It is the longevity capital of the world. Thirty-four people out of every 100,000 live to be 100 years of age or older. Okinawans have a diet that is very high in carbs, soy and white rice, and low in protein and fat.
What rice do they eat in Okinawa?
BROWN RICE: In Okinawa, where centenarians eat rice every day, both brown and white rice are enjoyed. Nutritionally, brown rice is superior.
What grains do Okinawans eat?
Grains (33%): millet, wheat, rice, and noodles. Soy foods (5%): tofu, miso, natto, and edamame. Meat and seafood (1–2%): mostly white fish, seafood, and occasional pork — all cuts, including organs. Other (1%): alcohol, tea, spices, and dashi (broth)
What is the typical diet in Okinawa?
The Okinawa diet limits grains like white rice and noodles and instead emphasizes plenty of vegetables and legumes, especially sweet potatoes. Since it may not seem ideal to eat a sweet potato at every meal, you can incorporate other foods like edamame, miso soup, sauteed greens, and of course, plenty of seaweed.
Do people in the blue zones eat rice?
About 65 percent of the diets in the blue zones is whole grains, beans, and starchy tubers. Grains including oats, barley, brown rice, and ground corn also play a key role in the diet.
What do the Okinawans eat for breakfast?
Traditional Okinawan meals are served in an array of very small bowls and plates. One example of a traditional breakfast includes nato (sticky beans) served with white rice, miso soup, seaweed and fish.
Why do Okinawans eat sweet potatoes?
Sweet potatoes are a staple of the Okinawan diet along with a range of deep green and other brightly coloured vegetables typically high in vitamins C, E and A. Soy and soy foods like tofu also feature prominently along with seaweed, which is a major source of iodine, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, and astaxanthin.
What is the Loma Linda diet?
What ‘Blue Zone’ city Loma Linda, California can teach us about living longer. What’s the secret behind Lomo Linda’s healthy population? A “Garden of Eden” diet, no drinking, no caffeine — and no outside pressure to ‘cheat’.
How do you eat like an Okinawan?
Some examples of foods common to Okinawa diet include:
- Vegetables: orange sweet potato, purple sweet potato, seaweed, kelp, bamboo shoots, radish, bitter melon, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, papaya, and mushrooms.
- Soy-based foods: tofu, miso, natto (fermented soybeans), and edamame.
- Grains: millet, wheat, rice, and noodles.
Why is Okinawa the healthiest place on earth?
Okinawans are at extremely low risk for hormone-dependent cancers including cancers of the breast, prostate, ovaries, and colon. Compared to North Americans, they have 80% less breast cancer and prostate cancer, and less than half the ovarian and colon cancers.
Why is Okinawa so healthy?
The traditional Okinawan diet is therefore dense in the essential vitamins and minerals – including anti-oxidants – but also low in calories. Particularly in the past, before fast food entered the islands, the average Okinawan ate around 11% fewer calories than the normal recommended consumption for a healthy adult.
What diet makes you live the longest?
The best of the best longevity foods in the Blue Zones diet are leafy greens such as spinach, kale, beet and turnip tops, chard, and collards. In Ikaria more than 75 varieties of edible greens grow like weeds; many contain ten times the polyphenols found in red wine.
What alcohol do Okinawans drink?
awamori
Okinawa has a thriving alcoholic beverage industry and produces not only awamori, the traditional drink of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but also more contemporary forms of alcohol such as microbrewery beers and fruit-flavored wines.
What grains are eaten in blue zones?
Grains including oats, barley, brown rice, and ground corn (not so much wheat) play a key role in the world’s blue zone diets.
Is quinoa a Blue Zone food?
“Bread, whole grains, quinoa, farro, rice – all of these are included in the Blue Zones in abundance. Research shows up to 50% of their diet is carbohydrates.”
Do Blue Zone people eat pasta?
Pasta: Pasta gets a bad rap, but centenarians from the blue zones, particularly in Ikaria and Sardinia, eat pasta frequently. Look for pasta made with just a few high-quality ingredients. Gluten-free varieties are available in many stores and are often made with quinoa and brown rice.
What kind of sweet potatoes do Okinawans eat?
Okinawan yams, botanically classified as Ipomoea batatas, are a dicotyledonous plant and are a part of the Convolvulaceae or morning glory family. Also known as the Okinawan sweet potato, Okinawan yams are botanically speaking a sweet potato rather than a true yam.
Did Okinawans eat meat?
It turns out that it’s whole plant foods, not fish, that make up 90 percent of the traditional Okinawan diet: Less than 1 percent of the diet was fish; less than 1 percent was meat; and less than 1 percent was dairy and eggs.
Is Okinawa diet vegan?
Some researchers say their traditional diet is low-fat, mostly vegan. Other researchers say the majority of their calories come from carbs – mainly sweet potatoes and rice. And of course the Paleos will be the first to point out that the Okinawans also eat a lot of seafood and meat, especially pork.
What do Asians eat to live longer?
High intakes of vegetables, fruits, legumes, potatoes, mushrooms, seaweed, pickled vegetables, rice, fish, sugar, salt-based seasonings and tea. High intakes of bread, dairy products, fruits and sugar. Low intake of rice.
Is Japanese diet anti inflammatory?
The traditional Okinawa diet is comprised primarily of plant-based foods that offer potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities, which possibly promote a longer lifespan. The diet’s low-calorie, low-protein, and high-carb foods may also promote longevity.
