Your Body’s Language Is Telling You Something

Introduction to Centenarian Lifestyle 0:00

Hey everybody. So today we'll be talking about how to live a centenarian lifestyle. Centenarians are people that live to be over a hundred and we're seeing more and more of them. And one of the cool things that we are seeing as a pattern from all this research about them is that this lifestyle can be formulated. It's not just about genetics, it's 80% lifestyle, so let's see what we learning. So these people that live to be over 100, more people are alive now. We can absolutely agree to that. But in 2015, nearly half of half a million people were living to be over 100. And that was four times more than in 1990. So we're way past 2015 now, these numbers keep increasing.

With the focus on lifestyle, this is really a great opportunity to learn from these people. We're seeing some patterns in the location as well as to where these are living over a hundred. These are called blue zones. So there's a bunch of zone research out there on what are these people doing and how are they able to live to be a hundred but or more, but not just live, to-be a 100. It's not about just clocking the years, But having a vibrant life into those older years as well.

Blue Zones and Longevity Patterns 1:24

So what can we learn from these People and where are some of these blue zones? So, there are a few blue Zones and the main patterns that we're seeing are in Okinawa, Japan. Sardinia, Italy, Necoia Costa Rica, Icaria Greece, and Loma Linda, California in the United States. And these, these blue zones are where there's a higher population of people that live to be over a hundred and their, their lifestyles all follow a similar pattern. Oh, in Sardinia, Italy, there's this picture just makes me smile because this is something that they're seeing a lot in this this blue zone, particularly is that there is a a celebration of community.

And people laugh with their friends every day. They're staying active and it's not just doing exercise, right? They stay active because they're going on walks together, they are dancing, just hanging out on a park bench until later in the evening just to have that sense of laughter and healthy social relationships. They live with rigor. There really are, they've got this vitality to them, this vigor in their life. And it's really, really cool to see. One of the things too that I think is sometimes a miss in more of a Western culture is there's a celebration of being old.

There's so much respect for these elderly folks and it almost like a badge of honor to get to this age and to be a part of that. And so there is a respect and celebration itself for being older, but then the community really celebrates it and respects it too. In terms of diet, we'll talk about more of the, the dietary pieces in a moment and a couple of slides, but generally in Italy eating more like meats, like three to four times per week. It's not an every meal, every day kind of thing.

Sardinia: Community, Activity, and Food 3:30

Lots of grass fed dairy sprouted grains. And of course this Italian culture, a lot of things are made from scratch. You might even be grinding your own flour and then making your pasta and having that from scratch as part of the culture there too. So that's very much cutting back to the whole foods piece and really using food as medicine. And then a glass of red wine is pretty common as part of the culture there too. And this might be an everyday thing. Like a, glass a red, wine every night with dinner.

Now notice how that is such a difference between no wine all week and then, a bottle once a week on the weekends. It is more of a just consistent, healthful part, of eating rather than this ebb and flow or, or binging. And then my favorite part about the, not just Italian blue zone culture or Italian eating culture, but this is at large more of the whole Mediterranean and especially just Europe as a whole too, is they're not in a rush when they eat. They're sitting there, it's a social engagement, they are enjoying their meal, perhaps really tasting the food and enjoying good company.

And that is something we'll talk about more when we're talking about food too. So we've also got Okinawa, Japan, and this one, this like blue zone group, This research that we're seeing is slightly different, but there's some similar threats. Now, in Japan there is this concept called Ikigai and it is meaning to live with purpose, to have purpose-driven lives, or to feel there as an important part of you being in the world. And that is a huge part of living to longevity and not just living those long years, but to feel alive and to be enthusiastic about living.

And so that's a big part in the Japanese culture and especially in this place in Okinawa. Similar with the social piece, there's a concept called moi. And this is a small group of friends. It could be family too, but a smaller, secure, healthy social group friends, and this just common. it's not something that has to be structured or gets made, it is just part of living there. That is so huge, especially I often think of aging as can being quite isolating, whether it's here in the United States, there's so much culture on going into a nursing home.

