Nonetheless, noni is a popular fruit in the health food world which is thought to have some important healing powers. It originates from Polynesia, where the noni tree is known as the ‘Tree of Life.’  Noni is a traditional Polynesian folk remedy for a wide range of ailments including cancer, urinary infections, depression, headache, menstrual cramps, allergies, HIV, high cholesterol and more.  

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of noni is its possible anti-cancer powers. Studies published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences show that a compound in the juice appears to prevent the formation of cancer cells, whilst a study from Hawaii showed that mice with tumors lived twice as long when given noni juice as mice which were not.

Noni has been reported in studies to improve immunity, relieve pain, and reduce damage to the liver in mice given a liver toxin. At the University Clinic in Hamburg in Germany, it was found that noni pulp reduces damage and inflammation caused by arthritis in the joints. And in a study published in the Journal of Scientific Research in 2009 it was shown that noni juice prevents gastric ulcers and triggers increased levels of protective mucus in the intestinal tract, so benefiting digestive health.

Noni fruit contains vitamin C, iron, lignans and antioxidant flavonoids as well as other beneficial phytonutrients. It is also high in potassium, and so may help lower blood pressure.

As the fruit itself is not appetizing, it is the juice which tends to be used, and is now sold across the world by purveyors of health foods.  It also comes in a capsule, as a powder, and is, of course, one of the ingredients in Akea Essentials.

Millet, once you work out how to use it, is actually a great food to include in your regular diet because it has some useful nutrients, it’s low on the glycaemic index, and it’s more digestible than wheat, since it’s gluten-free.  

One of the best things about millet is that, unlike other grains, it does not have an acidic effect on the body, but rather an alkalising or neutral one, due to its mineral content.

It is also a good source of amino acids, B vitamins, manganese, phosphorus, and silicon, a component of collagen, which helps keep skin smooth. Eating it with nuts or beans, or with hemp seeds as they do in the Longevity Hot Spot, Bama, makes a complete protein meal.

So: how to cook millet? It has been cultivated for 8,000 years in Africa, where it is a staple and used to make flatbread, and it is a traditional porridge in Russia, Germany and China. It is readily available in the West and makes a versatile substitute for other grains.

Millet can be boiled and eaten in the same way as rice, or you can buy it as flakes to add to porridge or as flour for use in baking. Adding it to oats to make porridge or pancakes will increase the nutrient content of your breakfast and make it more sustaining. You can also use millet in salads in place of rice or quinoa – try adding nuts and seeds, lightly-roasted sesame seeds, onion, garlic, olives, and capers for taste.

There are some great recipes here. If you try any of them, please let us know the result!

Mangoes actually originated in South Asia and are the national fruit of India and Pakistan, but were imported to South America in the 1600s. They were introduced to another Longevity Hot Spot, Okinawa, in the early 1900s, and are eaten there regularly along with other luscious tropical fruit.

Mangoes, as suggested by their succulent orange flesh, are a great source of beta-carotene, the anti-cancer antioxidant which converts to immune-enhancing vitamin A in the body. They are also a great source of vitamin C, fiber, prostate-protective lycopene, vitamin E, B vitamins, folate, copper and blood pressure-lowering potassium.

Mangoes have some important anti-cancer properties. They contain lupeol, a substance which has been found in tests to inhibit cancer cell growth, as well as the anti-cancer compounds astragalin, gallic acid, quercetin and fisitrin. These are thought to be especially protective against colon, breast and prostate cancers and leukemia.

The Costa Ricans, spoilt as they are for a constant supply of mangoes, are adventurous with them and serve them in a variety of ways.  A favorite recipe is mango salsa made with tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, salt, lime and mango. Sometimes unripe mangoes are eaten with a wedge of lime and some salt as a crunchy snack. There are hundreds of recipes on the internet, so if you feel experimental, have a go. But, of course, mangoes are perfectly delicious eaten just exactly as they are.

You may already be getting enough exercise, but if you aren’t sure, ask yourself: do you spend at least a couple of hours each week in physical activity that’s intense enough to raise your heart rate?

Please comment below & share the ways you incorporate movement into your daily life–you may inspire someone else to get off that couch & on the road to a Hot Spot healthier life!

One of the most significant properties of kale, as with other cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli, is its content of glucosinolates. These are converted to isothiocyanates which have a very beneficial effect on our liver detoxification systems.  This is a key anti-cancer factor, since potential carcinogens which form during liver detoxification can be neutralised more effectively with the help of these compounds.

