What is the Blue Zones diet − and is it the secret to living a long life?

The mysterious diet is the subject of a new Netflix docuseries "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones," which shot to the streamers' Top 10 shows following its release last week. In the series, Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow and bestselling author, examines five pockets of the world where people have the highest life expectancy and seeks to learn from them how to live a longer, healthier life.

Buettner's travels inspired him to pioneer the Blue Zones diet, modeled after these people's eating patterns.

"If you want to know what 100-year-olds ate to live to be 100... you have to know what they've done most of their lives," Buettner previously told USA TODAY.

Where are the Blue Zones located?

In a span of about eight years, Buettner and a team of colleagues conducted research and discovered five pockets of the world that exhibited outstanding longevity. These Blue Zones are Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece and Loma Linda, California.

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What foods do you eat on the Blue Zones diet?

Through an analysis of these communities' dietary habits, Buettner and his team found people in these Blue Zones were eating a mostly whole food and plant-based diet. The main pillars are:

1. Whole grains, such as corn, wheat and rice
2. Greens
3. Tubers like sweet potatoes
4. And beans, which Buettner described as the "cornerstone of the diet."

People living in the Blue Zones also eat some meat, on average about five times a month, and fish once or twice a week. They also have a "little bit of sheep's milk cheese or goat's milk cheese, but very little sugar. Probably a quarter of the sugar that we eat, and almost no processed food."

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What foods do you avoid on the Blue Zones diet?

That also means no processed meats, which the World Health Organization has classified as carcinogenic. The WHO defines processed meats as those that are "transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation." Examples include hot dogs, sausages, corned beef and beef jerky. 

While the Blue Zones diet may consist of less meat and dairy than most Americans are used to, Buettner said he wouldn't call it restrictive. Instead, he calls it putting a "plant slant" on your diet. When he officially formulated the diet and created a Blue Zones cookbook, he decided to leave out meat and dairy altogether, explaining, "the more people can eat a whole food, plant-based diet, the better off they're going to be."

What's the difference between the Blue Zones diet and the Mediterranean diet?

While this diet has similarities to the Mediterranean diet, which ranked No. 1 on U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Diets for 2023, it pulls from communities beyond this region and puts less of an emphasis on seafood. Additionally, the Blue Zones diet aims to go beyond eating by also focusing on a way of life that encourages social connection and movement.

More:US life expectancy problem is ‘bigger than we ever thought,’ report finds

What are the benefits of the Blue Zones diet?

In addition to the hope of living a long life, Buettner said the diet can also help other health issues. 

In a 10-week challenge broadcast on the "Today" show in 2019, people who stuck to the diet yielded impressive results. One woman said she lost 12 pounds and lowered her cholesterol by 22 points. Another lost 17 pounds and said she felt "happy (and) energized," while a third lost 37 pounds.

"While the women we talked to saw the most dramatic change, everyone who stuck with the program for three months also reported weight loss," anchor Maria Shriver said in the segment. "But I think the thing that is the most exciting to me is that they all reported emotional well-being went up."

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Going meatless or reducing meat intake can also help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association.

The diet can also help keep you feeling full longer. A 2016 study comparing meals with vegetable protein sources versus animal protein found that satiety was higher after eating legumes such as beans and peas than meat.

"These fiber-filled sources are known to improve satiety, which can help manage our weight," Ashley Baumohl, assistant clinical nutrition manager with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, previously told USA TODAY.

Plant-based diets can also help support bowel regularity and an increase in fiber is "directly associated with reducing risk for colon cancer and breast cancer," she said.

"So there are a lot of benefits in choosing these foods as our primary source of nutrition."

Contributing: Sara M. Moniuszko

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