Y THE TIME expert Dan Buettner arrived at the buttoned-down boardroom of THE B the Fort Worth Club in down- town Fort Worth, Texas, in early 2014, the city was suffering the same problems as most major American cities—and then some. Cowtown, U.S.A. (current population pushing 900,000), had earned its nickname MIRACLE by being a stockyard stronghold in the late 1800s, but now its residents just loved beef, often in large portions. Among the top city officials and businessmen who joined him, not everyone appeared all that healthy.

Fort Worth had other problems, too. The Alliance for Biking & Walking ranked it dead last among the country’s 52 most OF populous cities for commuter walking and biking—and even then one in five people killed in traffic accidents was a pedestrian. The body mass index of its residents beat the national averages, with 65 percent of people overweight and 32 percent of that group qualifying as obese. Residents still smoked in restaurants and even parks, which ranked near the bottom third of the Trust for Public Land’s “ParkScore” list. FORT As he stood to address the audience, Buettner, who was then in his mid-50s, looked lean and radiated energy. He’s known as the founder of Blue Zones, a research-project-turned-consultancy-group that, over the past several decades, has been backed by the Society and the National Institute on Aging to trace the lifestyle habits in places where people WORTH live the longest. Buettner formulated the AMERICA’S CITIES ARE MAKING US FAT, Power 9, a set of principles to live by for those of us who want to hit old age in stride. UNHEALTHY, AND ISOLATED. He markets them with cheeky code words around their values, like exercise (Move LONGEVITY EXPERT AND SALESMAN Naturally), outlook (Purpose, Downshift), eating wisely (80% Rule, Plant Slant, Wine DAN BUETTNER THOUGHT HE COULD at 5), and connecting (Right Tribe, Loved Ones First, Belong). FIX THAT. RIGHT IN THE HEART OF TEXAS. Buettner told the group that there was a way to “make the healthy choice the easy By Tom Vanderbilt choice.” But in order to achieve that, the city would need to completely reimagine how its policies, grocery stores, compa-

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nies, and schools might work together to wouldn’t give up sausage, so they asked help change people’s daily routines. local sausage makers to reduce fat by mix- While Buettner spoke, Barclay Ber- ing in a mushroom filler. The key lesson, dan, the CEO of Texas Health Resources, for Buettner, was that it’s hard to change a large nonprofit health-care provider in people’s behavior. Instead, you “change the North Texas, remembers watching the defaults.” Targeting the entire population group grow increasingly restless. “We a little works better than heavily targeting had some folks raise their hands and say, the most at-risk. ‘I’m not going to quit eating red meat,’ ” he All this tracked with his research on Blue says. People in his own organization won- Zones like Okinawa, ; and , dered why THR might want to take this on. . (The others are Nicoya, Costa Rica; “Because if [people] actually get healthier, Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, Califor- they won’t need hospitals.” nia.) “Nobody’s pumping weights or gob- As resistance swelled, so did Buettner’s bling supplements or jumping on the latest sense of urgency: Fort Worth had the keto diet there,” Buettner says. “They’re potential to prove that his theory of well- just living their lives.” ness could help people on a grand scale, It just so happens that these lives play to prove that a major city could transform out in places where it’s easier to eat vege- and buck the modern obesity trend. But tables, fruit, and fish and where walking the city’s sense of rugged independence makes more sense than driving a car. In ran deep. Exasperated, he finally closed the right kind of culture, people don’t his laptop. “You guys are not ready for have to think much about making the this,” he remembers saying. “You should right choices. They’re simply living them. just keep doing what you’re doing.” When it comes to longevity, it’s environ- It drove home the insanity of saying no: ment, vastly more than genes, that deter- Who wouldn’t want not just a longer life but mines outcomes. A famous study of Danish a better life? Except that Dan Buettner’s twins estimated genetics contribute about most ambitious project appeared to be 25 percent to factors of longevity. “One of dying right in front of him. the regulators of the epigenome is a set of UETTNER HAD walked into the In 2014, the city of Fort Worth agreed February to see how things were panning a number of nudge-like changes, such as: genes that sense the environment and then Fort Worth Club on a long shot: to adopt Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones out, I had the sense, early on, of this sort of “Do not offer soda, chocolate milk, or fruit turn on the right genes at the right times,” His Blue Zones CEO, Ben Leedle, principles on a grand scale. That meant subtle manipulation. I parked in a designat- juices as default beverages for children’s B finding subtle ways to gradually shift how ORE THAN a decade ago, with says David Sinclair, Ph.D., a Harvard Uni- had once run Healthways, a company that residents ate, moved, and connected. ed Blue Zones spot intended to encourage meals” and “Offer half-size portions of his book The Blue Zones—a versity genetics professor. In other words, helped employers lower health-insurance walking. It didn’t change the fact that I’d top-selling entrees,” to support customers M study of five places where peo- healthy environments might activate costs through wellness programs. They just traveled down a ten-lane highway lined trying to have a lower caloric intake. ple live longest—a New York Times best more Blue Zones genes. both dreamed of far greater change, so Texas Health, and Bill Thornton, the pres- with neon signs advertising the dual prom- At Los Vaqueros, soft drinks were seller, Dan Buettner found himself mak- Buettner wondered if he could engineer Leedle worked his connection with Texas ident of the Fort Worth Chamber of Com- ise of things like car wash . . . tacos!