Most people in the original Blue Zones^® areas eat a rich array of fresh fruits and vegetables, which are packed with disease-fighting nutrients.

How to Get Moving Without Thinking About It

The world’s longest-lived people don’t run marathons or join gyms. They live in environments that constantly nudge them to move without thinking about it. They live in places where they can walk to the store, to their friend's house or places of worship. Their houses have stairs. They have gardens in their yards. Instead of buying another gym membership, consider building low-intensity activities you already enjoy into your daily routine. 

•    Move for the fun of it! Build activity into your life by doing what you love. Ride your bike to work. Walk to the store. Play basketball with your kids.

•    Inconvenience yourself. Take the stairs at work. Park at the far end of the parking lot and use a Blue Zones Project Parking Space. Get up to change the TV channel instead of using the remote.

•    Start walking. Walking is easy to do and free to everyone. It also invites company and can relieve stress after a hard day.

•    Strengthen your social connections. Join a Potluck or Walking Moai - a group of lifelong friends - and build social connections while you take steps to improve your health.

•    Grow a garden. Gardening is a great way to be physically active daily and even helps reduce stress. Improve flexibility, strength, endurance, and balance, all with the benefits of fresh homegrown vegetables.

Every move you make moves you closer to well-being! Try 10 easy ways to move more. Find what you enjoy and do it! The more you like an activity, the more likely you'll be to continue doing it well into your golden years.

With spring just around the corner, it's time to get gardening in Texas!

Gardening is common in all Blue Zones^® areas, where people live the longest, healthiest lives. You, too, can garden your way to better health! By being outside, working with your hands to tend and reap, you see an increase in your mood and a decrease in stress levels.

According to the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, you can burn up to 150 calories for every 30-45 minutes you spend actively gardening! The best part is when you get to see (and eat!) the literal fruits of your labor.

If you don’t have a backyard garden or are unsure how to start one, choose to get involved with a community or local school garden. Gardening in shared plots also encourages you to socialize, develop new friendships and feel a part of something larger — all great benefits to your personal well-being.

A great place to start is getting involved with the Tarrant Area Food Bank’s Community Garden program that helps community members and organizations create thriving community gardens by teaching effective gardening techniques. Community members help tend the garden and grow fruits and vegetables that are distrubted to those in need. Each week, volunteers are invited to come to the TAFB Learning Garden to help plant and harvest fruits and vegetables, pull weeds and learn new gardening skills. TAFB also provides garden tours and regular workshops on gardening techniques.

First, let’s establish where the word, Moai® (pronounced “mo-eye”) came from and what it means. The word "Moai" comes from Okinawa, Japan, and translates to "meeting for a common purpose." In Okinawa, neighbors use Moais as a support system to help those in need. Based on this tradition, Moais provide social interaction and support that are just as important to a person’s overall well-being as the benefits of walking or eating healthy. Blue Zones Project® offers two different Moai programs: walking and potluck, where groups of 5-8 people walk or potluck over a period of 10 weeks.

Second, let’s define magic: Beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life.

Today was our first Moai of 2016 and it really was a magical experience. At the end of 2015, we decided to start each monthly Moai meet-up with a physical or healthy activity before we dig into a scrumptious potluck lunch. We started with a sweaty yoga class at 9:30am at The Yoga Project, and then met at Angela’s house for food and conversation. Our food theme for January was “wheat-free” because this month’s host recently discovered she had a strong intolerance to wheat.

Walking is free, easier on the joints than running, always accessible, perfect with company, and when done briskly, offers similar cardiovascular benefits to running. After a hard day, walking relieves stress; after a meal, it can aid digestion. Walking briskly for 30 minutes a day, five or more days a week, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, and some cancers.

Below is a list of the known benefits of walking: