Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones

This is what happens when good intentions get distracted by a large ego. Facts are bundled together after which subjective conclusions are stretched way too far - all while falsely implying "a scientific seal of approval".

It's a shame. If kept on the "rhetorical straight and narrow" - "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones" - would have presented some interesting hypotheses alongside the possibility to believe there is a viable way forward, "believe" being the operative word. Dan Buettner's use of over-rhetoric throughout, likely, undermines most critical viewers ability to engage in his theories.

NetFlix' initial disclaimer "The following series is designed to entertain and inform - not to provide medical or health advice." is foreboding of what is about to follow. That sentence, pretty much indicates "the issues with this series"; it presents beliefs in a way that deceptively resemble facts. Beliefs are fine, if you want to adhere to them - but that should be by free choice not by implying factuality. If the disclaimer didn't give it away, the introduction provides further hints; "They all follow roughly the exact same formula".

The use of "roughly" and "exactly" as descriptive in the same sentence is fine example of what unfolds as a whole - blurryness. The "trick" that is being pulled is by means of an "old and proven recipe"; put forth a mulitude of facts, draw some uncorroborated conclusion and then wrap them up together, and present them as "sort of scientific".

Dan Buettner appears earnest in his beliefs - his attempts to package said beliefs in "an air of science" less so. He definitely comes across more as a preacher than a scientist. The frequently used over rhetoric doesn't naturally peg him in any part of the scientific community.

It's a shame... the subject being addressed is, arguably, important and the effort put in seemingly great. Much good work (and some bad) is done on a belief basis - it's a shame Buttner doesn't show it for what it is.

To be honest, one thing that quite annoyed me is the pretentious of being a scientifical documentary, there are few flaws for instance correlation does not equal to casualties, in addition the city that he uses as examples plenty of them that are really small bellow (50 thousands persons), and this is a problem due to the size of the sample. But disregarding this, it is impressive the amount of work that the author has done and how he seeks to connect these hypotheses on something practical, such as the project of "blue zones" that seeks to improve the life expectancy in a specific city.

Overral, the documentary is quite interesting the only caveat it isn't rigorous on being a scientific study.

Blue Zones got their label from when they were marked with blue ink on the map to indicate areas with high proportion of centenarians. Dan Buettner, a National Geographic writer and bestselling author, takes viewers to Blue Zones all over the world - Okinawa Japan, Sardinia Italy, Ikaria Greece, Nikoya Costa Rica, Loma Linda California and Singapore - to find secrets to long and healthy living.

The tips he found have been in our consciousness for as long as I can remember - healthy food and lifestyle, sense of purpose and relationships, but his presentation brings all of these more into focus.

The most interesting aspect for me are the efforts to apply these tips in the US, like the experiment in Albert Lea, Minnesota. It would really help if the government provides boosts, like providing pedestrian lanes to encourage walking, providing public transport like trains and buses to discourage dependence on cars, or giving housing incentives to children who choose to live near elderly parents. Not only will people have healthier, longer and happier lives, the government would not have to spend as much for healthcare. Everyone wins.

I'm always very interested in health documentaries. Some are ahead of their time like fat sick and nearly dead or cowspiracy, and others are a little bit of a rehash of the things that hopefully most people over 40 already know. This one falls somewhere in the middle but is very important for young adults and children to understand. It meanders its way through the centurions like The China Study did. What we need to do though is look at why are people expiring earlier. We hear about things like diabetes and cancer and obesity. Why do we have those when Okinawa doesn't and Greece doesn't? The answer is processed food and stressful living in what we politely call a free market Society. Free market unfortunately means that I can sell you anything as long as you will buy it, and if I find enough loopholes I can sell you things that are not up to standards, as well. When the US government developed processed packaged Foods for boots on the ground, they knew that it wasn't viable for health long-term. This documentary in the beginning starts telling us that the FDA guided us to a higher caloric intake, but what really happened in my mind is that when they subsidized farms and corn and we started having an overabundance of cheap processed food then the FDA changed the food chart to reflect that we should consume more of these processed foods. Although processed meat is listed as a carcinogenic, for instance, it is still actually part of the ACS's list of things to eat on a balanced diet. So there's just a lot of lobbying mixed in with marketing in our society and very little honest information. This series seems to barely touch on that. But it does reveal the fact that a simpler life is the answer to health. And that covers everything I've just said because in a simpler life we eat what is fondly called whole foods- a term that comes from the vegan and raw foods culture. As an American I can honestly say that I watched these elders in Okinawa and I felt a little envy. We definitely don't have the respect and responsibility that they have toward our elders. In a world driven by social media I think this is a very welcome series. Do I have any criticism of the series itself? Not really, I mean yes but not enough that it needs to be put in text here. I highly recommend the series to watch with your family, to remind yourself of what is truly healthy, or to learn what longevity would look like and try to understand how we can Implement some of these things into our lives. It does mention the irony of the United States becoming so health conscious and yet being more and more unhealthy. But also in the beginning of this series it mentions that we are kind of looking at it the cart before the horse where we're looking to cure our problems instead of prevent them. Nine solid Stars. There can never be too many of this type of documentary. I'm not clear on why this review was declined 3x , it doesn't go against any policy. Maybe the people declining need to be reminded the reviews are just personal opinion and don't require a medical disclaimer or your personal approval.

Well produced documentary which backs up other research such as active healthy life style, social belonging and community along with the importance of keeping stress levels low.

However nutritionally it's false- the guy pushes his own Vegan and vegetarian agenda, massively over emphasising that diet, claiming all the blue zones are primarily vegan/vegetarian!! The only one this is true for is the evangelical church community in America- ALL the others have meat and dairy in healthy portions as part of a well balanced diet. They do consume a lot of good healthy foods but overall less calories!

Meat and diary are not evil and not eating them will not guarantee you live longer.

Otherwise a good and interesting documentary- basically shaming the modern western world we live in that is stressful, lazy and lonely - it's those things that are killing us early.