>[!abstract] >The Okinawa diet describes the traditional dietary practices of indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands (belonging to Japan), which were claimed to have contributed to their relative longevity over a period of study in the 20th century. > >The traditional diet of the islanders contained sweet potato, green-leafy or root vegetables, and soy foods, such as miso soup, tofu or other soy preparations, occasionally served with small amounts of fish, noodles, or lean meats, all cooked with herbs, spices, and oil. Although the traditional Japanese diet usually includes large quantities of rice, the traditional Okinawa diet consisted of smaller quantities of rice; instead the staple was sweet potato. The Okinawa diet had only 30% of the sugar and 15% of the grains of the average Japanese dietary intake. > >The dietary intake of Okinawans compared to other Japanese circa 1950 shows that Okinawans consumed: fewer total calories (1785 vs. 2068), less polyunsaturated fat (4.8% of calories vs. 8%), less rice (154g vs. 328g), significantly less wheat, barley and other grains (38g vs. 153g), less sugars (3g vs. 8g), more legumes (71g vs. 55g), significantly less fish (15g vs. 62g), significantly less meat and poultry (3g vs. 11g), less eggs (1g vs. 7g), less dairy (<1g vs. 8g), much more sweet potatoes (849g vs. 66g), less other potatoes (2g vs. 47g), less fruit (<1g vs. 44g), and no pickled vegetables (0g vs. 42g). As proportions of total caloric intake, foods in the traditional Okinawa diet included sweet potato (69%), rice (12%), other grains (7%), legumes including soy (6%), green and yellow vegetables (3%), refined oils (2%), fish (1%) and seaweed, meat (mostly pork), refined sugars, potato, egg, nuts and seeds, dairy and fruit (all <1%). Specifically, the Okinawans circa 1950 ate sweet potatoes for 849 grams of the total 1262 grams of food that they consumed, which constituted 69% of their total daily calories. ("Okinawa diet", 2025). ## References - Okinawa diet. (2025, January 1). In *Wikipedia*. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Okinawa_diet&oldid=1243068786 ## Related - [[Hara hachi bun me]] - [[Mitahara]] - [[Longevity]]