Okinawans Grow Fat From US Diet

Okinawa, a 2.5 hour plane ride from Tokyo and a population of 1.5 million used to have more centenarians than anywhere in the World. Okinawa which used to be an outlet for health advice for countries all over the World has now become the most obese area in Japan. The life expectancy in Okinawa is falling exponentially to new lows. Who is the culprit of the falling health of this island?The United States of America.

How can a country lose its health from the US?

Over the past 60 years, residents of Okinawa have lived with American influence through the US military. Since World War II there have been between 20,000 - 40,000 troops stationed in Okinawa. Many Okinawans are saying that growing up with Americans has increased their appetite and developed their diet into more barbecued foods, hamburgers, and sodas rather than the fish and vegetables they grew up with for many generations. Tomomi Inose, a native of Okinawa who grew up with US influence says, "My body instinctively craves for succulent meat." On Okinawa almost half of men and quarter of women are either overweight or obese. In contrast, a quarter of the 130 million people in Japan fall into either category.

Inose who has lived in Okinawa with American military remembers her mother serving fried vegetables with Spam, regular meals at diners and American-style barbecues on the beach. Before 1945, Okinawans consumed mostly fish, soybeans, seaweed, vegetables, and pork. According to Yukio Yamori, director of the International Center for Research on Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases, the diet is rich in antioxidants, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and proteins that help protect against vascular diseases such as stroke and heart attack, and lowered risk of cancer.

An article in January from Bloomberg News says that the Okinawans who retained the traditional diet are healthier than their peers. With an average life expectancy of 86 for women and 78 for men, Okinawa's elders have one-fifth the heart disease, a quarter of breast and prostate cancer and one-third the dementia of Americans of the same age group, according to the Okinawa Centenarian Study. 

What can we learn?

* Reduce our animal fat intake and start eating more lean meats (turkey, lamb, chicken)

* Increase our vegetable intake (the more color to the food usually indicates the healthier the food)

* Increase our fish intake (fish that are wild and not farm raised contain more nutrients)

* ELIMINATE all sodas (especially diet soda, since it contains artificial sugar that is a neurotoxin) --> Next weeks blog will go far into depth about diet soda