The final lessons of The Blue Zones involve finding community. Lesson seven encourages finding a spiritual community and being involved. Buettner suggests branching out and exploring a new tradition if you do not already have one. Lesson eight encourages making family a priority. He suggests finding one area of your home where everyone can hang […]
The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, Part 3
This is part three of the summary of health recommendations from The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. Lesson three involves eating a whole foods, plant based diet (does this sound familiar?) The centenarians typically eat two veggies per meal and consume meat in limited quantities. His recommendation is to have meat no more than twice […]
The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, Part 2
So what did Dan Buettner discover during his globe-trot? Well, like so much of what we know about good health most of it involves common sense. He ends the book with nine lessons, many of which I will pass on to you. Of course, I highly recommend this book because it’s content far surpasses my […]
The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
Feel like reading an interesting, well-written book that really might improve your life? Then I suggest you pick up a National Geographic book called The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. The author has traveled the globe from Loma Linda, California to Okinawa, Japan studying communities with the highest percentages of centenarians (people who live to […]
Why are omega 3’s important?
It seems like the term “omega 3” has become a popular buzz word in the grocery store. These essential poly-unsaturated fatty acids are added to everything now from milk and orange juice to cereal. But what are they and why does it matter? Well, they come primarily from oily fish such as wild-caught salmon and […]
Can eating fats be healthy?
Did you know that it really is OK, even healthy, to eat fats. The low fat craze of the 90’s is thought to have significantly contributed to our current obesity epidemic. Food products were created that had much less fat but far more sugar. We need fat to feel full and satisfied. It’s just a […]
More reasons to eat a Mediterranean-style diet
The people of the Mediterranean region historically focused on whole foods including fruits, veggies, grains, and legumes. Fish were consumed when available, usually 2-3 times per week. Olive oil and nuts were consumed regularly. Now science tells us that this is a “low-glycemic load” diet. What this means is that there are not huge fluctuations […]
Just Move
Yes, we all know we need to exercise more. Between 12 hour work days, the kids, ballet rehearsals, and baseball games what’s a woman to do? Well, here’s some good news. You don’t have to go to the gym to get your exercise. When you go to the grocery store park in a far away […]
Just Breathe
A simple, yet powerful technique that you can do any time & any place is called 4-7-8 breathing. The way you do this is to sit in a comfy chair, take a deep breath in for a count of four, hold for a count of seven, and exhale for a count of eight. It is […]
What to Eat, That is the Question
Low fat, high protein, this Beach, that Beach, what’s my blood type…Is there any way eating right could get any more confusing? I really don’t believe eating well has to be so difficult. Fortunately we do have science to rely on and I will let you know a bit about that. There are two eating […]