编者注： 在以下摘录中，国家地理 Dan Buettner 研究员总结了蓝色区域中最常见的食物、饮食和生活习惯，这些区域是全世界人类寿命最长的特殊地理文化区域。蓝色区域包含异常高 百岁老人的聚集地，他们的年龄已经超过 100 岁，并且优雅地老去，没有心脏病、肥胖症、癌症或糖尿病等疾病。它们是：希腊伊卡利亚岛；日本冲绳；撒丁岛的奥利亚斯特拉地区；加利福尼亚州洛马琳达（但仅限于基督复临安息日会的大型社区）；和哥斯达黎加的尼科亚半岛。
长寿的食物选择
我见过的蓝区百岁老人中没有一个人试图活到 100 岁。没有人在 50 岁时说：“你知道吗，我要坚持长寿饮食，再活 50 年！”他们不计算卡路里、服用维生素、称重蛋白质克数，甚至不看标签。他们不限制他们的食物摄入——事实上，他们都用食物来庆祝。当我们运用世界蓝区饮食的智慧来改造美国的城市时，我开始相信我们可以在这里创造同样的文化。
它从食物选择开始。我认识的大多数蓝区居民都可以轻松获得当地采购的水果和蔬菜——主要是无农药和有机种植的。如果不在自己的花园里种植这些食品，他们已经找到了可以购买它们的地方，而且比加工过的替代品更实惠。他们在每天或每周的膳食中加入了某些营养食品——这些食品甚至在便利店的货架上或全国各地的快餐店菜单上都找不到。他们继承了历史悠久的食谱或自行开发食谱，以使健康食品味道好——这是 Blue Zones 饮食中非常重要的一部分，因为如果你不喜欢你正在吃的东西，你就不会吃很长时间了。
对 Blue Zones 百岁老人重要的特殊食物因一种文化而异。然而，同样重要的是，我们在访问了许多蓝区并为北美人找到了将这些价值观转化为最佳方式后制定的食物选择指南。
这里的发现代表了一项长期的、统计的和基于科学的研究。我们需要的信息不仅仅是轶事，也不是基于采访、厨房访问或与个别百岁老人共享膳食的信息。我们分析了过去一个世纪在蓝区进行的 150 多项饮食研究，然后我们对这些研究进行了提炼，得出了百岁老人真正吃的全球平均水平。在这里，我们提供了一些指导方针，您可以按照 Blue Zones 的饮食习惯和他们一样活到 100 岁。
蓝区食品指南
遵循这些指南，您将排除精制淀粉和糖，用更有益健康、营养丰富且富含纤维的食物取而代之——而且一切都自然而然。
1。植物倾斜
确保 95% 的食物来自植物或植物产品。
将饮食中的动物蛋白限制在每天不超过一小份。喜欢豆类、蔬菜、山药和红薯、水果、坚果和种子。全麦也可以。虽然五个蓝色区域中有四个的人食用肉类，但他们很少食用，将其用作庆祝食品、小配菜或调味菜肴的一种方式。
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发现强大的洞察力和技巧，在您的生活和人际关系中创造容光焕发的健康、幸福、繁荣、和平与流动。正如我们哈佛公共卫生学院的顾问沃尔特威利特所说：“肉类就像辐射：我们不知道安全水平。”事实上，研究表明，30 岁的素食复临信徒可能会比他们吃肉的同行多活八年。同时，增加膳食中植物性食物的数量会产生许多有益的影响。在蓝区，人们在季节吃各种令人印象深刻的花园蔬菜，然后他们腌制或晒干多余的蔬菜，以便在淡季享用。 Blue Zones 饮食中最好的长寿食物是绿叶蔬菜，如菠菜、羽衣甘蓝、甜菜和萝卜头、甜菜和羽衣甘蓝。在伊卡利亚，超过 75 种可食用的蔬菜像野草一样生长；许多含有十倍于红酒中的多酚。研究发现，每天食用相当于一杯煮熟的蔬菜的中年人在未来四年内死亡的可能性是不吃蔬菜的人的一半。研究人员还发现，每天食用 1/4 磅水果（约一个苹果）的人在接下来的四年中死亡的可能性比不吃的人低 60%。
许多油来自植物，它们都比动物脂肪更可取。我们不能说橄榄油是唯一健康的植物油，但它是 Blue Zones 饮食中最常用的一种。有证据表明，食用橄榄油会增加好胆固醇，降低坏胆固醇。
吃五颜六色的植物性食物是蓝色区域饮食的关键之一。照片：布鲁克百灵
在伊卡利亚，我们发现对于中年人来说，每天大约六汤匙橄榄油似乎可以将死亡风险降低一半。结合时令水果和蔬菜，全谷物和豆类在 Blue Zones 全年的饮食和膳食中占据主导地位。
如何做到这一点：
+ 把你最喜欢的水果和蔬菜放在手边。 不要试图强迫自己吃你不喜欢的。这可能会奏效一段时间，但迟早会失败。尝试各种水果和蔬菜；知道你喜欢哪些，并让你的厨房备有它们。如果你没有新鲜的、负担得起的蔬菜，冷冻蔬菜就可以了。 （事实上，它们通常含有更多的营养成分，因为它们在收获时被速冻，而不是在当地杂货店的货架上运送数周。）
