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May 19, 2025 39 mins
In this inspiring episode of Covering Your Health with Evelyn Erives, presented by IEHP, we’re joined by Erin Edwards, Executive Director of The Blue Zones Project in Riverside. Erin shares her passion and leadership in bringing the Blue Zones philosophy to life right here in the Inland Empire.  

We dive into the origins and impact of the Blue Zones concept—regions around the world where people live longer, healthier lives—and explore how communities like Loma Linda have become shining examples of this lifestyle in action. Erin discusses how The Blue Zones Project is shaping the future of wellness in Riverside and beyond, with exciting new initiatives aimed at transforming neighborhoods into thriving, health-focused environments.  

Tune in to learn how small changes can lead to big results, and what’s in store for neighboring communities as this global movement continues to grow locally.  

For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org or (800) 440-IEHP.

Learn more about The Blue Zones Project Riverside  and follow them on Instagram @bzpriverisde

Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, Welcome back to another episode of Covering Your
Health with evlinar Reviz, presented by IEHP. If you're new
to the show, I really think you're gonna love it
well today because today we are talking about something a
little blue, but in a good way. This episode is
all about those blue zones, particularly what they are, how

(00:25):
communities like Lomlnda are thriving under this concept, and what's
in store for neighboring communities within the region, with organizations
like the Blue Zones Project in Riverside launching new initiatives
and support of creating healthy cities across the globe. How
cool is that the Blue Zones Project in Riverside is
launching right here in the Inland Empire. I'm so excited

(00:47):
about this. The blue zone story really stretches back to
two thousand and four when National Geographic, the National Institute
on Aging, and the world's best longevity researchers got together
to identify pockets across the globe where people lived quote
measurably better and longer lives. Their research took them really everywhere,
from right here in the Inland Empire studying the Seventh

(01:10):
Day adventis of Loma Linda to Oka Knowledge Japan. Their
work has been featured in publications across the world, including
the twenty twenty three Netflix documentary You May Have Seen
Lived to one hundred Secrets of the Blue Zones. Today
we are joined by Aaron Edwards. She's the executive director

(01:31):
of the Blue Zones Project in Riverside. To dive into
this really exciting and informative topic. By laying it all
out there, we are grilling her again in a good
way about all things Blue Zones and her role with
shaping the growth of this concept and her work in
and out of the office. Let's get started.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Welcome to Covering Your Health, a wellness podcast dedicated to
covering all areas of living a health and happy lifestyle,
from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and everything in between.
Each episode will provide you with a better understanding of
managing your health, preventative care, and staying on the right
path for your family's wellness journey. The Covering Your Health

(02:15):
podcast is presented by i EhP. Now your host Evelina Revez.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
All right, well, let's get started.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Welcome Aaron, Hello, Hello, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh, I'm so excited to have you know, before we
get into all things Blue Zones, we always like to
kick off the episodes with a little bit more of
like a get to know our guests. I want to
know about you. In addition to your work with the
Blue Zones Project, you have nearly two decades of experience
in policy and philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, plus your own

(02:50):
mom of two young kids. Tell me all about about you.
How do you balance it all and how did this
come to be your work here?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Well, I got my start in my professional life in
front of a high school classroom. I was doing an
America program where I served two years and was helping
young people who were first generation college students apply for
and get into college. And from that time of doing

(03:17):
direct service, then went on to wear many hats as
you mentioned, working in communications, in finding the money and fundraising,
in distributing the money, in philanthropy, and it always just
came down to really being in awe of people in
their communities, looking for solutions to the problems that they face,

(03:42):
and often having the best ideas for the problems that
they face. I was working for a global women's fund
when I moved to Riverside, where we made grants to
grassroots women's rights organizations around the world, and then became
inspired locally to take a look at my own backyard

(04:04):
and to see how I could support best my own community.
And from there was just so inspired to run for
office in the city of Riverside, and so I did
and was able to serve a term as a council
member in Ward one in Riverside, which is the downtown

