I was recently invited to my American-Okinawan girlfriend's family reunion in Naha city. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about the Okinawan culture and people. Since there seems to be a lot of controversy about what Okinawan people ACTUALLY eat, I thought I would share my anecdotal experiences. Here are some of the things I gathered from my visit...
The older Ryukyu culture that existed in Okinawa consumed a meat centric diet. This was then largely replaced with a Buddhist culture that avoids animal slaughter. In recent history (last couple centuries I gather? Although I cant be sure), most people consume fusion cuisines - borrowing from China / South-East Asian, Ryukyu, Japanese Buddhist foods. Okinawa is like Hawaii, it's a convergence point for many cultures. One thing is for certain, they aren't vegetarians. All of the Okinawan people I met eat meat - although in much smaller portions than westerners. In fact, most people eat less (and slower) in general -- which reinforces the whole CR thing.
At the reunion dinner, there was a lot of tofu, pork shoulder / pork belly, and fish served. My favorite food was chanpuru-- a stir fry made of bitter melon, fried egg, pork, tofu, and other vegetables. There was also big eye tuna eyeballs cooked in lard and seasoning. Hirayachi (a pancake like food) and lots of rice dominant dishes. Soki soba, a buckwheat and pork stirfry was tastey! At the markets, meat is sold in abundance. Beef is rare, but poltry, pork, goat, and seafood are common. It was interesting to see offal (organs) sold and consuned so commonly. Lots of fruit and vegetables. Curiously, I didn't see as much purple sweet potato.
There is no doubt that the Okinawa people consume some meat and don't shy away from saturated fat (no processed oils!). That said, they get lots of n-3 fats from seafood and eat a carbohydrate heavy diet that is rich in starches, and a vairety of fruits / vegetables. The purple sweet potatoes, which I heard were abundant in Okinawa, weren't as common as I thought. In fact, when I asked my girlfriend's grandmother (who is 88) about the sweet potato / longevity connection, she told me I was mistaken. Bittermelon, not sweet potato, is what the Okinawan people attribute their longevity to. People manage to combine bittermelon in all kinds of different cuisines.
So, is there a scientifically established link between bittermelon and longevity?
According to Wikipedia:
"Bitter Melon contains four very promising bioactive compounds. These compounds activate a protein called AMPK, which is well known for regulating fuel metabolism and enabling glucose uptake, processes which are impaired in diabetics. "We can now understand at a molecular level why bitter melon works as a treatment for diabetes," said David James, director of the diabetes and obesity program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. "By isolating the compounds we believe to be therapeutic, we can investigate how they work together in our cells."[8][9][10][11][12][13] Bitter melon contains a lectin that has insulin-like activity. The insulin-like bioactivity of this lectin is due to its linking together 2 insulin receptors. This lectin lowers blood glucose concentrations by acting on peripheral tissues and, similar to insulin's effects in the brain, suppressing appetite. This lectin is likely a major contributor to the hypoglycemic effect that develops after eating bitter melon and why it may be a way of managing adult-onset diabetes. Lectin binding is non-protein specific, and this is likely why bitter melon has been credited with immunostimulatory activity—by linking receptors that modulate the immune system, thereby stimulating said receptors."
Does eating less and artificially lowering blood glucose contribute to longevity? It seems like a reasonable supposition...
On a side note..There was more fat people than I expected! But much much less than America.
Edited by Skötkonung, 16 November 2010 - 07:59 PM.