Kale is thought to be particularly useful in preventing cancers of the bladder, breast, colon, ovaries and prostate.

Kale is also heart-friendly, since it contains a particular type of fiber which binds with bile acids in the digestive tract to remove them from the body. Since the body uses cholesterol to make bile acids, this means that, rather than old bile acids being absorbed and re-used,  cholesterol supplies are drawn on instead, so lowering cholesterol levels. Kale has actually been found to be more effective than the cholesterol-lowering drug, cholestyramine, in this way. Experts recommend that kale is steamed for five minutes in order for this effect to be strongest.

Kale contains at least 45 antioxidant, anti-inflammatory flavonoids, notably kaempferol and quercetin, as well as carotenoids including lutein and beta-carotene. These help prevent chronic disease associated with inflammation and also protect our cells from free radical damage. It is also rich in vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, and B vitamins and it provides manganese, copper, magnesium, potassium, iron, magnesium, vitamin E, and omega 3 fats.

To get the best benefits from cruciferous vegetables, aim to have them at least two or three times weekly, whether it is kale or another cruciferous vegetable such as cabbage, broccoli, pak choi, Brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. Give yourself a good helping each time – one and a half cups at least. Steam it, stir-fry it, sauté it, put it in soups and casseroles. You can also, of course, have it raw in salads.

Choose from curly kale, ornamental kale, and dinosaur (or Lacinato or Tuscan) kale, which has dark blue-green leaves. You can find more information about kale and some good recipes here: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=38

Cautions

Kale is relatively high in oxalates so you may need to limit amounts if you have kidney or gallbladder problems. Oxalates can also inhibit absorption of calcium in the body, although kale should provide more than enough calcium to counteract the effect.

Green tea, which is popular in the Longevity Hot Spot Okinawa, first came to the notice of anti-cancer researchers when it was noticed that green tea workers in one particular area of Japan seemed to have extremely low incidence of cancer. Many studies on green tea have since been carried out, and their results suggest that drinking four or more cups of strong green tea a day lowers the risk of cancer, particularly cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, lung, skin, bladder, stomach and esophagus.

The anti-cancer properties of green tea are attributed to a powerful antioxidant called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) which has the ability both to kill cancer cells and prevent tumor growth (1). EGCG also helps the liver to process potential carcinogens, which adds to its anti-cancer powers.

Green tea may well protect our brains from degenerating as we age. EGCG, being fat-soluble, can get into our fatty brain cells in order to give them antioxidant protection. It also chelates harmful iron from brain cells and boosts the action of our antioxidant enzymes which protect brain cells. Epicatechin in green tea, meanwhile, helps reduce the formation of amyloid-beta cells in the brain which are linked with Alzheimer’s Disease. And, indeed, a large Japanese study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2006 does indeed suggest that drinking green tea can prevent cognitive decline.

Green tea contains B vitamins for energy and immunity, E vitamins for heart health, and has more vitamin C than an orange. It is good for heart health because it reduces levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and it is also anti-inflammatory – both green and black tea drinking has been found in studies to lower levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation closely linked to heart disease (2).

Green tea is antibacterial and antiviral, so may help combat colds, flu, and stomach upsets. In one study, it was found to prevent replication of the influenza virus in vitro (3). Compounds in green tea can also help kill Helicobacter Pylori, the bacteria linked with stomach ulcers. Green tea also inhibits the action of porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), the bacteria which causes gum disease – which means that drinking it may prevent periodontal disease. It also protects the cells responsible for building bones and teeth from free radical damage, meaning that it can help prevent osteoporosis and age-related dental problems.

Green tea can be a very useful weight loss aid, because it aids the burning of glucose for energy and it boosts the action of fat-burning enzymes in cells. What’s more, these two properties have been found by scientists to enhance each other’s actions synergistically. A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that men drinking a bottle of green tea daily for just twelve weeks had significantly lower body weight by the end of the study than subjects drinking ordinary tea.

And here’s yet another health-boosting property of green tea – it has a prebiotic effect, meaning that it creates the right environment in your gut for beneficial gut flora, so crucial for good health, to thrive in.

Now, it may be a bit dangerous to say this, but is seems that green tea can actually prevent alcohol-related damage to the liver. In a study published in the journal Alcohol (2004), it was found that rats given toxic amounts of alcohol avoided liver damage when they were also given green tea. In other studies, it has been found that green tea can prevent the death of liver cells from free radical damage.

Green tea contains caffeine, but only one quarter the amount of caffeine as coffee, and so can also be useful to wean yourself onto if you are not quite ready to give up caffeine completely. The green tea in Essentials, however, is decaffeinated.

