change within your family dynamics to make it healthier? So family automatically naturally comes first. What can you add into your life to help you de-stress? And then what can you subtract from your life so you're not having to de-stress as much? What needs to change out of there? What is eating up your energy, your mental capacity? What is chipping away at your soul?

SPEAKER_00 17:01

That's really what this whole episode is about.

Retirement Lifestyle Planning

Small Steps And Closing

SPEAKER_01 17:07

And it's about also what do you want your lifestyle to look like when you retire, if you're not retired yet? What do you want your lifestyle to look like when you're at that age? For me, I want to be in a position where I can choose to either live close to my children, which yes, so it's easier for them to visit me. But I don't want to be that big of a burden on them, so I want to take care of myself now. And I want to move into a place that's more of a retirement community. So yes, I need to be saving up money for this, but move into a retirement community that slowly puts me into a nursing home, but it does it based off of my needs. My dad owned a business where I was able to visit some of those places. He had wealthy clients, so they'd travel all over the place and they had their own apartment. And then as they aged, they slowly work their way into a nursing home. But it was this place where they could come and go as they please. They had their car there, they were able to do all kinds of social things. They had active social calendar just within this community. And I love that idea. And that doesn't mean it needs to be a nursing home. So think about what would that look like as you're aging? What do you want it to be? Because how much easier is it on your children or whoever in your family if you've already decided what path you want and you've saved up for it, versus you've never had your will done up and nobody knows where anything is or what you want in your life, your end of life, years, all of this stuff. So you are in control of your life. Plan it out accordingly. Make the changes that you need to, and don't do it with judgment at yourself. Don't sit there thinking, I should have, I could have, blah, blah, blah. You're here now. You're listening to this episode now. What changes do you want to make? What changes are you willing to make today, tomorrow? Are you going to get a few extra steps in a day? Are you going to eat just a little bit healthier? Just do it. It's kind of that saying, how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? But just one step at a time. Know that we are all cheering you on. I'm here for you. If you really are stuck on the life purpose thing, let's talk. I love helping people through it. It energizes me. It's so much fun. But you got this, and your life is worth living to the fullest. You are worth it, and you are put here for a reason. Let's go find it. I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope that you found the answers that you needed and you had some amazing aha moments. Please share this episode with others because it helps us align ourselves and then better align the world so that we can seek the healing that we really are looking for. As part of the legal language, I am a certified life coach with a bachelor's in applied health. That is what I am leaning on for this. This is general advice taken aside. See you in the next episode.