All 150+ Longevity Ingredients from The Blue Zones Kitchen Cookbook (+ Spreadsheet Summary)

This post lists all of the ingredients from the cookbook The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100 (Amazon).

I’ve been fascinated by the Blue Zones ever since I discovered them five years ago. I’ve even written about them twice before:

• Blue Zones: How Ikarians Live Simply for 100+ Years
• Blue Zones: Longevity Hacks from Earth’s Oldest People

Best-selling author Dan Buettner has been researching the Blue Zones for the better part of two decades. His other books on the topic include:

• 2017: The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World’s Happiest People (Amazon)
• 2015: The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People (Amazon)
• 2012: The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (Amazon)

If you’re looking for an introduction to Dan, I personally enjoyed this podcast interview with him that I included in Sloww Sunday Newsletter #009:

All 150+ Longevity Ingredients from The Blue Zones Kitchen Cookbook (+ Spreadsheet Summary)

The Blue Zones Kitchen Overview

This book/cookbook is the distillation of 15+ years of Dan Buettner’s research on the Blue Zones. It fuses scientific reporting, National Geographic photography, and 100 recipes for longevity from the Blue Zones.

The goal?

To “reverse-engineer a formula for longevity.”

The five pillars of every longevity diet in the world are: 1) whole grains, 2) greens, 3) tubers, 4) nuts, and 5) beans (the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world).

— Dan Buettner

11 Blue Zones Food Guidelines

1. Ensure that your diet is 90-100% plant-based
2. Retreat from meat — 2 ounces or less up to 5 times/month
3. Go easy on fish — 3 ounces or less up to 3 times/week
4. Reduce dairy — goat/sheep milk products if needed
5. Cut down on eggs — 1 egg up to 3 times/week
6. Eat a daily dose of beans — half cup daily
7. Slash sugar — up to 28 grams of added sugar daily
8. Snack on nuts — 2 handfuls of nuts daily
9. Sour on bread — only sourdough or 100% whole wheat
10. Go whole — raw, cooked, ground, or fermented
11. Drink mostly water — and coffee, tea, wine

150+ Blue Zones Kitchen Recipe Ingredients

I read the book twice to make sure I captured all of the ingredients mentioned in every recipe (as well as those mentioned in summaries and storytelling about each location).

The ingredient list is summarized below, but I I also put it in a Google Spreadsheet to make it more manageable: The Blue Zones Kitchen — ALL 150+ RECIPE INGREDIENTS

You can sort the spreadsheet by top ingredients, alphabetical order, food type, and more. Make a copy of the spreadsheet and customize it for yourself!

Personally, I’m simply using this as a grocery shopping list (aiming to buy more things on the list and avoiding things not on the list).

---

Quick Housekeeping

• Bold ingredients below are identified in the book as “top longevity ingredients.”
• The food types and ingredients lists are in no particular order.
• I’ve attempted to categorize foods by food type. Some foods technically fall into multiple categories, so I just picked one (e.g. fennel). Also, some foods are technically one type but often referred to as another (e.g. avocado as fruit/veggie).

---

Leafy Greens

• Spinach; Arugula; Dandelion (wild, sweet); Purslane; Kale; Lettuce (green leaf, romaine); Cabbage (napa, bok choy); Beet & Turnip Tops; Swiss Chard; Mustard Greens / Mizuna; Collard Greens (rainbow); Kandaba (sweet potato leaves); Grape Leaves

Vegetables

• Onions (red, yellow, white, green, sweet, shallot); Peppers (bell, red, yellow, orange, green, sweet, habanero, jalapeño, chipotle); Fennel (bulbs, stalks, fronds, seeds); Yuca; Kombu (sea kelp / seaweed); Kohlrabi; Green Beans; Green Peas; Broccoli; Bean Sprouts; Asparagus; Cauliflower; Okra; Celery; Leeks; Radish (daikon); Scallions; Chives; Corn; Carrots (yellow, white, orange); Hearts of Palm; Artichoke Hearts; Pickled Vegetables (variety)

