Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Guide to Healthy Aging and Healthy Weight
Review: As an Okinawan public health nurse I can say proudly that older Okinawans (ages 65-plus) have been and still are the world's longest-lived people, despite what some less informed people might say. In fact, the older generations far outlive all other Japanese, who are the world's longest-lived country, by a highly statistically significant several years in fact. The Okinawans have been Japan's longest-lived and healthiest people since records have been kept and only recently have the younger ones, with the invasion of American fast food and Japanese white rice (sweet potato was the main carbohydrate in the old days), become less healthy than other Japanese.
The elders, whom Drs. Willcox and Suzuki write about in their outstanding books, ARE truly remarkable. In my ten years as a public health nurse I have not seen a single case of breast cancer and prostate and colon cancers are rare. Few elders die of heart attacks or other unnatural causes. The leading cause of death is simply old age and a recent autopsy study of an Okinawan centenarian showed that she had no cholesterol in her coronary arteries and was healthy until the end. That is typical of the elders I see every day.
If you wish to learn the health and weight secrets of the older Okinawans I would urge you to buy the OKINAWA PROGRAM or the OKINAWA DIET PLAN. Drs. Willcox and Suzuki have done a wonderful job in laying out the facts, translating their research findings into a highly appealing program that keeps you lean, fit and energetic, just like the elders. AND they have kept their books interesting and full of beautiful stories of my healing culture with meal plans that appeal to both East and West. I am so proud that someone has finally told the world the real facts about the world's healthiest people !!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, but You Need Something Else
Review: Good book. I recommend it. But you need something more for it to work. Something else to get you on and stay on such a diet. The Okinawans are able to live well on a diet of up to 40% less calories than the average Japanese. And get all the health benefits and great longevity. But they have the support of their culture and community and lifestyle. There's none of this for most Americans and people in Europe. That's why in addition to this book, I recommend The ImmorTalist Manifesto (available on Amazon). It is a perfect companion to this book. And will give you the powerful philosophy needed to get on and stay on a diet like The Okinawan Diet. The ImmorTalist Manifesto is by Elixxir, described by Marilyn Much of Investor's Business Daily as "the only anti-aging guru who has actually stayed young." Visit Elixxir's website and see his pic. Seeing is believing!
Rating: 
Summary: The secrets of longevity unveiled?
Review: I have often read journalistic accounts of centenarians from different parts of the world - Central Asia, Andes, and other places. And I was quite surprised to read, when I stumbled upon this book, that most claims from different parts of the world about longevity can be debunked for different reasons. This book however takes a different view of longevity in Okinawa, a group of islands in Southern Japan, where it cites twenty five years of studies and evidence pointing to a systematic pattern of diet and lifestyle habits which underpin a high rate of centenarians in the population. While I expect most readers to be looking for concrete health and diet guidance, which this books offers in abundance, I also found this systematic approach to studying longevity quite intriguing in and of itself. Much of the books focuses on the specificities of Okinawan diet and lifestyle. However,the most interesting feature is how the book puts this discussion in a broader frmaework of what constitutes healthy diet and lifestyle. The book is replete with general information, including diet and exercise tables, charts and statistics of vitamins, food groups, disease incidence, step fitness based on post-exercise hear rates,etc. all of which make it an interesting and fairly comprehensive general guide to healthy living. Some of the food charts are the most extensive I have seen in a general non-specialist health guide of this type. The authors are a team of two brothers - an internist and a medical anthropologist - and a Japanese cardiologist, all three of whom have a special focus on geriatrics. The writing is very clear and direct, and avoids throwing out jargon without careful explanation. It is therefore a very accessible book for the general reader, even given the impressive breadth of topics and depth (which it achieves in almost 500 pages). I did not feel compelled to choose all aspects of Okinawan lifestyle - nor did I feel that this was a heavyhanded message in this book. The message is that there is much useful experience and insight to be gained from looking at Okinawans whose diet and lifestyle can be adapated to other parts of the world. However, much as I enjoyed most of the book, I often wondered about how really more rigorous it is than other books on the same general subject. There were several parts where the link to concrete data did not seem any more robust than claims made in many other health guides which tend to only vaguely cite medical research and evidence. Still, this book compares quite favorably to the other popular books on healthy living.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Program But Not Okinawan
Review: 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!). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: Medical Magic
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Okinawa food come from China
Review: Okinawa was a part of China, before Japan occupied. So, their food basically Chinese food. Therefore, they live longer than Japanese.
