The Okinawa Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and Never Feel Hungry

The elders of Okinawa, Japan, are among the leanest and longest-lived people on earth. These Okinawans--many in their eighties, nineties, and beyond--maintain an unprecedented quality of life. More than any other population, older
Okinawans are slim and agile, and their minds are clear and lucid. Few suffer the lifestyle-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity that are so common in their western counterparts.

In their New York Times bestseller The Okinawa Program, Drs. Bradley and Craig Willcox and Makoto Suzuki shared important insights about these unique and amazingly healthy people from their landmark twenty-five-year Okinawa Centenarian Study. The latest findings from that study are proving even more surprising: the elders do not gain weight with age.

The secrets behind this discovery are twofold: the Okinawans' calorie-light diet and their active lifestyle, which results in leaner and more "metabolically efficient" bodies that stay slimmer, healthier, and more youthful as they age. In The Okinawa Diet Plan, Drs. Willcox, Willcox, and Suzuki adapt traditional Okinawan dietary principles for a delicious blend of East and West so that anyone can reap these very same benefits. The authors' Caloric Density Index and the Caloric Density Pyramid, developed from the study's latest findings, debunk the myths of trendy diet gurus and provide a revolutionary approach to eating, health, weight loss, and weight maintenance that is easy to follow and simple to maintain. This approach allows Okinawans to eat more food than the typical American diet, and still weigh less--and you can too. With more than 150 delicious recipes that incorporate foods low in caloric density, The Okinawa Diet Plan offers dozens of satisfying meal options. Conveniently divided into three tracks--western, eastern, and fusion--and with healthy options for both vegetarians and meat eaters alike, their program provides all the benefits of calorie restriction without deprivation. With dietary guidelines, cooking techniques, an eight-week turnaround plan, and other unique resources, The Okinawa Diet Plan is a breakthrough concept in healthy weight loss and maintenance.

BRADLEY J. WILCOX, M.D., M.Sc., received his medical degree from the University of Toronto and trained in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic and geriatric medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an internationally recognized expert on healthy aging, a U.S. National Institute on Aging–funded scientist, and a principal investigator in geriatrics for the Pacific Health Research Institute. Dr. Willcox is Co-Principal Investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study and Assistant Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawaii.

D. CRAIG WILCOX, Ph.D., M.H.Sc., is a noted medical anthropologist and internationally recognized expert in cross-cultural gerontology. He is Assistant Professor at Okinawa Prefectural University–College of Nursing and Co-Principal Investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study, an NIH/Japan Ministry of Health–funded study of the genetic and lifestyle determinants of exceptional longevity. Dr. Willcox trained in medical anthropology, gerontology, and public health science at the University of Toronto and the University of the Ryukyus.

MAKOTO SUZUKI, M.D., Ph.D., is a cardiologist and geriatrician. He is Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Department of Community Medicine at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan. Currently, Dr. Suzuki is Professor of Human Welfare at Okinawa International University, where he teaches geriatrics. He is also founder and Principal Investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study, now entering its twenty-eighth year. Dr. Suzuki is an internationally recognized expert on aging and health, with more than 200 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.