—the removed from the children’s menu. Salt ing the rounds on television talk shows. his own . In 2009, he convinced Health Resources—a former client—to get merce, leading the charge. They hired 30 car-centric and sedentary ideology a Blue and pepper shakers were taken off the “The greenrooms were full of fad-diet or the city of Albert Lea in to give everyone into the room for the pitch. full-time Blue Zones staffers, many with Zones Project city has to beat. What Fort tables. It started serving one-egg omelets fad-workout authors,” he recalls. He found it a try. His approach was simple: Make Buettner came armed with some data existing ties to community groups, and Worth appeared to need most was a shift in for brunch, and a plate-sharing charge this frustrating, having just spent a good changes to people’s surroundings. Offer that got their attention. Gallup had recruited hundreds of volunteers to serve its food, exercise, and public spirit. was dropped. Cisneros still laughs about chunk of National Geographic Society a “menu” of some 30 evidence-based crunched the numbers and ranked Fort on committees meant to reimagine how how people reacted. money trying to construct a scientifically policy initiatives. Hit people where they Worth near the bottom—185th out of 191 people “live, work, play, or pray.” On the day of the new-menu launch, a backed theory of wellness. spend most of their time, like at work or metro areas—on the Gallup Community Several major companies agreed to help ATING A LITTLE LESS and adding crew of large men came in and sat down to Buettner wanted to dig deeper. He won- school. And make it all voluntary. “As Well-Being Index, a national survey that fund the effort. The key, Price says, was not more vegetables to your diet sounds order, but the hostess forgot to give them dered if there were unhealthy places in soon as you start telling people what to asks residents to rate factors essential to make the program appear to be some E easy. But I was barely into the chips anything other than the Blue Zones break- the world that had been transformed. He do, they say, ‘You’re treading on our free- to overall well-being: purpose, social, top-down limitation of people’s choices. and salsa at Los Vaqueros, a popular Tex- fast menu. Rather than question it, they all discovered one compelling case abroad: dom,’ ” he says. financial, community, and physical. Give “We would just make gentle nudges,” she Mex restaurant in Fort Worth’s historic got fruit and smaller omelets. The sales of In 1972, North Karelia, a rural region in The five-year program was a success. him five years, he said, and if you don’t says, in a nod to the theory of libertarian Stockyards neighborhood, when I realized Blue Zones items increased over the first eastern , had the highest heart- Residents lost weight and saw an uptick see improvement on those metrics, he’d paternalism espoused by Cass Sunstein, that I was going to have trouble abiding by year and have kept climbing. attack rate in the world. The country tasked in life expectancy; health improvements refund a fair amount of his consulting fee. J.D., and Richard Thaler, Ph.D., in their one of the pillars of Blue Zones’ research: One of the classic nudge approaches is Pekka Puska, M.D., Ph.D., an intrepid among city and school employees, mean- (Although he won’t disclose what he makes influential book Nudge, the gist of which Hara hachi bu, an Okinawan principle to to change the way food is presented—put health researcher, with improving people’s while, resulted in reduced health-care per city, it’s obviously substantial.) might be: Get people to make better choic- eat only to 80 percent satiety. the healthy stuff up front, make the less health. But the traditional health-educa- costs. Soon Buettner was getting requests Mayor Betsy Price, who at age 70 is still es without restricting their freedom. Los Vaqueros is a Fort Worth institu- healthy stuff harder to reach. As the project tion and weight-loss challenges failed. from other places. a platinum blonde and favors leopard-spot Buettner’s biggest gamble was that he tion, and it often does several thousand has expanded, many businesses have got- Karelians were still frying their cheese He’d found a second act that jibed with high heels with her power suits, broke the didn’t need to reach everyone all at once meals a night. In August 2015, co-own- ten onboard with that. In late 2017, Darin in butter. So Dr. Puska tapped scientists his own lessons about building a stronger silence in the room. “I think we ought to to make change happen. He planned to er Vicki Cisneros debuted the new Blue McBryde, the district general manager of to cultivate a new variety of canola oil that community and having purpose. There give Dan a chance,” she said. After months recruit just 15 percent of the city’s popula- Zones menu, with only about 5 percent Canteen, a national vending-machine com- would grow regionally. His team convinced was just no proof that any of it could be of planning, the project kicked off in Feb- tion to nudge things in a better direction. of the items specially marked. Gaining pany, worked with Blue Zones and Lock-

