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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Blue Zone diets are known for promoting longevity with nutritious, home-cooked meals.</li><li>New frozen versions make healthy eating more convenient, and we thought they were delicious.</li></ul>Some of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-year-diet-advice-habit-blue-zone-researcher-2024-1">healthiest people in the world</a> live on home-cooked meals based on cherished recipes passed down through multiple generations. But if you don't have Greek or Sardinian grandmother cooking up a zesty <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-zones-minestrone-recipe-delicious-full-of-longevity-boosting-foods-2023-9">bean stew</a> loaded with fresh herbs, there may still be hope for your diet.The people who've popularized the world's "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/loma-linda-blue-zone-longevity-secrets-of-seventh-day-adventists-2023-11">Blue Zones" — longevity hotspots</a> where healthy aging is second nature — have developed a line of convenience foods inspired by Blue Zone diets. Their new meals are called Blue Zones Kitchen bowls — they're minimally processed, healthy dinners that can be ready in the microwave in about 3 minutes."We prefer to see people cooking at home, but the next best thing is to eat a whole food, plant-based meal that's been carefully crafted for longevity," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-buettner-blue-zones-lifestyle-habits-diet-exercise-2023-8">Dan Buettner</a>, who's been investigating life in the Blue Zones for two decades now, told Business Insider. "Most of the time these frozen meals, they have a sauce on and the sauce is like crack. It's usually full of sodium and sugar and flavor enhancers, and people don't really care what's under this delicious sauce."His new meals don't have any added sugar or artificial ingredients, and each one is loaded up with nutrients that are integral to Blue Zone diets.Could these rock-hard freezer bowls "crafted for longevity" ever rival healthy home cooking? We were skeptical, but they won us over on everything but one key detail.<h2>What's on the menu</h2><div type="image" title="blue zone in the freezer " height="4032" width="3024" msid="106816741" hostid="261" sizebytes="917626"></div>We tried all four Blue Zones meals:<ul><li>Okinawan Sesame Ginger Bowl with carrots, edamame, brown rice, and garbanzo beans — 240 calories, 11 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber</li><li>Sardinian Minestrone Casserole with tomato, red beans, wheat pasta, garbanzo beans, and carrots — 280 calories, 11 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fiber</li><li>Costa Rican Burrito Bowl with corn, black beans, sweet potato, and jalapeño — 290 calories, 11 grams of protein, and 7 grams of fiber</li><li>Southern Heirloom Rice Bowl with kale, tomato, red beans, sweet potato and Carolina gold rice — 310 calories, 10 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber</li></ul><h2>They taste surprisingly good</h2><div type="image" title="heirloom rice heated" height="4032" width="3024" msid="106816742" hostid="261" sizebytes="578358"></div>To our surprise, these bowls tasted like real food — we could identify herbs, vegetables, and whole grains we'd use if we were cooking at home. The heirloom rice bowl was loaded with a generous dollop of fresh paprika, while the sesame ginger bowl featured crunchy bright green edamame, and a sauce that was both creamy and warming, brimming with just the right spices for a cold winter's day."The most important ingredient is taste," Buettner said. He insisted that these bowls were crafted with a "maniacal focus" on being delicious, above all else. "There's no magical food — 'I'm going to eat it this week and I'm going to live longer!' No, it doesn't work like that. You have to eat the right foods and avoid the wrong foods for long enough to not develop Type 2 diabetes, or heart disease, or dementia, or cancers of the GI tract."That means you have to actually like your healthy food. The flavors of a plant-based diet have to be just as unctuous as a fatty slice of meat, or as irresistible as a gooey, cheesy casserole.