If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, it is best to limit your intake of green tea, since EGCG is thought to block an enzyme required to use folic acid in cells. In fact, it does this in a similar way to a certain anti-cancer drug, since cancer cells need folic acid to grow, only more mildly. Pregnant women are advised to avoid drinking green tea during the first trimester and limit intake to one or two cups daily thereafter. Essentials should not pose a problem for pregnant women since the amount of green tea per serving is small – equivalent to 42 mg.

This poses the question: what about our need for folic acid even if we are not pregnant? We need folic acid for correct cell division and also to keep homocysteine levels down, since high homocysteine is associated with cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, studies suggest that drinking between three and five cups of green tea daily is linked with lower levels of cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease, by various means (4). Possibly, nutrition scientists have yet to find the optimum amount of green tea to drink where our folic acid levels are concerned. If you drink a lot of green tea, be sure to eat plenty of foods rich in folic acid – dark green leafy vegetables, avocados, asparagus, citrus fruits, nuts, seeds and legumes are some of the best sources.

How to drink green tea:

For good-tasting green tea, try loose leaf tea rather than teabags and use water which is not quite boiling. Put about half a teaspoon of leaves in the bottom of a cup, pour in the hot water, relax, and watch the leaves unfold into a beautiful ‘tea garden’. It tastes even better if you use the tea leaves again for a second infusion.

The Okinawans drink a variety known as Sanpin, which is suffused with jasmine flowers. Sanpin is available in the US in health food shops and to order online and is becoming a popular weight loss drink.

If you feel nauseated after having green tea, this is thought to be because of the combination of polyphenols and caffeine, which can stimulate the production of gastric acid. Try drinking it after a meal so as to avoid any nausea.

References

1. AHMAD, N. et al (1997). Green Tea Constituent Epigallocatechin-3-gallate and Induction of Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Carcinoma Cells. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 89(24): 1881-1886.
2. GOTO, K., KANAYA, S., and HARA, Y (1991). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Tea Science (Shizuoka, Japan: The Organising Committee of ISTS), 314.
3. Antiviral Research, November 2005
4. KURIYAMA, S (2006). Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study. JAMA 296(10):1255-65.

Olive oil is good for health. And despite its calorie content, it should actually enable weight loss when used within a healthy diet, thanks to its beneficial effects on digestion.

Because it has such a high content of monounsaturated fats, olive oil has been partly credited for the good heart health of Mediterranean populations, including those in the Longevity Hot Spots Campodimele, Symi, and Sardinia.

These are just a few of the things extra virgin olive oil can do for you…

• Transport fat-soluble vitamins E and A through veins to prevent cholesterol from oxidizing and to help protect against cancer.
• Raise levels of desirable HDL cholesterol and lower levels of undesirable LDL cholesterol.
• Aid digestion by prompting the gallbladder to release bile and by lubricating the intestinal tract.
• Support peristalsis to help prevent constipation and the reabsorption of toxins from the colon.

Monounsaturated fats from other sources are healthy, too. Avocados and avocado oil, for instance, are excellent sources of monounsaturated fats. Today, think about how you cook—which oils are in your kitchen? Change over to the good fats, and your body will thank you.

For the next couple of days, take a good look at how much movement you’re getting. Do you get outside and get enough physical activity? Where could you fit in some more?

Remember, we evolved to be moving for much of the day—not sitting at a desk or on a sofa.

Physical exertion is simply part of daily routines in the world’s Longevity Hot Spots. As a result, these people not only live longer, but live better and more healthfully throughout their lifetimes.

• The Yao of Bama, China, climb terraces and mountains each day to cultivate the land.
• The people of Hojancha, Costa Rica, take pleasure in the physical activity of chores.
• Hunzakuts spontaneously break into dance after a full day’s work.

For all of these people—and for you, too—movement is a natural and necessary function. The human body is wholly engineered to move. It thrives on regular activity. So what’s your regular activity?

Here are some ideas…

• Walking and hiking come naturally to most of us. Walk your dog or yourself around the neighborhood, or hike if you live near a suitable outdoor space. Walking uphill can be especially aerobic and will also tone your buttocks and thigh muscles.
• Bike wherever you want to go this weekend. Or, find a beautiful park or other outdoor space where you can cycle over different terrains. Biking is fun and increases fitness without stressing the joints.
• Join a dance class, whether it’s belly dancing, hip-hop, ballroom dance, or any other type of dance for an exhilarating workout. No dance classes near you? There are many dance videos to lead you through a workout at home.
• Martial arts like karate, tae kwon do, kickboxing, and kung fu will give you self-defense skills, provide an excellent full-body workout, improve mental focus, boost confidence, and refresh and energize you. Joining a class will also enable you to meet new people from all walks of life.
• Join a yoga or pilates class—or use a book or video at home. Yoga and pilates strengthen and tone muscles of arms, legs, abdomen, and back without making them bulky. Pilates develops core strength, while yoga unites the body with mind and spirit.

