Okinawa Diet

[Ninanina]

When I was a bit younger I was told I was the perfect size 10.... well that is some time ago and I now find myself not the perfect anything :doh:

So I thought it time to do something about the weight that seems to have found itself into places that I didn't even know I had !!!:stalks:

The only other diet I have ever been on was the Atkins Diet which to be fair I really enjoyed but having tried it again I didn't get on with it at all

So as I have always been interested in Eastern diets, and in particular the Japanese diet, I read about the Okinawan's and their life expectancy, which is one of the highest in the world, I thought about trying to replicate their diet

I have now done a shop for the Okinawan diet ingredients and I have to say it does seem to be the most nutritious and healthy way of eating. Their food is all to do with 'calorific density'

I certainly won't tell anyone what I currently weigh but I've made a spreadsheet to keep an eye on things...... I'll let you know how I get on

Will I ever get to a 10 again? well I doubt that at my age but you can always dream can't you? :D

[The Grand Wazoo]

I read about the Okinawan's and their life expectancy, which is one of the highest in the world, I thought about trying to replicate their diet
So you don't lose weight, you just die old and fat?!?!

[Ninanina]

So you don't lose weight, you just die old and fat?!?!

Well I hope not Chris.... :lol:

The idea is to loose some weight AND extend life....:D

[The Grand Wazoo]

So what's on the menu for your first scoffing session then?

[Ninanina]

So what's on the menu for your first scoffing session then?

My first was:

Miso soup with lean chicken sliced into tiny pieces, with tiny sliced onions, tiny sliced green beans, tiny sliced red chilli, sliced tiger prawns with a dash of sesame oil, and to follow: two helpings of nori seaweed wrapped sushi with wasabi and served with sushi pickled ginger and sushi vinegar.... however this time I put too much wasabi on the nori.... boy it was HOT !!

[Yomanze]

Nice go easy on the soy though as this stuff is like salt in how it should be consumed. :)

[Ninanina]

Nice go easy on the soy though as this stuff is like salt in how it should be consumed. :)

Yes I think soy is pretty bad for you too, I have none in the cupboard so I'm not tempted to use it ;)

[nat8808]

Shouldn't the whole of an Okinawan's life style be replicated rather than just one aspect, their diet?

But the biggest thing is that these folks living a long life are a result of their lifestyles some 50-80 years ago or so! Back then in somewhere like Okinawa, there would be no western diets with refined sugars, lots of hard slog labour, food grown locally without chemicals and fresh seafood caught that very day! Probably also a LOT of fasting with hard times of no food - eating hardly anything is associated scientifically with slower aging.

There might also be a kind of genetic bias towards long life if it's a relatively isolated area.


Then there are other things like an indigineous person's life-long aclimatisation to the local diet which is quite important.

For example when a Japanese eats seaweed which they've been eating all their lives, the bacteria in their gut can break this down into all sorts of good nutrients. Where do these bacteria come from? They come from the seaweed itself and over the years these bacteria - who have themselves evolved to life on the seaweed and break it down efficiently - end up in the gut of the human and so their guts can extract a lot from it. Someone from the UK for example eating seaweed for the first time will get a lot less from it, and it will pass through with nothing to have broken it down so efficiently.

I think it is much better to adapt healthy lifestyles and eating habits more in line with your local area - that also includes good mental health which probably means less 24 hr News and tv to stress us all out or politics or radio talk shows to make us angry, more walking about for the hell of it, lots of social activity and fewer obsessions like hifi!

Let's face it too, the internet is definately BAD for our health in sooo many ways.

I'll start my new healthy lifestyle... err, tomorrow!

[Ninanina]

Nat I am quite sure you are correct....

Well I thought I'd make a start anyhow... even if there is no weight loss and no life extension there is no doubt in my mind that the Eastern diet is better for you generally

[Andrei]

Nice go easy on the soy though as this stuff is like salt in how it should be consumed. :)
Nice to see other Sushi makers on the forum! You probably know this already but you can get low salt soy sauce - in fact I prefer it to regular soy.

