Good Health Habits To Live To 100 - Blue Zones Research & High Performance Hacks
Want to learn the good health habits the healthiest and most energetic people in the world implement?
Well do you ever wonder how some people can live to 70 and die from a chronic illness and others can live to over 100 and die in good health from natural causes?
Do you put it down to luck? Or good genes?
Well more and more research into the field of epigenetics is showing that it actually has less to do with your genes and more to do with the lifestyle choices and good health habits you keep throughout your life. This is exciting for entrepreneurs such as myself, because we ultimately have control over our destiny. I implement dozens of blue zone strategies each day, and am confident I’m going to live to well over 100.
So in this article I want to go through with you some good health habits that are implemented by some of the longest living communities in the world, known as blue zones. Blue zones are areas where people reach the age of 100 in good health at rates 10 times greater than in the United States.
These 9 good health habits were common threads throughout the different communities including one in Sardinia, Italy, one in Okinawa, Japan and one in California, USA.
I also include some high performance modifications to these just for those that want to take it to the next level!
9 Good Health Habits
1. Move Naturally
The worlds longest living people were all consistently active throughout their lives, and although they didn’t have gyms or set workout routines they had daily lifestyles that kept them moving.
High Performance Hack – try to incorporate a burst or HIIT workout 3x week into your routine to maximize the benefits of your workout and swap from sitting to a standing desk to improve the amount of consistent movement you get throughout the day.
2. Know Your Purpose
Blue zones research found that knowing your sense of purpose was commonly talked about in blue zone communities and could add up to seven years of extra life expectancy.
High Performance Hack – Set up a morning ritual for maximum momentum towards your purpose each day. This could include meditation, journaling or affirmations.
3. Manage Stress
People in blue zones have specific routines to manage stress as they know the impact it has on your health. Stress can cause chronic inflammation and has been associated with most major chronic age related diseases.
High Performance Hack – Start incorporating meditation and a gratitude practice into your morning ritual to retrain your brain and set you up for a calmer and more focused day. Want to take this to the next level. Invest in a nuerofeedback device such as heartmath or the muse device (See the interview I did with the Muse founder HERE).
4.Eat Less
The Okinawan people eat until they are 80% full and others in the blue zones tend to eat their smallest meal of the day early in the evening. They rarely eat after this.
High Performance Hack – Try intermittent fasting or take one day a week to cleanse your system by eating much lighter than other days of the week. Or try a 24 hour fast to cleanse your systems and let your cells repair and restore.
5.Eat More Greens
The blue zones diet is mostly plant based with some high quality local and grass fed animal products. Vegetables and whole grains form the basis of their diet along with plant- based protein such as beans and lentils.
High Performance Hack – Base your diet around high quality organic vegetables, grass fed meat and raw organic dairy, free range eggs and poultry and high quality health fats for all day energy and easy weight maintenance.
6.Drink Moderately
Many of the centurions in the blue zones enjoyed 1-2 glasses of wine with friends or food each day. There was no over consumption of alcohol or drinking without friends or food.
High Performance Hack – Stick to red wines shown to have the highest resveratrol concentrations when you do drink again with food or friends. Click HERE to learn how to make the best wine & cocktail choices.
7.Sense of Belonging
A large majority, although not all, of the blue zone centurians belonged to a faith based community. It didn’t matter what faith it was just the community and belonging aspects that provided the benefit.
High Performance Hack – Find your tribe, whether that be a faith based community or an online forum and plug in often.
8.Family First
Family is of the highest priorities in blue zones and this includes not only looking after and spending time with children but also aging parents and grandparents.
High Performance Hack – Schedule in family time or time to spend with your significant other right into your calendar and have it as a non-negotiable. Create a family mission statement together as having your family be purpose driven can be extremely powerful. (My family’s mission statement my dad came up with: Love God, Family First, Work Smart, Do Your Best).
9.The Right Environment
The world’s longest living people are part of like-minded social circles who all adopt these healthy habits. Studies have shown that everything from obesity to smoking is actually contagious. As Jim Rohn says you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
High Performance Hack – Set up your environment for success. This includes your office space, your home environment and the people you hang out with. Join paid masterminds or social groups with like-minded people or people who are where you want to be. Or hire a coach or mentor to help you out and pave a way forward. It’s the fastest way to skyrocket performance!
Live Longer, Healthier
Each one of these habits has a profound anti-aging affect on your body. They are not to be implemented all at once though. In fact, it’s advised that you only implement one health habit each month. Most people never make long-term change in their lives because they overwhelm themselves with try to implement too many things at once.
Unrealistic expectations lead to stress and long-term disappointment. When implementing health habits, if you think you can implement 4 in a month, I would recommend dividing whatever you come up with by two. So your real aim for implementation should be at max two. When your brain says to itself, “I can easily do that!” you know you’re setting yourself up to win.
The more health habits you implement over the years (and this process does take years as I’m STILL implementing new ones to this day), the more layers you will peel back, and the healthier you will become! Take it slow and make gradual changes that LAST!
I want you to live as long as you want to live in GREAT health. My vision for you is that your body would function at its fullest potential and that the healing and regulating power within would flourish uninhibited. That you would live as long as you want, traveling the world feeling great, playing with your children and grandchildren without pain or tiredness and being able to live the life of your dreams, with nothing holding you back!
At Designer Health Centers we have worked with a number of people to really help them maximize their health, energy levels and performance and we would love to also help you heal and thrive!
Click here to book in a consultation with a high performance doctor to see if we can help you decipher your symptoms and get you back to feeling amazing!!
To find out more about your health and whether a customized approach is the way to go for you, take our free High Performance Quiz. Click below!