<h2>We were surprised by the high fiber content — that's rare for frozen meals</h2>For a packaged meal, the Blue Zones products balanced macronutrients well, packing six to seven grams of fiber, or about 20 to 25% of your daily recommended intake. They also offer a reasonable 10-11 grams of plant-based protein per serving, with portions ranging from 240 to 310 calories.While it's trendy for processed foods to tout protein as a selling point and give what dietitians call a "health halo" aura, there's typically <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983#:~:text=Refined%20or%20processed%20foods%20%E2%80%94%20such,cereals%20%E2%80%94%20are%20lower%20in%20fiber.">not a lot of fiber in them</a>. Less than 10% of Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sneak-fiber-into-diet-whole-grains-supplements-meal-prep-2023-8">get enough fiber</a> on a daily basis, which is critical for staying full, and can help control blood sugar.<h2>Microwaveable food can be healthy</h2><div type="image" title="blue zone burrito bowl frozen" height="3024" width="4032" msid="106816743" hostid="261" sizebytes="875188"></div>For decades, Buettner has aimed, with his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-buettner-blue-zones-lifestyle-habits-diet-exercise-2023-8">Blue Zones</a> method, to convince Americans to cook more whole, fiberful foods, and embrace less sexy ingredients. Beans and vegetables are filled with nutrients that can help people stay healthy into old age, and avoid – or sometimes even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthy-blue-zone-vegan-chicken-salad-recipe-2023-10">reverse — some of the most pervasive chronic diseases</a>.The Blue Zones frozen meals may be a stepping stone for people who want to eat more healthfully, but maybe can't commit the time to chopping and simmering <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7-longevity-boosting-foods-blue-zones-add-to-shopping-list-2023-8">longevity-boosting herbs and veggies </a>at home.It may sound surprising, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/are-frozen-meals-healthy-2018-6">frozen meals can still be good for you</a>."We look at the frozen category as being this incredible place where you can use the active freezing as a replacement for all preservatives," Abby Coleman, the COO at Blue Zones Kitchen, told Business Insider. "So you can take a very homemade approach and you don't need chemicals, you don't need additives."<h2>The drawback: $8 is a lot for a meal at home</h2><div type="image" title="blue zones meal delivery" height="4032" width="3024" msid="106816852" hostid="261" sizebytes="617916"></div>The one problem we discovered with these meals is that they're both small and expensive. For $6-8 per bowl, I'd like just another scoop of beans in my lunchbox. (In full disclosure we were given the meals for free to try from Blue Zones Kitchen, but such a price tag on a frozen dinner would give me pause at the grocery store, especially since the competition from processed meal makers like Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice is about half that much.)Coleman says part of the reason for the extra cost is because the ingredients in these bowls are high-end, geared towards providing the most delicious frozen meal experience out there."I spent a long time on kale, getting ones that didn't have big ribs and tough texture — it had to be tender," she said. "I taste-tested about six different black beans until I found the right one that was going to be creamy, and it's also this incredible blue-black color. They're just these beautiful beans, but I had to search for them."<h2>Our takeaway</h2>Though we might not be able to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-eat-a-completely-unprocessed-food-diet-benefits-drawbacks-2021-5">cut out all processed food</a> from our diets, gather our own herbs, and ditch our cars for Sardinian sheep herding, maybe there's room to compromise.The new Blue Zones Kitchen meals offered us a hybrid sweet spot between the standard American way of life and Blue Zones idyllism. It might be OK to take some shortcuts for convenience sometimes and still be healthy — for a price.But, if you can stomach spending just a little more time in the kitchen at home, you can get these same benefits without doing as much damage to your wallet.

