nutrient rich® healthy eating

their protein intake with small amounts of fish and meat.^144 According to a number of nutritional
studies, this predominantly plant-based diet provides all of the nutrients the people need and is
particularly high in antioxidant vitamins.^145

Besides eating a 90% or more plant-based, nutrient-rich diet, the people of Okinawa also follow the
advice of their ancestors: "Eat until you are 80% full" (or hara hachi-bu). The result of these
traditional practices is that Okinawans tend to eat fewer calories, much like the calorie-restricted
diets used in longevity studies. And they produce strikingly similar results.

When compared to Japanese and U.S. populations, the average and maximum lifespan of people
following a traditional Okinawan diet is significantly higher. The incidence of cardiovascular
disease and cancer has also been shown to be extremely low in Okinawans compared to age-
matched Japanese and American adults.^146 Thus, not only do people in Okinawa live longer; they
also have many more healthy years ahead of them when they reach old age than people living in the
U.S. or other areas of Japan.

Culture Average lifespan

Healthy Life

Expectancy

Okinawan 83.8 years 104.9 years

Japanese 82.3 years 101.1 years

American 78.9 years 101.3 years

(^144) Willcox DC, Willcox BJ, Todoriki H, Curb JD, Suzuki M. Caloric restriction and human longevity: what can we learn from
the Okinawans? Biogerontology. 2006;7:173-177.
(^145) Sho H. History and characteristics of Okinawan longevity food. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2001;10:159-164.
Suzuki M, Willcox BJ, Willcox DC. Implications from and for food cultures for cardiovascular disease: longevity. Asia Pac J
Clin Nutr. 2001;10:165-171.
Todoriki H, Willcox DC, Willcox BJ. The effects of post-war dietary change on longevity and health in Okinawa. Okinawa J
Amer Studies. 2004;1:52–61.
Willcox DC. Okinawan longevity: where do we go from here? Nutr Diet. 2005;8:9-17.
(^146) Suzuki M, Willcox BJ, Willcox DC. Implications from and for food cultures for cardiovascular disease: longevity. Asia Pac
J Clin Nutr. 2001;10:165-171.
Kagawa Y. Impact of westernization on the nutrition of Japanese: changes in physique, cancer, longevity and centenarians.
Prev Med. 1978;7:205-217.