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The Okinawa Program : How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health - And How You Can Too (平装)
by Bradley J. Willcox, M.D., D. Craig Willcox, Ph.D., Makoto Suzuki, M.D.
| Category:
Health & fitness, Nutrition, Diet |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 138.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Considered the world's healthiest people, the Okinawans may offer you a prescription for health and longevity through the study. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 12 items |
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An American reader, USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This book is a very selective presentation of Okinawan cuisine and does not present the whole picture. Its contention that the good health of the Okinawans is due to their diet of fish, vegetables, white rice, and canola oil is simply wrong. Canola oil? A 20 year-old food product contributing to longevity in Okinawans who are now in their 80s and 90s? How exactly is this possible? Okinawans do eat fish, vegetables, and rice, but they also eat lots of pork and routinely cook with lard, not canola oil.
Detractors notwithstanding (see below reviews), Okinawan cuisine, according to Okinawan gerontologist Kazuhiko Taira, "is very healthy - and very, very greasy" (Health Magazine, Sept. 1996). Taira also revealed in that interview/article that Okinawans, in general, eat an equal amount of pork and fish per day - about 100 grams each.
The liking for and emphasis on pork is not a new feature in Okinawan cuisine, but an historical one. Its true that heart disease has risen among some Japanese who have moved to the USA, but the rise was shown to be from abandoning Japanese social customs for American ones - not from dietary changes. Japanese researchers actually blamed the higher rates of heart disease, cancer, asthma, allergies, etc., not on saturated fats and meat, but on increases in omega-6-rich processed vegetable oils.
This book is certainly correct in pointing out the benefits of regular exercise and meditation in prmoting health amopng the Okinawans, but it is dead wrong in its presentation of the traditional Okinawan cuisine which is anything but low-fat.
You are better of getting Fallon and Enig's book Nourishing Traditions (to really learn about traditional diets), Lutz and Allan's Life Without Bread (to learn the truth about low-carbohydrate nutrition), and/or Uffe Ravnskov's The Heart Cholesterol Myths (to learn the truth about heart disease), rather than this biased book.
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Jim Jeffrey (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
I have a Ph.D. in nutrition where I studied traditional dietary patterns in many cultures, including Japan. I have also read both the scientific literature on Okinawan dietary habits and The Okinawa Program. I lived in Okinawa for over 30 years and have seen huge dietary changes - for the worse - the diet went from a semi-vegetarian diet (pork once a month or so...a little fish, some rice and millet, and lots of sweet potatoes, soy and vegetables) to a much more meat-heavy Americanized diet... Or should I say where's the pork?
That's precisely why researchers go to Hawaii to study Japanese-Americans - because their diets are very Westernized but their genes are the same as Japanese in Japan. It's called a migration study. Therefore when the Japanese-Americans get heart disease from the high fat American diet and Japanese in Japan don't we know it's not a genetic difference that's responsible. The high amount of heart disease in Japanese-Americans versus Japanese in Japan is b/c the latter still eat a better diet and are more active than Japanese-Americans ie it's lifestyle-related.
Here are the facts: Okinawan diet in young Okinawans or "modern Okinawan diet" - typical day is a morning "bento" of white rice and a large chunk of Spam (processed pork) and some token veggies, lunch may be McDonald's (no need to elaborate), dinner may be "taco rice" which is white rice and ground hamburger meat. Not exactly what one considers a longevity diet and quite unlike the diet of the elders in the old days or even now. Okinawan traditional diet - morning might be miso soup, sweet potatoes and veggies, lunch could be goya chample (bitter melon, rice, tofu, egg), dinner could be miso soup and another soy-based dish with veggies and a small piece of fish...occasionally throw in some fruit or a small bit of well-boiled pork with the fat drained off.
My conclusion is that the authors of the Okinawa Program are right on the money. A "plant-based" diet, heavy in veggies, fruit, whole grains, and soy with moderate to small amounts of lean meats or dairy (if one chooses) leads to good health, if part of a well-balanced lifestyle. It ain't rocket science.
Bottom line: Buy The Okinawa Program and get the facts on how to eat like an Okinawan elder....NOT like the Okinawan youth or Okinawan-American youth. We can go to McDonalds for that. The recipes in The Okinawa Program are DELICIOUS and include both traditional recipes and healthy Westernized recipes. There is also a wealth of info on preventive health, Okinawan herbs, mind-body medicine, culture, etc. The Okinawa Program was nominated for best wellness book of the year and has been a bestseller worldwide. I think I know why!!!! |
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