Hey, it's Guy here. So did you know that residents of Okinawa, Japan, on average, live longer than

anyone else on this planet, often well into their hundreds? So what's their secret? Well,

it's not just diet or lifestyle, but also how they connect with each other. On this episode,

we explore how we all might live just a little longer and better. It's called the Fountain of Youth

and it originally aired in May of 2015. This is the Ted Radio Hour.

Each week, groundbreaking Ted Talks. Ted. Ted. Technology. Entertainment. Design.

Design. Is that really what's 10 for you? I've never known the delivered at Ted Conferences

around the world. It's the gift of the human imagination. We've had to believe in impossible things.

The true nature of reality beckons from just beyond those talks, those ideas adapted for radio

from NPR. I'm Guy Ross. About a decade ago, writer Dan Buenner went on a quest, a quest for something

as old as human history, the fountain of youth. And after traveling all over the world, researching

people who live longer than anyone on the planet often well into their hundreds, Dan may have found it.

Beans. The cornerstone of every longevity die in the world is beans. Beans. Wow, that's a secret.

I argue that if Americans could eat about a couple of beans a day, we'd see a life expectancy

of our country go up from two to four years. Wow, ounce for ounce as much protein as meat,

full of antioxidants, fiber, and they actually set up your gut flora so that healthy bacteria can thrive

instead of the bacteria that causes inflammation and obesity. Wow, they're amazing. Yeah.

I make a great vegan chili with like five different beans and soy chorizo. It's awesome. I'm

coming over. Yeah, I'm going to make it tonight. Actually, I got navy beans, pinto beans. I got

okay, so to be clear, beans alone won't do much for you, but they happen to be one of the common

things that people in very specific places around the world tend to eat. Places, Dan butiner calls,

blue zones. Okinawa, Japan, the highlands of Sardinia, a small island off the coast of Turkey called

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