(04:25):
and surrounding neighborhoods, and just felt even more strongly that
my role is in community and connecting dots, bringing people together,
and I'm thrilled to be here now at Blue Zones
Project Riverside.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Did you ever think that you'd be running for office
when you were a little girl? Did you ever think
that would be ever?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Never? I thought I thought I'd be a writer, and
I still love writing. But I was an avid reader
and writer as a young person. I grew up in
rural Illinois, in the middle of the cornfields, and it
was the very tight knit community, and I would spend
the summers just outside reading and writing. And I still use,

(05:10):
of course writing in my work and the ability to
analyze and think about big ideas, which is of course
what it all prepared me for but I never thought
that I would run for office or even that I
had the skills to do so. But when you're doing
things for the right reasons and you just want to
help your community, things naturally fall into place.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Don't they. Isn't that amazing how that works out? And
then you find like you're calling and you understand, Wait,
I do deserve to be here. I know I can
be here.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
I know I can do this absolutely. You know, they
say that it takes seven times of asking a woman
to run for office before she does, because especially for
women in our first thought is what me, No, I
could never do that. But then you've come to realize, Wait,
the perfect people to be in elected official are the

(06:01):
people who understand their communities, who have a perspective that
needs to be shared, and who have a willingness to
roll up their sleeves. And if that's you, why not you?

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, yeah, you're right. And you know what's funny is
I think with a lot of us, especially with like politics,
when you think about that, it kind of has like
a dirty connotation now because everyone thinks of it in
a weird way, But realistically, on the grassroots efforts, you know,
like in a city base you can do so much good.

(06:32):
You really can by getting involved in the political system.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Absolutely, I often say, engaging in the boring things, not
just the hot button issues, but how does the city budget,
where is the money going? And thinking about housing projects
and land use from the very very beginning to make
sure that by the time they reach the finish line,
they're the right projects and the right investments for our

(07:00):
local area. That's the stuff that I love and that
can engage the whole community and should at the local
level especially. It's not about your political party, It's about
your love and engagement in your city.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, and I'm sure that that resonates with your with
your kids and your partner Leze, how do they help
you throughout this whole thing.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, certainly being a parent with more than full time
job is not easy. But also being a parent with
a more than full time job is what makes me
good at my full time job because I know what
it feels like when your child gets sick and suddenly

(07:49):
you don't have daycaring. You need to make it work.
I know what it feels like when your daughter can't
breathe because of poor air quality and you're looking for
better solutions, And that's the introduction to good policy, is
thinking about what what is your experience and what do
you want to see change, not just for the people

(08:09):
you love, but for the whole community. So my family's
been really supportive. And I've always said I don't believe
in a work life balance because I think if that's
what we're chasing, it's absolutely impossible. But I really believe
in work life integration and thinking about how we take

(08:32):
what we do in our professional lives and how it's
fueled by our own experiences as a partner, as a parent,
as a daughter, as a friend, and how we can
continue to be better in all realms of our lives
because of all of the identities we have, not despite them.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, absolutely, I love that. I love how you put that.
So your work with the Blue Zones projects of it
obviously complements your resume. But what was it about this
initiative that really kind of peaked your interest from the
very get go?

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Well, almost three years ago now, Riverside Public Health Department
was looking for a model to help address upstream health concerns.
So I think often of the Desmond too too quote
you can keep pulling people out of the river. But
at a certain point you have to look up stream
and say, why are all these people falling in the river?

(09:29):
And Riverside County has the wonderful and audacious goal of
being the healthiest county in the nation, and they wanted
a model to help support that work and that vision,
and they came across Blue Zones. And I think many
people have heard of Blue Zones from the Netflix documentary,
which is wonderful and I do recommend it, and that

(09:52):
documentary explores five original Blue Zones around the world where
in nineteen ninety nine, national geographic and researcher Dan Butner
went out to understand what's happening in these pockets of
the world where people are living not just longer, but

(10:12):
healthier lives. And then in meeting people in person and
understanding their insight and their day to day routines blue
Zones realized it's not rocket science what people are doing,
but there are nine qualities that in these five areas