+ 像黄油一样使用橄榄油。 用橄榄油小火炒蔬菜。您还可以在清蒸或煮熟的蔬菜上淋上少许特级初榨橄榄油，然后将其放在餐桌上。
+ 储备全谷物。 我们发现燕麦、大麦、糙米和磨碎的玉米已成为世界各地的蓝区饮食。小麦在这些文化中并没有发挥那么大的作用，而且他们使用的谷物所含的麸质比今天的现代菌株要少。
+ 使用冰箱里不用的蔬菜 做蔬菜汤，切碎，用橄榄油和香草将它们变成褐色，然后加开水盖住。煨至蔬菜煮熟，然后调味。将您现在不吃的东西冷冻在一个或家庭大小的容器中，然后在您没有时间做饭的一周或一个月的晚些时候供应。
蓝色区域饮食中蛋白质的注意事项
我们都被教导说，我们的身体需要蛋白质来促进骨骼和肌肉的发育——但正确的量是多少？美国女性平均每天消耗 70 克蛋白质，男性平均超过 100 克：太多了。疾病控制和预防中心建议每天 46 到 56 克。
但数量并不是最重要的。我们还需要正确的蛋白质。蛋白质（也称为氨基酸）有 21 个品种。其中，人体不能制造九种，称为九种“必需”氨基酸，因为我们需要它们并且必须从我们的饮食中获取它们。
肉和蛋将提供所有九种氨基酸，而植物性食物来源很少。但肉类和鸡蛋也会提供脂肪和胆固醇，这往往会导致心脏病和癌症。所以，如果你想吃 Blue Zones 饮食并强调植物性食物，你该怎么做呢？诀窍是将某些食物“配对”在一起。通过结合正确的植物性食物，您将获得所有必需氨基酸。您不仅可以满足蛋白质需求，还可以控制卡路里摄入量。
2。远离肉食
每周吃肉不超过两次。
每周吃两次肉，甚至更少，份量不超过煮熟的两盎司。喜欢真正的散养鸡肉和家庭养殖的猪肉或羊肉，而不是工业饲养的肉类。避免加工肉类，如热狗、午餐肉或香肠。
在大多数蓝区饮食中，人们只吃少量猪肉、鸡肉或羊肉。 （复临信徒，一个例外，根本不吃肉。）传统上，家庭为了庆祝节日而宰杀他们的猪或山羊，大吃一顿，把剩菜保存起来，然后他们会少用它们作为油炸的脂肪或作为调味品的味道。鸡在陆地上漫游，吃着蛴螬，自由地栖息。但同样，鸡肉也是一种难得的美味佳肴。
对所有蓝色区域的肉类消费量进行平均，我们发现人们吃少量的肉，一次大约两盎司或更少，每月大约五次。他们大约每月挥霍一次，通常是在烤猪或山羊身上。牛肉和火鸡在 Blue Zones 的平均饮食中都没有显着影响。
散养肉类
蓝区人吃的肉来自自由漫游的动物。这些动物没有服用激素、杀虫剂或抗生素，也不会经历大型饲养场的痛苦。山羊不断地吃草、树叶和草本植物。撒丁岛猪和伊卡利亚猪吃厨房残羹剩饭，寻找野生橡子和树根。这些传统畜牧业生产的肉类可能比谷饲动物的丰富肉类含有更高水平的健康 omega-3 脂肪酸。
此外，我们不确定人们是否因为蓝区饮食的一部分吃了一点肉而活得更久，或者尽管如此，他们仍然茁壮成长。 Blue Zones 的人们进行了如此多的健康实践，他们可能时不时地吃一点肉就可以侥幸逃脱，因为它的有害影响被其他食物和生活方式的选择所抵消。正如我的朋友 Dean Ornish 所说，“您进行的练习越健康，您就会变得越健康。”
如何做到这一点：
+ 了解煮熟的两盎司肉是什么样子的： 鸡肉——大约一半的鸡胸肉或鸡腿的肉（不是皮）；猪肉或羊肉——烹饪前切块或一副纸牌大小的切片。
+ 避免携带牛肉、热狗、午餐肉、香肠或其他加工肉类 进入你的房子，因为这些不是 Blue Zones 饮食的一部分。
+ 找到以植物为基础的替代品来代替美国人习惯于在膳食中心吃的肉类。 尝试轻炒豆腐，淋上橄榄油；豆豉，另一种豆制品；或黑豆或鹰嘴豆蛋糕。
+ 每周指定两天 当你吃肉或其他动物源性食物时——并且只在那些日子享用。
+ 由于餐厅的肉类份量几乎总是 4 盎司或更多， 与另一个人分开肉类主菜，或提前要求一个容器将一半的肉带回家以备后用。
完美的蛋白质配对
密歇根大学的化学工程师和前助理教授 Peter J. Woolf 与其他研究人员合作，分析了 100 多种植物性食物，以确定最有效地满足我们蛋白质需求的配对和比例。以下是一些我们最喜欢的 Blue Zones 减肥食品搭配。
简单快捷的小吃
+ 1⁄4 杯核桃加 1 1⁄2 杯熟毛豆
Blue Zones 饮食中的低热量组合
+ 2杯切碎的胡萝卜加1杯煮熟的扁豆
+ 3杯煮熟的芥菜加1杯煮熟的鹰嘴豆
+ 2杯熟胡萝卜加1杯利马豆
+ 1 杯煮熟的黑眼豌豆加 1 1⁄4 杯煮熟的甜黄玉米
额外填充的蓝色区域饮食菜肴
+ 1 1⁄2 杯煮熟的西兰花拉贝加 1 1⁄3 杯煮熟的野米饭
+ 2⁄3 杯特硬豆腐加 1 杯煮熟的糙米
+ 1⁄2 杯硬豆腐加 1 1⁄4 杯熟荞麦面
3。鱼很好
每天最多吃三盎司鱼。