We tried the new Blue Zones frozen meals. They're delicious, healthy, and easy — but we won't rush back to buy them again.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Dan Buettner has spent the past two decades traveling to five longevity hot spots around the globe.</li><li>He's found that these so-called Blue Zones share some key things in common.</li></ul>Dan Buettner is always on the move. I could hear his slightly labored breathing on the other end of the phone while conducting the interview for this article. He's walking around his bustling neighborhood near downtown Minneapolis as he takes this mid-morning call (the reception is better outside, anyway).Back at home, he's already got a pot of soup slow cooking as he strolls. Tonight, he'll be eating minestrone for dinner.Buettner, 63, has become a living, breathing, bean-eating example of the lifestyle he's spent two decades studying and sharing. In a way, he's created his own <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/okinawa-japan-blue-zone-diet-longevity-foods-live-to-100-2023-8">longevity Blue Zone</a>.When he first started this quest to figure out what makes some communities of people live on average about a decade longer than others while maintaining their good health, he figured there might be some secret potion. Maybe there was some powerful antiaging compound these people were all ingesting regularly or some unique superfood they knew about that we could all benefit from. What he found was that in the world's five original Blue Zones, there's actually a wide array of things, a buffet of behaviors and foods, that when taken together, add up to more years of healthy life for the locals."I was hoping to isolate that one silver bullet that you could sort of import back," Buettner told Insider. "I discovered it was really a silver buckshot. Lots of little things, but the same little things."<div type="image" title="Japanese woman tending to her garden " height="1400" width="2100" msid="103186269" hostid="261" sizebytes="425000"></div>Whether he traveled to Okinawa, Japan; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zone-lifestyle-sardinia-nicoya-longevity-rest-social-happy-hour-2023-8">Nicoya, Costa Rica</a>; Loma Linda, California; Ikaria, Greece; or Sardinia, Italy, the life-giving commonalities stood out. People enjoyed certain types of foods, certain kinds of connections with friends and family, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zone-lifestyle-habits-live-longer-healthier-2023-8">certain movement routines</a> that seemed to be naturally woven into their days.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zones-dan-buettner-long-life-diet-exercise-2019-12">Buettner's spent the past 20 years identifying</a> these foods and behaviors with stunning success, and now he's letting us in on the secret recipe. He's chronicled it all in a <a target="_blank" href="https://danbuettner.com/">new book out</a> today, "The Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer: Lessons From the Healthiest Places on Earth," with a Netflix docuseries on the topic premiering on Wednesday. Both the book and the four-part series promise to unlock the Blue Zones' tried-and-true secrets for living longer.But Buettner's already a pro at all this. He's incorporated many of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zone-location-common-factors-traits-diet-lifestyle-2023-8">Blue Zones secrets</a> into his own life, inspired by his travels to the world's longevity hot spots and all the people he's met who are successfully living out these shared principles, day after day.<h2>Buettner has a 'mindless' approach to physical activity</h2><div type="image" title="man helping son ride bike" height="1876" width="1400" msid="103186270" hostid="261" sizebytes="173904"></div>Buettner has always been an outdoor enthusiast. When he was younger, he biked around the world, literally, from north to south through the Americas. He traced a line down Africa and then around the 45th parallel (that's the line halfway between the equator and the North Pole — and it just so happens to cut through Minneapolis, as well as the French Pyrenees and <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=a40582f557c31ef06b1073d6a86111df28e5cf261a6fd8a62052fb99810d4cad&amp;postID=64edfb4d7bc133c3eb4a041c&amp;postSlug=dan-buettner-blue-zones-lifestyle-habits-diet-exercise-2023-8&amp;site=in&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2F9780822529507%2FSovietrek-Journey-Bicycle-Across-Russia-0822529505%2Fplp">Russia</a>).But ever since Buettner started studying the world's five Blue Zones, he's adopted a simple maxim for movement that anyone can try out, no matter their fitness level: just get up.<div type="image" title="A man walking his sheep in an abandoned town of Sardinia." height="1395" width="2100" msid="103186273" hostid="261" sizebytes="621060"></div>"One of the big things I believe is, do something active every day, but make it something you love," he said. There's no point in picking up new activities you're not going to have fun doing, because it won't last, he said. And if it won't last, it's not going to contribute to your overall longevity."In Blue Zones, that might be gardening or it might be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zone-lifestyle-sardinia-nicoya-longevity-rest-social-happy-hour-2023-8">following your sheep up into the pasture</a>," he explained. "In America, for me, it's pickleball, and it's standup paddle surfing, and it's walking, and it's biking with my friends."Walking and biking are also Buettner's preferred forms of transportation, and he makes sure to live in places where he can walk or bike to do almost all of his errands. He says one of the only places he routinely drives his car is to the airport to pick up friends who come into town.Living a walkable life is one of the biggest ways Buettner thinks we can all extend our longevity. Starting at the street level — quite literally — changing our environment to make it one that naturally nudges us to move and connect with others throughout the day.