Written by Dan Buettner
Preparing for a TV interview teaches you is to condense every idea, no matter how complex, to a pithy 10 second sound bite. Talk shows want news "you can use." And then they break for a commercial.
In my book, The Blue Zones, I take 38 pages to explain the nine common denominators of the world's longest-lived people (the Power 9). An average reader could read it in two hours. On "Good Morning America" I had four minutes, on "Fox and Friends" I had three and for the forthcoming Martha Stewart show (April 9) they just wanted the ten things the average person could do live longer and stay younger.
So, here's Blue Zones Top Ten for TV. Do them, and you can add up to 14 good years to your life and stay younger along the way:
- De-convenience your home – lose the remote, buy a light garage door and lift it yourself, use a shovel instead of a snowblower
- Eat Nuts – Have a can of nuts around your office or home, eat a handful daily
- Drink Sardinian wine – Sardinian canonau wine has the world's highest levels of antioxidants. Drink a glass or two a day
- Play with your children – this is excellent low intensity exercise and will strenthen a family. Both associated with longer life expectancy
- Grow a Garden – This proven stress reducer will put your body through the range of motion and yield fresh vegtables
- Hour of Power – Downshift daily with a nap, meditation, prayer or a quiet walk--destressing is a proven way to slow aging
- Eat Tofu – Arguably the world's most perfect food, eaten by the world's longest lived women. Contains a plant estrogen that makes skin look younger
- Get a Tan – Doctors are rethinking the notion of slathering yourself with sunscreen. Up to half of Americans are Vitamin D deficient--a condition that can double your chance of dying in any given year. A tan not only looks healthy, it is.
- Donate your large dinner plates – eat off 9 inch plates as the Okinawans do and reduce calorie consumption at dinner by 20-30%
- Write Down your Personal Mission – Know and putting into practice your sense of purpose can give you up to a decade of good life.
My boyfriend and I make our own; the most labor intensive part is hulling the beans, so if you can find dehulled soybeans, it's really easy! We find that leaving the pilot light on in the oven keeps it at the perfect temperature to incubate the tempeh patties. It's SO much better than the stuff you buy in the store. We don't even bother to buy it when we run out now because it's so disappointing.