The Okinawa Program : How the World's Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health--And How You Can Too Reviews

• Response to Owl

  
  By A36HBYPOZGV3LK on 2001-10-29
  This is a response to Owl's review of Sept 9, 2001. First let me say that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Second, I am a Japanese woman from Tokyo who also lived in Okinawa for several years but I have a very different opinion from Owl. I studied anthropology and wrote my thesis on Okinawan culture so I feel that I have some qualification to comment on The Okinawa Program both as a general prescriptive, self-help book and a scientific work. I can also offer you my interpretation of Okinawa and its culture.
  
  Owl (the Sept 9, 2001 reviewer) sounds like so many other self-proclaimed "experts" on Okinawan culture from abroad. Typically they live in Okinawa 1-3 years (as did Owl), learn very little of the culture (including the language, customs, history), interact on only a superficial basis with the locals, and sometimes learn a little karate. When they leave they consider themselves cultural experts and gurus (his correspondence from a "remote mountain village" in Japan suggests that this applies in his case).
  
  I believe that the Okinawa Program gives a realistic, intriguing account of Okinawan life and culture and valuable "hands-on" health advice. It has hundreds of scientific references so is hardly what I would call "superficial". In fact, the text itself is referenced, so that one can verify all the statements the authors make. This is rare for books written by scientists for a lay audience and I think that helps to explain its appeal to both the lay audience and the scientist. ... .
  
  In one sense, Owl's review is very illuminating because it illustrates the problems of modern day Okinawa, where the youth no longer value as much the old ways and don't eat the traditional diet or practice the traditional martial arts or believe in the native spiritual traditions. In fact, very few Okinawans under the age of fifty even speak the Okinawan language, which is quite distinct from Japanese. Sadly sometimes they cannot speak fluently with their great-grandparents, who may speak only the Okinawan language.
  
  Owl reveals his superficial experience with Okinawan culture when he states "did I ever see older Okinawans out practicing Tai Chi or karate or any other martial art for exercise or anything else? No! " Shoshin Nagamine, one of the giants of Okinawan karate, would turn over in his grave if he read that comment!! I suspect that Owl never bothered to seek out the multitude of martial arts dojos around Okinawa where karate has been nurtured, practiced and spread to every corner of the globe over the past few centuries. So for him they don't exist. Yet, thousands of Okinawan karate dojos exist around the world. The hundreds of thousands of devotees may be surprised to hear that older Okinawans "don't practice the martial arts", especially since their "masters" are usually older Okinawans.
  
  I also suspect that Owl never made it to the traditional villages of rural Okinawa, especially in the Northern half of the main island so he never saw the elders out walking, gardening or participating in traditional dance. To correct Owl once again, the authors never said that masses of Okinawans are doing Tai Chi on the beach but that many engage in traditional dance, which resembles Tai Chi and likely had similar origins and influences from ancient China (and likely offers similar health benefits).
  
  I really had to laugh when Owl said that he never saw karate on the beach in Okinawa. I guess he never made it to the beach on Sunday morning where 97-year-old karate master Seikichi Uehara takes his many pupils through their paces. That doesn't surprise me either. I don't think that I have to ask Owl if he ever participated in a shimisai (picnic with the ancestors at the family tomb) or ask him if he saw the sacred sites on the island where the elders gather to pray for peace and health.
  
  Finally, he does have a good point when he said that other Japanese live a long time too. But if he actually read the Okinawa Program he would see that an important reason that Okinawans live longer is that they have the lowest heart disease, lowest stroke levels and the least cancer in Japan. This is largely related to their overall healthier lifestyle, which includes a higher intake of vegetables, soy products and less salt in the diet, as well as more exercise and cultural traditions such as moai(support groups) that increase social support and may lead to lower suicide rates, among other benefits.
  
  Okinawa goes against the social gradient in terms of having lower socio-economic status and higher life expectancy. This is quite unlike what you see in the rest of Japan or the rest of the world, unlike what Owl would have you believe.
  
  Okinawa leads some other prefectures in Japan for life expectancy by only a few months and others by a few years. As the Okinawans lose their traditional healthy ways the overall lead is closing. To be precise, Okinawans live on average to be 81.2 years, Japanese 79.9 years and Americans 76.8 years. But Okinawans are more active and less disabled as they age and they have over 4 times the number of centenarians as Japan or the U.S. ... .
  
  
  To sum up; The Okinawa Program is full of useful prescriptive advice and fascinating information but if you are already a self-acclaimed guru who does not wish to come down from your remote mountain village to mingle with the people or you are simply a "know-it-all" then save your money. If you are like me, and want some practical and helpful information on how to live a long, active life, lose some fat, stay active, and learn something about different cultures, including healthy eating patterns, exercise habits and stress reduction then invest in The Okinawa Program. It may be the best investment you make.
  
  

• Do the Okinawans have the secret of long healthy life?

  
  By A1IU7S4HCK1XK0 on 2001-05-07
  I couldn't wait to see this book. I spent a month in Japan a few years ago (though not on Okinawa. ) I came back 10 kilos lighter, full of energy, and with a chronic foot inflammation completely cured. I felt great. I'd lived exclusively on typical Japanese food for the entire month; lots of raw seafood, seaweed, rice. No sugar and hardly even any fruit. Nothing Western at all. I wasn't hungry, didn't crave anything and had lots of energy and stamina. I could live on this diet happily the rest of my life.

  But, do the Japanese, especially Okinawans, have the secret of long, healthy life for EVERYONE? Well, the Okinawans have often had a TOUGH life. The Okinawans are responsible for developing some of the most famous martial arts weapons from their hand farm implements. (For example, the famous Nunchucku are rice flails, for removing the husks from rice.) Okinawa has had a long, hard history, and people who survived there were no weaklings. They must have been selected for sturdiness, and no one can know for sure how much the environmental factors and the history of Okinawa contributed to the robustness of the residents there.

  Also, the genetic make-up of Okinawans is of course different than Westerners. They may thrive on their diet; it may be wrong for others. Not everyone is alike. For example, I already know I do well on fish and vegetables, and not well on wheat and meat and milk. So I would and did do well on this type of diet.

