Sardinians eat unique foods. They are also one of the unique regions of the world that has a large concentration of centenarians. But in addition to having this large concentration of people that are living to 100 years or older, they're also very in shape. They also have extremely high happiness scores, especially the men, which is very unique to have such high life expectancies and happiness scores amongst men.
But I want to use this video to talk specifically about their food, because their food is a little bit more unique even than other blue zones. Let's just get right into the first one. Number one, there's a fair bit of meat and fish consumption, particularly on Sundays. So they eat a little bit more in the way of meat on Sundays, but when you look at some of the other regions of the Mediterranean, there's not quite as much, say, fish consumption as there is in Sardinia. So a lot of smaller fish, a lot of shellfish.
Definitely a lot of omega-3s coming in. Now, I haven't seen any literature that looks at their omega-3 index as a population, but I would imagine that it's a pretty darn good omega-3 index. And we know that omega-3s are quite potent when it comes down to longevity and cardiovascular health. But that being said, there's a fair bit of protein consumption coming in in general.
It's not just from meat consumption. They also consume a lot of dairy. So dairy protein is quite high. Now, we're going to talk more about dairy later on. Secondly, from a polyunsaturated fat perspective...
They eat some nuts that are uniquely high in good polyunsaturated fats, but also uniquely high in omega-3s, considering that they are nuts. Now, full disclaimer, when we look at nuts and we look at the omega-3 content in nuts, it's nothing compared to what you get out of like seafood, right? But the fact of the matter is, is that it does balance out some of the omega-6 profile they might get from nuts.
So there's a lot of almonds, a lot of pistachio, but... predominantly a lot of walnut consumption. And walnuts are the ones that are higher in omega-3s.
Now, in addition to this, we're going to talk about some other fats and some other oils that they consume. But I found it interesting that walnuts are such a big staple in the Mediterranean region. Okay, again, they are a slightly more stable nut compared to some of the other ones. They're a lower phytic acid nut compared to some of the other ones. Again, they all have phytic acid and whatnot.
But mainly, it's the omega-3 content that makes it interesting. Okay, moving on to the next one. Lots of goat's milk.
Okay, what other regions of the world are drinking higher amounts of goat's milk? I'm sure we could find them, but compared to like the United States where we're consuming a lot of cow dairy, which I don't have any problem with, it's very interesting how much goat milk they consume. Now, what should we note about goat milk? What is unique about goat milk?
Well, for one, the fat profile is different. Okay, you're gonna have more in the way of myristic acid, you're gonna have more in the way of conjugated linoleic acid. which has been demonstrated to be good for body composition and potentially even longevity.
But you're also looking at a lower level of those A1 proteins that you'd get from bovine milk. So in essence, I don't want to sound cheeky when I say this, it's potentially a less inflammatory dairy and it's easier to digest. Now, either way, if a culture is adapted to a given dairy, digestion is probably not going to really matter. But goat milk seems to have a slightly better fat profile, slightly easier to digest the proteins, and...
quite frankly, has less of the negative attributes that bovine dairy could have. Now moving into number four, which is quite interesting and piggybacks off of the goat milk, is Sardinia is known for a very specific cheese, Pecorino Romano. And if you've watched my channel for the last decade, it's interesting because I've always noted Pecorino Romano and Roquefort and some of these goat milk aged cheeses as the better cheeses.
What is it about Pecorino Romano? Well, for one, it's aged. So you're already kind of breaking down some of the milk solids and you're breaking down some of the proteins and some of the lactose.
But the aging process also makes it easier to get some benefit out of, not to mention it's goat's milk to begin with. So Pecorino Romano is probably, if I had to say, the best cheese that's out there. But now what we're noticing is that Pecorino Romano has a unique kind of fat that is called C15. As a matter of fact, there is a study that was published just this summer in 2024 that identified C15 as the first clinical deficiency in the world in the last 75 years. So we know like vitamin C, we can be deficient in vitamin C and it leads to scurvy, right?
We know that there's deficiencies. This is the first clinical deficiency discovered in a very long time. And it is simply a fat that comes from dairy fat.
But what's interesting is C15 seems to be protective against insulin resistance because it helps provide some stability and rigidity to a cell membrane, thereby preventing what's called ferrooptosis and preventing some of this oxygen. stress that then triggers more of an inflammatory cascade and ultimately insulin resistance. So it's interesting when you look at the rates of insulin resistance and you look at the longevity in the Sardinian people, they are not deficient in C15, whereas much of the Western world is deficient in C15. So eating Pecorino Romano, even though it's a cheese, even though it's a saturated fat, seems to be potentially cardio metabolically protective.
I also put a link down below for a company that makes a C15 for people that don't eat a lot of cheese or people that want to get those C15 levels up. A lot of their research was funded by the United States Navy. They have some really interesting stuff.
It's a company called Fatty 15. I've talked to Dr. Van Watson multiple times, and I've even interviewed her on this channel. She is who really is one of the people that kind of sort of discovering this deficiency in dolphins. But this is something that's been talked about across the literature for a long time.
but only recently has become sort of household information. I put a link down below for you to try fatty 15. If it's something that's of interest to you, I think it's a very important compound. It is a form of saturated fat.
So it's not like we're talking anything really weird here. It's a saturated fat that we would get from good quality cheeses, but the amount of cheese you'd have to eat to get our levels back up, and again, this is a real deficiency, would be a lot of cheese. So that link is down below.