[walpurgis]

Pizza, sausage, egg & chips, booze & fags! Highly recommended!!

It'll eventually finish you off, but you'll die, not necessarily contented, but having BEEN contented.

[Ninanina]

Nice to see other Sushi makers on the forum! You probably know this already but you can get low salt soy sauce - in fact I prefer it to regular soy.

Thanks Andrei I will look out for the reduced salt soy next time i'm in my local Chinese food market ;)

[Ninanina]

Pizza, sausage, egg & chips, booze & fags! Highly recommended!!

It'll eventually finish you off, but you'll die, not necessarily contented, but having BEEN contented.

He he he.....

Well I eat pizza very rarely, the only sausages I like are Wild Boar which are tricky to get hold of, I quite like egg and chips and booze.... but I did knock fags on the head about 5 years ago... I still have the odd craving but it's getting less as time goes by

[Ninanina]

Now what yummy recipe can I come up with for tomorrow (just seen the time, so actually for today!!)

I think it may involve some very juicy tiger prawns....

[walpurgis]

Now what yummy recipe can I come up with for tomorrow (just seen the time, so actually for today!!)

I think it may involve some very juicy tiger prawns....

No. Go traditional. Steamed Dover Sole with lemon/parsley/butter dressing, Asparagus in butter, baby new potatoes boiled in their skins and some fresh garden peas!

I nearly forgot to add. I can cook this to perfection (and just about anything else).

[Ninanina]

No. Go traditional. Steamed Dover Sole with lemon/parsley/butter dressing, Asparagus in butter, baby new potatoes boiled in their skins and some fresh garden peas!

I nearly forgot to add. I can cook this to perfection (and just about anything else).

Now if when I go fishing I could actually catch a nice flatty fish like that I'd do something like that with it, never mind the diet, but without the potatoes as they just go straight to my thighs.... nightmare :doh:

I am probably fishing off the beach on Friday so wish me luck.... I need it !!

My lovely Mum sends me Asparagus through the post from their local farm....it's simply yummy...probably my favourite veggie :)

[nat8808]

Maybe one good trick would be to not think about food whatsoever, just go to the shops to get some healthy stuff in and when hungry make something small from what you bought.

One odd thing I see (ok, rarely - don't pay much attention to people's diets) when people want to go on diets is that they're constantly thinking about food and planning meals and day dreaming about what they're going to eat next!

Then again, it doesn't seem to be in my nature to think about food until I'm hungry and at which point it's a chore, like spinning plates to keep myself going. Of course I like a good taste sensation when I'm actually eating it.. I just have to stop myself from buying cakes when hungry out at the shops and eating them in an evening instead of anything else!

[Ninanina]

Much more importantly I'm now going to listen to some more toons... ;)

[Ninanina]

lots of hard slog labour

I'll just go and get my oxen and toil away in the field.... :eek:

[nat8808]

I'll just go and get my oxen and toil away in the field.... :eek:

Or carry large amplifiers on your back from the boot of the car to upstairs! Modern equivalent .

I'm thinking of some kind of Rocky IV, training in the snow montage... but with amps and speakers!

[Effem]

Maybe one good trick would be to not think about food whatsoever, just go to the shops to get some healthy stuff in and when hungry make something small from what you bought.

One odd thing I see (ok, rarely - don't pay much attention to people's diets) when people want to go on diets is that they're constantly thinking about food and planning meals and day dreaming about what they're going to eat next!

Then again, it doesn't seem to be in my nature to think about food until I'm hungry and at which point it's a chore, like spinning plates to keep myself going. Of course I like a good taste sensation when I'm actually eating it.. I just have to stop myself from buying cakes when hungry out at the shops and eating them in an evening instead of anything else!

TIP: Never go food shopping on an empty belly ;)

[walpurgis]

TIP: Never go food shopping on an empty belly ;)

I usually go on my feet. Looks far less ungainly. :)

[nat8808]

Yeah, not only do I get stared at and approached by security, I come back with a load of cake and cookies to tide me over until dinner.