QCOSTARICA – In the early 2000s, Dan Buettner collaborated with National Geographic to reverse engineer a formula for longevity. He scoured the world for years looking for places where people live much longer than average, and the concept of “Blue Zones” came to life.
To date, the expeditions have made known Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Icaria, Greece; Loma Linda, California and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; as Blue Zones with the highest rates of living centenarians.
These five places share some similar elements such as a plant-based diet, natural movement, and putting family first, which have been shown to promote the longevity and health of their residents.
This is the premise of the documentary “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”, a four-part series produced by Netflix that will introduce people to the diet and lifestyles of those who live longer lives.
As indicated by Buettner, through the Netflix press website, “the series is the culmination of 20 years of identifying and studying the longest-living people in the world. I can’t imagine a better source of experience for learning how to live a longer life than the people who have actually made it. And the core secret they have to offer us is not at all what you think.”
This documentary will be officially released through the streaming platform on Wednesday, August 30. One of the chapters will be dedicated to the blue zone located in the Nicoya Peninsula, which was visited by the Netflix production in March 2022, who took shots and interviews in places like Santa Cruz, Carrillo and Nicoya, talking with some of centenarians who currently live in these cantons about the factors they consider key to longevity.
In Costa Rica, Blue Zones Nicoya has worked since 2014, promoting and raising awareness about the consumption of high-quality products, with nutritional value and great health benefits, as well as promoting and rescuing the values, culture, and traditions of this region.
Likewise, it has been an important source of employment for the inhabitants of the area and has fostered productive chains to bring economic benefits to local families. On a monthly basis, Blue Zones Nicoya donates a percentage of the sales of its products to support the centenarians of the peninsula. In addition, it has an important role in the care of scarlet macaws and bees, through its scarlet macaw reinsertion project and the support program and good beekeeping practices.
More Q: Costa Rica’s Poor Live Longest
In this way, Blue Zones Nicoya is part of a movement that celebrates the constant search for a balanced lifestyle and well-being, contributing to a healthier future for its consumers, through local products such as honey, coffee, tea, and wheat flour. corn, which support the cultivation of traditional Costa Rican raw materials.
“The blue zones have been an awakening in people’s consciousness, since it has been shown that leading a lifestyle with certain characteristics completely affects living longer and with an excellent quality of life. From diet to interpersonal connections, everything influences and of course all people want to live many years to enjoy their loved ones and the world in which we live,” commented Fernando Castro, General Manager of Blue Zones Nicoya.
Currently, according to data from the Nicoya Blue Zone Association and the Electoral Register of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), which maintains Costa Rica’s civil registry, there are currently 58 people over 100 years of age in the peninsula divided as follows: 22 in Nicoya, 19 in Santa Cruz, 9 in Carrillo, 5 in Nandayure and 3 in Hojancha. Likewise, there are 10 people who could turn 100 before December 31, 2023.
According to Blue Zones Nicoya, these “are people who are definitely an example of life to follow, full of life and who spread with joy what it means for them to live so many years”.
This increase in their life expectancy is due to factors such as having a clear life plan, focusing on family, a strong social network, consuming mineral water, a light dinner, some sun every day, as well as a diet based on foods like corn and beans.
Blue Zones Nicoya seeks that as a result of this documentary, both Costa Ricans and foreigners can protect the blue zone of Nicoya and its long-lived inhabitants, supporting rural tourism that is carried out and that advocates keeping the customs of the area alive, as well as supporting the consumption of local products grown in the region that allow us to rescue the native of our country.
Click here to visit the Blue Zones Nicoya website and online store