It's a 15% off discount link. Top line of the description underneath this video. I highly encourage you to at least go there and read some of the literature. It's fascinating. Number five, they eat a bunch of chickpeas and fava beans.
Now, there are a lot of cultures that eat chickpeas that aren't exactly the healthiest cultures. Okay, like for example, India has one of the fastest growing rates of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in the world. They consume a fair bit of chickpeas, you know, and they have different dishes.
It depends what region of India, for example. But... In this case, lots of fava beans, lots of chickpeas.
We're talking soluble fibers that clearly have an impact on metabolic health, right? You're slowing down digestion. You're slowing down absorption.
You're also adding prebiotic fibers. So when you start looking at these centenarians across the board, you notice they have not only diverse microbiomes, but very individualized microbiomes that are unique to that person. That sounds like it should be a given. Like everyone has a unique microbiome. But diversity isn't always what we're looking for.
We're looking for uniqueness. Now, when you have a diet that is rich in prebiotic fibers, it's allowing for your own unique microbiome to flourish, right? If I have a great microbiome for Thomas, and I eat things like fava beans and chickpeas, it's going to exacerbate and enhance my own unique, awesome microbiome.
If Bob or Jillian over here have great microbiomes, they want to consume more fiber, so they go in their direction. Feed the stallion, starve the pony. You're growing what is good for you.
Quite interesting when you look that not many regions consume a bunch of these types of beans. Number six is mastic oil. It comes from the mastic tree, and this is almost exclusively unique to Sardinia. You can order it online for sure, but mastic oil has long been associated with longevity in the Sardinian people.
They really do believe that it is one of the most powerful oils that's out there. And when you look at the literature, you see it is extremely anti-inflammatory, very potent antioxidant, and uniquely stable considering the profile of the oil that it is. So it doesn't denature like other oils would.
And considering it has monounsaturated fat properties to it, it's probably quite good for HDL and LDL cholesterol and good for the lipid profile in general. So small amounts of mastic oil, whether for cooking or for drizzling, again, these are unique things to Sardinia, but we could still get them here if we wanted them. Number seven is one that I have mixed feelings on.
It's their unique Cananao wine. And this is one of the, if not the most, antioxidant-rich beverages in the world. Now, it of course has alcohol in it because it is a wine. Considering the healthy lifestyle of the Sardinian people, I think that they could probably afford to have a little bit of wine. But this particular wine is interesting because it's grown at a higher altitude.
At least this is what's speculated. That because of the higher altitude, we're not even talking crazy high altitude, just slightly higher elevation, it increases... the antioxidant profile of the grapes.
Therefore, when it turns into a wine, goes through its fermentation, you preserve some of those antioxidants. So yes, they're drinking wine, but the fact that it is three to even five times more antioxidant rich than some of the most highly antioxidant beverages, let alone wines that we would drink, at least in the United States, they probably are canceling out some of the negative effect. I would imagine that if they could find a way to not have that be alcohol, it would be even more beneficial.
Another thing is their fresh daily sourdough bread. People think, okay, sourdough bread, like that's a refined starch, that's problematic. I view sourdough bread quite different, and I definitely view sourdough bread in regions like Sardinia and the Mediterranean differently.
I already view sourdough and bread in Europe different, let alone in Sardinia. where it's probably much more fresh. They're using like a soft white flour compared to like a hard protein rich sort of gliadin rich wheat that we would use in the US. Harder to break down, harder to digest. Soft white wheat is easier to digest and when you ferment it, it changes the structure of the alpha gliadin and the gamma gliadin which makes it so it's less problematic for celiac, less problematic for...
gluten intolerances. But at the end of the day, you're fermenting something and this is changing the saccharification of the sourdough, of the bread itself, making it so that you don't have as much of a glycemic effect. So it becomes a very, almost a health food and it's fresh.
It's like a real food. Not to mention when you type two ferment sourdough bread, which is the type of fermentation that usually occurs, you're making it more of a resistant starch. So it becomes more like a chickpea where it actually feeds bacteria within your gut in the first place. The last one that I'll mention. is they drink unique tea.
They harvest and they make tea out of milk thistle. If you've been around the block in sort of the fitness and health sphere for a while, you know that milk thistle is supposed to be really good for the liver. It can help potentially, it just helps liver health.
Like if you're dealing with something where you're trying to restore liver function a little bit, milk thistle is often recommended. It's actually a little bit of a stressor that ends up helping the liver out. So milk thistle is quite interesting. So considering that thistle grows in Sardinia and they make milk thistle tea, This is quite a common thing.
Now, I don't have any data to see their liver health, but considering all these other markers, it would make sense that it just fits right in line with their lifestyle. I don't want to put the cart before the horse and say that it's all the food, but their food is unique. Now, the biggest piece though is their lifestyle. So I want to make sure I note that they are happy people.
They're in the sun a lot. They walk a lot. They prioritize and they cherish their family time and their relationships.
But you also have to ask yourself the question, if you feel like garbage from the food that you're eating, would you even want to do those things? So it's a vicious cycle one way or the other. And I think in the case of Sardinia, they feel good.
They have energy. They want to embrace the energetic relationships that they can have. And they're spiritually in tune.
And they're also having mission and purpose within their life for their family and their relationships. And I think that's something we could all take away. But remember, it starts with what's in your body too. I'll see you tomorrow.