'Blue Zones' pitched in county as way to improve community health

Pine Knot NewsA bad economy may have meant good timing for people in the far southern Minnesota city of Albert Lea. In the depths of the economic downturn that began in 2008, city leaders decided to take on a project to make its residents healthier.

"Why not do something that we can control," said Ellen Kehr. "It was better than just sitting around worrying about the economy."

What the city took on has been measured as a head-turning success. It's called the Blue Zones Project and a similar effort is being mustered in Carlton County, 10 years after the pilot project in Albert Lea.

Blue Zones is a program designed by Minnesota native Dan Buettner after he reported for National Geographic on communities across the globe where life expectancy rates were the highest. He developed a list of nine healthful factors those people had in common and decided to try and implement them in communities across the United States.

Kehr became the lead organizer for Blue Zones in Albert Lea. The city was already in the throes of changing health habits through an AARP program, Kehr said. Blue Zones helped put the effort into overdrive, she said.

"Everybody wants a healthier community," she said.

Retired resident Bonnie Wedge said there was some natural skepticism at the start. "Why Albert Lea?" she said. Today, she bikes and walks more, something she sees in others on new bike- and walking lanes throughout the city. "People are out there," she said.

Changing health habits requires commitment in policy and actual environmental change, Kehr said. While creating a healthier population is a "no-brainer," she said, there also has to be a willingness to fund such an initiative.

Infrastructure changes, like those seen in recent "complete street" work in Cloquet, is a large part, Kehr said. Making the community open to all forms of traffic makes it easier to think about alternatives from driving a car, she said.

Albert Lea has also instilled the health ethic in its schools and businesses. Restaurants offer Blue Zones food options and schools strive to be designated as Blue Zones-friendly.

The results have been encouraging. Bike-and-walk traffic went up 40 percent in the city. Pedestrian activity downtown rose 70 percent. Smoking rates dropped and residents lost weight.

"We've become an active community and built infrastructure to support it," Kehr said.

And people have noticed. Dozens of visitors come to Albert Lea.

"They want to touch a Blue Zones community," Kehr said.

That's how Carlton County became involved. Former county commissioner Sue Zmyslony and Carlton County coordinator Dennis Genereau have ties to the Albert Lea area, and got together to discuss bringing a Blue Zones effort here. The county approved spending $1,000, with another $1,500 from the United Way, to bring in a Blue Zones speaker last fall. There was another informational meeting earlier this month.

Zmyslony's daughter, Jenna, is leading the effort as an AmeriCorps Vista worker in the county's Community and Family Initiatives department.

Carlton County ranks 76th among Minnesota's 87 counties in the statewide health assessment. Zmyslony said there's definite room for improvement and Blue Zones is a way to "present healthy options."

The response has been positive, she said, and the goal right now is to keep pumping information to the community on what the project might look like here.

"We're not trying to change people's lives," Zmyslony said. "We're not telling people to drop everything. We just want them to think about our convenience lifestyle and how we can be more active."

She said those who have attended meetings were asked if Carlton County should join the Blue Zones effort and the average response was a "7" on a 1-10 scale with 10 being a firm "yes."

"We can do this," Zmyslony said, as sure as she plans to live to age 100. "That's my goal."

Since the Albert Lea project that began 10 years ago, Blue Zones communities have sprouted up across the country. "Each community is different," Zmyslony said.

Some of the objectives in Carlton County have already been laid out as the county thinks about improving its health ratings. The 2017 Community Health Assessment noted some roadblocks to healthful living that included a shortage of affordable housing, job diversity, shortage of mental health services, misuse of prescription and illegal drugs, lack of healthful food options, and a shortage of community wellness centers such as a YMCA or other facilities for activity.

At the informational meetings, organizers gathered comments from participants. They noted that the positives across the county were outdoor recreational opportunity, good education facilities and an already active community. Challenges discussed were the known shortages, isolated rural areas, and changing community culture.

Zmyslony said the discussions will continue as she and others gauge community interest and work to cultivate community partners in the effort.

In Albert Lea, Blue Zones keeps plugging along, long after the pilot program ended. "We never disbanded," Kehr said. "We saw it was the direction we wanted to go. You can see it everywhere here. Visitors come away and say what we have is really quite something. They know they could do it too."

Find your Blue Zone

Minnesota native Dan Buettner developed the Blue Zones idea after writing pieces for National Geographic in the 2000s on areas of the world where life expectancy rates far exceeded the norm. Blue Zones projects seek to emulate what Buettner found and apply them to cities across the United States.

Here are the nine concepts of the Blue Zones project, in Buettner's own words:

1. Move Naturally

The world's longest-lived people don't pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don't have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.

2. Purpose

The Okinawans call it "Ikigai" and the Nicoyans call it "plan de vida;" for both, it translates to "why I wake up in the morning." Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy

3. Downshift

Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. What the world's longest-lived people have that we don't are routines to shed that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.

4. 80 percent Rule

"Hara hachi bu" – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20-percent gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don't eat any more the rest of the day.

5. Plant Slant

Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat - mostly pork - is eaten on average only five times per month. Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of a deck of cards.

6. Wine @ 5

People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink one to two glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you can't save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday.

7. Belong

All but five of the 263 centenarians interviewed belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination doesn't seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.

8. Loved Ones First

Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home. (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.) They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (they'll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).

9. Right Tribe

The world's longest lived people chose- or were born into - social circles that supported healthy behaviors. Okinawans created "moais" - groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors.

To make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery. But most of us have the capacity to make it well into our early 90s and largely without chronic disease. As the Adventists demonstrate, the average person's life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle.

For Your Information

Blue Zones information

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BZforCarltonCounty

Instagram: bluezones_for_carlton_county

Website: http://www.bluezones.com

Albert Lea Video: https://youtu.be/so_1etvOJiw

TedTalk: https://www.bluezones.com/live-longer-better