Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane

the foundation for a staying healthy diet

genes. The sad part is that the Okinawan elders are dying out, and
the younger Okinawan generations adopting the Western diet are
dying young —many times before their long-living parents.

Diet of Okinawan Elders vs. American Diet

Meat, poultry, eggs 3% 29%

Calcium-rich foods 2% (dairy, seaweed) 23% (dairy)

Vegetables 34% 16%

Fruit 6% 20%

Flavonoid foods (soy) 12% < 1%

Grains 32% 11%

Omega 3 foods 11% (fish) < 1% (fish)

Note: Percentages by weight of a particular food.

Source: Bradley J. Willcox, MD; D. Craig Willcox, PhD; and Makoto Suzuki, MD, PhD.

The Okinawa Program: How the World’s Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health—

And How You Can Too. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001), 71.

Each successful aging culture, in its geographic location, has
foods that are high in antioxidant properties and rich in beneficial
phytonutrients. For example, the Okinawans used to eat a lot of
imo or sweet potato; it was the only thing that would grow dur-
ing some very harsh times. As it turns out, imo has an excellent
glycemic response (slow blood sugar absorption) and is very
high in beta-carotene. They drink lots of green tea with protec-
tive catechins. They eat lots of antioxidant rich vegetables and a
high quantity of soy products rich in isoflavones.^10 The long liv-
ing Sardinians in Italy might use more tomato products contain-
ing lycopene, fava beans rich in protein and fiber, milk and cheese
containing the anti-inflammatory substance arzanol from goats
grazing on the dwarf curry plant, or resveratrol in their homemade
red wine.^11 Both cultures are getting powerful antioxidants and
phytochemicals from their “local” foods that provide protection
against chronic disease.