“Awakened Wellness”, where self-discovery meets purposeful, lasting change.
The Art of Creating your Blue Zone
Ever wondered why people in certain parts of the world live longer, healthier lives? We're about to unpack the secret behind the longevity of individuals living in the so-called blue zones. We don't just marvel at their longevity; we dissect their lifestyle habits - from maintaining an active lifestyle to creating a sense of purpose. The quest for longevity isn't a quick fix, it's a journey requiring patience and small, incremental changes. And we're here to guide you on creating your very own blue zone.
The journey continues as we delve into the realm of self-awareness and its pivotal role in navigating our personal blue zones. We guide you in understanding your body's unique needs in terms of nutrition, rest, and exercise. Ignoring the cacophony of external influences isn't easy, but we're here to help you make decisions that align with your health and wellness goals. We emphasize the importance of digging deeper into the root causes of health issues to make more informed decisions about your well-being. Looking to strike a balance between physical health and mental wellbeing? Tune in as we explore this crucial connection and how it can guide your journey towards longevity.
For More Information visit awakenedwellness.life or marieknoetig.com
Ever wondered why people in certain parts of the world live longer, healthier lives? We're about to unpack the secret behind the longevity of individuals living in the so-called blue zones. We don't just marvel at their longevity; we dissect their lifestyle habits - from maintaining an active lifestyle to creating a sense of purpose. The quest for longevity isn't a quick fix, it's a journey requiring patience and small, incremental changes. And we're here to guide you on creating your very own blue zone.
The journey continues as we delve into the realm of self-awareness and its pivotal role in navigating our personal blue zones. We guide you in understanding your body's unique needs in terms of nutrition, rest, and exercise. Ignoring the cacophony of external influences isn't easy, but we're here to help you make decisions that align with your health and wellness goals. We emphasize the importance of digging deeper into the root causes of health issues to make more informed decisions about your well-being. Looking to strike a balance between physical health and mental wellbeing? Tune in as we explore this crucial connection and how it can guide your journey towards longevity.
For More Information visit awakenedwellness.life or marieknoetig.com
Good afternoon and welcome to your health, your future, your choice, where we explore wellness from within, from within ourselves. Bre and I, we're here for part two and the show is can we create our own blue zone? And you can say what is a blue zone? I think we all know what it is, but just so you're absolutely clear, because it's not a test. A blue zone is a place in the world where people live to be a hundred years old or more in a very healthy way, very healthy way. There's one in Japan, italy, costa Rica, greece and California. Okay, I'm not taken aback by that one. So, marie, we are going to delve into why do they live longer, how do they accomplish that and how can we create our own blue zone by connecting to our body within, because obviously we don't live in those five places. So how do we make that for ourselves? But do you want to recap? I'm going to recap. Oh, we're going to have a recap of what's been said, what's going on, the feedback from people. So take it away, miss Marie.
Speaker 2:Okay one of them is the same theme. She likes the different ways to look at things and it's really helping her think more about what she can do for herself. So that one's very nice. This one is this person would do a lot of things for family, but it would hurt her and her health, so for not upsetting them. She would make the foods that didn't make her feel good, not take the time she needed, make sure all they were taken care of. But she's starting to realize that she needs to take back her power and she's starting to make foods that she can eat throughout the meal.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't easy at first because yeah, so it's almost making two meals, but it was more important that she realize she had to have foods that were good for her, and so she's making the food, but she's adding it to what she's doing and they have to eat it, and at first there was a lot of boycotting, but now they don't want to cook.
Speaker 1:So Well, you can eat this Exactly.
Speaker 2:But sometime I don't know when it happened, but when we were kids you had to eat what was on your plate. Now nobody eats what's on their plate and they want what they want, and people are cooking sometimes two or three things for dinner. It's crazy. So they're exhausted and when they need the better food, it's harder when you're trying to please everyone.
