Vitalotechnics (Health Tips): February 2008 Archives
There exists a place on our planet where 100-year-olds live in their own homes and tend their own gardens. It's a place where breast cancer is so rare that screening mammography is not needed and where the three leading killers in our culture - heart disease, stroke and cancer -- occur with the lowest frequency in the world. Where people maintain a healthy weight -- without dieting --throughout life (the average Body Mass Index o the senior citizens is 21!). Where women live to be 86 years old - on average - and when they do pass on, the cause of death is generally classified as "old age" since autopsies reveal no discernible cause.
This place is the Japanese island-state of Okinawa, home to the healthiest people on Earth. A 25-year research project, the Okinawan Centenarian Study, found that there are more than 400 people aged 100 or older in a population of 1.3 million. Here in the United States there are only 65-130 centenarians in a comparably sized sample, most of whom can no longer live alone -- unlike their robust Okinawan brethren.
How have the Okinawans managed to do all this? Simple: their lifestyle habits are supremely healthful. First, they eat a plant-based diet high in unrefined carbohydrates, which gives them protection against heart disease (Okinawans have 80 percent fewer heart attacks than Americans do), cancer (they have 80 percent less breast cancer and half the amount of ovarian cancer), stroke and weight gain. In addition to eating healthfully, Okinawans feel exercise is a way of life. They take up martial arts and traditional dance when young and continue to perform them throughout their lives; most also garden and walk Another habit that contributes to their vitality is stress-reducing spirituality: Okinawans have a deep respect for nature and believe they have an obligation to help others. These relationships with nature and neighbors are powerful: Research shows that they help extend life and lower disease risk.
Read more here: Kiai!