<h2>Buettner has a road-tested blueprint for turning American cities into Blue Zones</h2><div type="image" title="fort worth stock yards " height="1400" width="2100" msid="103186275" hostid="261" sizebytes="349614"></div>Turning streets into Blue Zones won't be an individual-level fix. It requires constructing walkways and bike paths for people, instead of just lanes for cars and street parking. Buettner knows it's a somewhat unpopular idea, and he expects that many will balk at it and say, "We can't do that." He thinks we can."In America, on average, the street gets redone every seven years," he said. "That gives you an opportunity, for little or no extra budget, to make that street walkable and bikeable. Plant some trees and make it aesthetically inviting. Put these streets on a diet."Since 2009, his 75 Blue Zone projects in cities across the US have aimed to do just this: Bring the longevity lifestyle he's discovered home — while staying practical and culturally appropriate."We don't try to go in and convince a million people in Fort Worth, Texas, to eat tofu when they like beef," he said. "We shape their environment so their micro-decisions throughout the day add up to greater measurable health."A <a target="_blank" href="https://info.bluezonesproject.com/about">project team</a> of about 25 people typically spends about five years partnering with a city or town that wants to become a Blue Zone, taking a holistic approach to working with the city government, private businesses, and individuals to make longevity-boosting food, exercise, and socializing habits the easier, more fun choice. The results have been good.When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluezones.com/blue-zones-project-results-fort-worth-tx-2/">Fort Worth</a> became a Blue Zone, people started getting more exercise, and smoking rates in the city decreased by more than 30%. Healthcare costs tumbled by tens of millions each year.In Albert Lea, Minnesota, home of <a target="_blank" href="https://cityofalbertlea.org/bluezones/">the country's first Blue Zone project</a>, the city paved new walking paths, and people signed up to walk and socialize in Okinawan-style "moai" social groups. A local grocery store started carrying more healthy grab-and-go options, and restaurants changed their menus. In short, the formula is: walk more, eat better, and enjoy each other's company."It sounds so trite because we've heard it so many times, but we get it wrong in the execution," Buettner said. He raises his voice, as he emphatically insists we won't be healthier until we can shape our everyday environments —from our homes, to schools, offices, restaurants, parks, and all the rest so that we are nudged to unconsciously make good decisions throughout the day, for our bodies, and our relationships.It's almost the opposite of our current approach: sitting at desks all day then rushing out to the gym, stopping by the drive-thru, or counting calories. In the Blue Zones, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zone-location-common-factors-traits-diet-lifestyle-2023-8">movement and diet are more incidental and more mindless</a> than in the US, but also more consistent."You're on your feet every time you go to work, or out to eat, or a friend's house," he said.<h2>The 'king of beans' eats his 'superfood' every day</h2><div type="image" title="minestrone" height="4000" width="6000" msid="103186277" hostid="261" sizebytes="389526"></div>All the Blue Zones are on local, inexpensive, and largely plant-based diets. But they all eat beans — and so does Buettner."I believe the only superfood there is in the world is beans," Buettner said.Studies have shown that beans are great for our <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15228991/">longevity</a>, as well as our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9100130/">gut microbiome</a>, our <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11718588/">heart</a>, our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7400945/">blood sugar</a>, and our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7294352/">waistline</a>.A community of health-conscious Seventh Day Adventists in the Blue Zone of Loma Linda, who regularly live <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluezones.com/explorations/loma-linda-california/https://www.bluezones.com/explorations/loma-linda-california/">about a decade longer than their peers in Southern California</a>, enjoy black beans, nuts, and avocados, while centenarian Okinawans traditionally dish up hearty tofu stir-fry with plenty of vegetables.<div type="image" title="chanpuru stir fry " height="1400" width="2100" msid="103186279" hostid="261" sizebytes="172764"></div>The self-proclaimed "king of beans'' says his diet today is about 90% whole food and plant-based, similar to what all the Blue Zoners eat (a stark contrast from the 1960s Midwestern <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zones-dan-buettner-long-life-diet-exercise-2019-12">diet of hot dogs and mac and cheese</a> that Buettner was raised on)."In every <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zones-cookbook-what-to-eat-to-live-to-100-2019-12">Blue Zone, they're eating about a cup of beans a day</a>," he said. He encourages all of us to aim for at least half that.A big reason Americans don't already eat more beans, he suspects, is because we're, well, kind of incompetent."Americans don't have a clue on how to make beans taste delicious," he said. "People in Blue Zones, their great genius is they know how to make beans sing — on the way in, not on the way out!"<a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/blue-zones-cookbook-what-to-eat-to-live-to-100-2019-12">His cookbooks</a> and how-to guides have tried to make a dent there, with recipes for Italian minestrone, Costa Rican gallo pinto, or Ikarian chickpea soup with lemon and herbs.Not everything people in the Blue Zones do is as exportable as a bean-soup recipe. Buettner can't bring the calcium-rich drinking water of Nicoya home to Minnesota, and we can't all enjoy the nutrient-rich Cannonau of Sardinia, bursting with about three times the antioxidants of other red wines. Americans would also be hard-pressed to find the kind of raw honey they eat in Ikaria in their local grocery stores.But much of the ethos of the Blue Zones, the ways that people enjoy life and prosper into old age, actually have very little to do with food at all.<h2>Prioritizing human connection and managing stress is the foundation of the Blue Zone lifestyle</h2><div type="image" title="old couple, woman standing kissing head of man sitting down, eyes closed " height="1400" width="2100" msid="103186281" hostid="261" sizebytes="270742"></div>The foundation that undergirds the entire Blue Zone lifestyle is connection, the sense of purpose and meaning that people living in the zones express. In Japan, it's called "ikigai," in Costa Rica, "plan de vida."At a time when the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/us-surgeon-general-compares-loneliness-epidemic-to-smoking-2023-5">US surgeon general is warning of a deadly loneliness epidemic</a> across the country, the kinds of connection that people in Blue Zones share with their family, neighbors, elders, fellow churchgoers, and coworkers feel instructive."It's an environment that makes it easy for them to live out their purpose — whether it's their family, their religion, or being part of a cohesive community," Buettner said. "That's what works."

Dan Buettner has spent 20 years investigating why people thrive in 5 longevity hotspots. He says it has pushed him to eat more soup and enjoy pickleball with friends.

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We tried the new Blue Zones frozen meals. They're delicious, healthy, and easy — but we won't rush back to buy them again.

Hilary Brueck,Gabby Landsverk

Dan Buettner has spent 20 years investigating why people thrive in 5 longevity hotspots. He says it has pushed him to eat more soup and enjoy pickleball with friends.

Hilary Brueck

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