How the Okinawans Got Fat
The Okinawan people, apart from being the originators of what we now know as karate have also been the longest lived people on Earth, with a high life expectancy, low rates of diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as having an extraordinary number of centenarians.
So I was shocked to read the following over on Diet Blog:
This has all changed - and I was shocked to read that Okinawa Island now has the highest rate of obesity in Japan (almost double that of the rest of Japan). Diabetes affects 8.2% of Okinawans compared to 5.7% nationally
Having visited Okinawa in 2005, I was surprised at the number of fast food outlets around. I’ve read that this is as a result of the US Military influence – with at one time over 100,000 US military personnel on Okinawa, it is natural that they would want to have the taste of convenient fast food that they’ve become accustomed to.
But it seems that now the locals are big customers of the fast food chains, and its affecting the health of the people.
If you haven’t seen Supersize Me, or read the book Don’t Eat This Book (both by Morgan Spurlock), I encourage you to do so. Both will give you a fascinating insight into the “Big Food” industry, and how this industry may be affecting our health as much as Big Tobacco has.