For diet...The Ikarian Cookbook...Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life, and Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die: A Cookbook
Part cookbook, part travelogue, Ikaria is an introduction to the food-as-life philosophy of the Greek island "blue zone" and a culinary journey through luscious recipes, gorgeous photography, and captivating stories from locals.
The remote and lush island of Ikaria in the northeastern Aegean is home to one of the longest-living populations on the planet, making it a "blue zone." Much of this has been attributed to Ikaria's stress-free lifestyle and Mediterranean diet: daily naps, frequent sex, a little fish and meat, free-flowing wine, mindful exercise like walking and gardening, hyper-local food, strong friendships, and a deep-rooted disregard for the clock. No one knows the Ikarian lifestyle better than Chef Diane Kochilas, who has spent much of her life there. Capturing the true spirit of the island, Kochilas explains the importance of shared food, the health benefits of raw and cooked salads, the bean dishes that are passed down through generations, the greens and herbal teas that are used in the kitchen and in the teapot as "medicine," and the nutritional wisdom inherent in the ingredients and recipes that have kept Ikarians healthy for so long.
Ikaria is more than a cookbook. It's a portrait of the people who have achieved what so many of us yearn for: a fuller, more meaningful and joyful life, lived simply and nourished on real, delicious, seasonal foods that you can access anywhere
Spouse has been feeding me this diet for over half a century.
There is absolutely nothing in that picture that I’m about to try to eat. Fur instance the ribsteak is missing. There’s no way I’m letting the failed civilizations of the Mediteranean show me how to eat. Not seeing anything in the pic that required killing before munching. I’m a certified, registered , carnivore.
check it out
Just ordered from Amazon Thanks for heads up
re: the “Long lived population” on an Aegean island.
You are missing a small clue to why: during World War II and for several years afterward there was famine and disease in those areas, especially tuberculosis. So all the people with bad genes died.
True, if you survive TB and infectious disease, and stay on your low protein low fat diet due to poverty, you will probably live to be 90, because your cholesterol will be low, your fertility rate is low so you don’t die in childbirth, and you will remain thin, not just from the diet but from all that hard work trying to grow food.
but that same low protein low fat diet means that many people will have lousy immune systems and will have died.
Maybe I’m Ikarian. Love the philosophy.