Speaker 1:I like that idea, but everybody should be eating whole food, right, correct? Yeah, we definitely need to get away from the processed foods, the excessive sugars and just throwing something in your mouth for the convenience.
Speaker 2:This person was doing the posture for life. He saw how his body is off and realized he had to start strengthening or aging wasn't looking so good. He said he has not started yet, but keep reminding him and it will help him refocus. I like it. Yeah, he says lifestyle changes are hard but he is getting it. But it takes time and he's being very strong and stubborn about that. Just keep reminding me. I think the upside of that is he finally admits it.
Speaker 1:I was going to say that he took the biggest step, which is to acknowledge it and have it in his mind.
Speaker 2:that gosh, and I think even the fact that he said, keep reminding me is and I think that's where people need to understand that we don't think you're going to make a change overnight. It's baby steps of awareness and the more you balance your energy and you see how it feels, you're going to make more steps. You can't just shoot for the diet if you need to figure something else first. That's where connecting inward is going to start pointing you on the things you need to change so it becomes more effective in life lasting I like it.
Speaker 1:Well, that was a certainly very positive group of comments. I like it yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, blue zones Okay, there's a special on Netflix right now. A lot of people are watching and it's talking about the blue zones, okay, yeah. And your comment about California it's a Seventh Day Adventist group, okay, and they're big on nutrition and community and all those kinds of things. The one in California it's right outside of LA, oh of all the places I know. Yeah, see, but they have their own community. They don't live like everyone else.
Speaker 1:Okay, so they're not part of the world.
Speaker 2:Right. So what they believe these people are doing is most of them are on a plant-based diet. They have regular physical activity in their daily living. So in Okinawa these people were crazy. I mean, they were doing yoga and all kinds of things. The ones in Greece, I think it was, were living on a hillside side of a mountain off an island, so everything was three stories. Their houses were three stories. They had to walk up hills to go to church every day. Wow, so quite the exercise All the time.
Speaker 1:All the time.
Speaker 2:All day long. The wrong social connections are big because all they have is the each other. Correct, there's not a lot of infrastructure, there's just they have each other.
Speaker 1:This is what I say here, so I printed it out. I just didn't take what Marie gave me. I looked it up yes, I did my homework and it says people are engaged in their community. They have friends or people they look after or that look after them. So there's that connection you were talking about. They all have a sense of purpose.
Speaker 2:That's a big one. Purpose is huge Because I deal with a lot of older clients too and once you start to lose your friends and you don't have a purpose, life gets lonely and hard. Because you're not leaving the house every day, you don't have something to look forward to. So purpose is big, Even if it's just a crochet blankets, for you know the babies at the hospital or you know there's plenty of places you can find and go to your local church, whatever it is, and they'll point you in a direction of things you can help. I mean, you can just do, you know socks or mittens for the elderly at the senior centers. There's all kinds of things if you don't truly want, If you can't leave your house or you can't do certain things.
Speaker 1:And you don't have to fully. This one says you don't have to fully retire, that you can keep working, either in a real job or you can stay engaged, Like you said be useful. I have goals and purpose in life.
Speaker 2:There we go and that's off-probably why women have traditionally lived longer than men, because women have a sense of purpose, of family and taking care of everybody. Okay, or men don't Right, or traditionally didn't so once they stopped working, they would slow down and not have purpose. Where the women could live to be 100, because they always had something to do, no matter what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the list is always long, always long.
Speaker 2:Always long Lower levels of stress are the other ones.
Speaker 1:Oops, this I throw that around.
Speaker 2:The interesting part about Costa Rica was now they're seeing the American way of living coming forward and the life expectancy is lowering. Now because the prepared foods and the lack of exercise on the video games and the TV yeah, they're already seeing it drop in the blue zone, because the blue zone is getting spilled over into it Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they said that they're finding that the average is 17 years shorter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow yeah. So, that was kind of sad to see, but they're very much aware of it. Okay, so all right. So for me, because of what we had talked about, reading between the lines and everything else. Now you see all these diet programs and everything based on the blue zone. So, everybody's trying to draw you in. If you eat this, you will now live to be 100. Okay, I'm just saying they're out there already.
