Podcast: Beyond Blue Zones: The Truth About Living Longer and Healthier

Introduction

Ever wondered if those famous 'Blue Zones' of longevity are too good to be true? Join Dr. Orlena as she dives into shocking new research that's turning the world of healthy living upside down! 🌍🥗
Discover:

The truth behind those 100-year-old claims 👵👴
What REALLY matters for a long, healthy life 💪
Simple, enjoyable ways to boost your wellbeing 🌟

Plus, learn about an exciting 5-day health boost coming your way! 🚀 Don't miss this myth-busting, life-changing episode. Listen now and revolutionize your approach to health! 

Sign Up For Doctor Orlena's Healthy Amazing You Boost

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Papers Mentioned in Podcast:

Debunking bluezones: The conversation

Lentil consumption meta analysis: Pubmed

25-30g of fibre meta analysis: The Lancet

Transcription of Podcast

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena. I hope that you are feeling amazing today. Today, I have an interesting podcast for you, but before we get started, I want to remind you that next week, September the 23rd, is Dr. Orlena's Healthy Amazing You Boost. It is five days, which is going to take you from, I feel stuck and overwhelmed, and it's not going to work, and nothing I do is going to make any difference to you.

Oh my goodness, this is so easy and I can do it. So what are we going to be looking at? We're going to be thinking about getting to vibrant, healthy you, blast away those self limiting beliefs and really figure out what is possible for you. This is really about creating your motivation. Day number two, you are going to learn why discipline is not the key to either weight loss or healthy living, and how you can really success today.

No, no, excuse me. Set yourself up for success. Day three, we're going to be doing a deep dive into emotional eating and how to meet your emotional needs without turning to food for comfort. Day four, we are going to be doing the magic likes and dislikes exercise, turn down your desire for certain foods or turn up your desire for certain foods.

And then on day five, we are going to be creating your dream life. So five days. That you cannot miss this is gonna be amazing stuff. It's really gonna rocket boost you into. Oh my goodness Yes, I totally love this. I can do this. So please please please sign up. It is totally free You obviously can come and chat to me on zoom and that is amazing That's the best way to do it.

But obviously if you can't do that, then there will be replays sent out so that you can make the most of these things, even if you have a busy life, which I suspect all of you do. Okay, I will leave the link in the show notes, so remember, remember to sign up. So what are we talking about today? Well, today, I came across a really interesting article about blue zones and how a lot of the blue zones.

Information is not true. Just to recap, what are blue zones? Blue zones are these areas around the world that people have discovered that a lot of people live to over a hundred. And so people have really been studying this and thinking like, what do these people do? What, what can we learn from this such that we can all live to a hundred and beyond?

The problem with this is that actually do those people live to a hundred? There is a gentleman whose name is Saul Newman and he has recently won an award called the IG Nobel Prize. Now, this is not the Nobel Prize. The IG Nobel Prize is a recognize in scientific discoveries that make people laugh, then think.

And this gentleman has really, he works at the University College London for longitudinal studies,. One of the things he has been working on is debunking this myth that actually in these areas people live to a hundred.

And obviously if people don't live to a hundred then that makes a lot of the information we have about blue zones not true. Because they aren't genuinely blue zones. And I'm sure that you're aware that a lot of information comes out like there was a Netflix series and things like this. So what he really said to, said, was he looked at how long most people were living in this in these blue zones and a lot of them, like, the data just wasn't there.

for example, and I'll leave a link to the article that I am reading, but He has tracked down 80 percent of the people who are aged over 110 in the world and he says almost none of them have a birth certificate. He explains more about like what's really happening but in certain areas perhaps they didn't have a birth certificate or for example people aren't actually, they've actually died and they're still claiming pensions so they may live to 110 but really they haven't, they haven't actually got a death certificate.

So about 10 percent of them, it says in the US there are over 500 people and only 7 have a birth certificate and only about 10 percent of them have a death certificate. Basically, a lot of people don't really know how old they are. And so this really is a big problem. And it goes on more. He's talking about Okinawa in Japan, which was one of these zones, and found out that 82 people, over 100 in Japan, turned out to be dead.

He says, glibly, the secret to living to 110 was the just don't register your death. It's a really interesting article. The article that I will link to is very accessible for people. Obviously, it then links to the studies that he has done, which are obviously much more bogged down in science, which I find really amazing because You can have somebody who spends so much time and energy doing some scientific research and then somebody else who has to spend loads of time and energy explaining why this is false and it doesn't work.

I think really the question for me is, well, what do we take from this? Now, number one, I think, It's really important to understand that we are in a world full, full, full of firstly information and secondly opinion and some of it is true and some of it isn't true and sifting through which is true and which isn't true can be really difficult.

And yet I see people get really, really attached to their opinions. I will take, The argument about protein, protein debate, I am looking at you and people get so, so attached to, yes, you have to take two grams of protein per kilogram per day, or one gram, or this, or that. So many people saying different things and so many different articles out there.

