Ever heard of Okinawa?

So today I thought I would write a little about different cultures and their diets and compare them to our standard American diet and let you see for yourselves the amazing differences in overall health and longevity...
Take your typical American family and imagine them going food shopping at the local supermarket. Thousands and thousands of prepackaged foods to choose from, loaded with sugar, preservatives, chemicals and food dyes stand neatly on shelves. Fruits and vegetables that have been shipped from as far away as New Zea land gather in massive bins in the produce section. Dairy and meat products from animals that have been treated with numerous growth hormones and antibiotics and that were fed foods unsuitable for consumption, sit in shiny plastic wrappings and colorful containers screaming for your attention.
Finding real, whole foods in America is hard to come by. Even our organic foods are depleted of vitamins and minerals due to environmental contaminants.
How about the overall health of our country? Diabetes, heart disease, obesity, childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, insomnia, infertility, digestive issues, autism are just a few of the many problems our people face today.

Now lets take a look at the people of Okinawa, Japan, who are known (through much research) to be the healthiest and longest living population in the world!
Their diets? Lots of fresh, wild, unpolluted fish. They eat a lot of sea vegetables like seaweed and kelp which are loaded with minerals that we Americans don't really have in our food supply anymore. They have natural, fermented soy beans, not the kind that comes in boxes and packages. They eat a lot of whole grains, nuts and seeds and only pure foods, grown locally. They consume very, very small amounts of meat and dairy. All of these foods provide the people of Okinawa an amazingly nutrient rich diet, full of everything they need to stay healthy and live long! They also spend a lot of time outdoors in their fields, doing manual labor that a lot of us here have no need to do anymore. This helps keep their bodies young and strong as well.

The people of Crete, a small island off Greece, consume a Mediterranean diet. This consists of olive oil, wines, chemical free dairy from GOATS (more easily digestible than sheep), a lot of fermented foods and very small amounts of red meat. They also eat a lot of berries and whole grains. They are the longest living and healthiest Mediterranean population. Although in general the Mediterranean diet is healthy, it is being very much influenced by the American diet, and the people of Crete are eating the purest form of the Mediterranean diet now a days. Heart disease is 17x more likely in America than on these two islands!

So, what do you say? Can we all take the time this week to get out and exerice and to buy at least one food that's unprocessed, organic or whole? Even if its just one item for yourself or your family, it will make a big difference!
Have a great day everyone!
Mishi