Fasting is one thing. Living in a rural environment is another. In the old days Greeks didn't have cars (there weren't even any roads) so they had to walk - a lot. 20 kms a day maybe. The people of the Aegean island of Icaria are famous for their long lives, but in the past they would walk from one village to the next over mountainous terrain, where today there are tarmac roads and cars. This according to my grandmother's boyfriend who died in his late 90's. He was active until the end, never able to sit unoccupied after a lifteime of hard work- and he was sound enough of mind to teach me backgammon.

I mean to say, diet is often not the only thing that sets these rural populations apart from city-dwellers. Not many office jobs in the countryside, I guess.