If you didn’t see my first post about this topic, here is a tiny bit of background:

A book called The Blue Zones was written by Dan Buettner.  He visited four places that had a high percentage of centenarians and the book outlines some of the reasons for this higher than average longevity.

Here is a synopsis of location #2 – Okinawa, Japan:

Reasons for the long lives of Okinawans, as written in “The Blue Zones”:

1. Have a “Reason to get up” in the morning.  In Japanese, the word for this is ikigai.  The Okinawans seem to have a strong sense of purpose, responsibility, and feel they are needed, no matter what age they are.

2. Eat a primarily plant-based diet.  The centenarians in Okinawa have eaten plant-based food for most of their lives.  This consists of lots of stir-fried vegetables, sweet potatoes, tofu, and a type of melon called Goya.  Pork is eaten occasionally but only for ceremonial reasons and always in small portions.  (This sounds like Sardinia, yes?)

3. Tend your Garden. Most of the Okinawans either still gardened in their 90′s and 100′s or at least had a garden for a long time in their younger years.  This is a superb way to get daily exercise and get fresh food to cook!

4. Eat Soy.  There is a lot of tofu and miso soup in the Okinawan diet.  Tofu has flavonoids, which are great for the body.  Miso, which is fermented soy, helps keep the intestines healthy and has essential enzymes.  It’s important not to boil miso though, when using it in recipes.  This kills the enzymes.  With soy, it’s also important to have the most pure sources of it that you can.  Various soy products are added to lots of foods these days, but it’s not the same as having, say, tofu, and can actually be dangerous.

5. Maintain a Moai. This word infers a kind of social group.  It’s something common in Okinawa and essentially a group of people decide informally to form a moai.  These people then can count on each other in times of stress, sadness, emotional difficulties, or even during financial hardship.

6. Enjoy the Sunshine. When the body is exposed to sunlight on a regular basis, the body produces Vitamin D, which is an essential vitamin and one that is harder to get strictly through diet.  This promotes stronger bones and generally healthier bodies.  This is not giving you free reign to sun bathe all hours of the day, by the way, but a little bit of sunshine each day does a great thing for your body!

7. Stay active. Okinawans walk a lot, garden, and actually have very little furniture in the house.  They often sit on mats on the floor to eat or read.  This keeps lower body strength good (getting up and down off the floor) and maintains good balance.  Many elderly people end up being incapacitated by falls, so both strength and balance are important to practice each and every day.

8. Plant a Medicinal Garden.  Okinawans consume a few things on a daily basis that are known for their medicinal qualities.  These are ginger, turmeric, and mugwort.

9. Have the right Attitude. Many of the people Dan Buettner spoke to in Okinawa had significant hardships while growing up and even into their middle aged years.  The great thing is that they seem to leave the feelings about these hardships in the past (but not forget them) and enjoy the great pleasures life has to offer them now. They have personalities that make people want to be around them and they make sure to keep younger people around them, no matter how old they get.

There is one other thing I took from reading the book that wasn’t listed as one of the main factors for longevity – it is a phrase that goes like this “Hara Hachi Bu”. This is something said before each meal and it means “Eat until you are 80% full.”  That is probably something we could all do.

The third blue zone is Loma Linda, California.  I’ll post about this soon.

To your health,

Kimberly