Man ate ‘Blue Zone diet’ for seven days to show off impact it had on body
Fitness fan Will Tennyson decided to try a 'restrictive' diet that many people praise as giving longevity and boosting health.
He noticed that a high percentage of the world's oldest people live in so called 'Blue Zone' regions, and decided to try to mimic their diet.
The National Institute of Health lists Blue Zones as Ikaria, Greece; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Okinawa, Japan; and Sardinia, Italy.
Dan Buettner is the brains behind the Blue Zones idea, and he said: "The Danish Twin Study established that only about 20 percent of how long the average person lives is dictated by genes, while about 80 percent is influenced by lifestyle and environment."
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So what is it that people in these Blue Zones are doing that is regularly seeing them live to over 100?
A whopping 95% of centenarians from these regions eat plant-based diets, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, and stop eating when they feel 80% full.
Will decided to try the whole food aspect of their diet, rather than plant-based.
He said in a video that there was one major rule for the diet: "For the next seven days, I'm going to be eating all-natural."
Will explained: "It needs to be one ingredient. No, that doesn't mean sugar counts, goofballs. It has to be foods that come naturally from the earth."
'Restrictive' diet
It wasn't long before the influencer hit a snag.
Browsing the aisles of Whole Foods, Tennyson realised it wasn't going to be a) cheap or b) easy.
"Over $20 for this tiny piece of steak. Were these cows fed from the Garden of Eden?" he joked.
The snack aisle was even worse: "Literally nothing in this aisle I can eat. It's really eye-opening, to be honest."
After the first few days, he started to feel better, raving: "I actually feel great right now. From the moment I woke up to right now, I have had no energy dips, no brain fog, just feeling fantastic."
There was a few things he missed, saying he 'craved' protein bars, as well as one of his favourite breakfasts, Greek yoghurt with zero-sugar syrup.
He gave a vivid description of how things were going: "My gut feels like it's working its dream job. I have no bloat. Bathroom trips are frequent and phenomenal."
That's quite the phrase, there.
As well as his delightful dumps, it seems his skin improved too: "My forehead, I had some breakouts on day one. It's already starting to clear up and kind of flatten up a bit."
However, he confessed that it wasn't sustainable in the long term, nor was it good for your social life.
Unexpected benefits
Will was also surprised to lose weight on the diet: "I ended up losing roughly two and a half pounds this week, which was kind of unexpected. I feel like I lost probably a lot of bloat from having no artificial sweeteners."
Overall, Will said he's taking some lessons forward with him, following the experiment: "It's pretty crazy. The lengths that I typically go to find these diet hack foods, make these massive volume meals to keep me full, only for it to keep me hungry all the time. And then the second I lower the volume focus on the better quality. Not only was I fuller, but I also felt better."
Would you give it a go?
Topics: Health, Food And Drink, Science, Social Media
Jen Thomas