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The Okinawa Program : How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health - And How You Can Too (Paperback)
by Bradley J. Willcox, M.D., D. Craig Willcox, Ph.D., Makoto Suzuki, M.D.
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Considered the world's healthiest people, the Okinawans may offer you a prescription for health and longevity through the study. |
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Author: Bradley J. Willcox, M.D., D. Craig Willcox, Ph.D., Makoto Suzuki, M.D.
Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition
Pub. in: March, 2002
ISBN: 0609807501
Pages: 496
Measurements: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00406
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- Awards & Credential -
The New York Times Bestseller and one of only 2 books on diet and health to be selected for Editor's Choice: Top 50 books of 2001 by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. |
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This book is based on 25 years of research by Dr. Suzuki with those who lived to be over 100 years of age in Okinawa. The Drs. Willcox joined the project in 1994, adding many more measurements and perspectives to what has become an important international research project.
The physiological and psychological findings about these centenarians (aged over 100) show them to be healthy, vigorous, and largely free of common Western diseases. The book summarizes the findings, connects the findings to Western research, and outlines ways to follow what was discovered to be associated with better health.
The book begins by debunking the idea that there were long-lived people in the Caucasus, Pakistan, and Ecuador with whom similar work could be done. Investigation showed in each case that there was no unusual longevity in these communities. On the other hand, records dating from the Japanese conquest of Okinawa in 1879 make the Okinawan cases valid.
The statistical findings are fascinating. Okinawans live to be over 100 at rates 3 to 7 times more often than Americans. Even more impressive is that the combined rate of heart disease, cancer, and stroke is a small fraction of the American rate. Where one woman in ten will have breast cancer in the United States, the typical Okinawan will probably not even know any one who will get that disease.
Mammograms are not even needed as a health screening technique there. Yet, young Okinawans who live a different lifestyle show all the Western diseases. Okinawans who left the area and adopted the lifestyles of the places where they now live experience disease at the same rate as in those locales.
This is not just a book about diet. It is also about sports, lifestyle, spirituality, attitude, family and community support. The Okinawans accept aging and death naturally. As a result, they are scared of neither, and age incredibly gracefully. Their lifespan is a lot longer than that of Americans. And, they typically remain fully capable and active until they pass away. All their life signs remain much healthier and vibrant than Americans through old age. This is regardless of the indicator you choose. Their respective cholesterol levels, blood pressure, gender hormone levels (testosterone for male, estrogen for female), muscle mass, BMI index are all much better than Americans. They achieve this with no prescription drugs, few supplements if at all, fewer doctor’s visits, including far fewer surgical interventions. When you are healthy and stay that way you don't need that much medical support.
Despite one or two negative reviews, we regard The Okinawa Program as a dynamically comprehensive, very readable and sensible guide to nutrition, weight loss and general health advice. The recipes are great and the program is easy to follow. Highly recommended!
Target readers:
Everyone who cares about their diet and health.
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Bradley J. Willcox, M.D., M.Sc., is an internist and a geriatrics fellow in the Division on Aging at Harvard Medical School. He is also a resident scholar at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, and a co- investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study.
D. Craig Willcox, Ph.D., is a medical anthropologist and a gerontologist. He is an assistant professor at Okinawa Prefectural University–College of Nursing and a co-investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study. The Willcoxes are identical twins.
Makoto Suzuki, M.D., Ph.D., is a cardiologist and a geriatrician. He is on the faculties of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa International University. He is the principal investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study.
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From The Okinawa Program:
If Americans lived more like the Okinawans, 80 percent of the nation’s coronary care units, one-third of the cancer wards, and a lot of the nursing homes would be shut down.
From Publishers Weekly:
Twin brothers Bradle and D. Craig Willcox, an internist and anthropologist, respectively, and geriatrician Suzuki, fascinatingly recount the results of a 25-year study of Okinawa, where people live exceptionally long and productive lives. There are more than 400 centenarians in Okinawa, where the average lifespan is 86 for women and above 77 for men. Most impressive is the quality of life Okinawans maintain into old age; the book is filled with inspiring glimpses of elderly men and women who are still gardening, working and walking into and well beyond their 90s. The authors point out that while genetics may account, in part, for Okinawans' longevity, studies have revealed that when they move away from the archipelago and abandon their traditional ways, they lose their health advantage, proving that lifestyle is, at the very least, a highly influential factor. The Okinawans' program of diet, exercise and spiritual health apparently lowers their risk for heart disease, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's, as well as breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. According to the authors, "the Okinawan Way" is neither elusive nor esoteric. It consists, in part, of a low-calorie, plant-based, high complex- carbohydrate diet. Exercise, the authors maintain, is essential, as is attention to spirituality and friendships. Okinawans, too, lead slower- paced, less stressful lives than most Westerners. The outcome of years of extensive medical research, this book offers a practical and optimistic vision of growing old.
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FOREWORD by Andrew Weil, M.D.
Everyone wants to know how to live as long as possible and how to have the good health to enjoy it. Whenever we meet especially long-lived individuals, wt always ask about their secrets of longevity and healthy aging, unfortunately, the answers they give are totally inconsistent, from daily walks to daily cigars.
