|
Okinawa has developed its own unique history and culture. In fact an exotic melting pot of cultures and trading post. The heritage, the unique culture and history, the idea of the pioneers, "islands open to the world" still lives on.
Okinawa Seaweed.
On a world map, Okinawa is just a small dot in the Pacific Ocean, once it
used to be an independent kingdom � the Kingdom of the Ryukyus �. As a small kingdom, Okinawa prospered in the region, trading with Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia. As the winds of world trade blew through, Okinawa people ventured out and brought back many foreign influences. Subsequently, Okinawa has developed its own unique history and culture. In fact an exotic melting pot of cultures and trading post. The heritage, the unique culture and history, the idea of the pioneers, "islands open to the world" still lives on.
No country on earth has a larger percentage of centenarians/hundred-year-olds than Japan. Its citizens enjoy the highest average life-expectancy of all nations�79 years for men, 86 for women. But Okinawa beats even the rest of the Japanese islands by far: of its 1.3 million inhabitants, roughly 600 reach the magical threshold of one hundred years. And topping all others, there is Ogimi, population 3,500, in the rural north of the island: 430 men and women here are older than 80, and twelve have crossed the one-hundred year mark. What is it that makes their blood run through their veins so cleanly, no �cardiovascular diseases�, what keeps tumours at bay, the fireworks in their brains going, no diabetics�a biological miracle? An kind of Methuselah Conspiracy� to the presumed best of all mankind. An Eldora do for scientists, first and foremost gerontologists, abele to compare it with our (West) experiences. More people reach a �biblical age��here to; but mostly in a state of �multi-morbidity�: �plagued by a multitude of illnesses, dependent on medication, for years and years on end�, the typical risks of painful aging and premature death.
The people in Okinawa eat about five times more seaweed than their fellow countrymen elsewhere in Japan. They believe that the food that you absorb in your body every day should be infused with the power of the earth and the sea. The power of the earth (plants), the power of the sea (vitality). The powers of seaweed have been drawn upon for thousands of years and respected for their ability to prolong life, prevent disease, and impart beauty & health.
Most researchers and scientist now agree that:
The optimum nutritional micro-environment of every cell in the body is vital to achieve or restore optimal health; deficiencies in this environment cause the body to be more susceptible to diseases and degeneration. With other words:
Your lifestyle and dietary choices make an enormous difference to your lifespan and to your quality of life in later years. A good diet will help to keep healthy. All it takes is a little work in the �here and now� to keep you in a good shape for later. Demographic studies did show that the genes do not hold the answer to the secret of these old ones; they are not the decisive factor. Those who left Okinawa, or changed their traditional lifestyle, experienced a dramatic decline in life expectancy. And in the Americanized south of the island you can find now the fattest people of Japan.
Plants are rich in celluloses needed to stand up (pull of gravity) while seaweed do not have this problem because they float in the water. They must be able to resist the forces of strong currents and waves. They are rich in different gelatinous type materials (Starch) like alginic acid, agar, chitosan, starch, konjac, heparins, pullulan, pectins, Xanthan, Guarans and Hyaluronates.
|
Please click picture for additional information.
|
