I just looked up "healthiest people on earth" in connection to the claims of a particular book. So far I am finding that there is a variety of opinion!Some interesting ideas out there!

Okinawa?
[findarticles.com]

Hunza?
[www.unec.net]

7 'secret' foods of the healthiest people
[www.buzzle.com]

Advice from Deepak Chopra
[www.huffingtonpost.com]
His list of things healthy people don't do is quite interesting.

Why Acne Sufferers Are some of the Healthiest People
[www.absoluteacneinfo.com]
I guess it is great to get rid of toxins, but isn't it better not to have them in the first place?

Plains Indians Were Tallest, Healthiest People In World
[www.albionmonitor.com]

The Top Ten Secrets the Healthiest People in the World Know
[searchwarp.com]
THIS one is the closest to raw/living foods!

The book was the 'Maker's diet'. It claimed that the jewish people are the healthiest people on earth. So far I haven't found anything to support that, but I could be missing something in the searches. Its not vegan, just to let you know.
[www.makersdiet.com]

I totally agree with the oxygenated water statement. "Clean" and "dirty" are really just a matter of positive or negative electron charges. Clean means more negative ions, and dirty means positively charged. The cleanest water is from glacial arctic areas - it's water that has more negative ions, and thus much less of it is needed to quench the thirst. There is a bottled water company that bottles such water called Iceland Spring - they sell it at health food stores. If you put a bottle of Iceland Spring in the freezer next to a bottle of say, Poland Spring - you will notice a shocking difference in the quality of the water. Iceland Spring freezes in beautiful crystals whereas regular water just lumps up.

I've been wanting to buy a water ionizer for some time now - but they are expensive! Like nearly $1000.

This, btw - the negative ions - is the key to the raw food diet, in my opinion. Enzymes are only part of the story - they are necessary for catalysis of nutrients. But the most fresh-picked raw food has the highest amount of negative ions, and that will make us the cleanest & purest.

thanks for the links! very interesting stuff.

Three current longevity hotspots are Okinawa, Sardinia (lower fat and more plant-based than the usual Mediterranean diet), and the 7th Day Adventist vegetarians in California.

[magma.nationalgeographic.com]


And some excerpts from this recent paper, so you can see how they really eat, they are low protein, low fat, low calorie, low animal product, highly plant-based, practically 80-10-10 (actually 9-85-6) but most of it is cooked, sweet potato and rice:

Willcox BJ, Willcox DC, Todoriki H, Fujiyoshi A, Yano K, He Q, Curb JD,
Suzuki M.
Caloric Restriction, the Traditional Okinawan Diet, and Healthy Aging: The
Diet of the World's Longest-Lived People and Its Potential Impact on
Morbidity and Life Span.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2007 Nov;1114:434-55.
PMID: 17986602


TABLE 1. Traditional dietary intake of Okinawans and other Japanese circa
1950
==================================================
Okinawa, 1949^a Japan, 1950^b
==================================================
Total calories 1785^c 2068
Total weight (grams) 1262 1057
Caloric density (calories/gram) 1.4 2.0
Total protein in grams (% total calories) 39 (9) 68 (13)
Total carbohydrate in grams (% total calories) 382 (85) 409 (79)
Total fat in grams (% total calories) 12 (6) 18 (8)
Saturated fatty acid 3.7 4.7
Monounsaturated fatty acid 3.6 5.3
Polyunsaturated fatty acid 4.8 8.0
Total fiber (grams) 23 23
Food group Weight in grams (% total calories)
Grains
Rice 154 (12) 328 (54)
Wheat, barley, and other grains 38 (7) 153 (24)
Nuts, seeds <1 (<1) <1 (<1)
Sugars 3 (<1) 8 (1)
Oils 3 (2) 3 (1)
Legumes (e.g., soy and other beans) 71 (6) 55 (3)
Fish 15 (1) 62 (4)
Meat (including poultry) 3 (<1) 11 (<1)
Eggs 1 (<1) 7 (<1)
Dairy <1 (<1) 8 (<1)
Vegetables
Sweet potatoes 849 (69) 66 (3)
Other potatoes 2 (<1) 47 (2)
Other vegetables 114 (3) 188 (1)
Fruit^d <1 (<1) 44 (1)
Seaweed 1 (<1) 3 (<1)
Pickled vegetables 0 (0) 42 (<1)
Foods: flavors & alcohol 7 (<1) 31 (2)
==================================================
a Data derived from analysis of U.S. National Archives, archived food
records, 1949 and based on survey of 2279 persons.
b Japan National Nutrition Survey, 1950.
c Total daily caloric intake was originally reported as 1785 kcal/day in
1949. This was estimated to be 17% less than government-recommended daily
intake. Differences in assumptions regarding particular foods, cooking
methods, and choice of nutritional analysis programs result in a range of
1605 to 2012 kcal/day.
d Papaya and tomatoes were classified as vegetables.

