OKINAWA DOES NOT MEAN "ISLAND OF PORK". THIS IS FALLACIOUS.
The word Okinawa (沖縄) consists of 2 Kanji characters in Japanese: Oki and Nawa ( 沖 is Oki and 縄 is Nawa ). Oki means sea or water ( 沖 ). Nawa means rope ( 縄 ). Okinawa therefore actually means: "Rope of the Sea"--referring to the appearance of the 'string of islands that reside in the sea'.
It is NOT TRUE that Okinawa is "The Island of Pork". It is NOT true that the word Okinawa translates to "The Island of Pork". The Okinawan Centenarians are not eating a pork-based diet. The centenarians of Okinawa were found to be eating barely <1% pork. 99% of the centenarians' diet is Not pork. Nearly all the rest of the diet of the oldest people in the world is Vegetarian.
SOURCE: "The Diet of the World’s Longest-Lived People and Its Potential Impact on Morbidity and Life Span" JOURNAL: Annals of the Academy of Sciences - Volume 1114: 434–455 (2007).
Okinawa is part of a rope-like string of islands at the southern part of Japan. These are the Ryukyu islands. Hence, Okinawa means "Rope of the Sea". There is nothing about the islands of pork.
The "Island of Pork" phrase was fabricated and was traced to a health-fraud organization which was found promoting meat-based diets which did not like the scientific results that the healthiest people were eating mainly vegetarian. The supposed "source" used to assert the "Island of Pork" line ("wonder-okinawa" japan) was merely a marketing and travel site, not a scientific study, and that source site is now nowhere to be found. The source cited by those purporting that Okinawa mean "The Island of Pork" does not exist. The page is gone and deleted and the individuals had to replace their source with new urls (such as .okinawa-information dot com which is also N OT a scientific site, but again is a marketing and advertising site. It is not a peer-reviewed journal, it is a website full of recipes.) The supposed sources again are merely layperson's blog sites which are referring not to the centenarians specifically but are promotional sites for pork farmers and farmers markets and these are referring to the Okinawan population in-general which includes people who ate more pork but died sooner. In any population there may be people who ate more or less pork. There may be some in the general population that ate more pork, but did not live to become centenarians. Nevertheless, using this pseudoscience, Low-carb Atkins and Paleo bloggers and commenters then spread this false claim across the internet on article comments, on paleo and low-carb promotional "blogs".
Thus, the material asserting this claim is often merely coming off of social network systems such as facebook pages, and people without nutritional degrees posting the claim merely as a less-educated user on discussion forums. When asked for proof, again the un-scientific travel and "recipe" promotional advertising sites are falsely cited as the "proof". Often, persons either on a lowcarb or paleo diet, fall for the hoax. Often those who are following low-carb or paleo plans prefer to hear that their atkins style diet leads to a long life, even though it is scientifically baseless. Still, these followerd would rather hear and erroneously believe that the Okinawans eat tons of pork every day, and often do not want to hear that the scientific data came back showing that the people with some of the longest lifespans were not eating bacon and pork, but rather were 98% vegetarian. Some lowcarbers and paleo afficionados sometimes eat up to half a pound or a pound of meat each day, including multiple strips of bacon several times a day. Loren Cordain of the paleo diet is pushing a proportion of 55% animal meat per day(!) And meat at all 3 or more meals each day. Sometimes including multiple strips of bacon for breakfast, then more meat at lunch and meat again for dinner. So it is worrisome and disconcerting when the scientific results come back that many of the persons eating this way died sooner, and that the ones that lived to become centenarians were mostly vegetarian and had eliminated meat down to less than <1%. They ate less than <1% fish, and were eating 98% plants. Some of the Okinawan centenarians were eating meat only once a month. So it was unsettling for these dieters who were eating multiple strips of bacon, to learn that the people with greater longevity were ingesting a small rather than a large amount, perhaps one half of a strip, and then not another piece of meat for over a month. Thus, the advertising and marketing sites were used in order to give the false impression that Okinawans were eating so much pork that they named their entire country the land of pork, a case of pseudo-scientific stretching overblown by bloggers beyond all scientific fact. In fact, the trend when those that died sooner and the general population are filtered out, is a trend away from eating pork. The less pork a person ate, the longer the lifespan averaged out to be. In fact, there is nothing to preclude that continuing the trend further to an all vegetarian diet devoid of pork altogether may up the lifespan averages even longer. Remember: The data showing that the Okinawan centenarians who lived the longest were eating only 1% pork is an AVERAGE. Thus, some of the centenarians were eating even less than that, perhaps not even any pork, and living well up over 100 years old an an almost entirely vegetarian plant-based diet. Individuals and organizations with a vested monetary interest in promoting meat-based or pork-based lowcarb or paleo diets have bias and a non-scientific financial stake in advocating a meat-based diet, and therefore invented the "Island of pork" story in order to placate followers and users of low-carb and paleo diets and even to get them to believe in and re-post the fallacious story. Vowing that it is right. Claiming it in discussion forum comments. Writing blog articles affirming it on their own blogs, often citing the same non-scientific promotional travel sites as "proof". Not understanding that it has been revealed as a hoax without scientific basis.