在煮熟之前，将三盎司想象成一副纸牌的大小。选择常见且丰富、不受过度捕捞威胁的鱼。自 2002 年以来一直跟踪 96,000 名美国人的复临健康研究 2 发现，寿命最长的人不是素食主义者或肉食者。他们是“pescatarians”或“pescatarians”，他们吃植物性饮食，包括一小部分鱼，每天最多一次。在其他 Blue Zones 饮食中，鱼是日常膳食的常见组成部分，平均每周吃 2 到 3 次。
在你的饮食中加入鱼还有其他伦理和健康方面的考虑。在世界的蓝区，大多数情况下，被食用的鱼是小型的、相对便宜的鱼，例如沙丁鱼、凤尾鱼和鳕鱼，它们是食物链的中间物种，不会暴露于高水平的汞或其他化学物质，如多氯联苯，污染了我们今天的美味鱼类供应。蓝色区域的人们不会像企业渔业那样过度捕捞水域，威胁要耗尽整个物种。 Blue Zones 渔民不能对他们所依赖的生态系统造成严重破坏。不过，没有蓝区饮食证据支持任何特定鱼类，包括鲑鱼。
如何做到这一点：
+ 了解三盎司的样子， 无论是三盎司的大鱼，如鲷鱼或鳟鱼，还是三盎司的小鱼，如沙丁鱼或凤尾鱼。
+ 喜欢鳟鱼、鲷鱼、石斑鱼、沙丁鱼和凤尾鱼等中链鱼。 要复制 Blue Zones 饮食，请避免使用剑鱼、鲨鱼或金枪鱼等掠食性鱼类。避免过度捕捞的物种，如智利鲈鱼。
+ 远离“养殖”鱼， 因为它们通常是在过度拥挤的围栏中饲养的，因此需要使用抗生素、杀虫剂和着色剂。
4。减少乳制品
尽量减少牛奶和乳制品（例如奶酪、奶油和黄油）的摄入量。
牛奶在任何蓝色地带的饮食中都没有显着影响，除了复临信徒，其中一些人吃鸡蛋和奶制品。就人类饮食而言，乳制品是一个相对较新的事物，大约在 8,000 到 10,000 年前引入。我们的消化系统并未针对牛奶或奶制品（人乳除外）进行优化，现在我们认识到（通常在不知不觉中）难以消化乳糖的人数可能高达 60%。
反对牛奶的论据通常集中在其高脂肪和高糖含量上。负责任医学医师委员会的创始人兼主席尼尔·巴纳德指出，全脂牛奶中 49% 的卡路里和奶酪中约 70% 的卡路里来自脂肪——而且大部分脂肪是饱和的。所有的牛奶也含有乳糖。例如，脱脂牛奶中约 55% 的卡路里来自乳糖。
虽然美国人几十年来一直依赖牛奶来获取钙和蛋白质，但在蓝色区域饮食中，人们从植物来源中获取这些营养。例如，一杯煮熟的羽衣甘蓝或三分之二的豆腐提供的生物可利用钙与一杯牛奶一样多。
在 Blue Zones 饮食中，每周几次少量的羊奶或山羊奶制品——尤其是全脂、天然发酵的不添加糖的酸奶——是可以的。山羊奶和绵羊奶制品确实在伊卡利亚和撒丁岛蓝区的传统菜单中占有重要地位。
我们不知道是山羊奶还是绵羊奶让人们更健康，或者是因为蓝区的人们和山羊一样爬上爬下的丘陵地带。有趣的是，Blue Zones 饮食中的大多数山羊奶不是以液体形式食用，而是以酸奶、酸奶或奶酪等发酵产品的形式食用。羊奶虽然含有乳糖，但也含有乳糖酶，一种帮助人体消化乳糖的酶。
如何做到这一点：
+ 尝试不加糖的大豆、椰子或杏仁奶作为乳制品替代品。 大多数都含有与普通牛奶一样多的蛋白质，而且味道通常一样好或更好。
+ 用草饲山羊或绵羊制成的奶酪满足您偶尔对奶酪的渴望。 试试撒丁岛佩克立诺 sardo 或希腊羊乳酪。两者都很丰富，因此您只需少量即可为食物调味。
5。偶尔的鸡蛋
每周吃不超过三个鸡蛋。
所有五个 Blue Zones 饮食中都食用鸡蛋，人们平均每周吃两到四次。与肉类蛋白一样，鸡蛋是一种配菜，与大部分全麦或其他植物性特征一起食用。 Nicoyans煎一个鸡蛋，折叠成带有豆子的玉米饼。冲绳人在汤里煮鸡蛋。地中海蓝区的人们早餐煎鸡蛋作为配菜，配以面包、杏仁和橄榄。
Blue Zones 饮食中的鸡蛋来自自由活动的鸡，吃多种天然食物，不接受激素或抗生素，并且产生缓慢成熟的鸡蛋，天然富含 omega-3 脂肪酸。工厂生产的鸡蛋的成熟速度大约是蓝区鸡种产蛋的两倍。
鸡蛋提供完整的蛋白质，包括身体所需的氨基酸、维生素 B、维生素 A、D 和 E，以及硒等矿物质。 Adventist Health Study 2 的数据显示，吃鸡蛋的素食者比纯素食者的寿命略长（尽管他们往往更重）。
还有其他健康问题可能会影响您在 Blue Zones 饮食中吃鸡蛋的决定。糖尿病患者在食用蛋黄时需要谨慎，而食用鸡蛋与男性前列腺癌发病率较高和女性肾脏问题恶化有关。学者们仍在争论饮食中胆固醇对动脉的影响，但一些有心脏或循环系统问题的人尽管有专家争论，但还是放弃了。
如何做到这一点：
+ 只买小鸡蛋 来自无笼的放牧鸡。
+ 用水果做一个鸡蛋早餐 或其他植物性食物，如全麦粥或面包。
+ 试着用炒豆腐代替鸡蛋 作为 Blue Zones 饮食的一部分。
