The healthiest diet on earth: A brand-new food pyramid reveals what to eat to lose weight, increase your energy and lower your cancer and heart-disease risk. Try these six delicious meals - Weight-Loss Special

Shape, Dec, 2001 by Bradley J. Willcox, Craig Willcox, Makoto Suzuki

There exists a place on our planet where 100-year-olds live in their own homes and tend their own gardens. It's a place where breast cancer is so rare that screening mammography is not needed and where the three leading killers in our culture - heart disease, stroke and cancer -- occur with the lowest frequency in the world. Where people maintain a healthy weight -- without dieting --throughout life (the average Body Mass Index o the senior citizens is 21!). Where women live to be 86 years old - on average - and when they do pass on, the cause of death is generally classified as "old age" since autopsies reveal no discernible cause.

This place is the Japanese island-state of Okinawa, home to the healthiest people on Earth. A 25-year research project, the Okinawan Centenarian Study, found that there are more than 400 people aged 100 or older in a population of 1.3 million. Here in the United States there are only 65-130 centenarians in a comparably sized sample, most of whom can no longer live alone -- unlike their robust Okinawan brethren.

How have the Okinawans managed to do all this? Simple: their lifestyle habits are supremely healthful. First, they eat a plant-based diet high in unrefined carbohydrates, which gives them protection against heart disease (Okinawans have 80 percent fewer heart attacks than Americans do), cancer (they have 80 percent less breast cancer and half the amount of ovarian cancer), stroke and weight gain. In addition to eating healthfully, Okinawans feel exercise is a way of life. They take up martial arts and traditional dance when young and continue to perform them throughout their lives; most also garden and walk Another habit that contributes to their vitality is stress-reducing spirituality: Okinawans have a deep respect for nature and believe they have an obligation to help others. These relationships with nature and neighbors are powerful: Research shows that they help extend life and lower disease risk.

OK, you're not an Okinawan and you don't live anywhere near a peaceful tropical island. But here's what you can do: Adopt some of the Okinawans' habits, especially their dietary habits. The evidence presented in the Okinawa Centenarian Study reveals that what you eat -- and how you live and think -- has a huge impact on your health, your weight, your energy, your stress level and your life expectancy. You, too, can stay slim, healthy and happy throughout your life. Here's how to eat and live like an Okinawan.

the okinawa food pyramid: a new way to eat for weight loss and energy

The nutrition research has never been more consistent: A high-carbohydrate, plant-based diet is best for long-term health and weight maintenance (anything under a BMI of 23 is considered lean). The plant-based Okinawa Food Pyramid shown here divides foods into daily and weekly categories so that you can easily judge whether you are eating certain foods too often or not often enough. The USDA pyramid -- the one recommended by our government -- on the other hand, fails to point out the important differences in types of fats; does not emphasize low-fat dairy or whole grains; lumps meat in the same serving group as fish and beans; and does not offer enough vegetables and fruits. Here's how to incorporate the Okinawa Food Pyramid's principles into your daily diet, starting at the bottom.

Whole grains: 7-13 servings daily Aim for eight to 10 servings. (One serving is: 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice or pasta; 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal; one slice of bread; or half a bagel.) Americans eat mostly refined grains: bleached flour products such as white bread, cookies and cakes, and white rice, which have little or no fiber. Whole grains, like brown rice and whole-wheat bread, are unrefined carbohydrates, which have lots of fiber and important phytochemicals. With all the bad press carbs have received lately, let's set the record straight here: You must eat unrefined carbohydrates. They are not at the root of obesity. Instead, they provide essential fuel for your brain, central nervous system and muscles, and they provide nutrients that decrease risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Plus, because their fiber content helps you feel full (and carries waste products through your digestive tract more quickly) whole grains can help you to /lose weight.

Most whole grains are oval-shaped and range in color from light brown to dark brown. If a grain is white or has fewer than 2 grams of fiber per 1-ounce serving, chances are it's refined and no longer a "whole" grain. A few whole grains you should add to your diet include brown and wild rice, barley, oats, kasha, quinoa, bulgur and buckwheat.

Vegetables: 7-13 servings daily

Fruits: 2-4 servings daily Aim for at least 10 servings combined. (A serving is: 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables; 1/2 cup of other cooked or raw vegetables; one medium banana, apple or orange, or half a grapefruit; 1/2 cup canned fruit; 6 ounces of fruit juice.) A diet full of vegetables and fruit will not only decrease your risk for obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, cataracts, stroke and hypertension, but also keep you looking younger (and living longer). Vegetables are a major source of antioxidants, which to your body means less cell damage from free radicals (the basic biochemical mechanism implicated in the aging process), less damage to collagen (i.e., fewer wrinkles) and less damage to the internal organs (meaning they wear out more slowly). A majority of plants contain antioxidants in abundance, but some contain more compounds than others do. The elder Okinawans eat a lot of carrots, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, sweet peppers and bean sprouts -- more vegetables than fruits. But it doesn't ma tter which 10 you choose here; just make sure you eat a variety of vegetables and fruits.