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The Healthiest People on Earth

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You’ve heard it before: A healthful diet rich in plant-based foods can prolong your life. But how much could you really extend your time?

The Adventist enclave in Loma Linda, California, is America’s only “Blue Zone” one of five regions on Earth where people live measurably longer—about 10 years more—than average, as identified by National Geographic–funded research. This Blue Zone status is thanks largely to the foods Loma Linda residents and Adventists choose eat—and the foods they choose not to eat.

Loma Linda was established in 1905 by the Adventist founder and prophet Ellen G. White. Her great-great-grandson, John Howard Weeks, still lives there. He knows firsthand what it’s like to fall into the rut of unhealthy habits—and to relearn how to live and eat in a healthy way. Through the teachings of his family, Weeks was able to conquer his temptations and embrace a healthy way of living. He’ll show you how to do the same, no matter what your personal battle looks like.

In The Healthiest People on Earth, Weeks shares the secrets of how anyone, anywhere, can create a “Blue Zone” of their own and live a longer, healthier life. A lively read full of exclusive family stories, gainful tips and tricks, happy home remedies, and plant-based recipes, this book will be your first step on the journey to a longer, healthier, more fulfilling life.

This is not a book about religion—it is about health and happiness. It is possible to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit. Start by eating like the healthiest people on Earth.

275 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2018

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415 people want to read

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John Howard Weeks

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
2,821 reviews31.9k followers
March 20, 2018
5 long-lived stars to The Healthiest People on Earth!

The Healthiest People on Earth is an engaging read. The author has a fascinating pedigree. His two times great grandmother, Ellen G. White, was a prophet and founder of the Adventist Church. She established Loma Linda in California as a community, which happens to be so healthy to this day that it’s considered the only “Blue Zone” in the United States, meaning a place where people actually are measured to live longer; 10 years longer, in fact.

So just how did Loma Linda become a Blue Zone and why? Ellen G. White was an early proponent of vegetarianism, and while the author makes it clear that he is not discussing theology in the book, a basic tenet of Adventism is a plant-based diet and has been since its inception. That in and of itself is fascinating to me.

The author, John Howard Weeks, has an easy-reading, funny writing style, and I could tell instantly that he’s a journalist. I enjoyed the family stories and home remedies he presented, which were all kinds of tips to help with sleep, cure minor illnesses, and so on.

The recipes presented were the icing on the cake. All plant-based and extremely practical, even though I’ve read and used many plant-based cookbooks, I still found new ideas, including some of Ellen’s favorites from over 100 years ago. Things like how to make a variety of “cheeses” with whole foods, a super easy lentil roast that the author grew up eating, sticky rice with mango, Scottish Oatmeal, and Vegan Penicillin (chicken soup without the chicken).

Essentially, The Healthiest People on Earth is chock-full of the secrets to Loma Linda’s long-lived population of happy, healthy people, and while some of the ideas aren’t unique to the Adventists, it’s inspiring and hopeful to know that if you follow these tenets, you can absolutely live a longer life.

Thank you to John Howard Weeks, BenBella, and Netgalley, for the copy to read and review.
2,821 reviews31.9k followers
March 20, 2018
5 long-lived stars to The Healthiest People on Earth!

The Healthiest People on Earth is an engaging read. The author has a fascinating pedigree. His two times great grandmother, Ellen G. White, was a prophet and founder of the Adventist Church. She established Loma Linda in California as a community, which happens to be so healthy to this day that it’s considered the only “Blue Zone” in the United States, meaning a place where people actually are measured to live longer; 10 years longer, in fact.

So just how did Loma Linda become a Blue Zone and why? Ellen G. White was an early proponent of vegetarianism, and while the author makes it clear that he is not discussing theology in the book, a basic tenet of Adventism is a plant-based diet and has been since its inception. That in and of itself is fascinating to me.

The author, John Howard Weeks, has an easy-reading, funny writing style, and I could tell instantly that he’s a journalist. I enjoyed the family stories and home remedies he presented, which were all kinds of tips to help with sleep, cure minor illnesses, and so on.

The recipes presented were the icing on the cake. All plant-based and extremely practical, even though I’ve read and used many plant-based cookbooks, I still found new ideas, including some of Ellen’s favorites from over 100 years ago. Things like how to make a variety of “cheeses” with whole foods, a super easy lentil roast that the author grew up eating, sticky rice with mango, Scottish Oatmeal, and Vegan Penicillin (chicken soup without the chicken).

Essentially, The Healthiest People on Earth is chock-full of the secrets to Loma Linda’s long-lived population of happy, healthy people, and while some of the ideas aren’t unique to the Adventists, it’s inspiring and hopeful to know that if you follow these tenets, you can absolutely live a longer life.

