, updated
There are places around the world, says Giulia Crouch (below, author of The Happiest Diet in the World, from which these recipes are taken), where people live for an unusually long time. They’re called the blue zones. Not only are these people making it to 100, they are staying fit, active, engaged, sharp and playful and are dodging the diseases normally associated with ageing.
The first to be identified, in the 1990s, was a remote, mountainous part of Sardinia. Others were Okinawa in Japan, known as the ‘land of immortals’; Loma Linda in California; Nicoya in Costa Rica; and Ikaria in Greece.
After years of study, scientists concluded there are multiple reasons behind their remarkable longevity, including supportive social networks, unintentional exercise and practices that diminish stress. But it is what – and how – they eat that is the most important.
Consuming mainly plants (with …