  Maybe it's best if you read the book and try some of the diet ideas as an experiment. Or read some other books on diet and body type (Ayurvedic or Eat Right 4 Your Type, for example) Find out if the Okinawan Diet matches with your body type or if your doctor recommends such a diet for you.

  What's REALLY more important is the information about the value of stable, close family ties, daily exercise and a good attitude spiritually. The traditional life of the Okinawans is a far cry from Western life, but it has a lot to offer us. Maybe having dinner together with the entire family as a daily ritual of family closeness is more important than what's on the plate.
  
  

• Lifestyle Lessons of Long-Lived, Healthy People in Okinawa

  
  By A1K1JW1C5CUSUZ on 2001-05-01
  The Okinawa Program deserves more than five stars for its valuable, thoughtful look at how good health can follow from a better lifestyle. This book will undoubtedly become the basis for a change in lifestyle by millions of people. Whether or not it will extend their lives and the length of the healthy period in their lives is something that only time can tell. On the other hand, anyone who follows this advice will probably feel better and have more energy.

  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 longeveity 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.

  The book then dives into the physiological findings. Basically, some Okinawans at 100 have young bodies showing health markers similar to a 40-60 year old in the United States. In fact, they often look 30 years younger than they are. They are physically and mentally active, and do not retire. The bulk of those over 100 still work in the same ways they did when they were younger.

  The book takes the major statistical differences, and looks for possible clues in the Okinawan lifestyle. The potential causes seem to relate to diet, exercise, spiritual/religious practices, social connections, and mixing Western and Eastern medicine beneficially.

  The authors go on to suggest changes in the diet recommendations for Americans to reflect this experience, new exercise paths, and a changed approach to lifestyle. The diet recommendations are expressed both in terms of Western-only foods and a mixture of Eastern and Western foods. There is a four week changeover program to help you move from what you do now, to a healthier alternative.

  As the authors point out, the study itself has some weaknesses. No one can know for sure how much each of these environmental factors contribute. Also, the genetic make-up of Okinawans could mean that results for non-Okinawans could be different. There is also no attempt to adjust for blood type (as the research cited in Live Right 4 Your Type describes).

  I also think there is a measurement bias towards measurements used by Western scientists looking at certain diseases. For example, I remember Dr. Dean Ornish emphasizing the importance of touching as a factor favoring good health in Love and Survival. This book makes no reference to touching, but I do recall that people in the Philippines (not far from Okinawa) touch more than people in any other country (with favorable results for health and happiness). What do the Okinawans do?

  The book also contains a lot of recipes. It is beyond the scope of my expertise to comment on them. The book cites many other studies that find similar results within Western cultures. One thing I noticed was that some of these studies have been criticized as being incorrectly conducted by others, yet those criticisms were not presented here. Overall, I found the references to other studies helpful in a directional sense for providing context for the findings.

  Assuming for the moment that this book is on the right track, isn't it interesting that this information only recently became available? It makes you wonder what other obvious research into having a healthy lifestyle has not been done. Have we just wasted hundreds of billions of dollars ineffectively treating diseases caused by sick lifestyles while hundreds of millions experienced lives unnecessarily shortened by 20-40 years and made unncessarily miserable? If so, what a tragic waste of human potential!

  
  
  

• HEALTH, VIGOR AND VITALITY AT ITS FINEST!

  
  By A3SN9EF7GTNEU2 on 2001-05-02
  The Okinawa Program is based on the author's twenty-five years study into genetics and disease. Eastern cultures are ahead of us when it comes to the science of longevity. Okinawans have fewer health problems, including less heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity and osperporosis. Women also have fewer health issues resulting from their monthly cycles and menopause. The Okinawa Program is aimed at given direction to a healthier, balanced lifestyle, based on long-standing principles presented in this appealing format.

  We have been told for quite some time that healthy nutrition(low-fat, low-cal diet)regular exercise, stress reduction and spiritual strength can increase our life span and improve both our mind and body. "The Okinawa Program" is a marvellous book which covers a variety of topics aimed at achieving and maintaining our physiological and psychological needs. Anyone who has studied psychology and Maslow's Heirachy of Five Basic Needs, will find a similarity between Maslow's theory and the concepts outlined in this book. However, this book concentrates primarily on the physiological needs. The book contains some excellent recipes, outlines the benefits of tai-chi and medication in reducing stess, reveals the importance of harmonious relationships and how we can live a longer, healthier life. This is an excellent book with roots based in Eastern traditions - do not miss it.
  
  

• The Real Okinawan Diet

  
  By A1JGPMGA82RLXC on 2002-03-06
  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, pp. 57-63). 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 (Am Jnl Epidemiology, Sept 1976;104(3):225-247). 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 (used in every fast food establishment to cook most foods in--Prog Lipid Res, 1997;35(4):409-457).

  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 CHOLESTEROL MYTHS (to learn the truth about heart disease), rather than this biased book.

  CAVEAT EMPTOR!
  
  

• The Fat Facts on the Okinawa Diet:Healthy levels/good fats
  By A1I696J4V848U9 on 2002-04-02
  This letter is in response to some misunderstandings from a couple of previous reviewers about levels and types of fat in the Okinawa diet. Before I get into my comments on the Okinawa diet I would like to say that I am a professional nurse/educator/nutrition researcher from Okinawa (born and raised) who also spent some time in the United States (California). My comments regarding the Okinawa diet are based on my professional experience involved in nutrition and other health education/research.I have worked with (or know) many nutritional researchers in Okinawa and am familiar with the nutritional research literature on diet and longevity as well. I think I can understand why some American reviewers have mistaken the Okinawa diet as ghigh fath, as we like to use vegetable oil in most of our stir-fry cooking (called champuru) and there has been increasing fat intake in Okinawa and the rest of post-war Japan which has resulted in large generational differences. Here are the facts according to nutritional authorities in Okinawa and Japan:

  1)The Okinawa diet itself (1998) contained 31% total energy from fat, 52.9% carbohydrate and 16% protein (Japan National Nutrition Survey 1998). Compared to mainland Japan this is higher in fat (26.3% vs 31%) but compared to America it is still lower. (According to USDA Food Consumption Surveys total fat intake has fallen from 40% to 33% between 1977 and 1994).
  2)Total Fat is NOT really that much of an issue as there are ggood fatsh and gbad fatsh . As Dr. Walter Willetfs (Harvard University) 1994 article in Science titled:hWhat Should We Eat?h shows, the 1960fs Greeks consumed even more fat (40% total) than we do now in Okinawa, but still had low cardiovascular mortality because they were consuming the ggood fatsh (ie. olive oil and other mono and poly-unsaturated fats) and not the gbad fatsh(trans and saturated fats).The Okinawa diet also contains much more good fat than bad fat. This is especially true compared to the American diet which, despite falling levels of fat in the diet, is still too high in the bad fats (trans and saturated) mostly due to high consumption of meat, dairy products, fried fast foods and snack foods.
  3)Vegetable oil accounts for the majority of fat intake in the Okinawan diet (over 50%) with other major healthy sources coming from fish and soy. Vegetable oils are also the major cooking oils in Okinawa, NOT glardh as some reviewers have mistakenly suggested. Most cooking oil now comes from gsalada yuuh which is a combination of natane yuu (low erucic acid rapeseed oil) and daizu yuu(soy oil) and is a healthy oil (recommended by nutritional authorities such as the American College of Nutrition)because it is low in saturated fat and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Pork fat (lard) usage declined drastically after vegetable oils became widely available in the 1950fs .
  4)Fish is consumed often in Okinawa and supplies almost 10% of daily fat and over 20% of daily protein intakes (1998 National Nutrition Survey). High in omega three fatty acids, fish consumption raises HDL cholesterol and the high intake of fish throughout Japan has been linked to the low levels of heart disease (Preventive Medicine 28:520-529, 1999). Pork is a traditional Okinawan food that was consumed in small amounts (ceremonial occasions) in pre-war days. Now, in a relatively affluent Okinawa all meats are eaten more often. However, total meat intake is still less than half that of Americans, and when consumed, pork fat is boiled off and thrown away these days (rather than used as a cooking oil which was done in pre-war days).
  
  5) Until the 1950fs, total fat intake in Okinawa was far below that recommended by nutritional experts (never more than 10% of total energy compared to recommended levels of 25-30%).The intake in healthy fats such as rapeseed (canola) oil, soya oil and fish oil has grown over the years and the fatty acid balance for older people is now quite good with an emphasis on monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and saturated fat in that order. A better fatty-acid profile helped to contribute to decreased stroke deaths and improved longevity of the current older generation, according to Dr. Kazuhiko Taira, whom another reviewer has misquoted about the so-called ggreasyh Okinawa diet. What Dr. Taira meant was that the Okinawa diet is only ghighh in fat in comparison to the extremely low-fat mainland Japanese diet, but certainly not in comparison levels found in the traditional American diet, as he points out in his book gSawayaka Chouju no Hiketsu,h published by Gakuensha in 1993 (sorry, in Japanese only).
  6)The U.S. Unified Nutritional Guidelines (see Circulation 100:450-456, 1999) recommend fat be under 30% of total calories, which the Okinawa diet meets for elderly but not quite for younger people. The exact figures are: 31.3% total fat intake for those in their 20fs and 25.4% for those over 80 (Okinawa Prefectural Health and Nutrition Survey 1998).
  In summary, as a health educator and researcher, I can say that The Okinawa Programfs dietary information is right in line with the latest research findings from both the Japan National Nutrition Survey and the Okinawa Prefectural Health and Nutrition Survey, as well what has been found by Drs. Taira, Matsuzaki, and others who, like Drs. Willcox and Suzuki, have also been doing decades long field research in Okinawa. Furthermore, the diet of the Okinawan elders can be recommendeded as a model diet with appropriate levels of fat (25%) and an excellent overall fatty-acid profile. It is a healthy way of eating that is very much in line with what practically all nutritional authorities and scholars are recommending to avoid the chronic diseases of aging (see Deckelbaum et al. 1999 Circulation 100:450-456).
  
  

• Fantastic guide
  By on 2001-06-15
  I have read the Okinawa Program and find it a 'fantastic guide' for healthy living. Not only does it give sensible advice about the right way to eat but it also emphasizes that a healthy lifestyle encompasses a balanced approach to eating habits, exercise, stress management and human relations.This book is not your average 'self help' book. It meticulously documents all statements it makes and gives the reader the means to check the data upon which it is based through a detailed reference section. I have always been interested in a healthy lifestyle and I can now see why the Okinawans have achieved the world's longest life expectancy. I have been checking out the recipes and find them not only delicious but everyone of them has been analyzed for nutritional content including flavanoids and omega-3 fatty acids. The book even provides two tracks for healthy eating so one can ease into the more exotic and health-promoting dietary habits of the Okinawans. I love the book so much that I have been recommending it to freinds!
  
  
• jim cutler
  By A19DTU7S6PI7U on 2002-02-08
  This book saved my life!!! I am in my forties and concerned about my health and age and I could not seem to get any useful advice from my own doctor. He seemed to know nothing about preventive medicine or healthy foods and just wanted to prescribe medication for my high cholesterol and high blood pressure. My cholesterol was over 300, I was 30 lbs overweight and feeling tired all day. I had tried Atkins's Diet, Protein Power and the Zone but it just made my breath smell bad. I felt lousy and I regained all the weight I lost after a short time. The first thing that impressed me about The Okinawa Program was that scientists could make a health book understandable for the average reader and not sound like a textbook. I read it in December and underwent the health tests recommended. After 8 weeks on the program I lost the 30 pounds, my cholesterol is now 150, I am off all medication and I have energy to burn!! My friends tell me that I look about 10 years younger (and my wife is not complaining either at my newfound energy!!!). The program is easy to follow, the recipes delicious (I even tried the soy recipes) and the advice is based on a solid Harvard-Okinawa Study. If you want to try a lifetyle that works long term and are tired of quick fixes then the Okinawa Program is about as good as they get!!! It worked for me!
  