(10:33):
are similar, even though they have different cultures, religions, geographies, languages,
and today we call those the Power nine, which is
really how you move your body, what you put in
your body, how you destress, and I think the key
is how you connect to your sense of purpose and

(10:53):
to your neighbor And the Blue Zones Community Transformation Project
is the American story of Blue Zones. It's saying, if
we know what those nine qualities are, there's no reason
that we can't create blue zones across the United States,
and Riverside County everywhere, and Riverside County Public Health and
the City of Riverside, and our sponsors for the project IHP,

(11:17):
the IHP Foundation, Molina Kaiser Eisenhower help. We're also inspired
by this thought that Riverside and other cities in Riverside
County could become Blue Zones Project communities. And for me
to your question about what inspired needs to get engaged

(11:37):
in this work, when I first heard about it as
a council member, I thought, this is really it. This
is the missing because as a council member and a
bit of a policy wont I care a lot about
policies in our city. But we could put forward beautiful
policies all day long and they wouldn't have the impact

(11:59):
that we create if people in the city remain isolated
and lonely and sad, which is especially in a COVID
and post COVID moment what I was observing. So when
I heard about this Blue Zones model and this initiative,
thanks to our sponsors, to be able to address how

(12:19):
community connection and engagement and knowing your neighbor and having
your purpose, how that is also health and wellness, I thought,
sign me up. I want to be a part of that.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, I love I love that. That is such a
key element because you always think about well, I got
to eat better, I need to move more, but you
forget almost No, I need to have that connection too.
That is so important for people to have longer lives.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
That's right. You could go to the gym every single
day and your body might be physically healthy, but if
you're not connecting with family and friends, you can't expect
to have the full wellness that you could. And so
for me, I think that's such a powerful piece of

(13:08):
this model.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah. How long does it take for programs like the
Blue Zones Project to really get off the ground. I
know this is sort of in its beginning phase, but
how long do you think it's going to fully take?

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well? A Blue Zones project where we work towards certification
as a Blue Zones project community in Riverside takes five
years some projects. There are other Riverside County cities who
are going through the same process. Their project is three
years because they're smaller cities, but ours it's five, which
really allows us to dig into We call them three pillars.

(13:44):
The first is people. They'll start with P, which makes
it easy to understand or easy to remember the people pillars. So,
what small individual changes can we all make in our lives?
Can we join a walking group? Can we attend a
purpose workshop? Or or learn how to cook our favorite
foods that our family loves every time we get together,

(14:06):
but do them just a little bit healthier. But we
also know that all of us maybe you've experienced this too,
I certainly have. We try to make little individual changes
and sometimes they stick, and sometimes they don't. It's really
hard to create a new habit and a behavior and
keep it for the long term. So Blue Zones recognizes

(14:28):
that we really need to change the environment that we
live in in addition to our personal habits and behaviors
if we really want to see community health and so
in order to make the healthy choice, the easy and
unavoidable choice, we work in policy that's the second pillar.

(14:49):
That's the second pe where we're thinking about our built environments.
For example, do you have sidewalks in your neighborhood for
your walking group? Do you have housing that is affordable
for your most vulnerable residents? Are there places where people
can gather outside of work and outside of your house

(15:10):
to meet and connect. We look at our food system.
Do we have access to healthy, vocal food in our schools,
in our workplaces? And then we look at alcohol and
tobacco policy, because we know that one of the best
ways to improve health outcomes in a community is to
make sure that they're not abusing alcohol and also that

(15:34):
they never start smoking, because smoking is so detrimental to
one's health. And then that third piece, which is so
critical to the model, is saying, well, we can change
the environment, and we can all make individual modifications to
our behaviors, but if we ignore that eight our whole

(15:55):
in the middle of the day, when we're all going
to work or going to school, how could we possibly
be healthy. Like I was talking about earlier, with work
life integration, we don't just turn off. Our humanity doesn't
turn off when we go to work.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
And it's because that would be really messed up.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
That's right. So we need to make sure that we're
thinking about our work sites, our restaurants, our grocery stores,
and our schools where our youngest people and the folks
that we entrust to care for them are all day long.
And so the Blue Zones model works to create a

