Tips from the longest lived women on earth
It took me a couple days to convince Gozei Shinzato to show me her "anti-aging supplements" while I was doing research in Okinawa, Japan, one of the original Blue Zones regions and home to the world’s longest-living women. I wanted to see, firsthand, what had helped this energetic and spry 104-year-old age so gracefully.
She eventually showed me her secrets in the garden she still tended every day. Her "supplements" were sweet potatoes, soybeans, a wild green called mugwort, turmeric, and bitter melon. Besides a plant-slant diet, Shinzato was a lifelong Buddhist, gardened every day, socialized with neighbors every afternoon, and had a lifelong group of friends (her "moai") that she hung out with a couple days a week. Before her meals, she murmured hara hachi bu, a Confucian adage that reminded her to stop eating when she was 80 percent full.
Top Longevity Foods from Okinawa:
- Sweet Potatoes
- Garlic
- Turmeric
- Bitter Melons
- Brown Rice
- Tofu
- Shiitake Mushrooms
- Seaweeds
- Green Tea
Here are some recipes from the meal planner that contain some of those Longevity Foods:
TOFU BREAKFAST SCRAMBLE
FULLY LOADED MISO SOUP
LOADED MEXICAN SWEET POTATO
Enjoy!
Dan and the Blue Zones Meal Planner Team