2560: Create a Superhealth Community by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Mindful Awareness and Healthy Habits

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[00:00:30] Hello everybody and welcome to another Sunday bonus episode of ORD with me Greg Audino. Once again, I am here in our weekly bonus episode to actually share the audio of a previously aired episode from another show on our network so that you can get some takeaways about things other than relationships and consider checking out all of what we have to offer here at Optimal Living Daily. This post comes from Optimal Health Daily, our health show. So without further ado, here is Dr. Neil to share the post and his commentary.

[00:00:59] As we optimize your life. Create a super health community by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net. An article in the New York Times about the super healthy community on the little Greek island of Akaria is enlightening. Akarians are living much older than most other Westerners and are healthy, active, purposeful, and happy well into old age.

[00:01:26] What's their secret? Is it diet or exercise or no smoking or a little bit of red wine? Sure, it's a bit of those things, but more importantly, it's the community. Akarians live in a community where it is the norm to eat mostly plant foods like beans, potatoes, and veggies from the garden. They also drink some wine with neighbors, walk everywhere, garden during the day, take naps in the afternoon, not stress about time, wake naturally, and socialize with the community every day.

[00:01:55] In the U.S., we often live in communities where it is the norm to drive everywhere, sit most of the day, eat fast food or at chain restaurants or convenience foods, eat lots of meat and fried foods and dairy, be isolated, be inactive, hurry up, and stress about time. The problem isn't so much forming individual healthy habits, but forming a community that fosters healthy habits. This bears out when you look at other communities that are healthy, even well into old age,

[00:02:24] like the Okinawans, the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, the Sardinians, and so on. They all have communities that foster healthy habits. So, what can we do if we're in the wrong kind of community? Create a super health community. Let's look at our options. Outline of a super health community. There isn't one single definition of what a super health community would entail.

[00:02:49] If you think about the examples I just mentioned, each community incorporates different habits. But here are a list of some that seem to be most important. Number one, interact daily. Socializing is an important function in the community, whether that be visiting neighbors, meeting in a marketplace, going to church, or talking in some way. Number two, walk or exercise. Most of the communities I just mentioned feature daily walking. Sometimes a daily walk for exercise and socializing,

[00:03:19] other times just to get around to the store or neighbors' houses. Three, eat plants. While not all of the communities I mentioned are vegetarian, plants make up the huge majority of their calories. Cow's milk doesn't, and meat is usually a small part of their meal. Okinawans traditionally eat soy and purple sweet potatoes and lots of veggies, a little fish. Sardinians eat beans and potatoes and veggies and goat's cheese. And lots and lots of vegetables and fruits are common.

[00:03:48] Number four, eat in moderation. All of the communities mentioned eat in moderation. The American standard, however, is to supersize and pile plates high. Moderation is a good thing. Number five, garden. It seems like almost everyone in these communities has a garden, and they garden daily. This is one area I haven't included in my life yet. Six, wine. Actually, I think the Okinawans drink a nasty-tasting home-brewed alcohol,

[00:04:18] but the Ikarians drink wine, so I'll choose their method. They do it in moderation and socially. Number seven, tea. There are lots of good things in tea, and drinking it in the late afternoon may be a good ritual, also socially if possible. And lastly, eight, purpose. Have a reason to get up in the morning. In the U.S., the retired or unemployed often don't have this purpose and don't feel they have anything useful to do each day.

[00:04:45] The community should integrate them and draw upon their knowledge and experience. The elderly are great teachers and can be very active into old age. You might also include attitudes about time, taking naps, waking naturally, and having a positive outlook on life. But I think those items I just mentioned would be a good start. Now, let's take a look at some of our options if we live in a modern society. Option one, friends and family community.

[00:05:12] If your friends and family aren't that healthy yet, start talking to them about doing a monthly challenge where you adopt one of the healthy habits I just mentioned. See how many of them you can get on board. It might only be one or two at first, but two people is all that's needed to form a community. Others might be inspired to join you in later months when they see healthy changes you've made. So, for the first month, simply form the habit of walking. The next month, aim to eat more plants and less meat and dairy.

[00:05:40] The third month, simply get together and drink tea on a regular basis, and so on. Get together on a regular basis, daily if it's possible, but at least a couple of times a week. And if you can't get together daily, see if you can chat on the phone. This regular contact helps you get support from each other and keep each other accountable, and it helps form that bond by doing something together. Option two, find like-minded friends. If you don't have friends or family who can join you in a super health community,

[00:06:09] find some new friends. I found good ones online who are in my area. You can go to vegan meetups, or join a fitness boot camp class or yoga class and meet people there. Even if you can find just one like-minded friend, that's a good start. Then, ask your new friend to join you in the monthly challenges that I just mentioned. Option three, create or join an online community. If you can't find people near you, then find them online.

[00:06:35] Today, there's no excuse for not being able to find people interested in what you're interested in. They exist in troves online. Don't know where to start? How about Facebook friends or Facebook groups? Or, go to large healthy blogs and join the commenting community. Or, find online forums that are about the topics you're interested in changing. If you can find a few online friends, start your own group. There are a few dozen ways at least to form an online group that talks on a regular basis and that can support each other in healthy changes.

[00:07:05] Option four, change your neighborhood. This is the hardest option because it involves changing a large group of people who don't talk to each other that often, most likely, and who might not want to change. That's okay, don't focus on that part. You can start by creating something new or joining something already there, like a community garden, or a group that walks every morning or afternoon, or a gardening class, or a running club, or a vegan meetup, or get-togethers featuring tea or wine and plant foods,

[00:07:35] or community projects where people work together with purpose, or classes taught by the elderly. Those are just a few ideas. You don't have to get everyone to change, but you can start the change by leading by example. A super health community might sound difficult, but really it's not. It's getting together in real life, or maybe even online, with at least one other person and supporting each other in a healthy lifestyle. After you have one other person, maybe later, you'll have two. Then,

[00:08:04] you'll have changed the world. You just listened to the post titled, Create a Super Health Community, by Leo Babauta, of zenhabits.net. As human beings, we are social. We need others in order to live our best lives. And we're finding through a lot of great data that social support is so important for longevity and quality of life. When you think about weight management, for example, one of the best predictors

[00:08:33] of whether the person is going to lose weight and keep that weight off is social support. When we look at ways to keep your DNA healthy, exercise and social support. Now here's the thing. We don't have a whole lot of data yet on whether online relationships provide the same benefits. So for now, at a minimum, if you can talk on the phone with someone, that's helpful. But even more helpful is to actually meet and look at them and be in their presence. Most data support that

[00:09:03] over anything else. Oh, and lastly, if you want a resource on some of those stories that Leo was sharing at the beginning with regards to Okinawans and Sardinians and Icarians living longer than everyone else, there's a fascinating book called The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner that goes into details about this. All right, that'll do it from me for today. I hope you have a great rest of your Monday. See you all here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.