The last Blue Zone that we are going to look at is Nicoya,
Costa Rica. In Nicoya, Panchita tends
to her garden every day, doing her daily chores, and preparing food for herself
and her son. Looking at Panchita, you
would think that she was 70 years old, and a robust 70 at that. Panchita is very agile and busy every
day. She feels great purpose in seeing
her grandchildren grow and making sure that her family is doing well.
Panchita is 100 years old and one of the many centurions in
Nicoya, Costa Rica. She is outside every
day and receiving vitamin D from the sunshine.
Vitamin D is a common deficiency that I see every day with my clients in
Minnesota. In the summer, sunblock keeps
our body from absorbing vitamin D. I
usually recommend at least 20 minutes a day in the sun without sunblock so that
your body can absorb Vitamin D. Vitamin
D is not found in a lot of foods and is best absorbed from the sun.
For food, Panchita prepares traditional, non-processed food
every day. She makes tortillas from
fortified maize (not at all like our genetically modified corn in America),
beans, and uses vegetables from her garden.
It is interesting that every Blue Zone has a different diet that
contributes to longevity, but the common denominator is traditional,
non-processed food. In America, most
people would say that “traditional” American food is hamburgers, potatoes,
fries, and pizza. This is not quite the
traditional cuisine that we should be aiming for in our plan to increase our
capacity for longevity.
Panchita eats a heavy, full breakfast, while in the evening
she eats a very light dinner. This is a
common custom to Nicoya. Eating a light
meal helps the body to detoxify and restore health while sleeping. Eating a heavy meal right before sleeping can
cause sleep disturbances and interfere with the body’s ability to heal and
restore during sleep.
Panchita’s mentality and perspective on food is “food gives
life.” She focusing on the life-giving
properties of food and not on the gratification of taste buds or fulfilling a
certain craving. If you think about your
perspective and mentality on food and how you eat, it tends to lead you towards
a healthy lifestyle or an unhealthy lifestyle.
It is so important that we shift our thinking and beliefs about food so
that we can move towards a healthy mentality of eating.
The last “secret” to health in Nicoya, is the amazing
mineral-rich water that is found everywhere.
Their water supply has not been tainted or changed and contains the
minerals needed for optimal health.
Unfortunately, in America, most of our water has been “supplemented”
with chlorine and fluoride, which can negatively affect the quality and health
of the water.
In Nicoya, we can learn to eat more traditional,
non-processed food, to gain Vitamin D from the sunshine, to shift our belief
system about food, to focus on our families, find mineral rich water sources, and
to have daily purpose to living.
