The Blue Zones: Lessons For Living Longer From The People Who've Lived The Longest Quotes
"The idea of discovering a magic source of long life still has so much appeal today."
"There are no lifestyle changes, surgical procedures, vitamins, antioxidants, hormones, or techniques of genetic engineering available today that have been demonstrated to influence the processes of aging."
"The brutal reality about aging is that it has only an accelerator pedal."
"Most of us have more control over how long we live than we think."
"If you can optimize your lifestyle, you may gain back an extra decade of good life you’d otherwise miss."
"What’s the best way to optimize your lifestyle? Emulate the practices we found in each one of the Blue Zones."
"Life could be extended through practicing moderation."
"How can we live longer? How can we live better?"
"What really happens to our bodies when we age? Why can’t we just take a pill to extend our lives?"
"The older you get, the healthier you’ve been."
"Are you going to be reasonably independent and alert at 100?"
"There are a lot of nostrums out there. None of them has credibility."
"The best source of information on hormones is Marc Blackman at the Washington, D.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center."
"Most vitamin requirements are best achieved by eating six to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day."
"The best diet is basically one of moderation."
"Rather than exercising for the sake of exercising, try to make changes to your lifestyle."
"Exercise has several quite distinct functions."
"The data suggest that a moderate level of sustained exercise is quite helpful."
"Living an extra two years on life support may not necessarily be your goal."
"A good start to adding more good years to your life would be to get rid of the anti-aging quackery."
"If antioxidants were so healthful, the whole generation that grew up eating Twinkies, Wonder Bread, and the like should never grow old."
"The best way to think about reaching 100 is: 'The older you get, the healthier you’ve been.'"
"Ponce de León’s legendary search for the Fountain of Youth is one of the many tales that illustrate the desire to overcome aging."
"Sardinia consists almost entirely of mountainous terrain as it rose toward the massive Gennargentu range to the east."
"Okinawa can still claim to be home to some of the world’s longest-lived people."
"In Okinawa, people enjoy what may be the highest life expectancy."
"The economic impact of cardiovascular disease on the U.S. health care system continues to grow as the population ages."
"In America, being young is celebrated, and growing old is often dreaded."
"In the Blue Zone, there is less pressure to adapt."
"Life was hard. We had famines, times when people starved to death. Even when times were good, all we ate was imo (sweet potato) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
"The idea of retirement never occurred to the Okinawan peasant. To this day there’s not a word for it in their language."
"I used to be very beautiful. It took me a long time to realize that beauty is within. It comes from not worrying so much about your own problems. Sometimes you can best take care of yourself by taking care of others."
"Eat your vegetables, have a positive outlook, be kind to people, and smile."
"I wake up at about 6 a.m. and make a pot of jasmine tea and eat my breakfast—usually miso soup with vegetables."
"No, I ate imo for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 50 years. I got tired of it."
My ikigai is right here," she says after a moment with a slow sweeping gesture that takes in Setzu, Matsu, and her simple surroundings. "If this goes away, I will wonder why I’m still living.
"Because it makes me feel good. Don’t you like to help people up when they need a hand?"
"It is meant to be a sanctuary in time for rest and rejuvenation, and I think it accomplishes that on a number of levels."
"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."
"People say, ‘Oh, I don’t drive at night.’ Well, I drive over 2,000 miles a month on Southern California freeways, much of it at night. I think it keeps me alert."
"The Sabbath gives most Adventists a time to do that: to shut off the television, not think about your work or business, and just spend time with the people who are important to you."
"They tend to spend lots of time with other Adventists. They find well-being by sharing values and supporting each other’s habits."
"My wife is not a vegetarian, but she is changing. Again, it is no credit to me that I am a vegan—I just love it."
"It is so simple just to get on a good program."
"We are especially blessed out here in California, where there are so many good things to eat."
"An old man napped languidly in a hammock on the porch."
"Buenas tardes," Jorge called out. The talking stopped abruptly."
"The room has a feeling of timeless congeniality."
"You have to keep busy enough to keep the Devil away, but not so much that we get stressed."
"I find a patch of shade and eat an orange."
"Life is short. Don’t run so fast you miss it."
"People who attend religious services at least once a month reduced their risk of death by about a third."
"The most successful centenarians...put their families first."
"If you can live a longer life with the fewest bad years. As my centenarian friends showed me, the choice is largely up to us."