And maybe there is community there, but you really you have your own little room, maybe you get visited for an hour. a couple times a week, but this is a different concept than that.

Okinawa: Purpose, Social Bonds, and Portion Control 6:32

This is, oh, I've got my small group and we're just together and were together quite often. And so I think that is really, really key concept here of wanting to live healthfully for these long years, having community be part of that in the Japanese culture generally. They're eating until they're 80% full. So they are not eating to 100% fullness. And that actually translates to adding extra years to life. I'll show you the breakdown of years in just a couple moments. That is so key. We can learn.

It's something that we can train ourselves to do. It's subtle at first, like, how do I know what 80% is? Well, you just don't eat until you're overly stuffed. There's a yogic phrase of, if you burp, You've eaten past your fullness. So just eat it until don burped. They also eat off smaller plates. The lots of fish and that healthy fat content, but plus good lean protein that's likely contributing here too. And they love the sun and being outdoors. So we could go through all of these, but those are some of the big pictures and we can look at what does this mean in terms of lifestyle, in term of diet, and terms the things that we do.

So generally we're seeing a huge success rate and huge benefit to eating lower carb Mediterranean diet. This is the physical piece about what we put on the food. However, a Mediterranean Diet If you look at the Mediterranean food pyramid, it is my favorite food pyramids to reference apart from the food Pyramid that I grew up with and with the grains at The bottom and then then vegetables and fruits. And then, you know that that way instead the mediterranean food, pyramid at, the bottom, their foundation of the pyramid is healthy social interaction.

So that is a huge piece. of this Mediterranean diet. It's not just what you put into your mouth for meal times, it's how you're creating the space of a meal time. So healthy social interaction, and then lower carb, meaning if you having carbs, its probably whole grains or vegetables, having lean proteins and the healthy fats. It's pretty simple and that when it comes right down to it, it's just eating whole foods. It is eating foods that aren't processed. Its eating food that are ingredients and then making them into a wholesome meal, ideally from scratch, but it doesn't have to be.

Just eating these vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats. Easy as pie. Even though Japan and Italy and Costa Rica and even California and Greece, they're not necessarily in the same areas. Maybe Greece and italy a little bit close, but they are vastly different. But we're seeing a similar dietary pattern that mostly plant-based for 95% of these places and lots of unprocessed foods, high nutrient density foods. One of the things that, especially with aging, is you might not have every meal as a social piece, right?

Mediterranean Diet and Shared Meals 9:58

It might be a special occasion, but we're seeing with these cultures that families commonly eat together at least one meal per day, typically the midday meal or the evening meal. So keep that in mind as you're thinking about your own healthy aging. It's not all about what you put into your mouth or what your put on your plate, but more so how can you create the environment of health and eating and longevity when it comes to your social interactions and really setting the stage for meal times. Novelty and Movement, this is another one about different than exercise.

It's not necessarily hitting the gym every day. This is my sweet grandma who is in her 90s and living in two story home, going out in the yard and doing yard work when it's needed. She's amazing and just so, so vibrant. And it makes me smile just looking at pictures of her. And she's active, but this is what we're seeing at large of just staying physically active. I put some of the things that are well researched on here, like walk, doing things. That are kind of funky for the brain or funky, for like doing different exercises and try walking backwards, try moving your joints in different ways and just keep your mind engaged.

But I also asked my grandma what. is her secret. What would she recommend to people who are wanting to age healthfully? And that's what she said. She said, stay active. And she's said she was telling me that she needs to buy more exercise bands because she's been doing those exercise band at home just for that novelty of movement and to keep herself strong. And even though she is in her 90s she was saying I think I'm going to start some weight lifting just a little bit and that's the piece of it.

We've got to, we've gotta keep the body active and moving and strong, but also not necessarily the same repeated patterns that you've been doing for decades. Give yourself that novelty because it keeps the physical body on its toes, But it also keeps that mental body active, and alert too. So my grandma, she got her first hole in one, which she plays golf a lot too, when she was 90 years old. Just incredible. I think she's amazing. So the food piece, socializing food, peace, lower carb, healthy fat, good protein, novelty and movement.