+ 烘焙时，使用四分之一杯苹果酱， 四分之一杯土豆泥，或一个小香蕉代替一个鸡蛋。还有一些方法可以在需要鸡蛋的食谱中使用亚麻籽或琼脂（从藻类中提取）。
6。豆类的每日剂量
每天至少吃半杯煮熟的豆子。
豆类是世界上每一种 Blue Zones 饮食的基石：Nicoya 的黑豆；地中海的扁豆、鹰嘴豆和白豆；和冲绳的大豆。这些蓝色区域的长寿人口平均吃的豆子至少是我们的四倍。一项由世界卫生组织资助的五国研究发现，每天吃 20 克豆类可使人在任何一年的死亡风险降低约 8%。
事实上，豆类代表了 Blue Zones 饮食中完美的超级食物。平均而言，它们由 21% 的蛋白质、77% 的复合碳水化合物（提供缓慢而稳定的能量，而不是从精制碳水化合物如白面粉中获得的峰值）和只有百分之几的脂肪组成。它们也是纤维的极好来源。它们价格便宜，用途广泛，有多种质地，每克所含的营养成分比地球上任何其他食物都多。
人类吃豆子的历史至少有 8000 年；它们是我们烹饪 DNA 的一部分。甚至圣经的但以理书（1:1-21）也提供了为期两周的豆类饮食，以使儿童更健康。 Blue Zones 的饮食平均水平——每天至少半杯——提供您所需的大部分维生素和矿物质。而且因为豆类是如此丰盛和令人满意，它们可能会将不太健康的食物排除在你的饮食之外。此外，豆类中的高纤维含量有助于健康的益生菌在肠道中茁壮成长。
如何做到这一点：
+ 寻找烹饪对您和您的家人口味好的豆子的方法，作为 Blue Zones 饮食的一部分。 蓝色地带的百岁老人知道如何使豆子味道好。如果您还没有最喜欢的食谱，请下个月尝试三种豆类食谱。
+ 确保您的厨房储藏室准备好各种豆类。 干豆最便宜，但罐装豆更快。购买罐装豆子时，一定要阅读标签：唯一的成分应该是豆子、水、香料，也许还有少量盐。避免添加脂肪或糖分的品牌。
+ 使用豆泥作为增稠剂 在 Blue Zones 饮食中制作奶油状和富含蛋白质的汤。
+ 在沙拉上撒上煮熟的豆子，让沙拉更丰盛。 将鹰嘴豆泥或黑豆糕与沙拉搭配，以增加质感和吸引力。
+ 让您的食品储藏室备有调味品，以装扮豆类菜肴并使其味道鲜美。 例如，地中海豆食谱通常包括胡萝卜、芹菜和洋葱，用大蒜、百里香、胡椒和月桂叶调味。这是混合 Blue Zones 饮食的简单方法。
+ 外出吃饭时，不妨考虑墨西哥餐厅，那里几乎总是供应斑豆或黑豆。 通过加入米饭、洋葱、辣椒、鳄梨酱和辣酱来增强豆子的风味。避免白面粉玉米饼。相反，选择玉米饼，在哥斯达黎加食用豆类。
7。削减糖
每天食用不超过七茶匙。
百岁老人通常只在庆祝活动期间吃甜食。他们的食物不加糖，他们通常用蜂蜜来加糖。在 Blue Zones 饮食中，这增加了每天大约七茶匙的糖。给我们的教训：每周只享用几次饼干、糖果和烘焙食品，最好是作为一餐的一部分。避免添加糖分的食物。跳过列出的前五种成分之一的任何产品。将添加到咖啡、茶或其他食物中的糖限制在每天不超过四茶匙。改掉吃高糖甜食的习惯。
让我们面对现实吧：你不能避免糖。它天然存在于水果、蔬菜甚至牛奶中。但这不是问题。 1970 年至 2000 年间，食品供应中添加糖的数量增加了 25%。这加起来相当于普通美国人每天消耗的约 22 茶匙添加糖——混入苏打水、酸奶、松饼和酱汁中的隐性隐藏糖。研究表明，我们饮食中过多的糖分会抑制免疫系统，使其更难抵御疾病。它还会使胰岛素水平升高，从而导致糖尿病和生育能力下降，使您发胖，甚至缩短您的寿命。在 Blue Zones 饮食中，人们消耗的天然糖分与北美人的消耗量大致相同，但添加糖的量只有五分之一左右。关键：蓝色区域的人是有意识地吃糖的，而不是出于习惯或意外。
如何做到这一点：
+ 让蜂蜜成为 Blue Zones 饮食的首选甜味剂。 诚然，蜂蜜和糖一样会提高血糖水平，但它更难用勺子舀入，也不会溶解在冷液体中。因此，您倾向于更有意地消耗它并且消耗更少。蜂蜜是一种完整的食品，一些蜂蜜，如伊卡利亚石南花蜂蜜，具有抗炎、抗癌和抗菌特性。
+ 完全避免含糖汽水、茶和果汁饮料。 加糖汽水是我们饮食中添加糖的最大单一来源——事实上，自 1970 年以来，软饮料消费可能占美国体重增加的 50%。仅一罐汽水就含有大约 10 茶匙糖。如果您必须喝苏打水，请选择无糖苏打水，或者更好的是苏打水或苏打水。
+ 食用糖果作为庆祝食物。 蓝色地带的人们喜欢甜食，但甜食（饼干、蛋糕、馅饼、各种甜点）几乎总是作为庆祝食品——在周日用餐后、作为宗教节日的一部分或在乡村节日期间提供。事实上，在这些特殊的场合，往往会有特别的糖果。将甜点或零食限制在 100 卡路里。每天只吃一份或更少。
