50+ Blue Zone Dinner Recipes Healthy Ikarian Sardinian (2024)

FAQs

What do people in the Blue Zone 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.

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.

Minimize your consumption of cow's milk and dairy products such as cheese, cream, and butter. Cow's milk does not figure significantly in any Blue Zones diet except that of the Adventists, some of whom eat eggs and dairy products.

The classic Sardinian diet consists of whole-grain bread, beans, garden vegetables, fruits, and, in some parts of the island, mastic oil. Sardinians also traditionally eat pecorino cheese made from grass-fed sheep, whose cheese is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Meat is largely reserved for Sundays and special occasions.

The only food which comes close to being something you could survive on long term as a sole ingredient is the potato. The fact that the potato has Vitamin C means that scurvy is not a risk like it would be with almost any other food source lacking in this nutrient.

People in Blue Zones areas eat whole foods. Whole foods are not processed in factories—they're made with ingredients that are recognizable as coming from the earth, like rice, corn, soy, fruits, and vegetables, or prepared food like tofu or manna bread.

People in Blue Zones areas eat meat about once a week and typically their servings are no larger than a deck of cards. 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.

Carbo-loading for long life? Sardinians eat gobs of pasta and whole-grain breads—even their famed soup, zuppa gallurese, is a sort of bread casserole.

Goat and sheep's milk are the preferred varieties, and they're consumed in the Ikarian and Sardinian zones. The average Sardinian consumes about 15 pounds of goat and sheep's milk cheese annually. Pecorino is their go-to variety, and Ikarians opt for feta cheese as their staple animal-based product.

What do sardinians eat? ›

The classic Sardinian diet consists of whole-grain bread, beans, garden vegetables, fruits, and, in some parts of the island, mastic oil. Sardinians also traditionally eat pecorino cheese made from grass-fed sheep, whose cheese is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Meat is largely reserved for Sundays and special occasions.

Corn—and popcorn too—has long been a staple ingredient in Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula, a blue zones hotspot.

In Ikaria, Greece, one of the original blue zones that are home to the world's longest-living people, many older residents eat honey at least twice a day. They stir it into their coffee in the morning and prior to dinner. Ikarians also use honey to treat everything from the common cold to minor wounds.

One of the most visually striking recipes in the book is made from purple sweet potatoes, which Buettner considers a key longevity staple for people in the blue zone of Okinawa. “The dietary intake of Okinawans until 1975 came from purple sweet potatoes,” he said.

For Whole Grains: You can include 100% whole grain pasta and bread in this category, but the whole grains (like the ones listed above) are preferable. For Beans: We include all pulses and legumes in this category, including chickpeas, lentils, broad beans, and green beans.

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.

People in Sardinia's Blue Zones eat Sourdough everyday. Low in gluten it also lowers glycemic load of your entire meal by up to 25%. That means, your calories are more likely to be used for energy than belly fat.