Rating:
Summary: Watch out for the hype.
Review: Okinawans no longer have the greatest longevity in Japan, therefore in the world, and they never had a significant lead. During the past year or so they have been superseded by at least two other Japanese prefectures. It is important to realize that the difference between the Okinawan people's longevity and that of some other Japanese prefectures never was great enough to be statistically significant; it was no more than two or three months of difference--in life spans exceeding 80 years! Furthermore, the people in those other prefectures are culturally and ethnically very different from the Okinawans. Their lifestyles and, for the most part, their diets just are not the same, yet they enjoy lives just as long or longer than the Okinawans do. Suzuki's work (I have seen pieces of it outside this book) is important because it begins to identify basic, general diet and lifestyle elements that are associated with longevity in any culture, but the Willcox brothers, who seem to know very little about Okinawa or Japan but have a lot of marketing savvy, have added so much new age fashion and dreamworld conjecture, if not outright falsehood, that the book is little more than hype as it comes from their hands. Suzuki and his work have been elbowed out of the way in the creation of a book aimed at exploiting fad followers and the gullible. This I know from having lived in Okinawa and Japan for over twenty years, and that is among the people, not in some expat enclave or doing the martial arts or spirituality thing. And this I know from having seen Japanese newspaper and television documentary presentations of Suzuki's work. The essence of his findings is that longevity is closely associated with moderate consumption of mostly whole foods, preferably fresh, with limited quantities of animal flesh, and light consumption of alcohol if you must, all in a lifestyle characterized by moderate but very regular exercise gained through daily activities and continuing into old age, close, generally harmonious family and community ties and a very relaxed attitude toward life--and to a people's growing lots of their own vegetables to help make ends meet. It might be noted that the Okinawans' historically moderate diet is tied basically to the relatively low per-capita income of the prefecture, and that the other areas in Japan with similar or greater longevity have similarly low income rates. The people do not live in outright poverty, but of necessity many of them do live frugally, and that limits caloric intake. It is not so much that they have a low fat diet, or that any one aspect of their diet is vitally important or some sort of secret gift or "program," except this: that they eat a great variety of mostly whole, home prepared food always in moderation. Younger Okinawans, blessed with all the modern conveniences, including cars, fast food and the vast selection of instant or factory prepared foods now stocked by supermarkets throughout Japan, are beginning to struggle with obesity and alarming rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis and so on. (Sound familiar?) There is no great secret here and, as of reading this, if you did not already know (most people do these days), you now know the simple secrets of longevity. You do not need this book and all the extraneous hype the brothers Willcox have put into it.
Rating:
Summary: HEALTH, VIGOR AND VITALITY AT ITS FINEST!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, but You Need Something Else
Review: The secret of Okinawan longevity, of course, is that
they practice caloric restriction. There is nothing mystical
about their diet other than it being many fewer calories.
For 70 years, CR has been shown to significantly extend
lifespan in all animals tested. Recently, a scientist
at Harvard Medical School found a way to tweak the same
gene/enzyme into overload that CR does (it activates
the same longevity gene/enzyme) using a plant polyphenol
called "Resveratrol". The research on Resveratrol's anti-cancer,
anti-stroke, pro-lung-function and now longevity effects are
voluminous. You don't need to starve yourself
on *any* diet in order to live longer and better.
Just get the right Resveratrol supplement (in pill form) into your diet.
I won't advocate any particular supplement but suffice it to say that
there is only one that is bio-available and will tweak the same
gene/enzyme that Okinawans tweak through their near-starvation
diet. I'm on it. So's my wife. So's my best friend. That is all
I can say.
Rating:
Summary: The Best and Healthiest Diet Yet!
Review: This book has so much information and makes so much sense!! I just wished I had found this book first, before buying all those other diet books! I just love what it says on the back cover - "If Americans lived more like the Okinawans, 80 percent of the nation's coronary care units, one-third of the cancer wards, and a lot of the nursing homes would be shut down." Some friends of ours (living in the bay area) had severe health problems - they moved to Okinawa several years ago - I've just recently heard from them - they have the best health, more energy and will probably outlive us all!! Wow, I am so impressed!! Even, Andrew Weil M.D. wrote - "As you will learn in this scientifically factual and highly readable book, the general principles of living the Okinawa way ... are accessible to everyone and quite consistent with the latest medical research on healthy lifestyles and healthy aging." He is author of "Spontaneous Healing and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. Much Health To All - And Well Being!
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