Healed Planet

Known as “blue zones“, these are areas where life spans are unusually long.  Places like the tiny island of Icaria in the North Aegean Sea host healthier and longer-living citizens than is customary elsewhere. The combination of genes and lifestyle there is being studied by author Don Buettner the AARP and the National Geographic Society.

“If they go to church, if they go to their friends’ house - it always occasions a small walk. But that ends up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day.”

“They also have a diet that’s very interesting,” Buettner continues. “It’s very high in olive oil; it’s very high in fruits and vegetables.” It’s also very high in greens; about 150 kinds of veggies grow wild on the island. “These greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of antioxidants in red wine.”

Another of their secrets: herbal teas, which act as diuretics.

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