Speaker 1:And never mind that you're not getting the food from that blue zone and how it's raised and grown and cooked. Right, just saying.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah. So now you have to be careful, because you're gonna see this and you're gonna think that everything I say is gonna get you in the blue zone. The blue zone is just these people that are whole in who they are and there's no question about it. We get up every day, we do this, we do this, we do this, we have to eat, we have to farm, we have to. They're just living a more simple life without a lot of things pulling them outside of their belief system to make them create something outside of it. You know, they said there's not a lot of Alzheimer's, but you don't see a lot of body dysmorphia. You don't see a lot of plastic surgeries, because there's no fake image that they're trying to do. There's no kid in the sports that has to do the things that we believe.
Speaker 2:None of that is stressing them out, because it doesn't exist, because they live a more simple existence I like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, unhealthy habits Right, they don't have as many. There's less smoking, moderate or no alcohol consumption at all.
Speaker 2:I guess wine is pretty prevalent through all the systems, right yeah.
Speaker 1:But not the alcohol.
Speaker 2:Alcohol right, right, right, interesting Positive attitude towards aging and life in general, I think for me what it reminded me of when I was growing up, and my one saving grace growing up I was one of nine and there was 12 people at a given time living in my house. Goodness, my next door neighbor was. She was an older Lebanese woman and I used to live at her house. She had in her basement she had an electric oven, a gas oven and a wood burning oven and she would garden and that's why I'm such a gardener now. I mean I would go pick grape leaves and make grape leaves. I'd go pick dandelion and we make spinach, we'd call them pies, she'd make with them and she'd make meat pies and she'd make kibbeh and all kinds of things. But for me it was such a peaceful existence to just go around the neighborhood. I still do it. I still do it. I mean I made grape leaves for my family and I'm walking the neighborhood with my little bag and I'm picking them and the neighbors are like what are you doing?
Speaker 1:The grape leaves here in New England. Oh yeah, they grow wild everywhere those conquered grapes.
Speaker 2:Those wild grapes. Birds drop them everywhere. So those grape leaves that grow wild everywhere.
Speaker 1:I have a huge plant in my yard yeah, you can make great stuff.
Speaker 2:Grape leaves yeah, I like grape leaves. But, like I said, she was definitely her own blue zone. She lived to be close to 100. Yeah, she was definitely. She walked everywhere. She didn't drive. Wow, she was definitely her own blue zone and she always. Her purpose after her husband passed and her kids grew up was she was cooking for the neighborhood and she would just cook and drop it off at everyone's house. She would do it for her chore. Yeah, she would just, and everybody couldn't wait because they could smell cooking and then they knew she knew that something good was coming.
Speaker 2:She would be by. So that was her her own blue zone. Yeah, just based on reality. So, anyway, how do you create your own? That's the thing. So when you connect to your body within, it's just gonna happen all by itself. Because you're not gonna let the chaotic things in your space. You're gonna start weaning them out. You're gonna not let the garbage food in your space, because you're gonna start weaning that out, because you're gonna feel and sense what throws you off.
Speaker 2:I have a daily check-in on my website. It's a little e-book. You can have it's downloads. It's free, but it shows you how, every day, at the end of the day, to check in and see how did my day go? What were my stress levels like? What can I do differently? How was my nutrition? What can I do differently for tomorrow to get it going? Did I take an assessment of my body? Did I do what I needed to do for my aches and pains? And something as simple as that starts to bring awareness, versus just getting through the day having your glass of wine and going to bed and starting all over again. You just take that time out. I have a bedtime routine on my website, too, that you can just lay there at night and go through the same thing and check in and start to really become more aware. Those are the things that are gonna create your blue zoom, because you're not gonna let all the chaos in, you're gonna start to slowly, like that woman with her family, say, okay, enough's enough. I'm a mess.