(16:34):
Blue Zone approved restaurant where you know you can go
in and find some vegetable forward dishes, or a Blue
Zone's approved grocery store that will highlight fresh produce and
local great recipes, or a Blue Zones work site where
you know that you'll be encouraged to take a lunch break,

(16:55):
maybe get some steps outside, or connect with a coworker.
And then of course Blue Zones approved schools where our
young people will be able to have natural movement outside
of recess or healthy options in their cafeteria. And when
we do all of these things together, that is how
we start to see community transformation, which has been done

(17:19):
in over seventy cities in the US now and I'm
just so excited to see it unfold in Riverside.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yes, yes, I love all of this. It's so exciting.
I know, it's so exciting. It is really exciting. Because
it's it does sound it is a big task, and
I do love that you're giving it the five years,
like it's going to take us this much time to
really implement what we're trying to do. We are a
big area. Can you give me a little example maybe

(17:45):
of what work you're doing right now in Riverside to
inform the communities about the work you're doing beside being
on the podcast today?

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Obviously yes, of course, So I mentioned it's a five
year project in the city of Riverside, but even building
up to the five years, we've been in a nine
month building period. That's our foundation period where we've been
establishing steering committees and working groups, where we've been hiring
a team. So there are ten of us in our

(18:15):
office that across those three pillars, people, policy, and places
will be able to really dig into the city and
support those who have been doing this work and who
want to do more of this work, to do it
bigger and bolder. Over the five years, we found an
office which is housed in downtown Riverside, and what we're

(18:36):
hoping will be gathering and convening space for people who
are doing work that's aligned with our purpose and mission.
And all of this has also been working toward our
strategy document, which of course we call a blueprint because
we're blue zones. But this blueprint, you know, the blue

(18:57):
Zone community transformation work. It is warm and fuzzy, it
feels good, it's exciting and important to do it, but
it isn't just warm and fuzzy. It's also tracked by data,
which I think is one of the reasons that the
sponsors were attracted to this model, because we're using the

(19:18):
gallop Pool Well Being Index that every year we'll do
a random sample of our community to make sure that
we're actually doing the job we said that we would do,
and so we're accountable every year to making sure that
we're certifying our city by approving restaurants and schools and
grocery stores and work sites that we're reaching by the

(19:41):
end of the project, fifteen percent of the Riverside City population,
which is forty thousand people, directly with our work, and
that we are passing and implementing thirty specific policies that
have been identified already in the last nine months by
our community and local experts. So we've been doing the

(20:03):
work to really understand over the last nine months what
change do we crave, what do we want to see,
what work is already happening, and how can Blue Zone
take this five year project to accelerate that work at
the ground level. And we'll be launching the whole project

(20:23):
on May seventeenth at our big community kickoff festival out
at the Riverside Airport where we're hoping that thousands of
people will come, and that's our first moment to really
engage with community members to tell them what a Blue
Zones project is and the work that we're excited to
do with and alongside them over the next five years.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah. Oh, that's going to be a great event. I
know that this actual episode is going to come out
a little bit after that event takes place, so I'm
hoping that it goes extremely well. But for those who
you know, may have missed it. Yeah, for those who
may have missed, let's talk a little bit about maybe
some of the things that you would have done at
that event that they may have missed. So little changes

(21:08):
make a very big difference, right, So where do you
start and how can people implement these practices into their
lives now, like starting today?

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well, I love that you highlighted this idea of small changes,
because it really is the best way to start and
accelerate big transformation. So if folks had come to the event,
they would have noticed we had story time from the library. Now,
would you think of storytime as being something you do

(21:38):
for your health?