Thank you to John Howard Weeks, BenBella, and Netgalley, for the copy to read and review.
Profile Image for Deanne Patterson.
2,446 reviews124 followers
April 22, 2018
According to the author, John Howard Weeks, The Adventist enclave in Loma Linda, California, is America’s only “Blue Zone” one of five regions on Earth where people live measurably longer—about 10 years more—than average, as identified by National Geographic–funded research. This Blue Zone status is thanks largely to the foods Loma Linda residents and Adventists choose eat—and the foods they choose not to eat. John Weeks writes a very convincing book that directs us how to relearn to eat the healthy and natural way, getting our bodies back in tune with nature by eating a natural plant based diet. This book is about health and happiness when you're healthier you're going to be happier. Home remedies, and plant-based recipes will put you on the right track to health and happiness. Well written and researched, very informative.
Pub Date 03 Apr 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from BenBella Books through NetGalley . All opinions expressed are my own.





Profile Image for Cathy Geha.
4,374 reviews119 followers
April 2, 2018
The Healthiest People on Earth by John Howard Weeks

When I saw this book as an option up for review I was interested for more than one reason. I grew up in a Seventh-Day Adventist home, went to church, heard the “health message” and attended Loma Linda University nursing school. I have had an interest in nutrition and health throughout my life and weight is something that seems to have crept up on me. When I saw this book it tied in with my interest and playing with the idea of becoming vegetarian or vegan. I dabble but don’t commit and am not sure I ever will. BUT the book…back to the book. I decided to read it to see if there were any new insights, recipes or ideas that might be useful in my own life. What I found was more a telling of the author’s experiences – which I can often relate to – and also what direction he is heading to become a healthier person.

Each chapter of the book has a bit of the history of the church, Loma Linda and the author. The places mentioned are ones I knew well at one time and the memories evoked are many. The recipes at the end of the book are listed in order of the three meals of the day followed by Salads, Snacks and Desserts. The recipes are filled with whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables with a few that are ascribed to as favorites of Ellen G. White, the founder of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

This book will probably appeal to people interested in the author or wanting to read anecdotes of life growing up in the SDA church or those who want to know more about blue zones (though there wasn’t a great deal about that topic in the book) or those looking for some new vegan recipes.

Did I learn anything new? No
Did I find any recipes I would like to try? Perhaps, but there are a number of ingredients I can’t find where I live so perhaps not.
What did I enjoy about the book? Revisiting my past through the words of the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and BenBella Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars
Profile Image for Dianna.
1,962 reviews43 followers
May 27, 2018
The Healthiest People on Earth is a book about the Seventh-Day Adventists' unique health and nutrition habits that have helped them to become one of the healthiest people on earth—and their home, Loma Linda, California, the only Blue Zone in the United States.

This book is written by a descendant of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church's founder Ellen G. White. White advocated for eating less meat, and other healthy habits for eating such as healthy sleep, exercise, and abstinence from tobacco and alcohol.

Author John Howard Weeks promises near the beginning of the book that he will just stick to White's health-related teachings, and skip the religious parts—and he does. However, soon I found myself wishing that he had worried less about sharing religion and more about oversharing about his own personal life. I soon felt as if a perfect stranger was sharing with me too many personal facts: dreams, sex, struggles with alcohol. While these facts might not be out of place in a memoir, I understood this book to be more of an outline of the healthy habits of Seventh-Day Adventists, and I found the constant oversharing of awkward details to be very distracting.

Apart from the personal details, I did enjoy some aspects of the book. I enjoyed learning the health history of the church as well as how it had been implemented in the author's family throughout the subsequent generations. I especially enjoyed learning some of the family remedies and recipes—seeing a whole section of vegan family recipes at the end really warmed my heart, and I found myself wishing I had more vegan recipes in my family recipe collection, as I am the first in my family to switch and have had to start over again from scratch.

Each chapter is on a different subject: dieting, diet, supplements, alcohol, sleep, etc. Each chapter covers the basics—a little from the church's perspective and far too often from the author's own personal opinions and experiences. The end of each chapter features a list of tips that generally reads like a generic online article of "Top Ten Ways to ____." I didn't find a lot of new or unique information in these sections.

All in all, I felt that the interesting and useful information in this book (excluding the recipes) could have filled maybe twenty pages. I wished for more information about the church (yes, religion!) and the author's family, and less generic non-unique information and especially less personal information about the author. I would not recommend this book to my friends.

Content: There are a few lightly off-color groaners sprinkled throughout the book, but for me the dealbreaker was the totally unexpected fictional sex scene between biblical characters, imagined by the author, as well as details about the author's sex life. I felt that these details were unexpected and inappropriate in a nonfiction book about healthy living. Please, sir, keep it to yourself!
Profile Image for Alicia Bayer.
Author 10 books253 followers
June 30, 2018
This was a very strange book for a health book. I actually checked the publication info on this book halfway through it, because I was sure it must be self published (it's not). The book is written by the great, great grandson of the woman who founded the 7th Day Adventist religion, who lives in an area of California known for having some of the healthiest, longest living people in the world.

