Vocabulary

 

reveal	reduce	capture (2)
frisky	so-called	corner (3)
jump	charm	on a mission
join	arguably	disappear
invent	explore	make it (2)
sandy	wildlife	peninsula
defy	residents	remarkable
limit	author	centenarian
bit (2)	cool (2)	supplement (2)
dude	secret	mission (2)
tough	sharp (2)	live up to
charm	count (2)	it turns out
soak	series (2)	staying power
expect	rather	pick up (4)
whole	view (2)	fascinating
ritual	remove	life expectancy
taste	unique	notice (2)
honor	tsunami	my take away (2)
ashes	area (3)	wash down
hull	release	overtake (2)
wood	millennia	cholesterol
risk	heart (2)	heart attack
niacin	pursuit	takes the place of
recipe	tortilla	generation
secret	interact	drive/drove/driven (2)
fries	require	incredible
cents	standard	it turns out
saddle	average	compliment
youth	fountain	find/found/found (2)
statue	vitamin	Fountain of Youth

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Show Host, One: “Let’s talk about the real reason Maria Shriver is here with us. It’s a special series called “Eating to One-Hundred Today”.

Show Host, Two: “She’s revealing the secrets to a long, healthy life from the so-called _Blue Zones,_ five places that are home to the longest-living populations.

Tuesday you took us to Greece; this morning, we’re going to a corner of Costa Rica.

Maria Shriver: “I found a lot of fresh and healthy food and colorful characters, including a frisky, one-hundred-year-old cowboy.”

 

 

Dan Buettner is on a mission: to capture a way of eating that disappearing.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “Arguably the greatest diet invented by humans.”

I’ve joined the National Geographic explorer and author of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, famous for beautiful, sandy beaches and exotic wildlife.

But we’re here to meet some of Nicoya’s most remarkable residents: the humans that seem to defy the limits of age.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “There is only about one in four-thousand people that make it to a hundred in America. In this area it’s one in about two-hundred-and-fifty (250).

We’re going to see a very special centenarian. He doesn’t exercise. He doesn’t take supplements. He drinks a little bit. He loves the ladies.”

Maria Shriver: “Is that him?”
Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “There he is, yeah. He’s a cool dude.”

Maria Shriver: “I’m here to learn all your secrets.”

Meet Jose Bonafacio, one-hundred years old, and still jumping on his horse, every morning.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “He’s one of the great cowboys. Famous for being tough.

If you find a centenarian in America, most of the time they’re never as sharp as he is. He has a certain charm to him.

I asked him how many girlfriends he’s had. He can’t count them all.”

Maria Shriver: “Maybe that’s the secret to being a hundred.”

But it turns out the real reason behind Jose incredible staying power may not be so sexy.

Maria Shriver: “In America, this would be viewer as a rather unhealthy breakfast: rice, beans, tortillas.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “It’s way better for you than you think. It’s a whole corn, that’s been ground up. The average American could eat a couple beans a day, and add four years to their life expectancy. They do it for their entire life.”

A morning ritual that’s washed down with a cup of black coffee.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “Over the centuries and millennia, these people have learned how to make healthy food taste good.

In a nearby town, famous for its tortillas, they’ve built a statue honoring the women who make them.

Dan Buettner: “That’s a thing of beauty.”
Maria Shriver: “This is why she’s famous here?”
Dan Buettner: “Yeah. People come from villages around. She’ll cook a hundred-forty (140) of these a day. And she sells them about fifty cents a piece.

She’s going to take her ashes from the wood, and soak in the corn.”

Maria Shriver: “How can eating ash be good?”

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “They don’t eat the ash. They use the ash to remove the hull of the corn and to release the niacin.

That niacin is a B-vitamin that reduces cholesterol and the risk of heart attacks.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “This takes the place of going to the gym, right here.”

It’s hard work that requires a lot of skill.

It turns out the younger generation isn’t picking this up either.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “Younger women won’t know these recipes. If you’ve noticed, the people we’ve interacted with are sixty, seventy years old.

As you saw this morning, we drove by fast-food restaurants: burgers and fries, and sodas. The diet that got people to live up to a hundred is being completely overtaken by the standard American diet, like a tsunami washing it away.

And I want to capture it before it’s gone.”

A recipe for longevity that’s kept a hundred-year-old cowboy riding tall in the saddle.

Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer: “He says, ‘I’m poor but I have money. I’m sad but I live happily. But in the pursuit of beautiful women, that’s what really kills me.

So it’s basically a big complement. He loves you.”

 

 

Maria Shriver: “Tomorrow, we’re heading to the Blue Zone that’s right here in the United States, Loma Linda, California, where a unique community may have found the Fountain of Youth. And they’re really interesting as well.

Show Host, One: “My take away, beans. A cup of beans. All of the recipes are on today.com, in case you want to clickity-clack.”

Maria Shriver: “Dan Buettner is fascinating: he’s the one that put these recipes together. He’s traveling all over, saying that so many fast food restaurants and processed foods are coming into these areas, these recipes will be lost, and in ten years, there won’t be any Blue Zones any more.

 

 

Questions

Costa Rica. Maria Shriver did a report about Hollywood celebrities. True or false? Are the Blue Zones only in Latin America?

Honduras. Is Dan Buettner a research scientist or university professor?

El Salvador. On average, are Americans the healthiest, longest-lived people in the world?

Nicaragua. Jose’s secret to living to 100 is excellent doctors, clinics, hospitals and medications. Is this right or wrong? Is he retired?

Panama. Do the Nicoyans eat mostly salads, cabbages and oranges?

Guatemala. The tortillas are produced in a large factory. Is this correct or incorrect? Is there a “secret” ingredient in making the tortillas?

Mexico. Does Dan Beutner think the people of the Nicoya Peninsula will continue eating their traditional foods forever?

 

Cuba. Are there regions or places in your country where people live long, healthy lives? Why do they live so long?

Colombia. I know or have known people that lived into their nineties (90s) or hundreds (100s). Yes or no? What were their secrets?

Venezuela. Is health and wellness very popular? Are there many books, TV shows, health experts, health and fitness clubs?

Ecuador. What might happen in the future?

Peru. What should people, society and governments do?