Living the Loma Linda Lifestyle

For the last few years, Elder has lived with his wife of 74 years, Mary, at Linda Valley Villa, a 98-unit assisted living facility for seniors. The average age of the residents of the complex is 87 -- a full eight years past the average life expectancy in the United States. It's not uncommon for residents to celebrate their 106th birthdays or still work jobs well into their 90s!


Loma Linda, California is a city where food and faith have worked hand in hand in cracking the code to a long life. Nestled among rugged hills in San Bernardino County, 59 miles east of Los Angeles, is Loma Linda, home to one of the highest concentrations of Seventh-day Adventists in the world. Nearly half of the town's estimated population of over 24,000, identify as followers of the church. It is also America only's designated "Blue Zone."



The Seventh-day Adventists are known as America's "longevity all-stars" and they largely credit their long life spans to their vegetarian diets.




America's overall life expectancy has recently declined thanks to a rising number of fatalities from heart disease, stroke and drug overdoses according to the National Center for Health Statistics, but Adventists continue to live it up. Studies conducted since 1960 have found Adventist men and women live longer than their non-Adventist counterparts and that their vegetarian diets and health conscious philosophy contribute to significantly reduced rates when it comes to heart disease and cancer, the two biggest killers of Americans.

It has been over a decade since Loma Linda received its Blue Zone designation, but the Adventist Health Studies, which began in 1960 at Loma Linda University are still ongoing, attempting to further investigate how the unique dietary habits of the Adventist community contribute to decreased risk of chronic disease.


"We haven't really dug as far as we'd like to in trying to understand what's going on biological in the body," says Fraser, who is leading the current study. "Presumably not all fruits and vegetables are good and not every meat is bad -- we're focusing on looking at individual foods and food groups."

But, it isn't just their diets that help Adventists outlive the rest of the country! "Right now, the focus is on eating and vegetarianism, but the Adventist idea of health goes way beyond that," Gheen says. "We don't smoke, we don't drink, we take time off once a week -- a sabbath -- where people are encouraged not to work, we drink clean water and get plenty of exercise; there are so many different components that go into the full idea of what health really is."


Ester van den Hoven is a testament to that well-roundedness. The 93-year-old exercises three times a week for 60 minutes or more at Loma Linda University's Drayson Center, which offers a variety of wellness classes for seniors. She eats a salad every day and had a few words of advice to dispense before she sat down for her vegetarian lunch at Valley Villa.

"Be optimistic, be outgoing, try to live a stressless life and laugh easily," she says. "Oh, and stay away from the sugar."