The book focuses a chapter on each area of living that the author believes will help make you healthier, backed by lots of quotes and teachings by his famous relative (and other relatives) and some science. Some examples of lifestyle changes he espouses are switching to a plant based diet (he promotes veganism, though he almost never uses the word vegan), getting enough sleep, exercising, cutting down on drinking, etc. Other than the vegan diet part, most of it is common sense that most of us probably try to do anyway.

The author's conversational tone was very odd to me for a book that's supposed to be teaching you about health. It came off as a book written by an overly friendly and chatty teenage boy. He is very conversational and shares details of his life and his lifestyle choices throughout the book, like smoking cigarette stubs and drinking spare alcohol at the bottom of bottles he found with a friend during childhood, and how he ate during early adulthood. At times it is definitely oversharing. There is a bizarre sexual fantasy scene about Adam and Eve that made me frankly uncomfortable, and he shares a sort of out-of-body sex dream he had about traveling the world and zebras and such at one point.

The last section of the book is recipes. They are all vegan recipes and I have not tried any of them. Some of them strike me as really strange sounding. His savory dishes involve lots of food combinations I find odd, with lots of peanut butter in them. I enjoy vegan food but I'm not sure I'd enjoy his recipes. He includes recipes for vegan cheeses like ricotta, which I would like to try but have not yet. They are relatively simple with basic ingredients like cashews, vinegar and agar.

It was interesting reading what his ancestor espoused but in the end it was kind of like, "My great, great grandma lived to be 90+ and here's what she used to say." I would have liked to hear more from other people in the region about what they attributed their longevity to (he does say their religion means they eat vegetarian and don't drink or smoke) and more actual research. It's an interesting book, but it comes off a bit as a long opinion piece and memoir rather than a sound scientific book.

I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley for the purpose of review.
Profile Image for debbicat *made of stardust*.
856 reviews127 followers
December 4, 2022
Ack, I see I never reviewed this! Great book and I do follow a plant-based diet. I believe in this lifestyle and have reversed two diseases myself since becoming plant-based in 2017. This is well-written and informative. I can highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy to review.
Profile Image for Dominique .
42 reviews
March 26, 2018
Such an informative book! I could tell that this book has a lot of research behind it and felt it was very well written! I loved the recipes that were included as well.! I highlighted many passages and will definitely go back to those highlights! Thank you for the ARC!
Profile Image for Meghin.
113 reviews2 followers
January 28, 2022
A very easy read with some good points.

If you've read a lot of books about health and blue zones and diets and thought they had too much science or were too complicated, this book will be great. It has a very conversational tone and the points made are pretty basic and easy to digest.

Prepare to be beaten over the head with plant based dieting recommendations. I'm a vegan and even I thought it was a bit much and ham fisted

Skip the chapter on sex, unless you want some brief softcore erotica about Adam and Eve.

Despite the claims that this is not a book about Religion, there is a lot about the Author's founding great great grandmother, his parents, etc. Lots of talk about the church, their documents written for the church, the church's history. Maybe good if you consider that one of the reasons they're the only blue zone in the USA.

I only glanced over the recipes but they did not sound appealing or appetizing after reading the first few. He also lists nuts as protein sources and they are not. They are fat sources with some protein. Do not rely on nuts for protein.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
1,313 reviews126 followers
April 28, 2018
This is really a fascinating read. There was an amazing amount of research that went into it and the author does a great job of presenting it very simply. The author's writing is casual and easy to read and can be pretty funny as well. I really enjoyed the home health remedies and the book includes many really great looking recipes.
602 reviews6 followers
June 25, 2019
I didn't love this book, but I did like it. It's all a bunch of things I agree with and the author has a very different style than me and it was helpful for me to look at it through his style.
Profile Image for Mathew Richards.
151 reviews
June 15, 2023
Written like a newspaper article series, it includes fun stories, inappropriate humor, and both true and false claims. Read with an open mind and a grain (or two) of salt.
Profile Image for Pam.
102 reviews6 followers
June 17, 2018
This was a fun read and it was interesting to learn more about the seventh day adventists. It includes many recipes but no photos which is disappointing. I wouldn’t consider this a “how to” but rather a bunch of anecdotes and facts. I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone but hardcore food history or religion buffs.
Profile Image for Kate.
1,134 reviews45 followers
June 21, 2018
I received a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an intriguing and edifying read. Loma Linda, CA is known as one of the Blue Zones where some study to learn the secrets to health living and longevity. If you have read the Blue Zones book, you may be familiar with this. This novel is in the same vein as that while also feeling a bit like an autobiography in part, as the author dips into his own experience growing up there. I enjoyed the insight and the sound health advice. It was an enjoyable read and even included some recipes that I am excited to try as well. I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in improving your health It is a fun read that will help inspire you to make better food and lifestyle choices.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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