I love to read. I just finished another fantastic book called The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner. Dan is a National Geographic explorer who has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity. He narrows them down into nine principles. Several principles really resonated with me, such as, the 80% principle.
80% Rule – stop eating when you are 80% full.
The centenarians in this study stop eating when they are no longer hungry. Americans often stop eating when they are full. The difference between being full and no longer hungry can be several hundred calories. The author tells us that we can eat about 20 percent more or 20 percent less without really being aware of it. And that 20 percent swing is the difference between losing weight and gaining it. We don’t necessarily stuff ourselves at every meal, we just keep eating a little bit more than we should each day – in other words, mindless eating.
Also we are very bad at estimating calories. The average American will underestimate what they ate each day by over 1000 calories. The average meal for the long living people from this book was 1/5 the calories of the average American meal.
They state a secret to eating right for the long run is emulating the environment and habits of the world’s longest living people. The amount of food we eat is very much influenced by what’s around us while we are eating. We overeat because of our surroundings – friends, family, packaging, plate size, TV or noise distraction, labeling, lights, colors etc etc. This is one reason why Kristen Zetterberg, our dietician recommends never eating while standing, setting a nice table setting before eating, never watching TV while eating and using smaller size dinner plates (ie NOT PLATTERS).
And although not discussed in this book, I have my own version of the 80/20 rule. If you eat healthy 80% of the time, it’s ok to go off course 20% of the time (ie a yummy dessert, and extra helping etc.) But we often get the equation reversed. We eat healthy 20% of the time and do horrible 80% of the time. It’s like starting your diet on Monday only to go off by mid-Tuesday. And that brings up another great point in the book. Of course no long living person ever considers themselves to be on a "diet". They just are "mindful eaters."
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Dr. Denise Chranowski, along with her twin brother, Dr. Dane Donohue, and Dr. Jerry Agasar, are the owners of Wellness Solution Centers. Located in New-town, this Wellness Center has all the tools and resources to dramatically improve your health, including chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, personal training, and nutritional counseling. www.wscenters.com