  
• Great Book for Your Whole-Health
  By A1D07YEYRP2ZDZ on 2001-06-18
  I have been following The Okinawa Program about a month and it is working very well for me. I feel fitter, am losing fat (I have lost 3 lbs.), and I feel psychologically more openc More whole as a result of The Program. The Program covers everything in detail, not only diet but also exercise, spirituality, and relationships. And I am so amazed by how much the authors thoroughly went over the health issues, from reliable scientific journals to popular books. From the reference section in the back of the book, I could see that it is really an evidence-based, scientific program. Not so many popular health books have this thorough reference section. Very professional, and yet, very accessible work!

  In Chapter 10, they introduce Four Weeks to Everlasting Health, how to follow The Okinawa Program in detail with menus, recipes, exercise plans, and healing tips. There are two tracks to follow, one is East-West fusion track and the other is Eastern track, and each of them will shows how to spend the four weeks with The Okinawa Program. I am very interested in the Eastern way of living, so I am now following the Eastern track. It has more soy, seafood, oriental foods and a little less meat than the East-West track, but the East-West track is far from meat-heavy. I was so sad when I read some people have mistaken the Program as similar to the Zone or Atkinsf diet. There are only 1.7 servings of meat in a week, in average of four weeks. Even on the East-West track, the average meat serving is about 4 per week. Regarding fish, I think therefs nothing wrong about eating fish, since it was mentioned in the book as Omega-3 food, which has plenty of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, which the authors emphasize for prevention of heart disease. Fish and meat are very different foods, even though they are referred to by some as ganimal protein.h Dairy products are said to be not so much eaten in Okinawa in the book, however, the authors never said do not eat dairy products. They said to minimize dairy foods (donft overeat them). Dairy products are good source of calcium, but a little fat-heavy. Thus, in the plan, they recommend to eat low-fat or non-fat dairy products if you choose to eat dairy, which makes sense to me. It is difficult for us Americans to take enough calcium by way of whole-fish, tofu, seaweed, etc. like Okinawans do. We are used to dairy and having low-fat dairy foods is I think a reasonably-accessible idea.

  I really appreciate the authorsf work, which has recharged my energy, helped me lose fat and has led me to a deeper, more positive outlook on life. Bravo Drs. Willcox and Suzuki!
  
  

• The Healing Web - a necessity for all of us!
  By A2MZUNYJPNABW7 on 2001-05-01
  This book gives the reader wonderful insight - and hope - for understanding and affirming that the path of wellness is an integrated one of mind, body, and spirit. The book gently compares and contrasts Western culture's lifestyle habits with that of the Okinawans style of living, giving the reader a clear picture of the reasons why longevity is linked to lifestyle choices that embrace a concept of cooperation and community, instead of competition and isolation. It also gives a nice overview of nutritional choices of Okinawans which is believed to support their amazing degree of health. The need for healthy social support in our lives is embraced by the practice of yuimari - the healing web. Western culture has long affirmed independence as an attribute, yet we remain a lonely and depressed population. The book weaves this knowledge of the benefits of supporting one another and living cooperatively in every aspect of our lives. From there, we find what it is we need to live long and productive lives like the Okinawans have! I highly recommend this book, esp. if you are a health practitioner. Its story can help you wrap words around what we see is needed today in our culture to bring well-being to our lives!
  
  
• Good Program But Not Okinawan
  By A3UH4UZ4RSVO82 on 2003-08-19
  I lived in Okinawa for four years and have studied nutrition and worked as a dietary counselor for fifteen years. With these credentials, I heartily recommend the Okinawan program but I cannot encourage you to buy this book without sharing three big reservations and misgivings.
  First, the Okinawans are almost certainly NOT the longest lived people on the earth. The authors came to this conclusion by citing worldwide demographic studies calculating the number of people who live to be 100 years old per 100,000 population. Okinawa is at the top of this chart - but this does not mean they are the longest lived people on the planet. The authors nowhere mention in their book the fact that the Okinawan centarians were in their late 40s during the Battle of Okinawa in April, 1945. Civilian casualities in the Typhoon of Bombs and Steel are estimated at greater than 50%. So what? The select Okinawans who survived this battle and the years of semi starvation consequent to the Battle were naturally stronger than those who did not. That a greater *percentage* of these people have survived to 100 reflects the harrowing of the weak members of that generation as much as their hardihood and lifestyle. It should also be noted that before and since the US 'restored' Okinawa to Japanese control in 1970 (the Okinawans are racially and culturally alien to the Japanese who are in effect an occupying country as they were in the 19th century - no suggestion of this in the book either!)there has been a tragic 'brain drain' and exodus from the archipelago; every young person of talent flees the country keeping their population artificially low and further skewing demographics. There are some really healthy old people on the island; any attempt to say there are a disproportionate number of them without factoring battle casualities/natural selection and brain drain into the calculations is deceptive at best.

  Two, the authors only mention in an aside that the Okinawan program no longer exists on the island except in the memories and lifestyles of the venerable elders there. Okinawans under 50, the authors report, have "the highest level of obesity in Japan, the worst cardiovascular risk factor profile, and the highest risk of premature death" (p.49). The people most in need of learning the Okinawan program, sadly, are the Okinawans themselves. When we lived there, my wife had to import whole grains, the heart of this program, from the States because it was unavailable on the island except in medicinal packages; to the Okinawans, wanting to eat *genmai* or brown rice was a sign of ill health and only to be eaten at that time. Eating the Okinawan Program way is associated with war time austerities and deprevation - and avoided like the plague.

