Georgios and Eleni Karimalis will travel to Traverse City from Ikaria, Greece—renowned for the longevity of its people—to present at Groundwork’s upcoming event Living the Blue Zone Life, October 21 & 22. On the 21st, Georgios will present in-person in the Alluvion theater and also online, and on the 22nd, Eleni will join Georgios to conduct a cooking class in the Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen. To register, sign up here! 

We spoke with Georgios to get a sense for what he’s hoping to achieve during the October gatherings.

Groundwork: We’re excited to be hosting you and Eleni in Traverse City, Georgios. Thank you so much for visiting to share your message about lessons of longevity and the Blue Zone way of life. Can you begin by giving us an overview of what you intend to cover at the event?

Georgios: My lecture will have to do with the lifestyle of longevity. As I am a resident of the Blue Zone of Ikaria, whatever I am going to say will have to do with the centenarians and the potential centenarians of this place. What makes them live long lives, staying healthy and active. This is what I do when I lecture in universities and in conferences. I will also add a paragraph with some insights in regards to your intention to turn a certain part of the population in Traverse City to a Blue Zone..

So I am going to say a few ideas about the frame, the roadmap, and the organizational form needed to make this happen. Creating a new Blue Zone is a long term project. It’s not something that has to do with one year or two years. It is a major plan, which will be unique for the whole world, because nothing like this has been attempted before. It needs many people to sit and finish this planning. I can give you ideas but this will be just the beginning.

Groundwork: How did your work begin in this area of longevity?
Georgios: I became interested in the lives of the centenarians of my community and was curious to learn more on how they remain so healthy when they get so old. Whatever I did was primarily for myself. I decided to make them the subject of a survey that I started in order to understand in depth how this is happening.

It is correct that people who exceed 100 are not so active anymore, though they don’t have signs of chronic disease. They can still help themselves and look after their home.

So although the survey began with people over the age of 100 years old, soon after I focused more on people who were close to being centenarians, and at the same time they were still very active.

Groundwork: Tell us about how you gathered your information.
Georgios: My survey was not done with a classical scientific format. My survey was more humble as I chose to come close to them as a friend. As a volunteer who is there to help and not waste their time.

This made them feel very comfortable and told me more about their lives and the lives of their ancestors. It was an approach from close, to live with them, work with them, and learn from them.

Just asking and waiting for answers does not work well. What works well is to live with them and wait for an experience to come. Out of nowhere they tell you a story from which you can come to amazing conclusions.

Groundwork: How did all of those stories come together into your study findings?
Georgios: As the survey was progressing, I found areas that were bridging common experiences and common ways of life. So at the end, no matter if each of them had a different way, it was very clear that there were lots of things they were doing in a similar way. The way to produce their foods, the kind of diet they had, the way to rest, the way to cook, the kind of movement they were practicing.

I came to the conclusion that whatever they were doing was resulting in four units of actions and functions that were practiced throughout the 24 hours of their daily life. I named these units Lifestyle Protocols. What is interesting here is that no matter what kind of lifestyle you have, you are always practicing these protocols on a daily basis. So what makes the difference between various kinds of lifestyles is the way people are practicing them daily and especially the way they are daily passing from one protocol to another.

My work resulted in a new methodology. In other words, a systematized tool that will help you understand the importance of each fact of daily life. Without doing this, you’re missing the whole game.

Groundwork: What portions of your research will you present in Traverse City?
Georgios: From my end I will do my best for the people who will come to this lecture to understand what makes people live long lives and how the protocols of a Longevity Lifestyle work. After all, lifestyle is what we are doing throughout the 24 hours of our daily lives, every single minute matters.

Groundwork: Some health leaders in the Traverse City region feel we have the components needed to create a Blue Zone region here if we get intentional about it and work hard. How will you be addressing that idea?
Georgios: It all sounds very promising. I’m guessing we will have time to talk about it. The existing Blue Zones flow from a tradition that comes from centuries ago. People there are doing things that they might not know what they really are, as it is just the lifestyle they have inherited from their ancestors. In the case of a long-term project to become a Blue Zone, a well-planned organizational platform is needed in order to provide people the proper education, the proper training, and the necessary follow up. Keeping data will be essential in order to know how things are progressing. Creating a new Blue Zone is not something easy, as the final proof will be measured with the numbers of centenarians you will have, although it is something very promising, and I think many people will be wishing to be involved.