Longevity in the world
WHAT IS BLUE ZONES
Blue Zones is a Trademark of Blue Zones LLC
Geography
The American Blue Zone of Loma Linda, a town 60 miles east of Los Angeles, contains about 9,000 Seventh-day Adventists, the longest-lived people in America.
Background
The Adventist church formed in the 1840s, and built a culture focused on health. Adventists encourage vegetarianism, while discouraging alcohol, smoking and soda. The Adventists also managed various water treatment centers, or spas, where people came to relax and unwind. In the late 1870s, the focus shifted even more to preventive medicine, incorporating regular exercise and cutting-edge medicine into their lifestyle. Scientific research shows the Adventists generally have a much lower risk of diabetes, cancer and heart disease compared to the average American and enjoy a long, healthy life.
Longevity Highlights
Eat Nuts
A vast body of research spanning just over 50 years shows Adventists have reduced rates of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, including lung, heart disease and diabetes, compared to the average American. Other studies using Adventists linked eating meat to increased risk of heart disease and showed the opposite effect of including nuts in the diet. Further studies linked drinking 5-6 glasses of water to heart health, decreasing the rate of heart attacks.
Nurture Your Mind and Your Body
Getting regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy BMI predict longevity. Long-term inflammation occurs in obese and overweight people. This results in long-term damage and contributes to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Adventists also take time out of their week to relax, rejuvenate and focus on family, friends and God.
Help Others
The Adventist culture prizes volunteering. This practice may help stave off depression and introduce you to like-minded people, positively contributing to your social network.
Lessons from Loma Linda
- Find a sanctuary in time to decompress. Strict observance of the Sabbath is strictly occurs from Friday to Saturday night, giving Adventists a weekly time to focus on family, friends, God and nature.
- Keep a healthy weight. Maintaining a healthy BMI results helps keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels low. Certain fruits and vegetable also lower the risk of lung, ovarian and prostate cancers.
- Eat nuts! Adventist research shows an eating nuts increases life expectancy by 2 years and lowers the risk of heart disease.
- Get regular exercise. You don’t have to run marathons to be healthy. Adventists walk daily, a habit research links to lowered heart disease and cancer risks.
- Nurture tight social networks. Like Okinawan moais, Adventists get together as groups to spend time together and for potluck socials.
- Volunteer! Volunteering reduces stress and contributes to a sense of purpose, connecting Adventists to a social network of people with similar interests.
- Eat a light dinner. Make breakfast your biggest meal of the day followed by lunch and topped off with a smaller dinner. This has been shown to promote a lower BMI and better sleep.
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These products meet California School Food Standards,
(legislation Senate Bills 12 and 965)
This legislation set limits on the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugar, and calories competitive foods (snacks, beverages, and entre items) can have and applies to foods sold in grades K-12. The legislation eliminated the sale of sodas and set sugar content limits for other sugar sweetened beverages. Recently, legislation was passed that limits the amount of trans fat competitive foods can have.
Ironically many public schools are flip flopping and allowing snacks again to fill a hole in the varsity school budgets.
Our offer a large variety of snack and beverage choices to meet such standards
Bellow are links to guidelines and guide to help our School Clients select the food that best fit the program standards:
(highlight the link and place it on your browner)
- Links to online snack calculators here
http://www.californiaprojectlean.org/doc.asp?id=180&parentid=95. There
is one for elementary and another for middle/high school.
- Fact sheet that summarizes the regulations is available for download
here
http://www.californiaprojectlean.org/doc.asp?id=168&parentid=20#Food_and
_Bev_Standards_
- Slide guide (for determining what foods fit when you are out and
about) - available for order
http://www.californiaprojectlean.org/doc.asp?id=168&parentid=20#Food_and
_Bev_Standards_
At this point, there is no standard for sodium so that is not a factor
(although we do encourage lower sodium foods).
Jacqueline Chan, Dr.P.H., recently shared her expertise with Wall Street Journal writer Melinda Beck for an article that considers how much water people need to drink.
Chan is an assistant research professor and post-doctoral fellow at Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health.
The July 1 article was titled “Studies Lead You to Water, But How Much to Drink?” It discussed the expert disagreement on whether people need to drink a certain amount of water, as opposed to just any fluid, in order to optimize their health.
Based on LLU research, Chan advocates for frequent water intake throughout the day.
She was lead investigator on a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that showed drinking at least five glasses of water a day significantly lowers the risk of fatal heart disease in comparison to people who drink only two glasses per day. Women had a 48 percent lower risk, while men experienced a 61 percent lower risk. Her work has also shown there is a lower risk of stroke for people drinking at least five glasses of water daily.
On the other hand, she and her colleagues found that there is an increased risk of fatal heart disease for people who consume higher amounts of fluids other than water.
It is good to spread water intake throughout the day as opposed to drinking more only a few times per day, notes Chan. Because the body is dehydrated after a night’s sleep, she also recommends drinking upon first waking up.
“You cannot depend on thirst to remind you to drink water frequently,” says Chan. “Devising some mechanism to both remind you to drink water and make it convenient to do so is usually necessary for most people.”
The data for discovering the link between water and lower risks of stroke and fatal heart disease came from LLU’s Adventist Health Study-1, a long-term epidemiological research project examining the health of thousands of Seventh-day Adventists living in California.
Along with Chan, the following individuals from the School of Public Health worked on the study of water, other fluids and fatal heart disease: Synnove Knutsen, M.D., Ph.D.; Glen Blix, Dr.P.H.; Jerry Lee, Ph.D.; and Gary Fraser, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D.