+ 在家中的 Blue Zones 饮食中将水果视为您的甜食。 吃新鲜水果而不是干果。新鲜水果含有更多的水分，让你感觉更饱，卡路里更少。在葡萄干和枣子等干果中，糖分的浓度远远超过新鲜水果中典型部分的糖分。
+ 注意加工食品 加糖，尤其是酱汁、沙拉酱和番茄酱。许多含有几茶匙添加的糖。
+ 留意低脂产品， 其中许多是加糖的，以弥补脂肪的缺乏。例如，一些低脂酸奶通常含有比苏打水更多的糖分（一盎司一盎司）。
+ 如果您不喜欢甜食，请尝试用甜叶菊来增加茶或咖啡的甜味。 当然，它不是 Blue Zones 饮食的真正组成部分，但它高度浓缩，所以它可能比精制糖更好。
8。坚果零食
每天吃两把坚果。
一把坚果大约等于两盎司，这似乎是 Blue Zones 百岁老人的平均食用量。以下是各种 Blue Zones 饮食中坚果的食用方式：伊卡利亚和撒丁岛的杏仁、尼科亚的开心果以及复临信徒的所有坚果——所有坚果都很好。根据 Adventist Health Study 2，吃坚果的人平均比不吃坚果的人长寿两到三年。
同样，哈佛大学最近一项对 100,000 人进行了 30 年的研究发现，吃坚果的人的死亡率比不吃坚果的人低 20%。其他研究表明，无论食用多少坚果或其中的脂肪含量如何，含坚果的饮食都能将“坏”低密度脂蛋白胆固醇降低 9% 至 20%。坚果中的其他健康成分包括铜、纤维、叶酸、维生素 E 和精氨酸，一种氨基酸。
如何做到这一点：
+ 在工作场所保持疯狂 用于上午或下午的小吃。旅行和汽车旅行时携带小包裹。
+尝试添加坚果或其他种子 到沙拉和汤。
+ 储备各种坚果，以纳入您的 Blue Zones 饮食。 最佳组合：杏仁（富含维生素 E 和镁）、花生（富含蛋白质和叶酸，一种 B 族维生素）、巴西坚果（富含硒，一种被认为可能预防前列腺癌的矿物质）、腰果（富含镁）和核桃（α-亚油酸含量高，这是植物性食品中唯一的 omega-3 脂肪）。所有这些坚果都有助于降低胆固醇。
+ 在日常膳食中加入坚果 作为蛋白质来源。
+ 饭前吃点坚果 降低整体血糖负荷。
9。面包发酸
用酸面团或 100% 全麦面包代替普通面包。
至少一万年来，面包一直是人类饮食中的主食。在五个蓝色区域饮食中的三个中，它仍然是主食。虽然通常不用于三明治，但它确实出现在大多数餐点中。但蓝区人吃的食物与大多数北美人购买的面包完全不同。大多数市售面包都是从漂白的白面粉开始的，这种面粉会迅速代谢成糖。白面包提供的卡路里相对较少，胰岛素水平会升高。事实上，白面包（连同葡萄糖）代表了标准的 100 分的升糖指数，所有其他食物都以此为基准。
精制面粉并不是我们惯用的白面包或小麦面包固有的唯一问题。麸质是一种蛋白质，可以使面包具有蓬松度和质地，但它也会给某些人带来消化问题。 Blue Zones 饮食中的面包是不同的：全麦或酸面团，每种都有自己的健康特征。例如，伊卡利亚和撒丁岛的面包是由各种 100% 全谷物制成的，包括小麦、黑麦和大麦——每一种都提供广泛的营养，例如色氨酸、一种氨基酸和矿物质硒和镁。
全谷物的纤维含量都高于最常用的小麦粉。有趣的是，在撒丁岛，大麦也是与长寿最相关的食物。
其他传统的 Blue Zones 面包是用称为乳酸杆菌的天然细菌制成的，这种细菌在使面包发酵的同时“消化”淀粉和面筋。这个过程还会产生一种酸——酸面团中的“酸”。结果是面包的麸质比标有“无麸质”的面包少（大约是普通面包的千分之一），具有更长的保质期和大多数人喜欢的酸味。最重要的是，Blue Zones 饮食中食用的传统酸面包实际上降低了膳食的血糖负荷。这意味着它们使您的整个膳食更健康、燃烧更慢、对胰腺更容易，并且更有可能将卡路里作为能量而不是作为脂肪储存。
请注意，在杂货店发现的商业酵母面包可能与传统的真正酵母非常不同，因此可能没有相同的营养特征。如果您想购买真正的酵母面包，请从信誉良好的（可能是当地的）面包店购买，并询问他们的开胃菜。无法回答这个问题的面包店可能不会制作真正的酵母面包，这不应该成为您 Blue Zones 饮食的一部分。
如何做到这一点：
+ 如果你要吃面包，请确保是正宗的酵母面包 就像他们在伊卡利亚制造的一样。有时称为pain au levain ，这种缓慢发酵的面包是用乳酸菌作为发酵剂制成的，而不是商业酵母。
+ 尝试自己制作酵母面包， 用正宗的酸酵头做。 Ed Wood，国家地理研究员 writer, offers some of the best information on sourdough and starters at sourdo.com .