Speaker 1:Well, it kind of says to me that your home is your castle and everything needs to stay outside. So there is another interpretation of that phrase. Make that your blue zone, right.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and a blue zone. Their primary focus on longevity and healthy aging is very similar to what the body was in connecting inward to the body within. Like I said, it's just a way to clear the slate and go back to the basics. And the basics aren't just the nutrition piece. Everybody thinks nutrition and exercise is the basics. It's just a small piece. It's a small piece and following someone else's program isn't always gonna serve you, because your body might need something different Exactly.
Speaker 2:And people say, oh, now I gotta eat plant-based because of that. You don't wanna run out and eat plant-based because someone in the blue zone does, because your body is adapted. It's gonna take time and if plant-based is right for you, your body will guide you there, but if it's not, you might need protein. If you've got blood sugar issues, you're gonna need more of the animal proteins. It's just the way it is Right. So you just gotta do your own due diligence with your body and keep working with it. But, like I said, the more you start working with the energy and feeling and sensing it and trying some of the things that are in my book and stuff, you'll start to get to know yourself better.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a guide to help you take those first steps to figuring out what that is. What is the energy telling you? What are you hearing? Do I really want the white meats? Do I want the red meats? What amount do I want? What vegetables make me feel good and we tend to just shovel the food in our mouth because we're hungry and not pay attention to the taste, to the reaction, to the quality, which, when you slow down and you think about it a little bit more, becomes a big deal in the meal and the meal becomes more enjoyable.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and I think the correlation between the blue zone and connecting to your body within is it just happens, naturally. It's not forced. It's not forced and you're not on the internet looking for that detox diet or that quick fix that's gonna make you age gracefully. There is no quick fix, and the more we focus on those methods, we're robbing our body of nutrition, we're breaking down bone, we're breaking down muscle because we're trying to look a certain way. We're not doing it for health reasons.
Speaker 1:Correct, you need to look the best for you, not the best according to society, right, right, and that can be. Since we're all individuals, then that look is all individual as well, and we need to not be afraid of that. That one person's beauty is somebody else and it doesn't mean you know the person that goes I earn these wrinkles. Okay, maybe you're happy with that, maybe somebody else isn't, but there's a healthy way to deal with it. There's a healthy way and it doesn't mean run out and get surgery. It doesn't mean run out and do neurotoxins Right, so we need to be so. It comes back to being happy with the person you are and being the best person you are In all ways and manners and learning, and I mean, for me, the biggest thing people aren't doing is they're not learning.
Speaker 2:Like osteoporosis, that's a pet peeve of mine, because so many women have issues with bone density and then they eat. They're either forced with the meds or exercise. Most of them decline the meds, but then they don't want to exercise, they don't want to do the heavy don't do either you don't do either, but none of them and all their research. They look for supplements, they look for food, they look for other things. None of them have read what osteoporosis is, how it happens. Once you do that, your body takes on a whole different energy.
Speaker 1:Because it understands and it's. It's sort of like Put putting the question into the computer and saying, now solve it. So if you've, put if you understand what the osteoporosis is and you've put that into your computer, because this is a computer then it now has it's function, it has its path, that it needs to right.
Speaker 2:So now these other options are gonna look less Urgent until now that you understand this. So if I understand this, what do I do next? Mm-hmm, and that's creating your own blue zone. Anytime you do something where you take a step back and you really understand why you're doing what you're doing. You know, most people know their cholesterol is off, but they don't know what that means, mm-hmm. They're just looking at numbers, right, but what does that mean? What is it the doctors are worried about and what causes what they're worried about? Correct, and those are the things you have to look at to really understand it.
