NEW COMMUNITIES START THE JOURNEY TO BETTTER HEALTH AND WELL-BEING WITH BLUE ZONES PROJECT MOVEMENT IN HAWAII

Five More Communities Selected to Partner in Community Well-Being Improvement Initiative

Five communities across three islands will be the next to undergo the well-being transformation that Blue Zones Project® and HMSA first introduced to Hawaii two years ago. The newly selected communities, which were announced in a press conference on Thursday, January 12, include:

• Kapolei/Ewa, Oahu
• Manoa/Makiki/McCully/Moiliili
• Wahiawa, Oahu
• Wailuku/Kahului, Maui
• West Hawaii, Hawaii Island

These communities join North Hawaii and East Hawaii on Hawaii Island, as well as Koolaupoko on the Windward side of Oahu, which began their Blue Zones Project initiatives in 2015.

Shawnee and Pottawatomie County join 37 communities across the nation in well-being movement

SHAWNEE, OK -- Avedis Foundation, Blue Zones, LLC and Healthways, Inc. today announced the launch of Blue Zones Project^® in Shawnee and Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. Blue Zones Project^® is a growing nationwide well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier—community by community—through permanent changes to environment, policy, and social networks.

Leveraging public-private partnerships, and founded by National Geographic Fellow and best-selling author Dan Buettner, Blue Zones Project draws upon more than 200 evidence-based practices to help restaurants, schools, churches, grocery stores and worksites make sustainable changes that encourage healthier choices.

Shawnee and Pottawatomie County will receive support from national Blue Zones Project experts to implement a comprehensive plan for improving community well-being. Outcomes are measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index^®.

“We applaud Avedis Foundation for leading the way in creating an enhanced quality of life for Shawnee and the broader area of Pottawatomie County, “said Michael Acker, General Manager of Blue Zones Project. “Greater well-being translates to lower health care costs and higher productivity. Through this partnership, Avedis Foundation is helping Pottawatomie County residents live longer, better.”

Blue Zones Project Power 9 principles offer a different kind of New Year's resolution

FRANKLIN, TN /PRNewswire/ -- The start of a new year always brings lofty resolutions to mend our ways and lead a healthier life. But promises to start a dramatic new diet or go to the gym every day often prove unrealistic, and many are doomed to fail. Blue Zones Project^®, a community-by-community well-being improvement initiative that is sweeping the country, offers a more realistic path to achieving a healthy outlook in 2017. 

"The problem with traditional diet and exercise programs is that they require discipline and routine—both of which go against human nature and our evolutionary design," said National Geographic Fellow and Blue Zones Project founder Dan Buettner in "The Blue Zones Solution." "Of 100 people who start a diet today, fewer than five will still be on the diet two years later."

Best practices help support well-being through changes in proximity, placement of healthy options

FRANKLIN, TN /PRNewswire/ -- As Americans prepare holiday menus, grocery stores are bracing for one of the industry’s busiest times of the year. But how many of the choices made in aisles are influenced by store signage and layout—and is it possible for a grocery store to make shoppers healthier?

New research on food buying habits indicates it is possible to “nudge” people to make healthier choices by presenting food in a different product order or proximity. That is not news for Blue Zones Project^® cities throughout the country. In a growing number of communities, changes are being implemented in grocery stores to make it easier for shoppers to make healthy choices and avoid the temptations of high-sugar and high-fat foods.

beaver dam community hospitals announces first blue zones project in wisconsin

Initiative aims to improve health and wellness in Dodge County

Street and park redesigns improve safety, create health and economic benefits

FRANKLIN, TN /PRNewswire/ -- In the 1920s Herbert Hoover called for a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage, and the subsequent build of the nation's infrastructure paid little heed to the needs of pedestrians or cyclists. Today, Americans seem to be looking for a return to a simpler life. According to the National Association of Realtors, nearly 80 percent of the home-buying public want to live in a walkable community. Yet real estate brokerage Redfin reports that only 14 percent of neighborhoods qualify. Now, Blue Zones Project^® communities throughout the country are reversing that trend.

Midwestern town of 18,000 inspired nationwide movement to better well-being

FRANKLIN, TN. /PRNewswire/ -- A small Minnesota town undertook an ambitious experiment in 2009. Residents of Albert Lea—a community with high smoking rates and low activity levels—began to pattern their routines and environments after the world’s longest living people. As the pilot community for Blue Zones Project^®, a well-being improvement initiative created by Minnesota native and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner, Albert Lea has risen 26 percent in Minnesota’s county health rankings and strengthened its economy.

Beach Cities, California, and 15 Iowa communities experience health and well-being improvements since implementing Blue Zones Project

FRANKLIN, TN /PRNewswire/ -- From the shimmery sands of the West Coast to the fertile soil of the Midwest, communities in California and Iowa are demonstrating that a city really can help make its citizens healthier. With nearly two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, and only seven percent of Americans thriving across all five elements of well-being, Beach Cities, California, and 15 Iowa communities are leading a movement to improve community health by becoming certified as Blue Zones Communities^®.

Health system continues work to make Fort Worth one of nation's healthiest cities

FORT WORTH, Texas /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Health Resources is looking beyond hospital rooms and patient charts and working to make Fort Worth one of the healthiest cities in the country. As the primary sponsor of Blue Zones Project^®, Fort Worth, the regional health system is leading the communitywide well-being improvement movement. With 23,000 employees and more than 400 points of access throughout North Texas, Texas Health is the nation's largest employer and health system to become Blue Zones Project Approved™, demonstrating how employers can play a significant role in promoting longer, better lives.