+ Try a sprouted grain bread as part of your Blue Zones diet. When grains are sprouted, experts say, starches and proteins become easier to digest. Sprouted breads also offer more essential amino acids, minerals, and B vitamins than standard whole-grain varieties, and higher amounts of usable iron. Ounce for ounce, sprouts are thought to be among the most nutritious of foods.
+ Choose whole-grain rye or pumpernickel bread over whole wheat: They have a lower glycemic index. But look at the label. Avoid rye breads that list wheat flour as their first ingredient and look for the bread that lists rye flour as the first ingredient. Most supermarket breads aren’t true rye breads.
+ Choose or make breads that incorporate seeds, nuts, dried fruits, and whole grains. A whole food (see the next Blue Zones food and diet rule), like flaxseeds, adds flavor, complexity, texture, and nutritional value.
+ Look for (or bake) coarse barley bread, with an average of 75% to 80% whole barley kernels.
+ In general, if you can squeeze a slice of bread into a ball, it’s the kind you should avoid. Look for heavy, dense, 100% whole-grain breads that are minimally processed.
10. Go Wholly Whole
Eat foods that are recognizable for what they are.
Another definition of a “whole food” would be one that is made of a single ingredient, raw, cooked, ground, or fermented, and not highly processed. (Tofu is minimally processed, for example, while cheese doodles and frozen sausage dogs are highly processed.)
Throughout the world’s Blue Zones and their diets, people traditionally eat the whole food. They don’t throw the yolk away to make an egg-white omelet, or spin the fat out of their yogurt, or juice the fiber-rich pulp out of their fruits. They also don’t enrich or add extra ingredients to change the nutritional profile of their foods. Instead of vitamins or other supplements, they get everything they need from nutrient-dense, fiber-rich whole foods. And when they prepare dishes, those dishes typically contain a half dozen or so ingredients, simply blended together.
Almost all of the food consumed by centenarians in the Blue Zones diet—up to 90%—also grows within a ten-mile radius of their home. Food preparation is simple. They eat raw fruits and vegetables; they grind whole grains themselves and then cook them slowly. They use fermentation—an ancient way to make nutrients bio-available—in the tofu, sourdough bread, wine, and pickled vegetables they eat.
Eating only whole foods, people living in the Blue Zones rarely ingest any artificial preservatives. The foods they eat, especially the grains, are digested slowly, so blood sugar doesn’t spike. Nutritional scientists are only just beginning to understand how all the elements from the entire plant (rather than isolated nutrients) work together synergistically to bring forth ultimate health. There are likely many thousands of phytonutrients—naturally occurring nutritional components of plants—yet to be discovered.
How you can do it:
+ Shop for foods at your local farmers markets or community-supported farms.
+ Avoid factory-made foods.
+ Avoid foods wrapped in plastic.
+ Avoid food products made with more than five ingredients.
+ Avoid pre-made or ready-to-eat meals.
+ Try to eat at least three Super Blue Foods daily (listed below). You don’t have to eat copious amounts of these foods. But you will likely discover that these foods go far to boost your energy and sense of vitality, so you’ll be less likely to turn to the sugary, fatty, and processed stuff that gives you the immediate (and fast-fleeting) “fix.”
11. Eat Super Blue Foods
Integrate at least three of these items into your daily Blue Zones diet to be sure you are eating plenty of whole food.
12. The Blue Zones Beverage Rules
Drink coffee for breakfast, tea in the afternoon, wine at 5 p.m., and water all day. Never drink soda pop, including diet soda.
With very few exceptions, people in Blue Zones drank water, coffee, tea, and wine.时期。 (Soda pop, which accounts for about half of America’s sugar intake, was unknown to most Blue Zone centenarians.) There is a strong rationale for each.
Water: Adventists explicitly recommend seven glasses of water daily. They point to studies that show that being amply hydrated facilitates blood flow and lessens the chance of a blood clot. I feel that there is an added advantage:If people are drinking water, they’re not drinking a sugar-laden beverage (soda, energy drinks, and fruit juices) or an artificially sweetened drink, many of which may be carcinogenic.
Coffee: Sardinians, Ikarians, and Nicoyans all drink copious amounts of coffee. Research findings associate coffee drinking with lower rates of dementia and Parkinson’s disease. In addition, coffee tends to be shade grown in the world’s Blue Zones, a practice that benefits birds and the environment—another example of how Blue Zones diet practices reflect care for the bigger picture.
Tea: People in all the Blue Zones drink tea. Okinawans nurse green tea all day long—and green tea has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and several cancers. Ikarians drink brews of rosemary, wild sage, and dandelion—all herbs known to have anti-inflammatory properties.
Red Wine: People who drink—in moderation—tend to outlive those who don’t. (This doesn’t mean you should start drinking if you don’t drink now.) People in most Blue Zones drink one to three glasses of red wine per day, often with a meal and with friends. Wine has actually been found to help the system absorb plant-based antioxidants, so it especially complements a Blue Zones diet. These benefits may come from resveratrol, an antioxidant specific to red wine. But it may also be that a little alcohol at the end of the day reduces stress, which is good for overall health. In any case, more than two to three glasses a day for women and men, respectively, show adverse health effects. For women, there is also an increase in the risk of breast cancer with less than one drink per day.
How you can do it:
+ Keep a full water bottle at your desk or place of work and by your bed.
+ Feel free to start the day with a cup of coffee. In the Blue Zones diets, coffee is lightly sweetened and drunk black without cream.
+ Avoid coffee after mid-afternoon as caffeine can interfere with sleep (and, incidentally, centenarians sleep an average of eight hours nightly).
+ Feel free to sip green tea all day; green tea usually contains about 25% as much caffeine as coffee and provides a steady stream of antioxidants.
+ Try a variety of herbal teas, such as rosemary, oregano, or sage.
+ Sweeten teas lightly with honey, and keep them in a pitcher in the fridge for easy access in hot weather.
+ Never bring soda pop into your house.
Developing A Taste for Blue Zones Foods
If I’ve done my job so far, I’ve intrigued you with ideas on ways that you can nudge your own food choices toward those we found among people living in the Blue Zones. I’ve given you a list of foods that the world’s longest-lived people eat, along with some guidelines on how to select, prepare, and eat them. But what if you and your family don’t like the foods on that list, even though they make up the majority of the Blue Zones diet? I could tell you all day long that broccoli and beans are good for you. But if you hate broccoli and beans, you might eat them for a while, but you’ll eventually tire of them and go back to eating what you’re used to.
Almost everyone is born with a taste for sweetness and an aversion for bitterness. That’s because, in general, sweetness means calories and bitterness sometimes signifies toxins. Early humans who gravitated toward the honey and berries were more likely to survive than those who nibbled bitter-tasting plants, even the greens that provided vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which figure prominently in the Blue Zones diets today. So we’re naturally going to prefer candy bars over broccoli or Brussels sprouts.
We’re also born with our mother’s tastes for certain foods. If our mothers ate salty foods high in saturated and trans-fats while they were pregnant with us, we’re likely to be born with a taste for junk food. Conversely if a woman eats a lot of garlic prior to birth, the amniotic fluid will smell like garlic and the child will likely enjoy garlic. So, if your mom was not a healthy eater, as many mothers pregnant after 1950 weren’t, you were probably born with a handicap.
Finally, most of our tastes are locked in at about age five. In fact, the sweet spot for acquiring new tastes is during the first year of life. Unfortunately most new mothers don’t realize this, and they feed their kids porridge or sweetened baby food, which inclines the children’s taste toward junk food for life. Or they give in to the convenience of buying their children salty, high-fat snacks. (French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable for 15-month-olds in the United States.) In Blue Zones, mothers feed their babies many of the same whole foods they eat:rice, whole-grain porridge, and mashed-up fruits, for instance.
So what are the best ways to nudge yourself and your family toward the best choices, eating the Blue Zones diet? To find out, I called Leann L. Birch of Penn State’s Department of Nutritional Sciences and Marcia Pelchat of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, who are both experts on acquiring tastes. I discovered that not only do we learn to like new foods throughout our lives, but there’s actually a science-based strategy for learning to like the foods that are good for you. They gave me the basics for getting kids to like new, healthy foods such as vegetables. With small modification, these techniques will work for adults too.
How you can do it for kids:
+ Kids are naturally wary of new foods, so prepare new vegetables with a texture familiar and appealing to your child. If he or she is used to pureed foods, start by offering new vegetables that are soft or can become soft when cooked. If your child likes crispy, crunchy food, then present new veggies raw.
+ Introduce new foods when kids are hungry —before a meal or as a first course.
+ Do not force foods on kids. You can turn them off for life.
+ Introduce a variety of foods from the Blue Zones diet. Your kids may have a natural inclination toward peas and carrots but might hate broccoli and green beans. Serve small amounts of a half dozen vegetables at a time, a sort of Blue Zones succotash, and see which ones your kids like the best. Once you know that, you can try preparing those new favorites in different ways.
How you can do it for adults:
+ Discover what you like. Take a cue from the notes above on how kids acquire tastes and try some new vegetables when you’re hungry—as an appetizer before dinner, for example.
+ Learn some new cooking skills. You’re not going to eat vegetables unless you know how to prepare them in appealing ways.
+ Take a vegetarian cooking class.
+ Host a Blue Zones potluck. Share the Blue Zones diet and food rules and the list of ten Super Blue Foods with a group of your friends. Ask everyone to bring a dish featuring one or some of those foods. You can all bring your culinary talents into play, trying new plant-based foods, and also use them to strengthen your social network—a key goal of those who want to nudge their lives in the Blue Zones direction.
13. Four Always, Four to Avoid
It took a long time for my team to develop the ten Blue Zones food and diet rules outlined above. And for some people, they may represent too drastic a change from the foods they have been eating all their lives. I understand—I was there too. When we first started working with the city of Albert Lea, I generally ate whatever was on hand. If my kitchen was stocked with ice cream and cookies, that was what I ate. I was a stalwart follower of the “See Food Diet”:See food, eat it.
I knew we needed to start with some simple guidelines. I brought together some of the smartest people I could find, and we started by figuring out how to make kitchens healthier.
We reasoned that if we could identify the four best foods from the Blue Zones diet to always have on hand, and the four worst foods to never have on hand—and create a nudge—we might be able to get people to eat better. I included myself among the potential benefactors.
