Over the past few decades, maybe you’ve heard or read about the Blue Zones; the five regions in the world where not only do people live the longest, but they experience lower cancer rates, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. What do these regions have in common? DIET. Active lifestyle too, but mostly it comes down to what they eat and what they don’t eat. The people in these regions don’t take supplements, they don’t count calories or diet and they don’t even have to read labels because they rarely eat anything with a label! Considering the number one cause of death in America is heart disease, it’s no surprise that the standard American diet mostly contains foods you SHOULD NOT eat.

THE WORST FOODS FOR LONGEVITY

1. REFINED SUGAR: Close to 70% of packaged foods in the U.S. contain added sugars with 56 different names! In addition to cane sugar these empty calories commonly come in these forms ending in ‘ose’: fructose (think high fructose corn syrup), dextrose, sucrose, maltose and the list goes on.

2. PROCESSED FOODS: Processed meats, packaged cookies, chips and sweets are all packed with sodium, preservatives, chemical additives and empty calories.

THE BEST FOODS FOR LONGEVITY

REAL WHOLE FOODS: The less processed means the more efficiently your body can absorb the nutrients and use the food to fuel cells. Lean sources of protein, whole vegetables, fruits and grains, beans, and nuts are what your body thrives on.

1. Leafy greens: spinach, kale, collards, chard

2. Fiber rich foods: apples, berries 

3. Olive oil: fats derived from plants are much healthier for your heart than animal based fats.

4. Limit meat consumption to no more than twice a week: but also make sure its pasture raised and therefor free of hormones, pesticides and antibiotics and much richer in heart healthy omega-3s.

5. Choose fish or plant protein over meat: limit mercury rich fish like swordfish and tuna and avoid farmed fish high in antibiotics, pesticides and artificial coloring.

LIVING WITH IVEY’S SECRETS FOR LONGEVITY

1. Eat mostly plants! Aim for 90% of your diet to be plants. Use olive or avocado oil over butter and choose nut milks and nut cheeses over cow’s milk, and incorporate more plant protein sources like  beans, nuts and seeds instead of meats and whey protein powders.

2. Don’t eat anything that contains more than 5 ingredients or any ingredients you can’t pronounce. If you don’t recognize it, neither will your body!

3. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat. I like to think of the space between meals as sacred. Giving your body a break from digestion, a time to clean and turn over cells is hugely beneficial to your health.

4. Exercise regularly: Not only is this good for cardiovascular health, exercise is beneficial for brain and bone health.

THE BLUE ZONES

1. Okinawa, Japan: The highest number of women over 100 years old in the world and the lowest rate of breast cancer.

2. Sardinia, Italy: Diet is rich in fish, whole grains, vegetables and less processed forms of dairy.

3. Nicola Peninsula, Costa Rica: Diet rich in beans. Also known as the happiest region

4. Ikaria, Greece: Lowest rated of dementia in the world. Diet is the epitome of the Mediterranean diet. 

5. Loma Linda, California: Low consumption of alcohol, meat and caffeine and a diet rich in vegetables fruit nuts and grains contribute to this region’s reputation for long lifespans.

* Fun fact: The women in Okinawa eat a lot of tofu, yet hormonal cancer rates are very low. This debunks the myth that phytoestrogens alter hormones. The real issue with soy products is how they are processed. In the United States, soy products are one of the most processed foods on the market.