We are also fascinated by reports of societies in remote parts of the earth that boast of unusual numbers of healthy old people. Most of the reports turn out to be groundless. One that may not concerns the islands of Okinawa, formerly the Kingdom of the Ryukyus, now a prefecture of Japan. In the West, Okinawa is known as the only Japanese home territory on which the Second World War was fought - the battle of Okinawa was one of the longest and bloodiest of the war - and as the site of American military bases. Okinawans, particu1arly older Okinawans, have experienced unusual social turmoil in their lives. Nonetheless there are more centenarians there than anywhere else in the world, and the Okinawan population enjoys much greater health and longevity than other Japanese. And the Japanese have the best health and greatest longevity on the planet. Moreover, thanks to meticulous keeping of birth and health records in the islands, there is no doubt about the veracity of claims to longevity, as there is in other regions that have been promoted as conducive to long life.
The fundamental question to be asked about this population is how much of the good health and longevity is genetic and how much is environmental. It is impossible to answer it definitively, but I am inclined to think Genetic factors are not the major cause. I say that because research on aging is generally demonstrating the overwhelming influence of such lifestyle factors as regular physical activity and social connectedness. Also younger Okinawans, who are abandoning traditional ways in favor of those of contemporary Japan and America, are beginning to show the expected declines in health and growing incidence of Western disease.
I have made many trips to Japan over the past forty years, but I have been to Okinawa only once, in November of 1999, when I went to the main island to lecture, meet local shamans and healthy oldsters, and get a little sense of cultural, especially dietary, differences from the rest of Japan. On that occasion I met the authors of this book and first learned about their research project on successful aging. My experiences during that brief visit left me eager to return, to see more of the islands and its remarkable people, and to learn more about what Drs. Willcox and Suzuki call "the Okinawa way to everlasting health."
At first meeting Okinawans seem different - both from Westerners and from other Japanese. They look different, have quite different customs, and eat very different foods, including a great deal of bitter melon and turmeric tea, for example. But, as you will learn in this scientifically factual and highly readable book, the general principles of living the Okinawa way are not foreign. Indeed, they are highly accessible to everyone and quite consistent with the latest medical research on healthy lifestyles and healthy aging. They include getting lifelong, regular physical activity, eating a mostly plant-based diet that includes fish and soy foods with a great variety of vegetables and moderate amounts of the right kinds of fat, and enjoying strong social and community support as well as a sense of independence and self-responsibility for health.
This book is not about magic potions or age-erasing supplements. It is a realistic, very thorough look at a remarkable society that has mostly escaped notice by Western medical researchers. I congratulate the authors on doing such an excellent job of introducing the health-promoting culture of Okinawa to Western readers. I look forward to learning about more of the findings of their ongoing research. In reading the book, I was happy to discover that I already practice many of the Okinawans' "secrets" of health and longevity. I am highly motivated to include more of them in my own life.
Tucson, Arizona
January 2001
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| View all 12 comments |
Deepak Chopra (M.D., Author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind and Grow Younger Live Longer) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
The Okinawa Program is a very significant contribution to the science of longevity. Read this book carefully and follow the recommendations and you will add years to your life and life to your years. |
Andrew Weil (M.D., Author of Spontaneous Healing and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
As you will learn in this scientifically factual and highly readable book, the general principles of living the Okinawa way . . . are accessible to everyone and quite consistent with the latest medical research on healthy lifestyles and healthy aging. |
James Hollandsworth (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Well, that's what two brothers, one a physician and one an anthropologist, have been doing for the past decade in the islands of Okinawa, studying over 400 centenarians - people over 100 years old. And not decrepit, demented shells over 100 either - people still living in their homes, gardening, walking to market daily, chatting with friends.
Why are they living so long? Why are their bodies on almost every biochemical measure 20 years younger or more than equivalent American bodies?
That's the subject of the book The Okinawa Program, and a fascinating read it is. The authors both try to describe the health and lifestyle of the Okinawan culture, try to explain what is healthy about it, and then how to incorporate it into our lifestyle.
The distinctives that the authors bring out chapter by chapter are a healthy primarily vegetarian diet, regular exercise, a low-pressure lifestyle, use of meditation and other forms of stress-reduction, a close supportive social network, and their "spirituality" which is mostly positive and optimistic in nature.
The book itself is well-written and documented as far as this genre goes. It's only downfall (also common to the genre) is tunnel-vision. The authors' enthusiasm for all things Okinawan rarely points out anything negative at all about the culture, to the point that you wonder how objective they really are. Beyond that, they often downplay the very tenuous nature of drawing conclusions about looking backwards and trying to figure out why things are a certain way - you can use common sense and a little science to make a good guess that eating foods high in flavinoids may extend life, but limited science plus common sense has led us down the wrong path many a time before.
Another major point to be made is that these non-Christian authors cannot perceive the difference between mere religion (which they apparently believe is generically good for both its placebo like effect on the human body and possibly tapping into some generic higher power) vs. a genuine relationship with the genuine God.
Of course, this draws a rather brutal line in the sand for those of us who do name the name of Christ. If our lives have truly been touched by the living God, then why are we dying by the droves in our gluttony and physical laziness and frantically paced American lifestyles, while people who do not know the true God over the ocean are living lives which I suspect more closely model what Christ would have us live? Food for thought, and a worthwhile book to read and ponder. |
An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This book is a very comprehensive read about health, based on the healthiest people in the world. It makes sense. The people in Okinawa follow their food pyramid and have great health as a result. The book explains how their lifestyle of good food, daily exercise, positive outlook on life and so on, keeps them healthy, happy and energetic....in fact many of them live to 100 years of age and beyond. Apparently they don't even have a word for menopause! We could all benefit from taking a leaf out of this book and applying it to our own lives - there are even recipes that we can try. This book teaches us that living well is a conscious decision - it requires balance. The Okinawan lifestyle seems to have the perfect balance. |
View all 12 comments |
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