This review is based on the audible audiobook.
I was not expecting much from this book at all, and I was pleasantly surprised. For one, I had just finished "The China Study" and "The Jungle Effect: Healthiest Diets from Around the World," by Daphne Miller, both of which were excellent. For another, the book was published by National Geographic, and for some reason I figured it this was more mainstream and would be a watered-down, feel good book for Americans. However, I was totally wrong and this book was honest, hard-hitting, and also excellent.
In fact, "Blue Zones", "The China Study" and "Jungle Effect" are extremely complimentary to each other. Part of the reason for this is that "The China Study" just focuses on a few areas geographically (granted, they are big areas), while "The Jungle Effect" and Blue Zones add other areas to the mix, with some overlap and some new geographical areas between the latter two books.
One small issue with "Blue Zones" is that it focuses on centenarians. While it does touch on this some, an important thing to understand is that even if people aren't living to be 100-plus, the people in these areas have incredibly less degenerative disease than typical Americans do. What that means is that while they aren't disease free, the people in these "blue zones" have less cancer, heart disease, diabetes, inflammatory-related disease, etc.
In fact, these areas of health are often isolated areas in regions where the same ethnic populations have higher disease rates similar to western countries. For example, in both "The Jungle Effect" and "Blue Zones," the authors often reached modern destinations populated with fast-food restaurants and all the things that go along with more affluent living, including western diseases. To get to the really healthy people, they had to travel outside these areas. But what this shows is that clearly it isn't just a matter of genes. Within the same ethnic groups, those that ate like westerners, had diseases of affluence, while those that ate the "old" ways, were living healthily into their eighties, nineties and on.
The neat thing is that among these people, from China to Costa Rica, a very clear pattern emerges. While almost every single group ate meat, they usually did so only on special occasions and holidays, and as more of a side dish than the main course. For example, the first centenarian interviewed in "Blue Zones" only ate meat on Sundays.
In fact, between three books, the diets were almost identical, give or take a small difference here or there, and only one group examined in any detail was vegetarian, which was the Seventh Day Adventist in America.
Among the groups that did eat a lot of animal products, as some in "The Jungle Effect" did, it was because they lived in geographically harsh conditions where it was impractical to grow vegetables and eat them directly. People in these areas were forced to get their nutrition second-hand through the animals they ate. The key point to understand is that these animals were not eaten in the way typical Americans eat them. The meat or fish was usually wild, and they ate the whole animals, organs and all.
It is funny how this information can be viewed, and clearly there is a pattern to be viewed, and researchers overlay information onto the subject which was not actually present in the data. For example, Dr. Weston Price viewed this same evidence first hand, and yet somehow, his foundation focuses only on the groups which ate a lot of animals, regardless of the fact that Americans did not eat meat in the same way these groups did, nor was the meat of the same quality, nor did Americans put the same amount of effort into preparing the meat.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell viewed the same information that Dr. Weston Price viewed, and advocated veganism, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of the people he studied ate animal products during special events, celebrations, and holidays. To Dr. Campbell, all disease was related to diet, as well,despite the fact that there is a clear evidence that there are other causes for disease. Lack of exercise, sunshine, etc., for example, can all cause disease.
So it appears there is some danger in getting all your information from one source, but between these three books, a sort of balance starts to emerge and a picture is painted...one that clearly shows that health is a package deal, and here are the items in the package:
1) Move naturally. 2) Have a purpose. 3) Have a stress shedding strategy. 4) Stop eating when your stomach is 80% full. 5) Eat a plant-based diet. 6) Drink 1-2 drinks per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine). 7) Belong to a faith-community. 8) Put loved ones first and 9) Hang with a tribe that has healthy attributes.
Also, one of the important things that "Blue Zones" adds to the debate is that in Costa Rica, government records were examined to verify the ages of the centenarians. This is important because no matter the amount of effort and documentation that went into "The China Study", some simply dismiss the entire book as lies by the Chinese people. With this verification in "Blue Zones" the opportunity to simply dismiss it in this manner goes right out the window.
You know, despite all the information we have, people still smoke and do drugs, so just having this information available does not mean that everyone would follow it. But these three books should be read by everyone, so that at least when they get cancer or heart disease, they understand why they got sick and not try to blame God.
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Reviews with images
Should be a good book but this version is not readable
I'm sure the information in this book is very well researched and very useful, But I can't read it if I have to fight with every page I turn.Shame on National Geographic for producing such a poor product.The book is smaller than expected, as if it is printed smaller to save money and make it at a lower price...The. pages are bound in a way that renders the words on every page to have portions buried in the biddle of the spread.The book dimesnisona are 3 1/8" x 6 7/8", while a typical library bok is 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
Top reviews from other countries
paddlingpooler
The Blue Zones. Lessons for Living Longer
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2013