dairy farmers to plant berries; Karelians transformative on a larger scale. ruary 2015 with Mayor Price, Berdan at Linsmier (Buettner) Edward spread: Previous (swing). McLain David (yoga). Worth Fort Project Blue Zones Courtesy (cityscape). IOFOTO/Alamy When I arrived in Fort Worth this past Blue Zones certification involves making heed Martin—a major area employer—to

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put healthier options at eye level and adjust erished Stop Six neighborhood, decided to In late 2017, she convinced the local the ideas to their parents. The number of prices so sparkling water was cheaper than start carrying fresh fruits and vegetables youth sports association to adopt the idea companies participating then quadrupled. I FOUND THESE SMALL sugary sodas. Sales of healthier options after being approached by the Blue Zones and share it with its teams. A year later, By 2018, close to 60,000 people had signed doubled in blue-collar locations. Project team, which was trying to find she persuaded a community center to do the Blue Zones pledge (which exhorts that CHANGES SCATTERED Tinkering with vending machines hard- healthier after-school snacks for kids. the same thing. When I met Martinez adopting a dog may help you stay active). ly seems the stuff of social change. But Neighborhood high school art students there, we watched a group of older resi- And there have been more changes made Buettner says it’s the little things that mat- painted a mural with images of fresh fruit dents holding their daily moai, a sort of around town, even if big hurdles are clearly OVER FORT WORTH—LESS ter. “So as people mindlessly move through on the side of his building, and locals now walking support group that’s a staple of still ahead. their day, they make incrementally better walk there for lettuce, bell peppers, car- life among older Okinawans. The city has continually improved its A SILVER BULLET‚ AS decisions,” he says. “When you add those all rots, and onions. At the same time, Blue It’s one of numerous moais that have Trinity Trail system—when I met the may- up during the day, they make a difference.” Zones sponsored healthy-cooking demos sprung up in Fort Worth—Blue Zones or there, her cowboy-booted security detail BUETTNER TOLD ME‚ I found these small changes scattered around the city—eventually drawing more says some 1,500 people eventually signed shouted, “Bike!” with each passing cyclist— over Fort Worth—less a silver bullet, as than 16,000 participants. up—and includes both aging women with but it still doesn’t have a great overall walk- THAN “SILVER BUCKSHOT.” Buettner told me, than “silver buckshot.” At Many of these people also backed Blue Fitbits tucked into their sneakers and ability score. Outside the Applied Learning Central Market, a grocery chain, Blue Zones Zones–proposed changes to city ordinanc- older men who still favor flannels and Academy, a Blue Zones Project–approved signs peeped from displays of healthy ingre- es, so mobile vendors could sell fresh fruit broad-brimmed cowboy hats. Some moais school, I was shown a marked crosswalk In Diamond Hill, Martinez and her troop ties—and implementing “active transpor- dients and even Sardinian wine. A Blue and not just chips and candy, and urban encourage the elderly and parents to walk that had been revamped so that the run- of active parents started thinking about tation plans” to reduce car use were once Zones checkout lane featured smart grab- farmers might be able to grow and sell kids to school for a win-win. ning club could use an adjacent park for how to help the rest of the community. That political nonstarters but now have gained and-go snacks, especially at kid height. more food inside city limits. The demand Personal transformations take time, but running. Before that, a teacher told me, included being part of a pilot program that traction. “We’re having conversations we Stuart Lane, the store’s director of per- for healthier options was there, even if, they’re happening. At Mother Parkers, a “we were playing Frogger.” But the cross- brought a mobile fruit cart to practices and never could have had before about health ishables, walked me through the aisles. “I halfway through the project, they were not tea and coffee company, for instance, work- walk stretched across what was essential- games, something they could do because and wellness,” says Matt Dufrene, a vice was one of those can’t-eat-a-meal-without- always readily accessible. ers were encouraged to stretch together ly a high-speed six-lane highway. It still it was now legal. They introduced the pro- president at Texas Health. As of this past an-animal-on-the-plate kind of guys,” he before shifts, have standing meetings, and seemed pretty Frogger. gram to the high school football team, and, March, a total of 143 employers, 47 schools, told me. But today he’s looking more trim. use those designated Blue Zones parking in 2018, the team just so happened to snap 66 restaurants, 20 groceries, and 59 neigh- “I switched to a