Blue Zone

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mkeatonmom4667
mkeatonmom4667 Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone here ever heard of the Blue Zone Diet. My dietitian has suggested that it was a good plan to follow. How does it differ from the My Plate guidelines. Do either of the meal plan seem reasonable or sustainable. I need something that is easy to incorporate into an already hectic lifestyle.

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,723 Member
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    We were talking a bit earlier on another thread about Blue zone. Basically it revolves around a more plant based diet with less animal product.

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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2021
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    Lots of information here: https://www.bluezones.com/recipes/food-guidelines/

    Not too different from what most think of as a Mediterranean diet, which tends to mean cooking mostly from whole or minimally processed foods, olive oil as the main fat, lots of veggies and fruit, nuts and seeds, little meat but for fish, whole grains vs refined, limited added sugar.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
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    I regularly listen the "The Ten-Percent Happier" podcast with Dan Harris. Today he started a short series called "Getting Fit Sanely."

    The first episode is with Dan Buettner, who founded the Blue Zones study.

    https://tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/dan-buettner

    The "Don't drink and eat fish" message I often hear, (which isn't my style) is not a common element of the longevity found in these communities. That was good.

    There is a "Power Nine" commonality he's found among the different Blue Zones. It's a good episode.
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 293 Member
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    If your dietician recommends a diet, then they need to give you more detail than just the name.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
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    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If your dietician ...
    Having a dietitian isn't very common. The times I've spoken with dietitians, they say the USDA recommendations. Which is currently to look at a picture of a plate and image a larger portion is vegetable, and a smaller percent is meat.
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,868 Member
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    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If your dietician ...
    Having a dietitian isn't very common. The times I've spoken with dietitians, they say the USDA recommendations. Which is currently to look at a picture of a plate and image a larger portion is vegetable, and a smaller percent is meat.

    Often someone needs a medical diagnosis like diabetes or kidney disease before insurance covers a dietitian. Which is sad. I think many people would benefit from being able to discuss their health and dietary choices with someone more knowledgeable than their GP, or a bunch of strangers on the internet.

    And then when someone does actually get an appointment or set of appointments with a registered dietitian, there can be a lot of misconceptions about what is and is not healthy to unpack before someone can hear the message. And some people are at about a 5th grade reading level so the basic lessons really do need to be basic. Which makes it difficult if you only are allowed one or two 45 minute appointments.

    I agree. It’s a problem.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,918 Member
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    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If your dietician ...
    Having a dietitian isn't very common. The times I've spoken with dietitians, they say the USDA recommendations. Which is currently to look at a picture of a plate and image a larger portion is vegetable, and a smaller percent is meat.

    Yeah, that's the overview poster. But the USDA MyPlate site has a lot of information - videos, tips, tools, guides, etc. - for anyone willing to click beyond a picture. It's quite specific, actually.
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,868 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If your dietician ...
    Having a dietitian isn't very common. The times I've spoken with dietitians, they say the USDA recommendations. Which is currently to look at a picture of a plate and image a larger portion is vegetable, and a smaller percent is meat.

    Yeah, that's the overview poster. But the USDA MyPlate site has a lot of information - videos, tips, tools, guides, etc. - for anyone willing to click beyond a picture. It's quite specific, actually.

    When my husband was in cardiac rehab our local health system had about six weeks of group classes for the newly rehabbing heart patients. Individual exercise sessions for 45 minutes, followed by an hour of group classroom sessions that really dived pretty deeply different dietary guidelines and how diet and exercise affects people.

    It was overall very good.

    But even with all that effort there was one person, a diabetic who had survived a very serious heart attack, who refused to listen to any of the medical advice.

    He would do the exercise. But he had been so convinced that “big pharma” was some kind of a scam that he flat refused to take metformin, statins, or insulin. He believed that his elevated A1C was ok as long as he ate enough cinnamon and turmeric.

    The nurses and PAs who ran the program were trying their absolute best to get him to do something that would actually help him avoid another heart attack or stroke.

    Sadly it was not successful.

    We’re in a relatively affluent, well educated area. The information is available. If someone wants to go looking for it.

    Unfortunately there’s a lot of charlatans and sketchy information competing for attention.

    *please don’t anyone interpret this as me saying that the only valid way to eat is by strict adherence to whatever medical professionals say about diet.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    Unfortunately there’s a lot of charlatans and sketchy information competing for attention.