Even if you just talk to people, people are very attached to their interpretation of the results. And their interpretation of the results basically becomes their opinion. for tuning in. And it is difficult when we think about how we are influenced and how we make up our minds whether something is true or not.

We kind of do the reverse of what is logical. So the logical thing is to look at scientific evidence. And there is Like a hierarchy of scientific evidence and the highest is something called a meta analysis and then we've got different types of studies, so a randomised controlled trial is the next one down and then different types of studies and they get weaker and weaker.

And you could spend an awful lot of time and energy going through all of those studies and also you do need to learn how to interpret these studies. So we've got scientific evidence as one body. We have got expert opinion as another body. and really thinking about experts and thinking a lot of experts have an agenda and can you see that agenda so for example i see some experts really singing the praises of the carnivore diet or i see other experts saying no no no we all have to be vegan well if we're going to believe experts because they're experts we've got two very conflicting opinions there so taking into consideration What is this expert's stance on something?

As a side note, one resource that I really love about nutrition, who is an expert, and he's a gentleman who really is very good at interpreting research, because that's his job, he is a research doctor, but he is also very good at presenting both sides of the story, and often these things are not clear cut.

He has a podcast called Thinking Nutrition, so it's a really good resource. It's very accessible. If you are interested in nutrition, it is one of the top resources that I recommend for sifting through research and really thinking, okay, what do we actually know about this topic? Now, the next piece of evidence that we have, which is the one that we rely on more, which But is the least reliable is what my mate said and what happened to my friend.

What did they say? What did they think? And that's the one that actually we pay the most attention to and is the least reliable. So in terms of The reliability, it goes research, expert, mate. And actually what we do is we pay attention to that in reverse orders. We pay attention more to our friends and our mates than experts.

And then we probably pay more attention to experts than we do the actual research. We've kind of got it back to front, but I get it because it's a full time job sifting through the research. What are we going to do? Well, okay, here's my take. There are a few key pieces. of information, good trials, good meta analysis, that really show us certain things.

And we don't have to get bogged down in the nitty gritty detail of this thing and that thing. We know, in broad strokes, that What is healthy for us? What is good for us? And, yep, we can think about the minutiae. And there are times when it is appropriate to think about the minutiae. But I am going to remind you that there is that amazing paper by the Harvard Medical School which is called How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off.

And it could be how to lead a life, a healthy life. It doesn't really have to be how to lose weight. And they boil it down to two key things. And number one is finding a way that works for you. And I think this is super important because if you decide that, I don't know, eating kale standing on your head at five o'clock in the morning every morning is the way that you are going to live long and lose weight and you hate doing it, you're not going to do it.

Number one, find the things that work to you, work for you. Now, obviously we do need to have a bit of an understanding of what is healthy lifestyle and. What impact does it have on the human body? Now, their second key that they have is to keep doing it. To keep doing it. To keep doing it. And I think this is where the human brain really gets a bit lost because the human brain likes new things.

And so we're constantly thinking, I should be doing something different. I should be doing something different. As opposed to, as Dory from Finding Nemo always says, Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Keep swimming. So, what are those things that I think are big gold nuggets that we know about healthy living?

Well, obviously the four pillars. Now let me just remind you of the four pillars. And whether you live in blue zones or not, these four pillars still hold up. Healthy eating. I'll talk about that in a second. Exercise that lights you up. Nobody doubts that moving your body is good for you. Obviously, we can debate how much you need to and what kind of exercise and all of those things.

But remember, it needs to light you up. You need to enjoy doing it so that you continue to doing it. And when it does light you up, it kind of doesn't matter because you're enjoying doing it. So, exercise that lights you up. Sleep. Delicious, healthy sleep. Nobody is debating that sleep is good and healthy for us.

Whether you want to live to 100 or longer, sleep is definitely up there on some of the things that we need to do. We need to get a good night's sleep. We need to prioritize sleep both for weight loss and for longevity. And then the fourth pillar is emotional wellness. And this might be your stress levels.

It might be your relationship with food. If you're turning to food for comfort, you know that that is leading to behavior that is not helping you be healthy and doing things. So those are the four pillars, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and emotional wellness, stress levels. So going back to nutrition, what do we know about nutrition?

And again, we can debate this and debate this and debate this. In my mind, here are some of the big things. Plant based diet is the most healthy way of eating. Now, plant based does not mean that you never, ever eat meat. In my mind, it is possible that eating meat is not good for us. In my mind, I don't know where that level is.

Is a little bit of meat okay? And I know that there are guidelines. So, for example, red meat is Not as good for you, it is more connected to cancer than, for example, white meat. But, do we need to exclude meat totally and dairy products totally if we're going to lead a long and healthy life if we're eating in other ways?