Speaker 2:You know, I've had people that manage their high blood pressure with magnesium, thinking they figured it out, but then they have the worst blocked arteries ever because they're not understanding what the high blood pressure does to scar the arteries because they just all of a sudden read this article and be aligned to the magnesium, correct? Yeah, those are the things that weaken us, mm-hmm. What strengthens us is to come back home, pay attention. What is my problem? What do I have to do about it? What does my body need to correct this Mm-hmm, and how you know? Are you in a chaotic state or a balanced state about it?
Speaker 1:I was just gonna say yeah, am I contributing to my own problem? Yeah, most people do. Mm-hmm, most people do. Yep, you know this is validation of, for I don't know about you people out there, but for me that it's okay to say you know, I'm going to skip going out to dinner with the girls, and not that I'm saying you have to do that, but to me it just kind of I'm very, you know, I'm very much into imagery and I have to be able to translate this that just because they're all going out doesn't mean you have to and you don't. And if you do, you don't have to eat the food they're eating, right, you, you know. And if they're drinking, you don't have to drink. You can go and enjoy, make that your blue zone, but don't don't allow somebody else or a Circumstance force you to do, right, what they think is acceptable. Go there, enjoy it, make it your blue zone, but do it on your own terms, because you know how you're gonna feel right, right, making it your blue zone.
Speaker 2:I guess what you're saying is you don't make a blue zone, you are the zone. Yeah, exactly just listening to yourself and being balanced and making the choices that are right for you are gonna Aide you gracefully versus falling prey to that correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so we just take our. So you've, we've got our aura and we've got our blue zone and we just take it with us everywhere we go and be aware of it and, like you said, get rid of the energy, but also don't let in the blue zone. Right, the things that you know are gonna take you backwards, right?
Speaker 2:I had a small experience last week. My daughter calls me like on a Tuesday night and says, are you guys home? And we're like, yeah, she goes worriedly by with the kids and I'm like, okay, what's wrong, right? Because, that's what happens. So she shows up and I'm like what's going on? She goes nothing. We just wanted to come by and visit, maybe go for a walk in your neighborhood. I'm like okay.
Speaker 1:You sure there's nothing wrong.
Speaker 2:The older one heard his wrist and hasn't been going to sports and they haven't been running like maniacs, they had time for a walk, oh. They had nothing on their schedule for two weeks because he's in a cast. And I just smiled and I was like, wow, right.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a 360. Again getting off the hamster wheel, not for the greatest reason, but it was for a great reason.
Speaker 2:It was a big awareness for me and for them. I mean we see how they run with three boys in all sports, but just to see how happy they were and out free and walking and having a night off and just enjoying the fall, not tied to that schedule, and that you've got to got to, got to do this, do that, do this, do that.
Speaker 2:So then, to make it your blue zone, you would take it to the next step. Why are we running so much of the ways we can cut back on that? Do they need to play as many sports? What is the goal of the sports? Is it to keep them busy? Well, can we keep them busy on our own doing family things, or is it going to put too much pressure on us? What happens? Are they all college bound? Are they all pro-sport bound? What's going on on why you're running yourself so crazy?
Speaker 2:You know part of it's the school system. You know he's playing two and three sports at a time because it used to be two weeks before the season you'd play. Now they keep them running all year round. So if you want to play different sports, you're in high school and it's coming to me. It's complete madness. There was, you know there was, regulations at two weeks, but it's all under the radar that these coaches are doing it. So it's not a school function, but there's an underwritten rule If you don't play, you don't get to participate. But it puts pressure on the parents and everybody's in this chaotic mess and they're not eating right and, like I said, how do you pull back?
Speaker 2:and start looking at it from a different perspective.
Speaker 1:Well, that certainly made them do it, didn't it, and take a deep breath. What they do with it is up to them.
Speaker 2:Correct, yeah, so, but it just made me aware of how many people are on that treadmill and how much we watch it and we have expectations because of it and just breaking that pattern, we were like okay, Well there's.
