What Topics Are Important to You? Tell us!

Starting a Blue Zones Project in Loveland

I'm interested in seeing if our community would like to learn more about activating a Blue Zone Project. Becoming a Blue Zone Project would open us up to receive assistance from 100's of subject matter experts that work with the the Federal Government for grant writing, the DOT, school districts, and more. Blue Zones are places on Earth with the highest percentage of people who have celebrated their 100th birthday. After interviewing the centenarians, the common theme the was that they didn't do anything special, it happened almost effortlessly, pointing researchers to the environment for clues on what led to increased longevity. This is what those 5 areas had in common: 1) People in blue zones are naturally more active throughout their life because activity is built into the culture through walking, gardening, etc. They aren't doing cross-fit and marathons, they're just doing what we would see as "taking too long" because for most of their lives modern conveniences weren't available, like driving your car 1/2 a mile to grab lemonade from Chipotle... which I am very much guilty of. 2) They live with a sense of purpose, and know their reason why they get out of bed in the morning. There is a strong sense of community and volunteerism in these regions. Some people are known for tending to children, others the garden, and others to help support people working through adversity. Everyone knows what part they play in the bigger picture. 3) They have more downtime built into their culture, and have stress-relief built into their everyday routine. 4) They don't binge on food, and stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. Their food is typically grown locally and consumed shortly after harvest allowing them to eat less while getting more nutrition than the American model where produce gets shipped in. 5) They mostly eat plant-based foods. While some regions did consume meat, it was limited to about 5 times per month. The consumed beans, lentils, and tofu for protein instead which dramatically improved cardiovascular health among other things. 6) They allowed themselves to sip a glass of wine with loved ones over a meal. The most they would consume was 2 servings, but always in the company of loved ones. 7) They belonged to a faith-based community. It didn't matter what you believed, but that you did believe in some sort of Higher Power to add years to your life. 8) Families were a huge support group for each other. As it's commonly said, it takes a village to raise a child. In these cultures, aging adults were admired and cherished. They would regularly interact with babies, toddler, and children, giving the parents a break, and older kids would step in to support older generations in return. All generations honor each other. 9) They had strong support systems within their local everyday community, protecting them from the harm social isolation. "It is well established that the underlying causes of declining health of Americans are our environments—the people, places, and policies we are exposed to every day. These factors influence how we make thousands of decisions every day—many unconsciously—that form our habits. Therein lies the unique opportunity to do something different in order to impact an entire community: change the environments where people spend time. Research has shown that by applying the cultural and environmental practices of the world’s longest-lived people, we can quickly and dramatically change a community’s future course to one of improved health and economic vitality. By adopting certain systemic changes, whole communities have been able to re-engineer environments and culture to make the healthy choice the easy choice." It's not that people don't want to live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives, it's that we need these habits to be supported on a large scale, so that being happy, healthy, and fulfilled happens more effortlessly. For example, European cities were well established long before cars came around, so the infrastructure was set up for walking and horseback riding. Even today, it's faster to get around cities on foot than on car. Since USA was developed around the time of the industrial revolution, our infrastructure was set up very differently, which is why Americans are far more dependent on cars. As a result of the increase in walking and eating local in Europe, Europeans weigh on average 10 pounds less than their American counterparts and living roughly 4 years longer in countries like Italy, France, Greece, etc. Making it easy and safe to get around town without our cars would not only improve the lives of those who decide to forgo the vehicle, but would help decrease traffic for others on the road, cut down on road noise, and pollution. Grocery stores could accept the Blue Zone pledge and offer discounts to those who walked or biked. Local restaurants could do the same on slow days to encourage more steady business. Schools could start doing walking school buses with an adult chaperone before and after school for those who live within 2 miles of their school. Employers could offer incentives to employees who bike/walk to work, as it will cut healthcare premiums for them as well. These are all ideas on how Loveland could come together to shift a community's habits to support increasing the happiness, vitality, and longevity of its citizens. Imagine what we could do with the other 8 principles. If this is something you're interested in, please comment below. You can find more information at BlueZones.com and I'm starting a Meetup group where we will be hosting plant-based pot lucks, socialization walks, book studies, and purpose workshops. It's called Blue Zones: Making Loveland a Happiness & Longevity Hotspot.