And it may be that that has been answered somewhere. I have not seen a good, solid, strong research that says, yes, here is how much you can eat. you can eat in a safe way or it's way better to exclude it. For me personally what I do is I eat plant forwards, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, I eat small amounts of meat, probably too much dairy because I have kids, and some fish.

So plant forwards. What else? Fibre. We know that fibre is good for us. There was a meta analysis that said eating 30 grams of fibre a day helps you live longer. And as a side note, this is one of the problems that I have with people debating about protein so much. I see so many people saying, you need to have this much protein, eat protein, it's really good for you.

I had an article that fell into my email over the weekend and it was a good article about protein but it totally failed to mention fiber and here's the reality is that most people do not eat enough fiber. 30 grams of fiber is a reasonable amount of fiber a day. Where are you going to get that fiber from?

You're going to get it from fruit and vegetables and lentils and legumes and other whole grains as opposed to refined grains. So eating 30 grams of fiber Well, thereabouts, a little bit more, a little bit less. Again, in a lifestyle physicians group I have seen people say a little bit more, a little bit less.

None of these things matter. The exact number doesn't matter, but the Answer is a reasonable amount of fiber every single day. Yes, you need to eat protein. You also need to eat fiber. Which leads me on to lentils and legumes. Lentils and legumes, another meta analysis that showed, that eating a portion of lentils and legumes a day also impacts your health. And I suspect one of the reasons is, it's they're full of fibre, they're a good plant source of protein, but also, the more of these things that we eat, the less junk we're eating.

So, that brings me on to highly processed foods and what we would call junk food. Eating less of them is good because not only do they contain white, refined carbohydrates which are not as good for you as processed foods. Carbohydrates that are packaged up in fruit and vegetables. So here's my take on carbohydrates.

There are two types of carbohydrates. You can have white refined carbohydrates, which are things like flour and sugar. So you would get them in pasta and bread and croissants and all of those things. Or, there are carbohydrates which come in a natural form. Lentils, legumes, vegetables, fruit. And they come wrapped up with fibre and also other things called antioxidants which are good for us.

Both of them contain carbohydrates , but one of them is going to have more damaging effect on you. Because it is an inflammatory process if you're eating too much of it. And the other one has stuff that helps us in terms of fiber and the antioxidants. So, if you're eating carbohydrates, which of those carbohydrates do you want to eat?

And my answer is, I want to eat the healthy ones, please. Those are the fruit and the vegetables and the lentils and the legumes. So, the more of the non refined carbohydrates we're eating, the more of the natural foods that we're eating, the less packaged food we're eating. We all eat around about the same amount of food on a daily basis.

and we normally do it by weight. Our body eats because of bulk, because of weight. So you're eating roughly the same stuff and that can either be the healthy stuff, which you can eat quite a lot of, but has less calories on it, or the junk stuff which is lacking all the good stuff, but also has other stuff that's not good for you, like emulsifiers, which are not good for you and put into highly processed foods.

Plus, on top of that, they aren't as bulky, so you can eat more of them, you're basically getting more calories for the amount of food that you are eating. So, in a nutshell, and yes, nuts are definitely on the menu. I love nuts. Nuts are a really good source of protein and fat, healthy fat, and I eat loads of nuts every single day.

I don't eat that much meat, but I do get my protein from nuts and from lentils and legumes. So, in a nutshell, plant based, which does not mean that you are never eating meat. You do have to get your protein, but you do want some plant based proteins in your diet. So even if you are eating some meat, I still recommend getting some plant based proteins.

So plant based lentils and legumes, we often overlook the lentils and legumes, and they are amazingly versatile. You can put them into so many things. Saying I'm mum, saying I'm an animal. There's a little bit of a, okay, what's going on with these blue zones? And really we need to question blue zones.

I think we still have enough to be going on. And thinking, yep, I need to create a healthy lifestyle that works for me, that I can stick to, that I enjoy doing. Living. My big take on healthy living is you need to enjoy it. It needs to be fun. You need to be thinking, well, hey, this is amazing. I'm leading my best life.

Yes, I know there's work, there's other commitments, but But it needs to be balanced with enjoying life and thinking, yep, I'm doing this, this is something that I totally love doing and it's also supporting my health and wellness goals as opposed to, oh my goodness, what a grind, I have to get up and go to the gym and I hate the gym and I have to do this so that I can be healthy so I can do a job I hate.

Like, what's the point of that? We only get one shot at this and I really think that we need to look after our bodies in a way that we really, really enjoy. So, quick reminder, if you're not signed up for the Healthy Amazing You boost, then come and sign up and we will be looking at mindset throughout the week and really showing you that you can get to Healthy Amazing You.

You really can do this and that the changes that you need to make, they're actually relatively small changes that you can stick to and enjoy and get amazing changes, amazing results. Okay my friend, have a lovely week. I'll see you next week.