Novelty, Movement, and Staying Active 12:28

And then lastly, and just as important, prioritize rest and restoration. Now this is, of course we wanna stay physically active, but we also want to know how to fully rest, not be active. So this physical energy, This is good for emotional energy, mental energy and spiritual energy. We want to optimize these energy sources because this is, we're hitting all of these when it comes to the food piece and the exercise piece. The only piece we haven't talked about yet is the spiritual and there is actually some good research showing that living in faith, like having a faith based community is really great for adding years to your life.

So when we're thinking about these energy outputs, we want to optimize and we wanted to give them outlets every day. So having something for all of these places. but then also being able to fully engage in those and then fully disengage, being to able rest, physically rest mentally rest. There's so often for me, I like to be very active and I do, like I to physically active, mentally active. But just because I'm physically resting doesn't mean that I am mentally resting. And this is what it's saying is the difference.

Really prioritize mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually resting, having the energy input and the output. So for example, sitting on a park bench and just sitting. You can watch the clouds if you want. but it's not playing a game on your phone, it not bringing a crossword. It's just sitting and enjoying. So what does all this really matter? How does this translate? We've seen from this Blue Zone research, and if you want to nerd out on it, I highly recommend, because there's a lot of good stuff in there.

But we're seeing that moving naturally. And of course, this does not mean exercise by chance, by specificity, but just keeping movement going. Moving naturally adds six to eight years to your life. Living with purpose, like that Ikegai, living with and talking about purpose adds seven years. Stopping eating when you're 80% full adds five years, eating a more plant-based diet, so more vegetarian-esque, is adding 15 to 20 years. Now, that's why that has gotten so much press over the, I mean, the decades that we've known that of eating a plant-based diet is good for health and longevity.

Rest, Restoration, and Lifestyle Benefits 15:18

It's definitely a big bang for the buck. But then of course, there's other pieces to it too. Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. So that means vegetarian, but you eat eggs and you eats dairy. And so more plant based versus simply lacto ovo-vegetarian. Um, that can add two years to and then it downshifting. That's that prioritizing rest and restoration that adds seven to 15 years. Oh my goodness. And we are actually seeing that that the prioritising rest has more of a benefit than than the opposite. So let me try to explain that better.

We're seeing that stress, like living in a stressed life takes away two and a half to three years. That's not good, right? Nobody wants to lose years off their life by habit, but the benefit of resting is far better than a detriment of stress. Hope that makes sense. Downshifting adds seven to 15 years, Wonderful. And then a sense of belonging, having that sense, of community and that, sense and purpose. and this is where that faith-based community comes in. So it can be within an organized religion.

It can just be your Sangha, your people, and knowing that people who have a similar sense. Of belonging and purposes, you that can add four to 15 years, which is just beautiful. And then healthy, supportive social network. Doesn't have to be faith-based, doesn't even have be purpose-driven, but just a supportive, healthy social networks adds six to eight years. So this is 20% genetics, 80% lifestyle. This is changeable, things that we can really do for our health and longevity to live long, happy, vibrant lives.

My challenge for you today, Borrowing this from my dear friends, Ryan and Raina, they consistently remind us small moments many times. So this is not that you have to do all of these things all at once today. My challenge for you is to choose one thing. One thing from this presentation, do it for 30 days.

One Small Change Challenge 17:48

One thing many times until it becomes just part of you. It becomes part. And then choose another thing and add that in. I would so much rather you do one thing consistently and make a sustainable change versus doing all the things for three weeks and then letting it go by the wayside. So some of you have heard me say 1% difference every day really adds up. And I hold true to that. So from this presentation, whether it's the social eating, the eating more plant-based, eating healthy fats, doing more novelty and movement, or downshifting, whatever it is, maybe it something completely different.

Choose one thing from the presentation. Implement it for 30 days. Let it become part of your being. We'll see you when you're 100. Talk to you soon.