Speaker 1:I think there's a large sense of guilt that we, we seem to be guilt ridden and we allow people to dump some more guilt on us and then, if there's not enough, well, I'll just serve myself a little bit more. And I see that with a lot of my friends I've done it, I continue to do it, but I find myself saying I simply don't want to do that. It doesn't feel right, right, it doesn't bring me any pleasure and enjoyment. So why am I beating my head on the wall?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And once you do that, once or twice, oh, come on, you want to do that, you wanted that. You know this is going to be fun Not for me.
Speaker 2:Right, and that is a problem for a lot of people, and then they feel like they're left out if they don't, and then they're not invited again because next time it's something different, they might like, you know, and that's something that you have to sit with inside yourself. How important is it to me to stay in that social circle? Is it serving me, isn't it? And how can I make it work for me without the stress, without the beating my body down? Because, like I said, you shouldn't omit yourself from social circles because you're living in a blue zone. Not at all. You just need to be aware and make the choices where you can make them and balance the situation for yourself without it overtaking Correct.
Speaker 1:Or altering your schedule, or altering when you go to sleep and how much sleep you get, and stuff like that. That's what I've become aware of, and I watch these people up and down and up and down the road and going what are you doing? Well, and I get it.
Speaker 2:It's what they believe life to be. It's what they believe life to be.
Speaker 1:So I would say don't guilt anybody, don't put your belief on them. Encourage people, but know when enough is enough. I think it's something else as well.
Speaker 2:I see a tide changing a lot when you sit with groups of people and you start talking about it. They're like, yeah, I wish I could figure it out. I'm going here, I'm doing this and I have people oh, I wish I cooked. I go. Well, yeah, it can take the time. Most people have downtime on Sundays. What are you doing with that downtime? Reassess how many hours are you on the phone, Like we went over last time.
Speaker 1:Correct how many hours are you on the computer.
Speaker 2:And you start switching out a half hour here and there and start creating a different blue zone for yourself, exactly, and then it'll multiply over time, like this is a great time of year, it's fall, you want to get the out and go.
Speaker 1:Well, there's the other thing Cooking is not my thing, never has been, and so all my boys cook. So I'm spoiled that way and if I have to, I will, but you know when you first get started. So my new thing right wrong or indifferent are those air fryers. Love the air fryer and I've been able to incorporate more vegetables. Instead of feeling that mushy English food, I've been able to take the same vegetables, put them in the air fryer, add some different spices that my boys are like hey, I just got this and you'll love it, mom, and so I've just been sprinkling it on. So I've started very simply. It's not elaborate, but it works it does.
Speaker 1:I really like that taste.
Speaker 2:I like that texture and that's you recognizing. I need to up my game in this area and, like I said, there's no one area you need to know and you'll start finding where you can manipulate your schedule, your wallet, your lifestyle and start making things happen for yourself. And every little step adds up to a big step eventually, not to take any steps just keeps aging you Correct.
Speaker 1:So just little steps, baby steps, as they say, baby steps.
Speaker 2:Just become more aware you know and start learning about your energy, because once you do, it's a great tool. You can clean off your own viruses. You can, like I said, manipulate your own tissue. You can really start to run the energy through you and heal your emotional state. You can do all kinds of things and there's no one way to do it. Again, it's the more you can go inward, your body's going to show you how.
Speaker 1:And you will know what you need, not what someone else is telling you, right, well, excellent. Thank you so much. I think this has been, personally speaking. In my opinion, I think this has been two of our strongest shows. But again, you set the foundation and we talked about that a lot and you said no, we need a really strong foundation. Let's grow from this. So thank you for bringing all of this, thank you for co-hosting with me, because I'm really liking this and I hope you are too, for, as my brother said to me, I didn't know you were woo-woo. Well, quite frankly, I didn't know I was either, and if this was, if this is what woo-woo is, sign me up. This is not woo-woo, this is us. This is us. So see you next time. All right, I hope you join us again and please share, share, share. This is for all of us. Let's make a great community of healthy, energetic, body, healing people. See you next time.