The Blue Zones are places where people live 90 to 100 years, and are free of disease.
So the recipes from there are valuable. They give us an insight into what people eat there. What they eat is only part of the story. Their way of life is a big key, too.
Living a long, healthy life sounded good to me. So, for a full year I cooked a Blue Zone recipe each week.
I found which ones were tasty and easy to make. And found others that just didn’t work out (cornmeal pancakes 😕) or were not enjoyable.
After all that research I want to share my favorite Blue Zones recipes so you don’t have to go through the same disappointments I did. The recipes I choose are easy to prepare, plant-based and delicious.
These recipes are adaptations from the bluezones.com website or Blue Zones Cookbook.
See my version of the recipes by clicking on the links below. Enjoy!
1. Five-Ingredient Okinawan Bowl
This recipe is made with buckwheat soba noodles. I hadn’t really worked with soba noodles before, but they are amazing. They are whole grain and just take 4 minutes to cook. There’s only a handful of ingredients in this recipe. So, it instantly became a favorite weeknight meal for me.
2. Better than Takeout Lo Mein
Lo mein is another noodle I’ve never cooked before trying this recipe. But, knowing I can make this, I don’t order Chinese food anymore! This is a healthy stir fry with a ton of vegetables and a flavourful sauce. You can feel better eating this version and not the greasy who-knows-whats-in-it take out version.
3. Vegan Gumbo
This recipe takes a few more ingredients and time to prepare but it lasts for days. It makes a ton so it’s a great meal to share, or take to a pot luck. I love that it’s full of veggies. In just one bowl I can get my 5 to 9 veggies for the day! I love eating it with the vegan cornbread recipe from Loma Linda. Recipe here=> Vegan Cornbread
4. 20-Minute Pumpkin Marinara Pasta
Did you know you could add pumpkin purée to pasta sauce? The result is a creamy sauce without any dairy. The pumpkin naturally sweetens acidic tomatoes, too. I love the balance. Pumpkin adds all kinds of healthy vitamins, and increases the fiber in this pasta dish too. It’s hard for me to NOT like a pasta dish, so this healthy version was a quick favorite for me.
5. Pantry-Style Street Noodles
These noodles are an adaption of street noodles you’d find in Indonesia. I love how it’s packed with flavor, but it’s still healthy. It’s definitely one of those addicting kind of noodle bowls because of the spicy-sweet combo of flavors.
I’m a personal chef. And this is one of my clients’ meal prep favorites. I love making this on a Sunday or in the beginning of the week for myself so I can enjoy it in the days to come. It holds up well and one bowl is all I need to get full.
7. Sardinian Walnut Pesto
Did you know tomatoes don’t come from Italy? The first sauces were pestos made from pine nuts or walnuts like this recipe. Grinding up walnuts and sautéing them in olive oil oddly gives them a meaty, filling mouth feel. In other words, you don’t miss meat. This recipe was a surprise because it’s so minimal, but tasty. The only thing is it doesn’t keep well and should be eaten once it’s made.
8. Greek Island Lentil Salad
I love lentils because they only take about 25 minutes to cook from dried, as opposed to hours for beans. Once you have your cooked lentils, it simply goes on top of your greens. I love making this recipe in the warmer months and keeping it in the fridge when I need a quick lunch or a healthy snack. I like to eat it with sourdough bread or crackers. It always fills me up in a healthy way.
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I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I did. I hope they inspire you to eat more vegetables. And it saves you the time from experimenting and failing (like I did) with some Blue Zones recipes that need more refining.
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.
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.
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 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!
The diet is mostly plant-based. The daily food intake of people living in Blue Zones is about 95% vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes. They do not eat much meat, dairy, sugary foods or drinks, and processed food. Food is not the only reason that people in Blue Zones live long, healthy lives.
Let's take a minute to celebrate peanut butter — if you're looking for the perfect blue zones lunch, this is where it's at. You can just do bread and peanut butter (which I like), or you can add some thinly-sliced banana, or you could add a natural, no-sugar-added jam (in place of typical highly-processed grape jelly).
Most of the diet was based on vegetables and beans, with the most calories coming from purple and orange sweet potatoes. It's not only a highly anti-inflammatory diet but also a highly antioxidant one.
To eat like Blue Zones centenarians, eat a small handful of nuts daily. Mix it up by trying different types of nuts so you don't tire of them, but avoid sugar and salt coatings. People in Blue Zones areas don't eat foods with added sugar. Instead, they favor foods that are naturally sweetened with fruit and honey.
Whole, plant-based foods like leafy veggies, fruits, beans, and grains are pervasive in Blue Zones. In contrast, the regional diets tend to avoid processed foods, refined grains, sweet drinks, and added sugar, and incorporate red meat and animal fats like butter sparingly, if at all.
Rice. Several varieties of rice—from white and brown to red or black rice—are staples in all five Blue Zones, but especially Nicoya, Okinawa, and Loma Linda.
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 the Loma Linda Blue Zone, people live on average 10 years longer than the rest of the US. They eat oats as part of their high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diets. I would stir spices into the oats rather than sprinkling them on top.
Introduction: My name is Francesca Jacobs Ret, I am a innocent, super, beautiful, charming, lucky, gentle, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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