When you think about weight loss and fitness, I hope you’ll forgive me for saying that the grand old United States is not the first nation that comes to mind. However, the country’s only self-proclaimed ‘Blue Zone’ is looking to change all that with contentious plans to ban fast food.
In a new video, YouTube fitness superstar Will Tennyson visits Loma Linda — a city in San Bernardino County, California — which boasts some of the most impressive longevity statistics in the entire world and, by a country mile, the entire United States.
Visiting some of the city’s meat-free cafes and grocery stores before trucking across town to get hot takes from customers at the city’s few-and-far-between fast food restaurants, Tennyson uncovers a diverse range of opinion inside of the city that, rumour has it, has plans to outlaw fast food. If you take a look at the comments, you’ll see an equally “diverse” range of inflamed opinions…
What’s So Special About Loma Linda?
We covered Loma Linda back in 2018: The city is home to a community of about 9,000 Adventists. These guys adhere to a strict version of Protestant Christianity, take their health very seriously, and bring their city’s average life-expectancy up.
“They live as much as a decade longer than the rest of us, and much of their longevity can be attributed to vegetarianism and regular exercise. Plus, Adventists don’t smoke or drink alcohol.”
(Blue Zones).
But their advice expands beyond exercise and diet—and can be applied whether your hero is Jesus or Richard Dawkins.
Foremost among them is to find a “sanctuary in time.” While this doesn’t have to be a 24-hour Sabbath, it does involve a weekly break from the craziness of life; to focus on your family, God (if you’re not religious, insert nature here), and camaraderie with your mates.
Doesn’t sound too bad, right? It also relieves stress, strengthens your social networks, and provides consistent exercise, which all add up to keep you ticking along.
Their next piece of wisdom, while slightly left field, is to snack on nuts. Studies show Adventists who consume nuts at least five times a week have about half the risk of heart disease (and live about two years longer) than those who don’t.
As they are not significantly genetically different to the rest of America (unlike some of the other centenarian communities, which live on islands), there’s no reason this shouldn’t work for you too.
The same goes for giving back to your community, consuming meat in moderation, eating light dinners (and more fruit & veggies), and drinking plenty of water.
Don’t Forget The Dose
If you’re looking for more than just nutritional tips, longevity expert Mark Hyman had a curveball suggestion while appearing on a podcast last week, turning to that often-overlooked aspect of male wellness, mental health:
“I would have done more work on my own trauma that I couldn’t really identify then, we didn’t have the language for it, it wasn’t in the zeitgeist like it is now… the world of psychedelics wasn’t really a thing. There’s a bunch of stuff I would’ve done around that.”
Dr Mark Hyman
There you have it: the secrets to a longer life. Do you think that the promise of living to 100 is worth never tasting a Big Mac again? Or is life just too short? Let us know…