Food diets and lifestyles
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to food. Discover how different diets and eating patterns can nourish your body and fit your lifestyle.
Food diets and lifestyles
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Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions for Food diets and lifestyles
Many of us dream of living longer, staying healthy, and remaining joyful in our old age. Around the world, there are communities where people seem to do just that — living well into their 90s and even 100s while still having active, fulfilling lives.
The Blue Zones are regions identified as having some of the world's longest-lived people, and include:
Sardinia in Italy
Ikaria in Greece
Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica
Okinawa in Japan
Loma Linda in California, USA
The diet found in Blue Zones is not one strict plan, as foods differ between these places and cultures. But they do all share important themes. They focus on eating whole foods rather than processed foods.
The food guidelines show that most food in Blue Zone diets comes from plants or plant products. These communities rarely eat highly processed foods, sugary snacks, or drink sodas. Meat, if eaten at all, is only consumed occasionally. Much like the Mediterranean diet, meat is eaten like a treat.
For people with gluten sensitivity or coeliac disease, cutting back or eliminating gluten-rich foods from their diet is crucial.
But if you don’t have coeliac disease or intolerance, there’s no reason to avoid gluten.
Just because a product is labelled ‘free from gluten’, doesn’t make it healthier by definition.
A plant-based diet simply means eating mostly foods that come from plants: vegetables, grains, pulses (like lentils and beans), nuts, seeds, and fruit.
Some people eat entirely plant-based, while others still eat meat, fish, or dairy occasionally but choose to put plants at the centre of most meals. It’s not all or nothing.
Plant-based eating can look different depending on where you live. In Spain, it might be a bowl of slow-cooked vegetables in tomato sauce with chickpeas. In Greece, it could be a lentil stew with olive oil and lemon. In Poland, you might find cabbage rolls stuffed with grains and mushrooms. Across Europe, there are plenty of traditional dishes that already celebrate plant-based ingredients.
A plant-based diet doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. You don’t need superfoods or fancy products; just some basic ingredients, a bit of creativity, and perhaps a new recipe or two.