What do the longest-lived people in the world eat

[sirkinm]

I know there have been a couple of books on this. I think the Okinawans are the most prominent long-lived group of any size. I recall that they really enjoy pork, and eat it much more often than non-Okinawan Japanese, which would seem counter intuitive.

[Andrew Michaels]

Check out healthy at 100 by John Robins.

But basically, the idea is low fat, high plant, low animal protein. Lots of fruits, vegetables, some nuts and seeds etc.

[Dharma]

You need to delve more into their psyche. It's not their food that makes them healthy but how they live. What's their lifestyle like? Get into how they live.

[Dan.Linehan]

Healthy at 100 ::: by John Robbins

98% plant based diets.

[funchy]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

Healthy at 100 ::: by John Robbins

I had not heard of him before. What an interesting site! I am busy reading all his other articles. Thanks for posting this.

[sirkinm]

I enjoy John Robbin's writing, and it's his Diet for a New America that converted me to a vegetarian while I was in high school. But yeah, I wasn't looking for what you guys think is the diet most conducive to long life -- I wanted to know who are the longest living people and what is their diet.

I agree that other lifestyle factors besides diet will def play a signficant role.

[Echoguy]

One of the most popular topics among anti-aging researchers over the last 20 years has been the "French Paradox." This is a well known phenomen existing in France where people consume more fat, sugar, red meat, refined flour (wheat) and processed foods than most all of the world. The "paradox is that they also have a lower incidence of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
The most amazing thing, however, is that even though their diet is worse than most of the world they live much longer than most of the world. (?better healthcare?)
The "French paradox" has been attributed to the ammount of red wine they consume, but only recently a Harvard researcher named David Sinclair has uncovered a special Polythenal or antioxidant called resveratrol within all wine but especially the red wine.
Resveratrol is not exclusive to grapes however, it is a substance that is produced by many plants when they are placed under stressful conditions. Dehydration, hot temperatures, and caloric restriction are good examples of normal stress useful in vinyards to produce the best fruit. This substance is also found in the sea kelp that has been a major staple of the oldest Okinawans diet. (Yes Okinawans do live the longest on average.)
Barbara Walters did a special with David Sinclair last year. YouTube - Resveratrol - Red Wine - Live To 150 Barbara Walters.flv
They have successfully and significantly lengthened the lifespan of everything from yeast to primates with resveratrol and are currently scheduled for human trials to treat diabetes.
In the meantime I'm taking a resveratrol dietary supplement because I can't afford (in more ways than one) to drink 100 glasses of red wine daily Not cheap but if you had my gene pool you'd want the best you could find too. As far as the rest of the Okinawans diet goes it can be described as a balance of fish and other meats, rice, fruits and vegetables.
Balance is the best way to describe a healthy diet. Gr8 question! See you at 150!

[ProLifestyler]

Originally Posted by Dharma

You need to delve more into their psyche. It's not their food that makes them healthy but how they live. What's their lifestyle like? Get into how they live.

Totally!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you eat ice cream, but believe that it will make you thin it will.
The question is, how many people believe in something like that

That's why a lot of contradiction in diet world taking place.
Without understanding lifestyle and way of thinking and social environment, it is close to impossible define why people live long.

Different people in different regions eat different things

[lifeofyourdreams]

Here is a site with some excellent studies on the aging process. A common theme seems to be high levels of antixodiants, and the prevention of oxidation in your body.

The Aging Process