Cornell’s Brian Wansink, the University of Minnesota’s Leslie Lytle, and a few others got together to brainstorm the foods that were best and worst for us. We established a few criteria:
Here’s what we came up with and the thinking behind each decision.
Four Always
Remembering four food groups might be an easier starting point than remembering all the foods prepared in the Blue Zones diet. Here’s our list.
<强> 1。 100% Whole Wheat Bread: We figured it could be toasted in the morning and become part of a healthy sandwich at lunch. While not, perhaps, the perfect longevity food, it could help force white breads out of the diet and be an important step toward a healthier Blue Zones diet for most Americans.
<强> 2。 Nuts: We know that nut-eaters outlive those who don’t eat nuts. Nuts come in a variety of flavors, and they’re full of nutrients and healthy fat that satiate your appetite. The ideal snack is a two-ounce mix of nuts (about a handful). Ideally, you should keep small two-ounce packages on hand. Small quantities are best, since the oils in nuts degrade (oxidize). Larger quantities can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for a couple of months.
<强> 3。 Beans: I argue that beans of every type are the world’s greatest longevity foods. They’re cheap, versatile, and full of antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber, and they can be made to taste delicious. It’s best to buy dry beans and it’s easy to cook them, but low-sodium canned beans in non-BPA cans are okay too. Learn how to cook with beans and keep them on hand, and you’ll make a big leap toward living longer with a Blue Zones diet.
<强> 4。 Your Favorite Fruit: Buy a beautiful fruit bowl, place it in the middle of your kitchen (either the counter, center island, or table—wherever gets the most traffic), and place it under a light. Research shows that we really do eat what we see, so if chips are always in plain sight, that’s what we’ll eat. But if there is a fruit you like and keep in plain sight all the time, you’ll eat more of it and be healthier for it. Don’t bother buying a fruit you think you ought to eat but really don’t like.
Four to Avoid
By the same token, remembering four rules about which foods to avoid to help you Blue Zone your refrigerator and kitchen cupboard might make the process easier. We’re not saying that you can never treat yourself to these foods. In fact, if you love any of these foods and they make you happier, you should absolutely indulge occasionally. But save them for celebrations or, at the very least, make sure you have to go out to get them. Just don’t bring them into your home, and you’ll cut many of these toxic foods that don’t exist in the Blue Zones diet out of your diet without too much grief.
<强> 1。 Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Harvard’s Willett has estimated that 50% of America’s caloric gain is directly attributable to the empty calories and liquefied sugar that come in sodas and boxed juices. Would you ever put ten teaspoons of sugar on your cereal?可能不是。 But that’s how much sugar you consume on average when you drink a 12-ounce can of soda pop.
<强> 2。 Salty Snacks: We spend about $6 billion a year on potato chips—the food (not coincidentally, perhaps) most highly correlated with obesity (though fried pork rinds are closing in fast). Almost all chips and crackers deliver high doses of salt, preservatives, and highly processed grains that quickly metabolize to sugar. They’ve also been carefully formulated to be optimally crunchy and tasty and to deliver a sultry mouth feel. In other words, they’re engineered to be irresistible. So how do you resist them? Don’t have them in your home!
<强> 3。 Processed Meats: A recent gold-standard epidemiology study followed more than half a million people for decades and found that those who consumed high amounts of sausages, salami, bacon, lunch meats, and other highly processed meats had the highest rates of cancers and heart disease. Again, the threat is twofold here. The nitrates and other preservatives used in these meat products are known carcinogens. They do the job, though, and preserve the products well, which means that processed meats are readily available on the shelf at home or in the store, right there for snacking or a quick meal—something that doesn’t happen in Blue Zones households and diets.
<强> 4。 Packaged Sweets: Like salty snacks, cookies, candy bars, muffins, granola bars, and even energy bars all deliver a punch of insulin-spiking sugars. We’re all genetically hardwired to crave sweets, so we instinctively want to satiate a craving by ripping open a package of cookies and digging in. Lessons from the Blues Zones diet would tell us that if you want to bake some cookies or a cake and have it around, okay. If you want to enjoy the occasional baked treat at your corner bakery, fine. But don’t stock your pantry with any wrapped sugary snacks.
For your convenience, I’ve brought together all the longevity foods into a single list, below. Pick as many as you can, learn to prepare them, stick with them for the long run, and see how good they make you feel.
14. Longevity Superfoods from the World’s Blue Zones Diets
Vegetables
- Fennel
- Kombu (seaweed)
- Wakame (seaweed)
- 土豆
- 香菇
- 壁球
- 红薯
- Wild greens
- 山药
水果
- 鳄梨
- 香蕉
- Bitter melons
- 柠檬
- Papayas
- Pejivalles (peach palms)
- 大蕉
- 西红柿
Beans (Legumes)
- 黑豆
- Black-eyed peas
- 鹰嘴豆
- Fava beans
- Other cooked beans
Grains
- 大麦
- Whole-grain bread
- 糙米
- Maize nixtamal
- 燕麦片
坚果和种子
- 杏仁
- Other nuts
Lean Protein
- 三文鱼
- 豆浆
- 豆腐
Dairy
- Feta cheese
- Pecorino cheese
Added Oils
- 橄榄油
Beverages
- 咖啡
- 绿茶
- Red wine
- Water
Sweeteners and Seasonings
- Garlic
- 亲爱的
- Mediterranean herbs
- Milk thistle
- Turmeric
This article on the health secrets of the Blue Zones Diet is excerpted with permission from from Blue Zones Solution:Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People by Dan Buettner.
