It's not all about nutrition. Having a social network of supportive friends also contributes to a long and happy life. And this has been statistically proven. Even the love of a pet will help reduce blood pressure. I personally believe that living a life filled with zest and joy helps the immune system to fight disease.

A recent newspaper article about a centenarian birthday party in Sun City, attended by about 20 some celebrants, asked the age old question to one 101 year old man. What advice do you have to live a long life? His reply "I can't give any advice since I still smoke and drink" he said as he climbed in his car and drove away. This guy, in my opinion, will eventually die with a big smile on his face.


http://www.tampabay.com/news/humanin...member/2111580


Notice how few men are in the photo.

I won't even get into all of the misrepresentations in your post I will just make an observation on your title. Your title is not accurate, you say "disease prevention" and then go on to state "Okinawans have only 6 breast cancer deaths per one hundred thousand people " that's not prevention, it may be reduction but it's certainly not prevention.

If you reread Gracie's post, she suggested you may need to go back and read all of Village PL's posts, in order to understand the true perspective, not just the current one.
We are in reruns here.

You are right on target, Barefoot! Great advice!

My diet is mostly plant based but not completely plant based. I often put one teaspoon of olive oil in a dish of soup for flavoring. That's for taste. 2 or 3 teaspoons of olive oil would taste the same, so there's no point in using more.

I bet I could find a lot of faults with your diet. But one would have to be confident to put their diet out for everyone to see. And I don't know of anyone else who has done it.

Yes, it does. 0 + 0 = 0 :icon_wink:

Absolutely! And it has been proved scientifically. High calorie foods (even in moderation) equate to a shorter lifespan.

The lowest calorie whole-foods diet yields the longest lifespan, on average.
And to the extent you increase calories, lifespan gets shorter.

And it doesn't mean you have to count calories. You just have to be aware of the difference between high calorie processed foods and natural whole foods.

I should have made it clear in my opening post that I was referring to the Okinawan lifestyle as set forth in the book "The Okinawa Program". That book was the result of a 25 year study. At that time, Okinawans were the healthiest and longest lived people in the world. When the book was written, several years ago, the authors mentioned that lifestyle standards were declining. For example, I believe there were already one or two McDonald's restaurants and the younger generation was slowly acquiring a taste fast food.

That's why the 25 year study and the book are so valuable. It's a snapshot in time of a healthy lifestyle. In the future, we may never have another example like it to follow.

As far as eating a lot of pork: That may very well be true today but at the time of the study, their total consumption of animal protein was only about 15 % of their diet, on average. By comparison, the total amount of animal protein consumed by Americans was about 52%, on average.

Sweet potatoes: Back in the very early days when there was a drastic shortage of food, they ate a lot of sweet potatoes to keep from starving.

I won't disagree with that in general. It certainly shouldn't hurt to have a social network and it might help. But suppose a person has high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease because of being overweight or obese? And suppose that person's friends like to go out to eat fast food? Is that going to help or hurt?

At best, a dog might shave a couple of points off of high blood pressure. So it's not a cure for high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.

Zest and joy, oh boy! :) That's definitely a plus but lets put it together with a healthy diet. Let's not eat all the wrong foods and then try to fix it with "zest and joy". I've seen people try to do that and it works up to a point but then they develop all kinds of health issues in their older years.

People absolutely love stories like that because it means that maybe their bad habits won't hurt them either. When he says he drinks, it may be something as harmless as 4 ounces of wine with a meal. And it has been speculated by doctors that the harm from smoking can be offset by a diet that is high in antioxidants. Many years ago, there were some Okinawans who were known to smoke into very old age without any health issues. But if a smoker eats the standard American diet of highly processed foods, I wouldn't count on living to any advanced old age.

There was a story of a woman in France who lived to be about 115 or older. When they asked her to what she attributed her longevity, she said she quit smoking when she was 100 years old. But the media never try to get the whole story. I believe she lived in the country where people grow and eat their own fruit and vegetables and don't eat processed foods.

Also, no one knows how much they smoked. When I was in high school, my best friend's father smoked exactly one cigarette per day, after dinner. He would get it from his son who smoked a pack a day.

About dying with a smile: I only smoked for 15 years but I grew to hate it. I hated it but had a difficult time quiting. In my opinion, there's nothing to smile about when it comes to smoking addiction. It stinks!


Also notice that men are bigger, taller and stronger than women. And they pay a price for it. The bigger you are, the more calories you need to sustain yourself. And this is what I just finished telling someone else. The higher the number of calories your diet calls for, the shorter your lifespan will be.

You keep telling yourself that, VP. Using your interpretation I have no doubt it's true.

...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
That's why I went back and changed the word from "deserve" to "qualified".
If you're satisfied with moderate health and a moderate lifespan that's your choice. I love life and expect to have the best health and live a long long life.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
...And it has been proved scientifically...