Whatever your speed, make time do it this weekend. See how much fun you have, and how great you feel afterwards. Then make it part of every week!

Do you regularly eat oily fish and nuts and seeds, or take essential fatty acid supplements? If not, you are quite likely to be deficient, which may affect your health.

For optimum health we need both omega 3 and omega 6 fats in a ratio of approximately 1:2. Experts think most North Americans are not only deficient in both omega 3 and omega 6 fats, but also have them in the wrong ratio of around 1:20. That imbalance can cause omega 3 deficiency symptoms.

Use the list below to see if you think you may have some of the symptoms of essential fatty acid deficiency.

Some symptoms of essential fatty acid deficiency…

• High blood pressure
• Cancer
• Dry skin/eczema
• Dry hair
• Dry eyes
• Arthritis
• Hard to lose weight
• Blood sugar imbalance
• Multiple sclerosis
• Mental health problems
• Poor memory
• Prone to infection
• Lack of coordination
• Impaired vision
• Tingling arms/legs
• Water retention
• Inflammation
• PMS

If you suffer from these symptoms, you may be deficient in essential fats. The best way to find out if essential fatty acid deficiency is causing the problem is to make sure you include them in your diet on a daily basis and see if your symptoms improve.

Tips on oil use

• Always store your cold-pressed oils in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Their reactivity is why they are so effective in the body, but it also causes them to spoil when exposed to heat, oxygen, or light.
• If you find bottled oils unpalatable, a delicious way to take them is in a bowl of stewed apple with a tablespoon of ground linseeds.

One of the first things you notice here is the immaculate turquoise water, often said to be the cleanest in the Mediterranean. For hundreds of years, invaders were continually sailing towards the coast, weapons bared, with a view to taking this striking, bounteous island for themselves (hence the local flag, showing the cut-off heads of unfortunate would-be takers – the Sardinians are not for messing with). Nowadays, the invaders are mostly mainland Italians and Germans coming in on the ferry, plus myself and my family, and we are content with sitting smugly on the beach and swimming in the clear, warm sea.

Behind the beaches are soaring stone cliff faces, and behind those there are mountains covered in olive trees, vineyards and myrtle bushes. When you stand on the mountainside, you can almost taste the air – clean, breezy, and fragrant with myrtle. There are mercifully few cars on the roads, and I know that when I get home to my traffic-ridden city life I’m going to wish someone could bottle the air here. This must be how air used to smell and taste before we invented cars!

Up in the mountains, the Sardinians of yore settled into a sustainable inland way of life, away from the coastal invaders. The traditional shepherding and gardening lifestyle is still practiced here in the regions of Barbagia and Ogliastra, the Longevity Hot Spot part of Sardinia.  Here you will find Villagrande, a mountain village which holds the world record for male longevity. A little further south is Perdasdefogu, where the oldest woman in Sardinia, Consolata Melis, 105 years old, and her eight brothers and sisters live, all of them fit and well. And just above the coast, in the mountain village of Baunei, I meet Maria, 91, who has far softer skin than I do and who is animated and engaged.  ‘I’m strong like a blade of grass’, she says, referring to her particular brand of Sardinian strength. The people here can bend with the wind, but you can’t break them.

So what is causing all this youthful old age in Sardinia’s Hot Spot? Having been here for two weeks, I can tell you that my family and I feel suffused with well-being. I call it the Hot Spot Feeling, and it seems to happen in all the Hot Spots. It’s not like going to Disneyland. It suffuses you from within, rather than bombarding you from without. Part of it must be the aforementioned air. Then there’s the sunny climate, the natural beauty of the place, and all the exercise people get on the mountain slopes. There are also the close-knit families, being part of a community, strong religious faith, a sense of purpose in everyone’s lives, and strong, resilient personality traits – all classic Hot Spot Factors.