Speaker 1 (21:39):
I guess maybe not not initially.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, but not initially, But it is because it's getting
you in a space, getting young people in a positive
space with other young people, with their peers, and a
supportive adult that's teaching them a skill. It's something that
happens at our Riverside Public Library every single week at
the same time, where not only kids but parents can

(22:05):
meet and connect. That's health and wellness. So we're having
a story time at our event to highlight how listening
to a story with friends is investing in your health.
We have an instrument petting Zoo from the Riverside Arts Academy,
which gives an opportunity for people young and old alike

(22:26):
to try a new instrument because music is also healthcare.
It's a deef stressor, and we know that if we
are less stressed, if we can find a way to
manage stress better in our lives, we could live up
to twelve years longer. It's really extraordinary when we look

(22:48):
at the research that's been done on the impact of
stress in our lives. We are starting our event with
a big community walk that will be led by the
North High School Marching band, and we're excited about this.
But for those who missed the big walk in, there
are community walks and community runs throughout the year that

(23:10):
people can sign up for. And it's not just about
being really fast getting your best time at the event,
but thinking about how do you train for it. If
you're doing the mission in run in the fall, why
not start now. Get a few people together, start a
walking or jogging group meet once a week to not

(23:32):
only train for the event, but and this is the
most important part in my opinion, if you and I
are in the group together and one week you don't come,
then I pick up the phone and I say, Evelyn,
well were you I missed you? And then you know
that you're connected and you're part of my community, and

(23:53):
it inspires you to want to keep coming back and
working toward that goal. So that's something that any of
us can do. We're having gardening workshops at the events
where we'll have succulents that people can plant in little
pots because gardening is a downshifting activity. It's a way
to be stress and also to beautify the city and

(24:15):
create pride in our homes, in our yards, in the
place that we live. So that's an important activity that
anyone can start anytime, even if you don't have a yard,
just a little pot, and I could go on and on. No,
it sounds so good, fun, tons of fun and delicious.

(24:37):
We're having cooking demonstrations where we'll learn how to make
some really delicious foods that are simple, that don't cost
a lot of money to make, but are also really
healthy and filling and delicious that anybody can do at home.
And then we'll have free samples of the events. So
the good news is this is kick off to this

(25:01):
five year project where Blue Zones Project Riverside will be
hosting cooking demonstrations, purpose workshops. We'll be asking people to
sign up for walking groups, reading groups, cooking groups, you
name it, which we call MOI, which are based on
a concept in Okinawa, Japan, one of the five original

(25:21):
Blue Zones, which again is that idea of something you
do for ten weeks with a small group of people
that you do together. So there will be so many
ways to connect beyond this event, and I would just
encourage listeners to go to Blue Zones Project Riverside dot
com to see all the ways that you can engage.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yes, yes, yes, I love this. I love this. You
know what's really cool about the Inland Empire is, obviously
we have Loma Linda, which is a prime example of
how blue zones work. Right. What have you learned from
our neighboring community. I mean that is so close to
us in your time with the Blue Zones Project Riverside.

(26:03):
What are you what are you implementing that you've seen
in that region here now in Riverside.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Well, one of the reasons that Lo Molinda was first
identified as a place in the world where people were
living longer, healthier lives. And I'll just do a quick
sidebar to say that when Van Buttener and National Geographic
were first doing this research and looking at demographic data,
when they found one of these longevity hotspots, they were

(26:31):
using a blue pen. They put a blue dot on
the map, and that's why they're called blue zones. Oh interesting,
isn't that interesting? When Lo Molinda was first identified as
an original blue zone and National Geographic went out and
spoke to people to understand what's happening here. Of course,
Lo Molinda has a large Seventh day Adventist community, and

(26:55):
in the Seventh day Adventist religion, people are eating a
plant based diets and they're encouraged to come together at
least once a week. You know, it doesn't matter religion
or honestly any religion someone would belong to, but having

(27:17):
something outside of yourself and your family that is community,
that is a place where you feel a sense of
belonging and that gives you a sense of purpose is
so critical to health outcomes. And religious spaces are often
intergenerational spaces, which I think are harder and harder to

(27:39):
find these days, and their spaces were built in to
the practice of meeting once a week. Is the concept
of taking care of people between services, so knowing who's
having a surgery this week, who needs extra support, or
who's struggling that needs community to gather around them a

(28:01):
little bit extra. And so I would say to your question,
what inspires me, particularly about Roma Linda, is to think
about how even beyond religious community, we can create these
regular intergenerational supportive spaces and our family, for example, has