  My third reservation explains this generation gap. The authors spend the entire book talking in categories that modern Okinawans understand (the sick ones) but which would be nonsense to the old folks we are supposed to emulate. The authors speak the language of chemical nutrition and psychospiritual categories that are concepts none of the older Okinawans use in their food or lifestyle choices. They are a traditional, that is, theocentric culture whose every decision is made in light of their religious/family obligations, from food choices to the clothes they wear. Their physics or natural science (a yin yand Taoism) reflects their metaphysics. This is nowhere mentioned in the book, though it means that this tropical way of life will work for you only if you live in a tropical environment (most of us do nowadays because of central heating and AC), understand food qualities rather than nutritional component quantities, and live in an Amish like worship community - with karate dojo's! Again, as the authors admit, this way of life is lost on the younger Okinawans who are the heaviest and sickest population on the pacific rim.

  But, hey, the program the authors recommend is a good one! I have to marvel that they spent 25 years (really 6! for the data used in the book)on the study of Battle of Okinawa survivors, however, when the program they recommend is available in Andrew Weil's books (the authors know his integrative medicine well and have only re-packaged it here with a Okinawan face - Weil even writes the introduction!) and Dean Ornish's writings. If you need to believe there is a Shrangri-La Diet Program, this book is a well packaged program for you. But don't imagine that time in Okinawa will be of any help in your recovery; Naha, Koza, and Nago are some of the nastiest cities in Japan. If you want paradise or some vestige of the lifestyle described in this book, go to the outer islands, of which Miyako is probably the most accessible.

  For help with the food they recommend, buy Macrobiotic cookbooks and go to Macrobiotic cooking classes. I give the book such a low rating because of the deceptiveness of its central premise (Okinawan longevity), the misrepresentation of Okinawa as it is, and its projection of scientism onto the traditional lifestyle and relationships of its old people as the reason for their survival. Read Dean Ornish's Love and Survival or anything by Andrew Weil for a more honest and applicable way to improve your health. Anything by Michio Kushi and his students will bring you closer to Okinawan eating than this book (if you'll have to add bitter melon - definitely an acquired taste!).

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• Their menus TOTALLY contradict their research
  By on 2001-05-31
  The authors write that each day, the average Okinawan eats seven servings of fruits and vegetables, seven servings of grains, and two servings of tofu. Fish is eaten two or three times per week. During the first week, the "Everlasting Health" menu includes 5 servings of fish, 7 servings of poultry, pork, beef, and 12 servings of dairy. ...

  Okinawans eat just two-three servings of fish each week, and little or no milk, dairy or meat. Midway through the book, a the authors include a mention of Okinawan "power foods" containing protective phytochemicals. This list of antioxidant-rich foods includes tofu, miso, carrots, tea, goya melon, konbu (dried kelp), cabbage, nori (dried seaweed), bean sprouts, raw soybeans, sweet potatoes, and peppers. Unfortunately, the authors did not have the vision or the culinary expertise to include these foods in their "Four Weeks to Everlasting Health" diet.

  With diet, it's not what you eat, but what you don't eat that becomes the critical factor towards achieving and maintaining good health.

  Seems to me that the authors missed the critical points of their important work and their conclusions, based upon their suggested menus are less than pathetic.
  
  

• Okinawan Karate-do
  By AZ8ZPDUHIVNUX on 2001-07-18
  I bought this book as a gift for my Uncle who is a 5th degree black belt in the Okinawan Go-ju Ryu style of Karate-do. He is constantly touting the benefits of Okinawan culture and health, so I figured this book is a perfect match or at the very least cement his beliefs.

  He was so impressed by this book and its many charts and graphs that he asked me to get ANOTHER copy to give to his master, a 6th degree; a well respected member of the Jundokan. I have just started to learn the many benefits of Karate on the body and spirit and I feel it an honor to recommend this book on behalf of my Sensei and his teacher!
  
  

• A Healthy View of Health
  By on 2001-06-21
  I found this book to be very refreshing and not at all a typical self-help manual. While the initial title might mislead you to think this is a "10 Steps to a Long Life" sales pitch, it's most certainly NOT. The authors have spent years of their lives and expertise on examining longevity holistically. They refrain from reducing it to an equation and, unlike so many other studies, go way beyond diet as an answer. As an anthropologist I appreciated the way they brought social life, religion, and family connections into the equation. The dietary studies and recipes are revealing, but so are many of the other observations.
  
  
• It seems to be working for me
  By A1QBF86BA2DXM3 on 2001-05-18
  The book contains careful analysis of what goes wrong with the Western diet/lifestyle as well as what's healthy and significant about the Okinawans, which was the wake-up call I needed to truly understand what my eating habits were doing to me. I *thought* my diet was pretty decent, until I started reading about trans-fatty acids and how the body processes food, especially meat. I was certainly doing wrong thing, and the "diet" foods I was choosing were doing me more harm than good.

  The book lists lots of foods/recipes that are good for you, and I discovered that things I thought I would hate, like soy products, can be darned tasty, and there are a lot more healthy foods out there in the grocery store than I ever realized; I'm not going to get bored with my new eating habits.

  Granted I've only been following the book for a few weeks, and my main change has been in diet/eating habits (spirituality and & physical exercise are also covered in the book extensively), but I can feel a real difference, and not just in my weight, but in mental alertness, and lowered stress levels and increased energy.

  I'm looking forward to incorporating more of the ideas of this book into my daily life.
  
  

• A GREAT LIFESTYLE CONCEPT
  By on 2001-07-12
  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.
  
  
• Very informative, sensible book
  By A1GU0UCP5Z3VIU on 2001-06-15
  The Okinawa Program is the most sensible book I have read in the area of nutrition and healthy living in years. Finally, a book that cuts through all the nutty advice about eating right and living well. No zone, no Atkins high protein diet, no crazy food combining and no wierd taboos on eating this or never touching that. The overall message gleaned from the book on the Okinawans' healthy habits is that moderation and balance in all areas of life, including diet, exercise, social relations and spirituality, are the keys to a long and healthy life !
  