vegetarian diet and stuck TAYING ACTIVE also sounds spots. Michael Edwards, a former Division a 77-game losing streak. A year later, it won borhood or community groups in Fort with it. It’s changed my life for the better, easy. But when Roxanne Mar- I basketball player, eventually shed nearly ORT WORTH isn’t going to trans- its first district game in more than a decade. Worth are Blue Zones participants. The and so I do nothing but talk about it.” S tinez, a mother and neigh- 30 pounds of postcollege weight. “It’s all a form into a Sardinian village The most obvious sign of new progress Blue Zones team estimates it has nudged Central Market started making changes borhood activist, attended her son’s mind-set,” he says in a promotional video F where people walk across fields to is Opal’s Farm, a furrowed five-acre field more than 91,000 people. in 2015, and the effort spread to an entire youth football practices in the Dia- Blue Zones released in 2019. “Honestly, I sip wine and eat bitter greens with their that runs along the eastern bank of the From its near-bottom position on the chain of local Albertsons stores. That mond Hill neighborhood in the fall of feel a lot better. I wake up in the morning octogenarian friends. But if you nudge Trinity River and is surrounded by several Gallup index, in 2018 Fort Worth’s scores doesn’t solve the issue of neighborhoods 2016, she saw many parents lounging ready to go. I feel like a person who has people in enough new ways, the momen- major highways. It’s named for Opal Lee, a placed it at 31 out of 157 U.S. cities. The where these chains don’t have stores. But in camp chairs. She encouraged every- purpose in life.” At city hall, the mayor tum can be surprising. celebrated local community activist in her Gallup result was striking for several rea- in 2018, Sam Moulegiet, who owns Ramey one to sign a Blue Zones pledge to walk now holds walking meetings, and one city After the Ramey Market got a face-lift, it 90s, who recognized that the nearby United sons. The rest of the U. S. was trending Market, a bodega in the historically impov- together each Wednesday. “I was sur- employee has lost more than 100 pounds. became clear that nearby residents would Riverside neighborhood was not only a food downward in well-being during this time. prised by the number of parents who got The Blue Zones wave rolled out slowly: walk to get fresh food. Then Blue Zones– desert but that people would happily work And some of the biggest improvements up out of their chairs,” she says. “And it In 2015, only 14 work sites participated. A affiliated community advocates encour- to change that. came in geographic sectors like East Staying in the Zone: From left, mayor just grew from there.” Once they start- year later, once Blue Zones had negotiat- aged the city to convert Bunche Park—an Situated on previously unused Water Dis- Southeast, which includes neighborhoods Betsy Price, farmer Gregory Joel, and activist Roxanne Martinez (wearing back- ed connecting more, some people began ed how to add healthier food and exercise unused plot of land nearby—into another trict land, the farm grows everything from like Stop Six, previously shown to have the pack) all found new ways to nudge Fort running together on other days; some into schools, whole school districts start- spot to relax, complete with a playground, green beans to watermelons. “I’m still pull- greatest disparities in well-being.

Worth toward better health. joined fitness boot camps. ed joining, with students introducing (Martinez). McLain (Joel). David James Wolfe (Price). Rogers Truitt picnic tables, and walking trails. ing turnips,” said Gregory Joel, the burly, For every dollar Fort Worth spent on gray-haired farm manager, on the day I these programs, Blue Zones estimates visited. Last year, the farm produced more the city gained five back in measures like than 4,500 pounds of food, part of which is reduced health-care claims and increased donated to food banks while the majority productivity. (For proprietary reasons, gets sold at farmers markets (where more Buettner declined to give exact figures.) Blue Zones converts tend to gather) and at No other well-being initiative of its size a reduced cost in nearby neighborhoods “guarantees the return,” says Leedle. (where people need it the most). Next up, Buettner is thinking even big- This year, the farm expects to quadruple ger: He’s trying to Blue Zone the entire state its harvest thanks to new grants for seed, of Hawaii. (Native Hawaiians, in particu- compost, and supplies that the Blue Zones lar, have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and team helped secure. But it’s also given asthma, and increasing concerns about volunteers of all ages an outlet for activi- access to mental-health care.) Buettner is ty and a larger sense of purpose—things nearly 60 but figures he has plenty of time that align with Power 9 mantras like Right to keep pushing. Wherever you’re living, he Tribe and Belong. hopes one day you’ll feel the same way, too. Fort Worth finally passed a strong smok- ing ordinance that goes much further than tom vanderbilt is the author of the best- other cities’ and covers vaping. But people seller Traffic. His next book, Beginners: The are thinking bigger now. Concepts like Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong “Vision Zero”—eliminating traffic fatali- Learning, comes out in January.

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