(28:21):
going on three years now, been doing something that we
call Friday Dinner. Very creative because it's dinner that happens
on Friday, but the point is that we do it
every Friday. And it started when we were finally able
to safely gather after the pandemic with two COVID pods

(28:42):
coming together, and it's grown into this gorgeous weekly pot
luck that happens in our garden, and we're not fussy
about it because the point is we open the doors
and people come and the children run wild through the garden,
and we eat good food or whatever food people were

(29:04):
able to scrounge up at the end of the week,
and then we just spend time together. And not only
do we have this moment on Friday, but when you
chat with someone on a Friday evening and they say,
I'm really worried about my mom's surgery this week, or
I'm going in for a job interview and I'm feeling
nervous about it, then it allows us moments throughout the

(29:25):
week to check in and say how the interview go,
or thinking of you and your mom, And that's that's health,
that's community building, and it's exciting to be able to start,
even in one's own backyard.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
I love that. I want an invitation, So how do
I get in?

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Fantastic I'll send you.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
I'm inside too, I live here, Okay, I'm in now.
I love that. I love that. I know there was
there was a sense there was there was a piece
we all lost with the with the pandemic, and I
do believe like there were some key things where I went, oh, wow,
there's one thing that's good that's coming out of this
is we all get to take a break. I mean

(30:08):
everybody had to stop right. We were, Believe me, we
were so busy. I remember my kids being younger and
we were just it was chaos. We're back to chaos
again now. But I remember thinking, Okay, if there's any
good that could come from this, it's to take a break,
stop stressing out about every little thing. And now we're
all pausing and we're all together. But then we lost

(30:30):
that community, we lost where we were going out and
seeing our friends and all of those things. So it's
nice to have it all back again, but also maybe
learning about balance too. But I love your idea of
Friday dinner.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Great, well, I'll send your invite over, but also an
invitation to everyone to think about how they can create
their own Friday dinner spaces. And again it's I think
sometime when we're leading the wives, we let perfect be
the enemy of the good, and we think, you can't
invite people into my space unless my space is perfectly clean,

(31:08):
or unless the food is perfectly delicious. And to your
earlier question about work life's balance or work life's integration,
there never is a perfect time. There's never a perfect
time to start something new or to invite people in.
So if there's something that's inspiring me from the Blue

(31:28):
Zones model right now, it's that there's never a perfect time,
just start it. Start it with something small, invite one
person over, and give yourself permission to have your house
be a little bit untidy. But the point is that
you're together, the.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
Most important piece that is for sure. Oh I love that,
I really do well. I don't want to take up
so much of your time today. I'm learning so many
wonderful things and I'm so excited to see how Blue Zones.
You know, how your project is going to really work
and roll out through you know, throughout the next few years. Years.
Before I go, though, let me ask, so, are there

(32:03):
any misconceptions about the project that you hope you can
address through this next couple of years.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
I'm so glad that you asked this question. I think
about really early on, when we started building our Blue
Zones Project Riverside office, we had the honor and the
opportunity to meet with a group of women in the
orlandsa neighborhood, who are part of a leadership academy. So
they are leaders in their community doing great work and

(32:32):
meeting monthly to hold themselves accountable and to talk about
what they want to see. They had invited us to
come share more about what is Blue Zone's Project Riverside,
and gave our presentation in Spanish to the group of women,
and afterward we asked, are there any questions, And one

(32:53):
of the leaders raised her hand and she said, well,
thank you so much for this presentation, but this isn't
for me, this isn't for us, and we frankly don't
need someone to come in to our community and tell
us how to eat and what to do. And I
was so I was so grateful for her honesty and

(33:16):
for that feedback because Molo's Project Riverside is for everyone everywhere.
It actually says it right in our purpose statement, where
we ask everyone to think about their own purpose in
their lives, and we as an organization have a purpose,
and that is everyone everywhere lives better, longer. And so

(33:39):
if people are telling us that they don't see how
this project can be for them, then the work is
on us to make sure that they do see themselves
in this project. And to be very clear that we're
not asking people to change the way that they eat.
We're asking people to incorporate small, healthy changes into dishes

