Welcome to my Japanese diet information site
Japanese people have the longest life span in the world. Statistics revealed in 2004, show the average life span of a Japanese female is 85 years of age and 78 for men.
There are many potential factors which have an affect on the average human life span, but one of the overwhelming factors has to be a healthy diet.
Continue reading the introduction to Japanese diet information.
Soba Noodles |
Soba Noodles |
Green Tea |
Miso |
Seaweed |
Edamame |
Tofu |
Konnyaku |
Wasabi |
Nator |
Goya |
The UK Times online reviews several different diets including French, Japanese and Eskimo diets.
“Too much salt in the Japanese diet leads to high blood pressure, stroke and stomach cancer.”
Not surprisingly Japanese researchers have found that the traditional Japanese diet is healthier than a western one.
The ground down a mixture of hamburgers and chicken for the western diet and fish for the Japanese diet and feed it to rats.
The study found that several genes that work to break down cholesterol and fat were 1.5 times more active in the mice which received the Japanese menu as opposed to those fed with American food.
The study also found that the level of cholesterol was 10 percent higher in the American-food fed mice.
The Japanese goverment is concerned of the increase in obesity and related illnesses in Japan.
According to the health ministry, metabolic syndrome sufferers number 9.4 million among those aged between 40 and 74, and incipient sufferers are estimated to be 10.2 million in this particular age group. One in two men and one in five women in this group are at risk of the syndrome, according to the estimate.
Source
A new book by Andrew Weil includes Japanese ingredients for healthy eating, it is titled, “Healthy Aging”.
I’m very careful about omega 3 fatty acids. I eat salmon, sardines, walnuts, fish oil supplements, and good-quality green tea daily.
I eat organic fruits and vegetables, berries of all kinds, cabbage. And I eat soy products, edamame and tofu.
An American health magazine voted the following to be the most healthiest foods in the world:
Spanish olive oil
Japanese soy sauce
Greek yoghurt
Indian lentils
Korean kimchi
“Japan has loads of great female marathon runners, so there must be something in it,” said Yamauchi, who is taking a Japanese cookery course.
Source
There is a good article on extending your lifespan from the Age newspaper.
Outside the laboratory, the benefits of a low-calorie diet are vividly demonstrated in the Okinawa Centenarian Study. The 1.27 million inhabitants of the Japanese island consume a diet rich in green vegetables, sweet potato and fish – more than a third fewer calories than the average American intake. The Okinawans avoid many of the diseases of ageing and boast a record rate of centenarians – 34 per 100,000 people (more than triple the rate in Australia).
The Japanese government is creating a plan to promote nutrition education in schools.
The draft plan also sounds the alarm over the rising number of people who do not eat breakfast — 4 percent of primary school children, 30 percent of males in their 20s and 23 percent of males in their 30s.
Source
A Japanese company has devised a way to use Fuicoidan, a seaweed extract in cosmetics.
The processed extract can be used as a moisturizer, and is said to be oderless and allergic-free.
It has been been included in the diet of Okinawa islanders for centuries and is attributed as one of the reasons why the region has one of the world’s highest rates of longevity.
Further reading.
There seems to be almost daily news on the benefits of drinking green tea. Personally, I cannot get enough of the healthy drink.
This time a Japanese study has said that green tea can reduce the risk of dementia.
They study, “found those who drank two or more cups of green tea a day were 50 percent less likely to show cognitive impairment than those who drank three cups or less a week.”
Source.
