20 Blue Zone Diet Recipes That Make Meals Healthier In 2024 (2024)

FAQs

What do Blue Zones eat for dinner? ›

People in the blue zones eat an impressive variety of garden vegetables when they are in season, and then they pickle or dry the surplus to enjoy during the off-season. The best-of-the-best longevity foods are leafy greens such as spinach, kale, beet and turnip tops, chard, and collards.

Eggs are consumed in all five Blue Zones diets, where people eat them an average of two to four times per week. Cut down your consumption of cow's milk and dairy products such as cheese, cream, and butter. Try unsweetened soy, coconut, or almond milk as a dairy alternative.

In blue zones regions, the routine is similar. Ideally, breakfast or the first meal of the day consists of protein, complex carbohydrates (beans or veggies) and plant-based fats (nuts, seeds, oils) and a majority of the day's calories are consumed before noon.

Avoid dairy when possible. If cheese is a must, try ice-cube size portions of sheep (pecorino) or goat (feta) cheese to flavor foods. If you eat eggs, limit intake to three times a week.

You can use any type of pasta shape, but to make it totally blue zones, be sure to use pasta made of 100 percent whole wheat. If you are sticking to a gluten-free diet, you can also find pasta made from brown rice or quinoa. You can adjust recipe serving sizes for leftovers (and company!) in your menu.

People in Blue Zones areas eat very little bread, but when they do, they predominantly eat sourdough. Unlike other breads made from white flour, sourdough bread doesn't cause spikes in blood sugar. Substitute sourdough or 100% whole-grain bread for white bread, and be mindful of your serving size.

In his opinion, it doesn't matter what fruit you consume. "Some would argue that berries are healthier than bananas, but the best fruit to eat is the fruit that you'll actually eat," says Buettner. He does caveat, however, that fruit is most often consumed as dessert in the Blue Zones.

Their diets do not include processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, and sausages. Instead, they favor free-range chicken and family-farmed pork or lamb.

In addition to a daily cup of coffee, blue zones centenarians drink water, tea and wine. While coffee is often a hotly-debated health topic, it's shown to carry many health benefits. Most centenarians in blue zones regions drink up to two or three cups of black coffee per day!

Grains including oats, barley, brown rice, and ground corn (not so much wheat) play a key role in the world's blue zone diets.

Do blue zones drink milk? ›

Small amounts of sheep's milk or goat's milk products—especially full-fat, naturally fermented yogurt with no added sugars—a few times weekly are okay in a Blue Zones diet. Goat's and sheep's milk products do figure prominently in the traditional menus of both the Ikarian and Sardinian blue zones.

It is argued that the single, most complete food a human needs to survive is human breast milk. Other foods may be nutritious but inevitably lack certain vitamins, minerals, etc.

It's typical for people who follow the Blue Zones diet to eat three meals a day and maybe a snack or two. Focusing on how hungry or full you feel and making healthy food choices is more important than timing your meals and snacks.

Consume meat no more than twice a week.

In most Blue Zones diets people ate small amounts of pork, chicken, or lamb.