Does this beach paradise hold the secret for long life?
And what does this have in common with
“Stay grounded and listen to your Dad?
I watched a wonderful show on CNN, it is Bill Weir’s The Wonder List. Each week he visits different places and cultures, mainly ones that have tradition and have not changed very much over time, treasures of the world that are not well known. He mentions that he wants to visit these unique and special places while they are still there, before they change.
Meeting Dan Buettner, BlueZones.com, and listening to his adventure stories, Bill learned some very interesting things. One being a statistic from the World Health Organization that claimed that Okinawa Japan had the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world. They lived longer and healthier. This became his kick off for this interesting series.
The question, after looking at United States longevity statistics is, ‘How do we get those extra 13 years?”
The episode that I am writing about here is his visit to Ikaria, a small island off Greece where people live well into their 90’s and 100’s.
Being in touch with life while slowing down to enjoy it, lots of movement and their diet, are major factors of their long lives.
Growing their own food means that for every meal they are bending, picking doing some form of movement to gather and prepare. They did not know what Organic was as they have never used anything on the plants they grow.
Meat’s a rare treat and a tomato is a snack with their diets being mainly 95% plants.
Interaction across generations is common with Grandparents watching and playing with children.
A few general comments from the Island were:
Having a sense of value, feeling needed.
Hiking, walking, dancing
A life of service
Moderation for everything
Here, life is slow.
Longevity is 25% genetics. 75% comes from where and how you live.
Daily routines that help with stress
Eat a plant based diet
Does this beach paradise hold the secret for long life?
This is the opening line on the CNN page about longevity on the island of Ikaria.
“Stay grounded and listen to your Dad”
This is Bill Weir’s comment to his daughter at her very young stage of aging.
He is watching his daughter grow up, become independent much too soon and, from my perspective, wondering about his own longevity and hers, maybe without him to guide her.
So the common bond, of these seemingly unrelated two statements, is the unknown question of how long will we live?
He also mentions the following statement, as a side note, because his daughter is included as he personalizes his story.
“The real lesson is, when they reach a certain age of freedom your kid is going to ignore everything you have ever said.” Bill Weir