(34:02):
that they already love. Maybe it's adding more vegetables or
not cooking it in the same oil. We're not saying
to everyone in order to be healthy, you have to
get rid of your car and walk everywhere, because for
many people in Riverside that's just not possible. But is

(34:22):
there a way to Is there a way to incorporate
a walk in the neighborhood once a week, or to
think about places that folks go where it might be
possible to bike there, or to incorporate natural movement in
some way. And it could be as simple as maybe

(34:43):
you have to drive to work, but can you park
in the parking space that is the furthest away from
the door, and then you get a few extra steps
just getting in the office. And So what I really
hope people here is this project, this work is for
everyone everywhere if we're doing it right, and we will.

(35:04):
That means that we're not just focusing on areas of
the city that are already walkable and bikeable and where
people already have access to a farmer's market with healthy food,
but we're looking around the city of Riverside and asking
where do these communities need sidewalks and gathering spaces and
access to fresh produce. And we're going to put ourselves

(35:27):
there so we can support, but not just support, walk
alongside those leaders like the women in the orlanda community
who are already there doing the work and are already
trusted by their community to ask what they need and
how we can support them.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yes, I love that. What can we do for you
to make your life easier and make your life a
little bit healthier? I love that? Oh so much good information.
This is awesome, Aaron. Before I let you go, For
those you know looking to learn more about the Blue
Zones Project, where can they turn to?

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Please check out Blue Zones Project riverside dot com.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Okay, perfect, and they can probably follow you guys on
social media as well. At I think it's bs P
right Riverside, BZP Riverside.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
That's right, thank you. And finally we're building social media presence.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Oh good, it's it starts. You got to start somewhere, right.
I know it'll take time and then and then everyone
will get excited, maybe after your kickoff event and everything
will see all the pictures and all of that, the
recaps up there. Finally, I love to close this way.
I would love to know what you feel are the
three key takeaways from our conversation today that people you

(36:47):
hope will we'll remember and take home with them today.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
I love this question. Number one for me is think
about your purpose. We build on a concept from Okinawa, Japan,
one of the original Blue Zones, called the Ekey Guy.
It's your sense of purpose what gets you jumping out
of bed in the morning. And so number one I

(37:11):
would ask you, Evelyn and listeners to think about what
is your sense of purpose, what does get you jumping
out of bed in the morning, and how do you
tap into that and make sure that you're using it
fully in your life? In all areas, not just one area.
I would say number two. As we discussed, there's no

(37:34):
perfect time to start anything, particularly not anything big and
health and changes for one's health can feel really daunting.
So my second takeaway would be start now, since there's
no perfect time, and think about what little change you
can incorporate. Maybe it's drinking one or two extra glasses

(37:55):
of water, or spending five minutes outside a day, or
a goal to connect with one neighbor when you're out
for your walk around the block just by saying hi.
And these small changes really do add up. And then

(38:15):
the third thing that I would say is get engaged.
When you're making these really small changes and you're thinking
about your sense of purpose, then take that third step,
which is to say how can I do this with
other people? And throughout the five years of our project
in Riverside will have so many ways for people to

(38:36):
get engaged, whether it's by joining a walking group or
coming to a purpose workshop or going to a cooking demonstration.
And I personally would love to see all of the
listeners engage in those spaces and can't wait to meet
you all in person.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
Yes, Oh this is so good, so good, and I
think these three are the key. I absolutely do. I
think these are just exactly what you what we should
take away from purpose starting now and getting engaged. Those
are three special, special things. I think they all feel good.
They all feel good, and there's no reason that we

(39:13):
shouldn't be feeling good every single day, especially right here
in the Inland Empire. Aarin, thank you so much for
joining me today. This has been so enlightening.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Thank you. I've loved the conversation and I look forward
to setting more.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Oh you will be back because we'll need an update.
We'll need to see how things are moving along and
what progress has been made, and how the community is
engaging with the projects.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Amazing. Thank you so much for your time
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