  
• Joel Kauffman March 17th review
  By A1A4WSJ4P1DJEW on 2002-03-21
  I loved reading all these reviews especially Mr. Kauffman's because it seemed so funny and silly. Why did they have to make an expedition to Okinawa to see what cooking oils are used? Just ask me!
  ***************************************************
  I am Okinawan-Japanese and just moved to America and recently read The Okinawa Program. It gives an unbiased scientific view of the Okinawan Diet, which is still low in saturated fat compared to the US diet (about 7% vs 15%). The traditional diet was only about 3% saturated fat for most the 20th century but began to climb after World War 2 and the establishement of US bases.
  ****************************************
  The most popular cooking oil in Okinawa and the rest of Japan is Nisshin brand, which everyone in Japan knows is a canola/soy oil blend and has been used for over 20 years...but the overall lifestyle is probably the most important factor for lowering risk for heart attacks, including a diet low in saturated fat, not any particular cooking oil....lard is still used but not as much as in the old days...even in the old days despite lard use, overall fat in the diet was VERY low and still is compared to the West in middle-aged and older people
  **************************************
  Okinawans never ate much pork until living standards rose in the 1970s...it was too expensive to eat before that and my parents and grand parents ate it only a couple times a month.
  ***********************************
  I read in the Okinawa Program that the Glycemic Index is for checking the effects of carbohydrate foods on blood sugar and that is why there are no values for meats and nuts and other non-carbohydrate foods.
  ***********************************
  I highly recommend the Okinawa Program...I loved what the authors did with the recipes and it really opened my eyes to some of the unhealthy eating habits of my friends in Okinawa with all the new fast food restaurants and processed meat that had come to Okinawa in the last few years
  ***********************************
  I hope my review was helpful and wish you will be "chaganjuu" (always healthy, in the Okinawan language!)
  
  
• Excellent book--including the menus!
  By on 2001-06-14
  This book has already made some changes in my eating habits, and I thought I was doing fairly well before. I agree with all the positive comments already made, so I won't add much to that, expect to say that I think, for me, the unique aspect of this book was that it gave a clear picture of people who were doing it right, and living long healthy lives as a result. Most books tell you what you should do, and that's helpful, but a wholistic picture like this spurs more enthusiasm, and somehow makes it easier to actually do it. My main reason for adding my review is that some recent reviewers seem to have looked at the menus without realizing the implications of the fact that these menus are intended to wean one away from our present unhealthy diet. So of course the first week looks out of keeping with the Okinawa findings, esp. in the Americanized version. But if you look at week four, and at the Eastern version in particular, you will see a lot of Asian foods, and mighty little of our bad habits, if any. (Also, you have to read the recipes--their "scrambled eggs" dish has no actual eggs, for example.) Seems to me their week four menus are very much in keeping with the findings of the book, and if we all started eating like week four, Western or Eastern version, health stats in the US would start looking a LOT better. I hope the authors someday put together a whole cookbook.!
  
  
• Okinawa Program - some reservations
  By on 2001-09-01
  The Okinawa Program is a thoughtful study of some of the world's longest living people. There is much to commend this book. Exercise, eating to only 80% capacity, mental outlook, etc. However some factors are worrying. The authors suggest that Westerners reading the book should use Canola Oil for its high Omega 3 content. Unfortunately they do not seem to realise that Canola Oil is actually rapeseed oil under a new consumer friendly name. Rapeseed oil has been condemned in many studies for the harm it does to the human body. Similarly in promoting the eating of soy foods, the authors omit to warn of the detrimental effects to the human brain of eating too much soy which again have been highlighted in scientific studies.
  A little more objectivity would have been appreciated in an otherwise thoughtprovoking book.
  
  
• The Best Overall Book on Diet and Health
  By A2NNKO5S7057KX on 2003-09-04
  I read the review by John Granger on August 19, 2003 called "Good Program but Not Okinawan". It was hard to believe that he and I are talking about the same book or that he actually lived in Okinawa since his review seemed so ill informed.

  I have studied nutrition and met many of the healthy elders in Okinawa and indeed still live there. My guess is that he never got off the US Army base and met any of the healthy elders or travelled to the northern villages to see the natural beauty of Okinawa and share meals and stories with the elders. If he had he would have noticed that the lifestyle described in the Okinawa Program still exists but mostly in those healthy elders.

  It is based in the philosphy of "nuchi gusui" which can be loosely translated as "food is medicine." I can't tell you how often I have heard that phrase since coming to this beautiful place. The point the Drs. Willcox and Suzuki were making was to emulate the lifestyle of the elders- not that of the youth in Okinawa.

  Regarding longevity, it is well known among the Japanese that the Okinawans not only have more healthy centenarians but a longer life expectancy in general--that's precisely why there are so many centenarians. The oldsters just keep on going. It is also well known in Japan that Okinawa has what is called a U-turn migration pattern. People leave but they come back so lack of younger age groups in the population doesn't explain the high percentage of centenarians either. Also there is no longer a mass migration outward as in the old days (which would actualy have lowered the numbers of people who might have lived to one hundred) so that doesn't explain it either. Okinawans also have the highest birth rate in Japan so have HIGH numbers of very young people so that actually lowers the relative centenarian prevalence versus other Japanese.

  Nor did the war cull all the weak from the population. Bullets and bombs killed most people, and these do not differentiate between weak and strong but are equally deadly to both. However, Granger does make one good point. That the deprivation before and after the war may have helped people live longer. Of course, he could have just looked up that point in the Okinawa Program, since the authors clearly state that a simple, low-calorie traditional diet helped with their longevity. The elders eat mainly plant foods, like sweet potatoes, other vegetables, tofu and very small amounts of lean meat and fish, which is a quite delicious way to eat and very likely contributes to their famed longevity through "caloric restriction" mechanisms.

  A recent scientific report in the journal "Science" by David Sinclair's research group at Harvard showed that flavonoids, which appear in the Okinawan diet in higher quantitites than perhaps anywhere else, extended lifespan in their experiment by 70%! Perhaps Mr. Granger can chew on that for awhile. The Okinawan elders have been doing so and look what it did for them!
  
