The Okinawa Program Myths...

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

"The Okinawa Program" by Wilcox, Wilcox and Suzuki is a very good book that outlines various things in the Okinawan lifestyle that lead to good health and longevity. Overall it's wonderful.

But it's not all true - or Okinawan.

p256

"A basic meditation technique.. was taught to us by an Okinawan sensei.."

The implication (without saying so) seems to be that as a whole Okinawans meditate. They do not.

The rest of the chapter full of techniques to reset your internal clock to 'okinawa time" include such things as "reseting time, refiguring emotions (this is a taosit meditation by the way), the sun god uh song that the author turned into a meditation, breathe your stress away, etc.

All of these techniques are wonderful: But they are not things practiced in general by Okinawans. Their low stress is due to viewpoint as opposed to specific practices to "counteract" stress.

The book is full of wonderful ideas for doing things to improve your health. The thing that I found funny was that even though the book was great, very few of the suggested practices actually had anything to do with how people actually live on Okinawa.

One section I liked in the book:

pg 149 Ten healing foods and herbs- These are actually used on Okinawa (compare to the next section whihc deals with western herbs which generally are not used here).

Basically the book is a hybrid: Some great facts about Okinawa and then the authors addition of totally non-Okinawan practices.

I give it four stars for overall useful ideas for health - three stars for it's specific info on Okinawa - and two stars for making it seems like the program itself is Okinawan as opposed to being loosely based on principles learned from Okinawans.

Ed

For those of you with the book.. recipies in the book I have actually seen here (or had variations of):

Wakame and Soba Noodles with Broth

Somen Chample

Tofu Chample with Cashews (minus the cashews..)

Easy Okinawan Vegetable Chample

Goya Chample (yum yum! bitter!)

Okinawan Eggplants with miso

Simple Simmered Mackerel with Miso (any fish will do..)

Okinawan White Miso Soup with Veggie (minus the peanut butter)

Simple Wakame and Tofu Miso Soup

Creamy Miso Dressing

Green Tea Ice Cream