5 ways to make your Thanksgiving meal ‘blue zone’-friendly

By Andrea Kane, CNN

(CNN) — The food people consume has long been understood to shape them in some way.

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” French gourmand Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin famously wrote in 1826.

How you choose to nourish yourself plays a large role in health and even longevity, modern-day studies have shown.

National Geographic fellow and best-selling author Dan Buettner knows this as well as anyone, and he has tips you can use — even for holiday feasts. For two decades, he has been studying “blue zones,” places around the globe where people live the longest and healthiest lives. Diet is one of the major reasons why these folks have an edge.

People in blue zones, including Okinawa, Japan, and the island of Sardinia in Italy, eat plant-based diets that prioritize whole foods. “These simple peasant foods taste maniacally delicious,” Buettner told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently on his podcast, Chasing Life. “That’s the word I like to use.”

Buettner’s latest cookbook, “The Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals: 100 Recipes to Live to 100,” puts a spin on the healthy ingredients people use in these far-flung places so that they appeal to the American palate.

Buettner collaborated with Johannes Eichstaedt, who directs Stanford University’s Computational Psychology and Well-Being Lab, using artificial intelligence to analyze 675,000 recipes from popular websites including Food Network and Allrecipes. “We found that most of the most popular recipes in America followed one of seven different patterns,” Buettner explained. “And then we kind of reverse engineered deliciousness.”

Additionally, the recipes have other virtues to overcome common concerns.

“When you have the competition from fast food and processed food, one of the biggest objections you’re going to get is, ‘I don’t have time. No. 2, ‘I can’t afford it.’ No. 3, ‘I don’t know how to do it.’ No. 4, ‘I don’t think it’ll be delicious,’” he explained.

To develop a cookbook of one-pot recipes, Buettner said, “I started with these criteria: that every recipe had to take less than 20 minutes to combine, it had to cost less than three bucks a serving, and it had to be maniacally delicious.”

You can listen to the full episode here.

Thanksgiving apparently did not get the longevity-promoting memo, since many of the dishes Americans typically love to devour during the feast are a few sticks of butter in excess of being health-promoting.

But that doesn’t mean you have to toss the turkey out with the gravy. Small tweaks can help you align your holiday meal with blue-zone eating patterns. Here are Buettner’s five tips.

Invite the three sisters

The original Thanksgiving staples — beans, corn and squash — are also three of the most longevity-boosting foods on the planet, Buettner said in an email.

He noted that versions of this nutrient-packed trio are not just part of traditional Native American diets, but also those of people living in the blue zones of Costa Rica’s Nicoya region and the island of Icaria in Greece.

“Build your menu around these, and you’re already eating like centenarians.”

Spotlight vegetables in your sides

Add a longevity-boosting salad or vegetable-forward side dish (or two) to the feast, Buettner suggested.

“Blue-zone tables are full of leafy greens: mustard greens, collards, wild arugula, fennel fronds,” he said. “A simple, herb-heavy salad or roasted seasonal vegetables can lighten a traditionally heavy meal.”

Here’s a side dish recipe from “One Pot Meals” to try:

Honey Roasted Carrots

Serves 4

Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

For the glaze

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon honey

For the carrots

• 12 ounces carrots, peeled (about 5 medium carrots)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cumin seed
• ¼ teaspoon caraway seed
• ¼ teaspoon coriander seed
• ¼ teaspoon fennel seed
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika (hot or sweet, according to taste)
• ¼ cup carrot greens or fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a ramekin or small bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients until the honey is dissolved, then set aside.
• Cut the carrots lengthwise in half or quarters so that the widest ends are about ¼ inch thick.
• Toss the carrots in the oil to coat evenly, then add the salt and spices and toss again.
• Spread the carrots in a single layer on a13-x-9-inch sheet pan, with curved sides facing up.
• Roast the carrots for 30 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven. Drizzle the glaze over the carrots, and return to the oven for 5 more minutes.
• Garnish with the chopped greens before serving.

Call in the whole grains gang

In accompaniments calling for refined grains, swap in whole-grain alternatives.

“Instead of white rolls or refined stuffing, try whole-grain sourdough, barley or wild rice,” Buettner said. “These keep blood sugar stable and keep you fuller with fewer calories.

Even if you go with your favorites, you can tweak them to be healthier, as Buettner does in his take on whipped potatoes.

Not-Your-Mom’s Whipped Potatoes

Serves 4 to 6

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced

Instructions

• Trim any dark spots off the potatoes, then halve or quarter the potatoes so all the pieces are roughly the same size, about 2 inches across.
• Put the potatoes in a deep pot that’s large enough to hold them with plenty of room to spare.
• Cover the potatoes with water by about 2 inches.
• Bring the water to a boil and cook until a knife can pierce the potatoes with minimal resistance, about 20 minutes.
• Use a colander to drain the water, then return the potatoes to the pot.
• Add the oil, salt and chives and use an immersion blender to whip it all into a smooth, velvety puree.
• Taste for seasoning and serve.

Rethink the sweets

Instead of piling up your plate with every dessert on offer, try to reframe the way you think about the course.

“You don’t need to ban dessert, just change the equation,” Buettner said. “In Sardinia, people enjoy a single simple sweet after meals, not an avalanche of pies.”

Another option: Try naturally sweet foods like baked apples, roasted squash or dates, he suggested.

Strengthen ties with family and friends

Make the holiday social, active and purposeful. “A blue-zone Thanksgiving doesn’t end at the table,” Buettner said.

Nor does it start there. “Play a game, ask everyone to share a gratitude story or include elders in the cooking,” he said.

And, post-meal, head outside for a stroll, not to the couch — at least not right away!

“Longevity isn’t just about what’s on the plate,” he said. “It’s the whole web of connection around it.”

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CNN Podcasts’ Jennifer Lai contributed to this report. Recipes adapted from “The Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals: 100 Recipes to Live to 100” by Dan Buettner (National Geographic).