  

• Fascinating and informative; not your typical self help book
  By AF3HN9UFXMKB2 on 2001-05-18
  It is no accident that the Okinawans live longer and, more importantly, healthier lives. And while the answers are pretty obvious when you stop to think about it, this is enlightening reading for anyone wishing to live a healthier lifestyle and to consider a different perspective on life than most of us have as urban stressed Westerners. The message one takes away from this book is that one does not have to become an eastern mystic or undergo radical change in order to live better, there are simple, basic things we can do like eat less and more sensibly and take time to relax and focus on our families and our inner selves. By the way this positive review is from someone who generally hates self help books because they tend to be trite and obvious, this is one with a difference.
  
  
• I think therefore it is
  By on 2002-11-22
  Don't buy this thinking you will be getting good scientific data on the results of the Okinawan study. This book extracts a small part of that data and uses it in support of the authors' diet prescriptions. The lifestyle changes they propose are basically sound, but you can get the same advice in a much more readable format from Dr. Weil who happened to write the forward.

  For a book that supposedly has its roots in statistics and science, I felt quite annoyed with the assumptions and leaps of logic they took with their data. For example, they stated that the Okinawans could have improved their diet if only they didn't consume so much sodium. These people often live to be 100+ ... so why isn't the interpretation that our notions about sodium are wrong or that with the right dietary adjustments, more sodium can be tolerated? I was often left with the impression that the data was used to support their preconceptions about diet and not that the diet was the product of the information obtained. So while the suggestions are sound, I wonder what valuable information was lost due to the scientist's filter.
  
  

• What is the Okinawan Diet?
  By A3A521KU7FIJ92 on 2002-03-01
  I have a PhD 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!!!!
  
  
• Good Program But Not Okinawan
  By A3UH4UZ4RSVO82 on 2003-08-19
  I lived in Okinawa for four years and have studied nutrition and worked as a dietary counselor for fifteen years. With these credentials, I heartily recommend the Okinawan program but I cannot encourage you to buy this book without sharing three big reservations and misgivings.

  First, the Okinawans are almost certainly NOT the longest lived people on the earth. The authors came to this conclusion by citing worldwide demographic studies calculating the number of people who live to be 100 years old per 100,000 population. Okinawa is at the top of this chart - but this does not mean they are the longest lived people on the planet. The authors nowhere mention in their book the fact that the Okinawan centarians were in their late 40s during the Battle of Okinawa in April, 1945. Civilian casualities in the Typhoon of Bombs and Steel are estimated at greater than 50%. So what? The select Okinawans who survived this battle and the years of semi starvation consequent to the Battle were naturally stronger than those who did not. That a greater *percentage* of these people have survived to 100 reflects the harrowing of the weak members of that generation as much as their hardihood and lifestyle. It should also be noted that before and since the US 'restored' Okinawa to Japanese control in 1970 (the Okinawans are racially and culturally alien to the Japanese who are in effect an occupying country as they were in the 19th century - no suggestion of this in the book either!)there has been a tragic 'brain drain' and exodus from the archipelago; every young person of talent flees the country keeping their population artificially low and further skewing demographics. There are some really healthy old people on the island; any attempt to say there are a disproportionate number of them without factoring battle casualities/natural selection and brain drain into the calculations is deceptive at best.

  Two, the authors only mention in an aside that the Okinawan program no longer exists on the island except in the memories and lifestyles of the venerable elders there. Okinawans under 50, the authors report, have "the highest level of obesity in Japan, the worst cardiovascular risk factor profile, and the highest risk of premature death" (p.49). The people most in need of learning the Okinawan program, sadly, are the Okinawans themselves. When we lived there, my wife had to import whole grains, the heart of this program, from the States because it was unavailable on the island except in medicinal packages; to the Okinawans, wanting to eat *genmai* or brown rice was a sign of ill health and only to be eaten at that time. Eating the Okinawan Program way is associated with war time austerities and deprevation - and avoided like the plague.

  My third reservation explains this generation gap. The authors spend the entire book talking in categories that modern Okinawans understand (the sick ones) but which would be nonsense to the old folks we are supposed to emulate. The authors speak the language of chemical nutrition and psychospiritual categories that are concepts none of the older Okinawans use in their food or lifestyle choices. They are a traditional, that is, theocentric culture whose every decision is made in light of their religious/family obligations, from food choices to the clothes they wear. Their physics or natural science (a yin yand Taoism) reflects their metaphysics. This is nowhere mentioned in the book, though it means that this tropical way of life will work for you only if you live in a tropical environment (most of us do nowadays because of central heating and AC), understand food qualities rather than nutritional component quantities, and live in an Amish like worship community - with karate dojo's! Again, as the authors admit, this way of life is lost on the younger Okinawans who are the heaviest and sickest population on the pacific rim.

  But, hey, the program the authors recommend is a good one! I have to marvel that they spent 25 years (really 6! for the data used in the book)on the study of Battle of Okinawa survivors, however, when the program they recommend is available in Andrew Weil's books (the authors know his integrative medicine well and have only re-packaged it here with a Okinawan face - Weil even writes the introduction!) and Dean Ornish's writings. If you need to believe there is a Shrangri-La Diet Program, this book is a well packaged program for you. But don't imagine that time in Okinawa will be of any help in your recovery; Naha, Koza, and Nago are some of the nastiest cities in Japan. If you want paradise or some vestige of the lifestyle described in this book, go to the outer islands, of which Miyako is probably the most accessible.

  For help with the food they recommend, buy Macrobiotic cookbooks and go to Macrobiotic cooking classes. I give the book such a low rating because of the deceptiveness of its central premise (Okinawan longevity), the misrepresentation of Okinawa as it is, and its projection of scientism onto the traditional lifestyle and relationships of its old people as the reason for their survival. Read Dean Ornish's Love and Survival or anything by Andrew Weil for a more honest and applicable way to improve your health. Anything by Michio Kushi and his students will bring you closer to Okinawan eating than this book (if you'll have to add bitter melon - definitely an acquired taste!).
  
