Extending your life expectancy often starts with a simple gesture: what you put in your bowl in the morning. In most Western countries, breakfast still means toast, sugary cereals or crispy bacon to last you until lunch. However, observations made in regions where inhabitants massively exceed 100 years old tell a completely different food story. A researcher who devotes his career to these longevity territories has just summarized what they really eat when they wake up.
What Dan Buettner Sees in Centenarians’ Breakfasts
This specialist is the American Dan Buettner, explorer at the origin of the concept of Blue Zones. In a video posted on Instagram, he says: “The breakfasts of people who live the longest don’t include sugary cereals or fatty bacon. They are simple, natural and rich in fiber“, explains Dan Buettner. For him, these morning meals focus mainly on fiber, which promotes digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, reduces cholesterol and curbs cravings.
Dan Buettner details the contrast with the American model: “Let me share with you the number one breakfast secret if you want to live to be 100. Here in the United States, when we think of breakfast, it’s usually eggs or bacon, but it has a lot of saturated fat, or it’s cereal, but it has a lot of sugar (…) In places like the Blue Zones, where people really turn 100, they start their day with a savory breakfast. It’s beans and rice. In some areas it’s bread with avocado or minestrone soup“, comments Dan Buettner.
The “Dan Buettner Longevity Breakfast”
The common thread of these plates remains the place given to beans, lentils or chickpeas. Dan Buettner points out that they provide plant-based proteins and fiber, and that they last long-term without causing a spike in blood sugar levels.
The recommendations are in the same direction: aim for at least half a cup of cooked beans per day, integrated with whole grains and a variety of vegetables.
Transform these Blue Zone breakfasts at home
For a morning in France, it could be a bowl of rinsed jarred white beans, mixed with brown rice from the day before, with olive oil and tomatoes, or a slice of sourdough bread covered with hummus and avocado.