    This is the subtitle for MFP Community threads. :smile:
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,868 Member
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    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    Unfortunately there’s a lot of charlatans and sketchy information competing for attention.

    This is the subtitle for MFP Community threads. :smile:

    OP is long gone, but I am interested in learning more about Blue Zone.
    A quick google suggested it’s fairly carb heavy? Is that wrong?

    If so it probably wouldn’t work with the American diabetes association divided portion control plate system.
    But that doesn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t work well for some people.

  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
    edited June 13
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    I am interested in learning more about Blue Zone.

    Listen to the podcast I linked to. It's one hour. It is the guy who discovered and wrote about Blue Zones. It's a well done interview.

    Men and Women in the world who tend to live the longest eat a lot of beans and legumes. And there are a bunch of other similarities. His "Blue Power nine."

    https://tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/dan-buettner



  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,868 Member
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    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    I am interested in learning more about Blue Zone.

    Listen to the podcast I linked to. It's one hour. It is the guy who discovered and wrote about Blue Zones. It's a well done interview.

    Men and Women in the world who tend to live the longest eat a lot of beans and legumes. And there are a bunch of other similarities. His "Blue Power nine."

    https://tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/dan-buettner



    I appreciate the link…. But I am a hearing aid user and I generally don’t listen to podcasts unless I know ahead of time if the sound design is something that works for my ears and brain.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    But I am a hearing aid user and I generally don’t listen to podcasts unless I know ahead of time if the sound design is something that works for my ears and brain.
    After you do your research, and if it works for you, let me know your thoughts on the interview.

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,248 Member
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    The Blue Zone theory suffers from the same issue most things of its sort do, it neglects the date in places that don't fit with its premise. I has some value, but both the fact it is epidemiological and thus suffers from numerous confounders and that places like Hong Kong which has some of the longest lived people but eats a large amount of meat per capita are left out means it is more of an opinion than anything else.
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,741 Member
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    The Blue Zones are my inspiration AND where I find the most sustainable,sensible lifestyle nutrition model. I'm living a WFPB, animal free lifestyle. Now when I see ALL the ads, posts, fads, trends, etc and advocates of keto,paleo, low carb, even junk food vegan ( I'm an ethical vegan as well as WFPB). I stay quiet because IMO ALL of these are not the way we should live. I love the Blue Zones.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,918 Member
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    I eat in a blue-zone-ish way, generally but far from totally. I do think it's a reasonable way to eat, if it suits a person . . . and I'd say that even if I were choosing quite differently for myself. (I absolutely don't always do the health-optimal things. But I'm not going to try to sell people that they should make the same choices I do, especially when I know my choices aren't health-ideal. There are various reasonable options, and choosing an approach we can actually personally carry out is IMO really important.)

    That said, there are some very well-reasoned critiques of the blue zones research, IMO. I think it's a little iffy.

    Interestingly, the "Power 9" seem to be mostly not about the eating style, but the overall lifestyle.
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,868 Member
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    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    But I am a hearing aid user and I generally don’t listen to podcasts unless I know ahead of time if the sound design is something that works for my ears and brain.
    After you do your research, and if it works for you, let me know your thoughts on the interview.

    I’m unlikely to listen to the podcast though. 🤷‍♀️
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,913 Member
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    I am interested in learning more about Blue Zone.

    Listen to the podcast I linked to. It's one hour. It is the guy who discovered and wrote about Blue Zones. It's a well done interview.

    Men and Women in the world who tend to live the longest eat a lot of beans and legumes. And there are a bunch of other similarities. His "Blue Power nine."

    https://tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/dan-buettner



    I appreciate the link…. But I am a hearing aid user and I generally don’t listen to podcasts unless I know ahead of time if the sound design is something that works for my ears and brain.

    Margaret if you happen to have an iPhone, there’s a setting where you can convert podcasts into closed captioning on the fly. I keep hitting it by accent. Sweaty pockets 🤷🏻‍♀️

    Some gyms offer discount access to dieticians (NOT nutritionists!). Mine does. Worth every penny when I started out.

    Some health insurance plans offer free phone visits with dieticians.

  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,378 Member
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    I’m unlikely to listen to the podcast though
    Got it.

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