Another major factor I have especially enjoyed experiencing for myself is the food. It must be said that the quality of the produce here would be enough to make any top New York chef cry. Everybody seems to keep a large garden where they grow their own fruit and vegetables, bathed in Mediterranean sunshine and watered by mountain spring water. In the supermarket the produce is all fresh, ripe, local, and mainly organic. There are lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, zucchini and eggplant to satisfy our vegetable needs, so bursting with nutrients and flavor they need nothing more than a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of lemon to make a mouth-watering supper dish.

On the fruit side, much of it you can pick for yourself. There are fig trees everywhere groaning with their bulbous purple fruit, and they are so sweet and tasty it’s worth the sore red wheals I get all over my legs from the mystery poison plant keeping sentry over the fig tree outside our apartment. Another local staple you can get for free, if you are willing to risk it, is the orange-colored fruit of the prickly pear cactus – these grow all along the roadsides, and you sometimes see people with buckets and long bamboo sticks collecting their spine-shedding harvest. The fruit itself, if you can manage to penetrate to its interior, is sweet, mucilaginous, and seeded, a bit like a guava. The other in-season fruits right now are peaches and plums, and every day we buy big bags of them, sweet and juicy, from the supermarket and make pigs of ourselves.

Speaking of pigs – the pork products you can get in Sardinia are worth the trip just in themselves. The hams and salamis here have a melt-in-the-mouth texture and fulsome taste, and are better than any I have had from upmarket delicatessens in London. Traditionally, they are cured at home without the carcinogenic nitrites used in our modern processed hams. Locals claim that foreign ham tastes bad, and that theirs tastes good because of the diet of their pigs, namely foraged root vegetables and acorns. Just one pig tends to be kept and slaughtered every year or so per family in Sardinia, so pork products are traditionally eaten only rarely, but every part of the pig is eaten, including the fat which is saved for frying. Wild boar is also a local specialty and is hunted by the more machismo Sardinians – my helper’s father currently has one in his freezer.

Milk and cheese here comes from sheep and goats, kept lean from roaming the pastures and fed a natural grass-based diet. The sheep’s cheese, traditionally fermented, is full of flavor and body. My son, who coughs and sneezes when he eats cheese at home, shows no sign of any allergies to it here, despite his frequent visits to the refrigerator when he thinks nobody is looking. The local cheeses can be eaten with the local flatbread, pistoccu, or grated over bean, pasta and vegetable dishes much in the way Parmesan is used in mainland Italy. Sadly, or maybe not, there is no sign of the local speciality, casu marzu, a cheese containing live maggots which are said to jump up at you when you lift the lid off the cheese.

Fish-wise, over the fortnight we sample swordfish, a sardine caught on a fishing trip, and some small nameless freshly-caught fish which are coated in sea salt then cooked on a barbecue. This suffuses the flesh with a subtle salty taste and also keeps it succulent – it tastes sensational, and is so simple to make. Fish is not a particularly big part of the Sardinian diet, due to the protected inland way of life, but 105-year-old Consolata tells me that when she was younger they would occasionally enjoy slimy eels from the river.

I’m not entirely sure that ice cream is longevity-promoting, but I’m prepared to give it a go. Over the course of not-that-many-days I have managed to do my research fairly thoroughly by trying the nocciola (hazelnut), pistachio, chocolate, tiramisu and lemon flavors. All are supremely good, with a high ratio of nuts-to-ice-cream where appropriate and not too much sugar so you don’t feel sick afterwards.

We don’t manage to find any bean soup, but this is the traditional staple of Consolata and the other youthful-old I have met. Bean soup was eaten almost every night, made with vegetables from the garden and sometimes boiled up with meat bones. Bean soup is filling and full of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, so it makes a great all-round longevity food, just as with the bean dishes eaten by the long-lived Costa Ricans.

Drinks in this part of Sardinia consist of modest amounts of the local wine, Cannonau, made with especially dark red, antioxidant-rich grapes. Everyone also drinks mountain spring water which is helpfully provided by taps set into elegant stone drinking fountains on the roadsides. Soft drinks and spirits are not much in evidence, and although we find a café selling cappuccinos, the likes of Consolata will tell you this is not a typical drink for them.

As with all the Hot Spots, the food traditionally eaten in Sardinia has had to be grown or kept by the inhabitants themselves, so there would always be just enough and no more. In Okinawa, this is known as the ‘hara hachi bu’ rule – ‘eat until you are only eight parts full’. I’m afraid to say we haven’t managed to stick to this particular rule of eating on our Sardinian holiday. We’ve probably eaten eight times too much, if anything. But after two weeks in this very special place, we feel strong like fat happy blades of grass. I’m ready to go back home and try out some bean soup recipes, washed down with some duty-free Cannonau.