:BigApplause:

In ones own mind and in their own mental world anything can be true to them, no medical credentials, medical training, or experience here to base anything on...much less science...just conjecture based on opinion, biased surveys to promote a cause, and self serving half truths..there are many many more contributing factors to health than just diet. Good diets do not guarantee good health, bad diets do not guarantee bad health, and good diets do not guarantee we will live longer. God will decide how long we live not us by eating a certain way. If one is blessed with good heath they should be thankful instead of disparaging others, guess the previous post had the best idea..the least said the better...

I doubt that I would love it. I don't speak Japanese and I wouldn't like eating restaurant food 3 times a day. What would be the point of it? Anyway, it's my patriotic duty ;) to stay here to help make The Villages "America's healthiest hometown." And I can help just by being here, being healthy without taking prescription drugs, and setting a good example for others.

It would help if you would give your source of information.

In what way would my facts be skewed? If they enjoy good health, in spite of limited access to good health care, that makes their good health and longevity all the more amazing.


Lets not get carried away. I don't follow the Okinawan diet completely as it is presented in the book. I only used it as an example of the benefits one can get from a low calorie diet. I would never bet my life (as if it would be a big risk) on one source. As far as their lives being perfect, who said that?


Well, then we are in agreement!

Is that cellar in your restaurant?

I did find some information in the book, "The Okinawa Program", that was based on the 25-year study of Okinawa. It was conducted by 2 American doctors and 1 Japanese doctor, and they were the authors of the book that came out in 2001. You can say it's outdated if you want to, but the point of the study is to provide a snapshot in time of a healthy lifestyle.

At the time of the study, the world rankings for longevity were as follows: (And the source of information was the World Health Organization, Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare)

....................Average Life expectancy
1) Okinawa...............81.2

2) Japan...................79.9

3) Hong Kong.............79.1

4) Sweden.................79.0

8) Italy......................78.3

10) Greece..................78.1

18) United States.........76.8

The authors claim that every city, town and village has had reliable birth and death statistics since 1879. And based on those statistics, Okinawa had the highest concentration of centenarians. In a population of 1.3 million, they had 400 centenarians. That's about 34 per 100,000 population. In the U.S. it was 5 to 10 per 100,000. That's a big difference.

The 3 doctors spent 25 years doing this study, they put their reputations and credibility on the line, so I'm sure they gave careful thought to providing accurate statistics.

It's not my interpretation, read the following book that was written by a highly qualified gereatrician/research doctor: "Beyond the 120-Year Diet" by Roy L. Walford, M.D. He provides a brief history of all the studies going back to the 1930s. These studies have been done over and over again all around the world to show a direct relationship between calorie consumption and lifespan.

I found it amazing that you scorned me by stating that it's all in my mind and my own mental world, and therefore, that's what makes it true to me. And then you state that God will decide how long we live. Is God not of your own mind and mental world?

I love reformed Smokers, Drinkers, Born Again Christains and diet experts.
I may say that PL has many valid points but sometimes our zeal for a thing gets in the way of others hearing the message.

You're talking about a difference of 27 out of 100,000. It's really pretty insignificant if you look at it that way.

There you've hit on the biggest reason (imho) you're getting resistance here, VP. You point to a book (or two or three) and claim your point is no longer disputable. It certainly still IS your interpretation and it IS disputable...with or without your references.

Absolutely not, faith, salvation, and a relationship with God are a heart work and not a work of the mind. With our hearts we believe and have faith, not our minds.

Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.



There is no purpose here except to argue and say look at me, me, me........how great I am doing and how bad you are doing if you are not like me and believe everything I say because I read a book, LOL...fact is everything is being taken from some other source, there are no personal qualifications to endorse anything....

I don't know how old you are but I suspect that sometime in the next 10, 20, 30 years you will find out the answer to that question for yourself. Just a clue to the answer, God is real!!! and thankfully God is unconditional Love!

I'm a reformed smoker but I have never claimed to be a diet expert. What is a diet expert anyway? Someone who has a degree? I have heard degreed "experts" say some pretty dumb things about diet. Although, they are usually the ones who work for the food industry, and there are a lot of them who do.

As far as "zeal" getting in the way, I kind of doubt it. I prefer to call it "being highly motivated". :thumbup:

It may be "cancer reduction" in the aggregate, when you compare one group to another. But when an individual picks an eating plan, he/she seeks to prevent cancer, not reduce it. Anyway, of the 6 who got cancer, we have no way of knowing if they followed the standard Okinawan diet. I don't think anyone expects 100% compliance.

When we pick an eating plan in an attempt to prevent cancer, all we can do is pick a plan that offers the least amount of risk. When it comes to diet and health there's no such thing as a "perfect diet". It's always about reducing risk.

VP you are right on your view of the proper diet. Like me, many others just can't live with a proper diet. I eat too much of the wrong food and drink to much etc. etc. Different from some of your tormentors on this thread, I know you are right, I just am a bad boy and do not follow the right diet. Not sure why so many choose to say you are wrong. Guilt perhaps or inability to admit to failure. Again, I have a terrible diet regime, but I do know that you are right so stick to your plan and you will outlive most of the ones on this tread that disagree with you.

Temporarily closed while under review. Thanks for your patience.