TABLE 2. Micronutrient sufficiency of the traditional Okinawan diet and
Japanese diet
==================================================
Micronutrient---Okinawa, 1949^b---Japan, 1950^c
---Amount % RDAJ^a---Amount % RDAJ^a
==================================================
Vitamin A (RE) 602 110 337 62
Vitamin D (mcg)^d 0.4 2 7.9 31
Vitamin E (mg) 16.6 190 6.3 72
Vitamin K (mcg) 87.6 160 65.8 120
Vitamin B1: thiamin (mg) 1.4 137 1.1 113
Vitamin B2: riboflavin (mg) 0.5 45 0.5 47
Niacin (mg) 13.2 93 18.1 127
Vitamin B6: pyridoxine (mg) 3.0 221 1.6 118
Folate (mcg) 557.4 295 267.2 141
Vitamin B12: cobalamin (mcg)^e 0.6 27 4.0 176
Vitamin C (mg) 273.4 289 94.9 100
Calcium (mg)^f 505.3 82 325.5 53
Iron (mg) 11.6 109 11.0 103
Phosphorus (mg) 864.1 115 1191.2 159
Magnesium (mg) 396.1 151 327.4 125
Potassium (mg) 5199.6 272 2712.3 142
Zinc (mg) 6.2 62 10.6 107
Sodium (mg) 1133.0 113 2450.8 245
==================================================
a Micronutrient requirements are from 6th Recommended Dietary Allowances
for the Japanese (RDAJ), 1996.
b Calculated from U.S. National Archive, archived food records, 1949.
c Calculated from the Japan National Nutrition Survey and the Statistics
Record of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Government of
Japan, 1950.
d Okinawa is located at a subtropical (26.4°) latitude and subjects would
likely have manufactured enough in vivo vitamin D from sunlight to meet
RDAJ.70
e Periodic festivals (approximately monthly) in which pork and other
meats were consumed are not accounted for in this analysis.
f Okinawan drinking water is high in calcium and other minerals, which
are not accounted for in this analysis.

Table 3 presents physical examination data from the same subjects from whom
dietary information was collected in 1949. Notable is the relatively high
prevalence of cheilosis (dry, cracked lips and mouth) at 10.7% of the
population. This is consistent with the low consumption of vitamin B2
(riboflavin) reported in Table 2. Notable as well is the relatively high
prevalence of delayed menstruation and deficient lactation, consistent with
low caloric intake and/or low body fat levels in women.38,39

TABLE 3. Nutritional deficiency symptoms in Okinawa, 1949
==================================================
Urban Rural All Okinawa
==================================================
Number of persons examined 797 1029 1826
Persons with no symptoms (%) 74.3 81.6 80.5
Persons with one or more symptoms (%) 25.7 18.4 19.5
Anemia 3.1 1.1 1.4
Hyperkeratosis 0.4 0.7 0.7
Xerophthalmia - 0.7 0.6
Cheilosis 14.1 10.1 10.7
Glossitis 2.0 0.7 0.9
Loss of knee jerk 5.5 2.7 3.1
Edema 0.5 1.6 1.5
Chronic diarrhea 0.9 0.9 0.9
Bradycardia 0.8 1.8 1.6
Delayed menarche^a 4.7 10.2 9.4
Deficient lactation^a 5.6 20.0 17.8
==================================================
a In women only.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2007 10:11PM by arugula.

Sunshine,
I have noticed that some water seems to quench better. I thought it was that it didn't contain chlorine, or that it contained more minerals. I have tried clustered water, but I got out of the habit of drinking that because of the expense.

Are there other ways to enhance water without having to buy expensive equipement? I have heard of exposing water to sunlight, some have said something about exposure to positive music, or praying over the water, or physically running it over a surface, like rocks, or pouring it back and forth between glasses. I don't know how many of these would actually do something.

The freezing water test is an interesting one. that makes me curious, would penta water freeze different from tap water? I have heard that glacial water has a different boiling point.