Fruits

• Olives; Squash / Zucchini / Pumpkin (yellow, butternut, acorn, chayote, ayote); Cucumber; Eggplant; Avocado; Tomatoes (roma, grape, san marzano); Lemons; Limes; Apples (applesauce); Melon (green bitter, honeydew, watermelon); Banana; Plantains; Peaches; Berries (blueberry, strawberry, blackberry); Mangoes; Guava; Dates; Zapote; Pineapple; Papaya; Coconut; Citrus Juice (orange, lime)

Beans

• Black Beans; Red Beans; White Beans; Lentils; Black-Eyed Peas; Chickpeas; Aquafaba (chickpea liquid); Garbanzo Beans; Kidney Beans; Fava Beans; Lima Beans; Giant Beans; Navy Beans; Cannellini Beans; Cranberry Beans; Soybeans

Tubers

• Sweet Potatoes (purple, red, white, yellow, orange); Potatoes (red, yellow, yukon gold); Taro / Tiquisque

Whole Grains

• Sourdough Bread (semolina, wheat germ, apple cider vinegar); Bread (from wheat, rye, barley); Oats / Oatmeal; Cornmeal; Flour (whole wheat, semolina, all-purpose, nixtamal corn / masa haina); Tortillas (nixtamal corn); Farro; Pasta (fregula, spaghetti, linguine, acini de pepe, angel hair, capellini, orzo, somen); Couscous; Quinoa; Rice (arborio, white, brown, sweet); Weetabix; Corn Flakes

Nuts & Seeds

• Almonds; Pistachios; Brazil Nuts; Cashews; Walnuts; Pecans; Peanuts; Macadamia Nuts; Sesame Seeds; Chia Seeds; Chan Seeds; Flax Seeds

Herbs, Spices, & Seasonings

• Ginger; Garlic; Cilantro; Culantro coyote; Parsley; Samphire; Chicory; Barley; Basil; Thyme; Cumin; Cloves; Coriander; Cardamom; Cayenne; Rosemary; Oregano; Sage; Mint; Turmeric; Myrtle; Helichrysum; Saffron; Bay leaves; Tarragon; Dill; Nutmeg; Cinnamon; Epazote; Salt; Pepper (black, white, chili); Flakes (red pepper, chili, bonito fish); Miso (white, red); Powder (5-spice, garlic, onion, cocoa)

Fungi

• Mushrooms (porcini, chanterelles, shiitakes, cremini, white button, oyster); Dry Yeast; Brewer’s Yeast

Broths

• Vegetable Broth; Bean Broth; Dashi Broth

Dairy

• Goat & Sheep Milk (yogurt, sour milk, cheese); Soy Milk; Milk (coconut, cashew, almond); Pecorino cheese; Eggs

Drinks

• Water; Red Wine (Cannonau); Mirin (sweet rice wine); Sake / Awamori; Coffee (black); Tea (green, rosemary, wild sage, dandelion)

Oils & Vinegar

• Olive Oil; Sesame Oil; Vegetable Oil; Soybean Oil; Coconut Oil; Vinegar (rice wine, red wine, white wine, tarragon, balsamic)

Syrups, Sauces, & Spreads

• Soy Sauce; Chilero Hot Sauce; Sriracha; Worcestershire Sauce; Nut Butter (almond, peanut); Honey / Agave; Syrup (grape, maple); Vegemite

Baking

• Sugar (maple, brown); Baking Powder / Soda; Vanilla Extract

Meat Replacement

• Tofu; Tempeh

Happy eating!

You May Also Enjoy:

• A Simple Wellness Strategy: MEDS (Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep)

• Mindful at Mealtime: The Zen Buddhism Five Reflections

• Blue Zones: How Ikarians Live Simply for 100+ Years

• Blue Zones: Longevity Hacks from Earth’s Oldest People