Okinawa diet: Eat for a long healthy life

If you want to know what to eat for a long healthy life, the Okinawa diet has some valuable lessons. Traditionally, Okinawans have lived a whole food plant based lifestyle. Okinawans have 6 to 12 times fewer heart disease deaths than the U.S., two to three times fewer colon cancer deaths, seven times fewer prostate cancer deaths, and five and a half times lower risk of dying from breast cancer.

That says a lot about the Standard American Diet (SAD) which has sadly let to disease and death. Someone recently again said to me that living a whole food plant based lifestyle was just too radical for them. I’m left with a loss for words when I hear that. To me, heart disease and cancer are radical.

Since 1990, my Slender For Life™ hypnosis for weight loss has helped hundreds of people to acclimate to a whole food plant based lifestyle so that they can lose weight and and improve their health. No matter where you may live, hypnosis help is here for you.

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The Okinawa Diet: Living to 100

The dietary guidelines recommend that we try to choose meals or snacks that are high in nutrients but lower in calories to reduce the risk of chronic disease. By this measure, the healthiest foods on the planet, the most nutrient dense, are vegetables, containing the most nutrient bang for our caloric buck. So, what would happen if a population centered their diet around vegetables? They might end up having among the longest lives.

Of course, any time you hear about long-living populations, you have to make sure it’s validated, as it may be hard to find birth certificates from the 1890’s. But validation studies suggest that, indeed, they really do live that long.

The traditional diet in Okinawa is based on vegetables, beans, and other plants. I’m used to seeing the Okinawan diet represented like this, the base being vegetables, beans, and grains, but a substantial contribution from fish and other meat.  But a more accurate representation would be this – if you look at their actual dietary intake. We know what they were eating from the U.S. National Archives, because the U.S. military ran Okinawa until it was given back to Japan in 1972, and if you look at the traditional diets of more than 2000 Okinawans, this is how it breaks down.

Less than 1% of their diet was fish; less than 1% of their diet was meat, and same with dairy and eggs, so it was more than 96% plant-based, and more than 90% whole food plant based—very few processed foods either. And, not just whole food plant-based, but most of their diet was vegetables, and one vegetable in particular, sweet potatoes. The Okinawan diet was centered around sweet potatoes—how delicious is that? Could have been bitter gourd, or soursop—but no, sweet potatoes, yum.

So, 90 plus percent whole food plant-based makes it a highly anti-inflammatory diet, makes it a highly antioxidant diet. If you measure the level of oxidized fat within their system, there is compelling evidence of less free radical damage. Maybe they just genetically have better antioxidant enzymes or something? No, their antioxidant enzyme activity is the same; it’s all the extra antioxidants that they’re getting from their diet that may be making the difference—most of their diet is vegetables!

So, 6 to 12 times fewer heart disease deaths than the U.S.—you can see they ran out of room for the graph for our death rate – two to three times fewer colon cancer deaths, seven times fewer prostate cancer deaths, and five and a half times lower risk of dying from breast cancer.

Read The Okinawa Diet: Living to 100

Also read Dr. Ellsworth Wareham: The secret to living longer

Thanks to hypnosis for weight loss I was able to easily make the transition from the Standard American Diet to a whole foods plant based lifestyle. It also became easy because I lost 115 pounds, I no longer am pre-diabetic and my blood pressure is now within a healthy normal range. Not only do I feel better, I have more energy and I’m in the best health of my life. Now that’s radical change that I live with!

No matter where you may live, if you are ready to radically reform your health, call or email me now and let’s schedule your free weight loss hypnosis consultation.

Check out Slender For Life™ and call (206) 903-1232 or email for your free consultation.

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