  

• EXCELLENT BOOK
  By on 2001-07-03
  To WILKES BARRE AND OTHERS WHO criticize this book because of what the Japanese did in World War 2 ( about Kamakazi planes diving to attack US ships)...let me first educate you. The Okinawans are a different group of people. Yes they are Japanese but they are ethnicly differnet from the mainland and they were not the ones who caused all the aggression in WW2. In fact, the Okinawans were as much victims of the war as were Americans and other non-Japanese Asians. Read your history books and you will find that Okinawans did not kill Americans...it was the mainland Japanese who did....and these fellas deserve to get their AZZ kick and the atomic bomb dropped on them. As for the book, it is a great book...yes throw away all the other books on healthy living....this one is the best I have read...and the study is scientifically based and validated....the people of Okinawa are living proof that their lifestyle is the ideal lifestyle.
  
  
• Read this book and live a long and healthy life
  By A14JBDSWKPKTZA on 2003-01-06
  As a former Program Coordinator for the American Heart Association, I always had an inclination toward the obvious. Many get lost or should I say quagmired in minute details, this book does none of that. The study was 25 years in the making, so this book page for page contains more of the simple truth than any other book of its kind.
  Gleaning the information from the Heart Association text, and a way with mechanical reasoning, I learned that the truth is simple. I felt like I had a responsibility to share what I had learned. So many are getting lost in complex details, and the truth is so simple. This book greatly relieved me of that responsibility. Finally someone puts it all in plain simple text. It is an easy and enlightening read. If you really want to improve your life and your health, you do what this book has to offer. Otherwise you can lose yourself in a sea of pills, and masking symptoms.
  Many are critical of this book stating, "Oh it is in the Okinawans genes, or it is their environment" Either is true. When the young Okinawans in Okinawa take up our fast food practices, they fall to the same disability rates that we do. Additionally when the elder Okinawans move into this country and adopt our ways of eating, and living, they too fall in line with our mortality, and disability rates.
  Read this book. It is so reasonable now in price for the paperback.
  Many statisticians love a good argument. They get the opportunity to puff themselves up, and look important. Unfortunately they crush a flower under their feet in order to do so.
  When I first read this book, I had a yellow marker, and after highlighting over half the sentences, and on some pages all of the sentences, halfway into the book, I finally decided, that the whole book is worth highlighting, and read on.
  Out of all the books I have read on health, their are very few that even approach the truth and simplicity of this one. Buy it and cherish life. The hardest thing for people to learn is that they are a temple, and the body is to be worshipped, after all who's image is it made in? Our bodies are not something to take for granted and abuse. If your heart is in it, this book will show you how. Sorry for getting so deep, but I can not put into words, the importance of what this book has to say.
  You wouldn't mind living to over a hundred years of age, if you were physically fit and active the way the Okinawans who practice the old ways are.
  
  
• The Hidden Agenda
  By A2SYMCC1A6GQ4X on 2002-03-17
  One of the major "findings" in this book was that Okinawans consumed very little saturated fat (meaning fat containing saturated fatty acid [SFA]), and this was supposed to be a major benefit. The main oil used in cooking was said to be canola oil. Since canola oil is a recent invention, becoming common only in the last 20 years in Canada and the USA, it could hardly have been a benefit to Okinawans who are now very old.
  My co-workers at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Mignon S. Adams and David C. Geliebter, spent a month in Okinawa recently, with special attention on food. They did not see any canola oil in use. The common oils were peanut (16% SFA), soybean (15% SFA), rapeseed (1% SFA) and lard (44% SFA). Data are mostly from Mary C. Enig, Know Your Fats, Bethesda Press, 2000.
  The Okinawans also eat significant amounts of pork and moderate amounts of chicken, both of which contain considerable SFAs. There is no unbiased evidence that SFAs are unhealthful (Taubes G, Science 2001:291:2536-2545).
  This was confirmed by Stephen C. Byrnes, who lives in Honolulu, HI, and has friends raised in Okinawa. They ate fish, rice and vegetables, but pork and lard "...have always been the mainstay of this people's diet". Sally Fallon and Mary C. Enig quoted an Okinawan professor who wrote that the Okinawan diet was "greasy and good".
  ****
  The glycemic index table was incomplete, missing all the good foods that have very low glycemic indices that diabetics can eat, such as nuts, cheese, fats, oils, and meat. Diabetics have been punished for decades by being handed tables such as this where they might assume that foods not included should not be eaten. Nuts, in particular, despite their carbohydrate content, have very low glycemic indices, and high nut consumption is strongly associated with longer lifespan (Hu FB et al., British Medical J. 1998:317:1341-5).
  ****
  These authors seem to have had a hidden agenda. This book is certainly not recommended.
  
  
• Excellent recipes
  By A3378SUD6VG6RZ on 2001-06-14
  The book is a good read and full of interesting insights into the Okinawan way. I especially liked the recipes and have tried a few of them. I must disagree with the spammer who wrote the negative reviews(he unsuccessfully pretends to be 3 different people). The recipes do not contradict the earlier findings in the book.
  
  
• A change of live and perspective
  By A1LEDB93QXW39W on 2002-04-10
  I stumbled with this book on the book store. I caugth my attention and decided to buy it.
  Since that day 31/2 months ago I recomed it to everyone. Is a real Eye opener. I was 292 pounds my blood pressure hovered at 168/98 and my pulse was 92, I had constant headaches and shortness of breath (The ultimate candidate for Heart attack or any type of stroke).
  I decided to follow the program (WITH DISCIPLINE) and now I`m 247 pounds, blood presure 116/76 and pulse at 56. I feel great, Im back to jogging and have tons of energy (and I work in a Casino,grave shift)and I continue to lose weight but my intent was to eat healthy and change my ways. It has been the best money I ever spent on anything and I mean it.
  It is sound, based on true data and is a All Around book to help you achieve good health and longetivity. Believe it is a 100+.
  
  

• Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

• The Okinawa Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and Never Feel Hungry
• Precision Heart Rate Training
• Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy—Until You're 80 and Beyond
• Younger Next Year for Women: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy—Until You're 80 and Beyond
• Successful Aging