One clear example of this, is a blogger who posted an entire article claiming Okinawa means "The Island of Pork" and this man was found actually selling meat off his blog, with a vested interest in selling pieces of meat. The individual in question is named "Stanley Fishman" and he runs an entire web site named "Tender Grass Fed Meat". This has been verified. So this claimant, writing articles asserting that eating pork and meat will make you live a long time and is healthy, and that Okinawa "means" the island of pork, was actually exposed as having a non-scientific financial motivation in the promotion of meat recipe books, and sales of meat itself. If you look up "Stanley Fishman" of "TenderGrassFedMeats" and view his health after he has been eating his own "healthy" meat products, you will see that he is not looking so good. Unlike the centenarians, the meat promoter Stanley Fishman now has a BMI in the obese range, is unhealthy, and is potentially suffering innumerable health problems after eating his own paleo style organic pasture-raised hormone-free grassfed meats. If you look at a picture of this individual you would be surprised if he ever makes it to becoming a centenarian. Thus, this is why these falsified claims are needed in order to promote his products.
Also be aware of another trick that is sometimes being used. You will see claims such as the phrase that the okinawans use "every bit" of the pig, or things to this effect. This is stated this way in order to give the public impression that the centenarians are cooking up barbecue spits of whole pigs at a time or some such thing. This is not the case. Again, it is the general citizenry that they are talking about, the ones that died sooner, not the centenarians who are doing that and eating pigs. Second, when okinawans are saying they are utilizing every part of the animal, they are not doing that because they are gobbling them down whole. What's happening is that the eating of pork is so low and so infrequent, that only 1 pig if dispatched at the beginning of the year in January, is lasting for months and months and months, even an entire year. The amount of pork being eaten is so small that the amount of meat from 1 pig is being picked at in such small bits, that they are using barely 1 animal as enough to provide bits up to a year at a time. Some okinawan centenarians are having NO meat at all for an entire month, and then only at special events like special ceremonies and funerals. They are only eating it at special occasions. Then they go back to eating vegetarian for weeks or months at a time. So when one of these sources reports such a thing as the okinawans are 'utilizing every part of the animal' they wish to imply that the okinawan centenarians are gorging on roasts of whole pigs revolving daily on barbeque spits, eating a pig a day or multiple pigs a week, when in reality what the situation is, is that just 1 animal is killed, say, at the beginning of the year, and that 1 animal is lasting a community or whole family months and months if not the entire year. And they only need to pick bits of of it, including down to the pigs ears and feet, using bits and pieces for flavoring in large pots of what are mainly vegetables. It's vegetables, grains, rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, starches and plants, with a tiny tiny amount of meat, which was boiled and boiled away until there was practically no lard and saturated fat or meat left in it. It was not that the okinawan centenarians were eating huge lumps of pork and guts and pieces of ears and offal organs, and then adding a couple vegetables. It's the opposite of that. Watch out for this ruse. The line implicating that they are using every bit of the animal is meant to suggest that they are gobbling down entire pigs routinely. This is not the case. It's the case that they are using every bit of the animal because they are only using it "bit by bit", only using a little bit. A whopping portion of carbs, starches, wheat, rice, soy, vegetables, and grain, and a teeny bit of meat which has been boiled so much that it is down to practically nothing. less than <1%.
REMINDER: The Okinawan diet is NOT PALEO. In fact, the centenarians in okinawa could even be said to be eating an ANTI-PALEO DIET resulting in some of the longest lifespans on earth. Recall that the paleo diet bars the eating of grains. Paleo is based on pseudo-science. The reason is that Paleo tells you to Eat like a Caveman. Then tells people you absolutely cannot eat grains...because stone-age cavemen 'never' ate grains(false). This was found scientifically false. Paleontologists have now found pieces of grains right in Cavemen's mouths, with pieces of grain stuck right in between their teeth. This is published in one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals: NATURE, and in PLOS/ONE. Therefore cavemen ate grain. Not only did cavemen eat grain but they also processed their food, by grinding it on grinding stones found in archeological burial sites. And they even made Bread out of it and cavemen ate bread. These are the actual scientific findings by actual certified paleontologists and archeologists. The "Paleo Diet" itself, and the books, are not written by anyone with a proper degree in archeology or paleoanthropology itself. It has since been revealed that the author of "The Paleo Diet" Loren Cordain has no such degree in paleontology at all. None. He has a degree in exercise fitness. The man who is purporting to know all about the human genome, and all about the diets of paleolithic stone-age caveman has never been on a sanctioned archeological dig in his entire life. He has no training in archeology. He has never discovered the bones of any ancient human or hominid skeleton. This man is merely the author of a "diet book". Yet he is purporting to tell people what to eat as if he has a degree in paleontology which he does not. He makes claims that humans prior to 10,000 years ago never ate grain(false). However real scientists including archeologists discovered actual physical remains which confirmed cavemen eating grains not only 12,000 years ago, but also 19,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago, and even cavemen eating grain 105,000 years ago. This information is published in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. The claim that grain is bad because cavemen "never ate it" is from a diet-book. Written by a man with no degree in paleontology. This is the Paleo diet. Thus the basic founding principle of the Paleo diet is scientifically false. Paleo is now known as being mainly based on "pseudo-science". Its basic founding principle is a lie. Paleo is still telling people NOT to eat grain, still insisting that to be on a Paleo diet you cannot eat it, and if you eat grain you're Not paleo. Well, if you look at the scientific data, you will notice that the Okinawan centenarians are eating grain. The Okinawan centenarians eat wheat. The Okinawan centenarians eat rice. This is entirely against paleo. The Okinawan centenarians are also eating tofu and soy which is against the Weston A Price Foundation diet assertions. The Okinawans also eat 1% dairy, which is against the Paleo Diet. And the Okinawans living well up over one hundred years old are staying AWAY from eating meat, while Paleo is recommending eating a whopping 55% proportion of meat. Daily. (This result comes straight from Loren Cordain the creator of "The Paleo Diet" himself.) Thus, the diet of the centenarians of Okinawa is almost diametrically an ANTI-PALEO diet. Completely opposite and against paleo. Yet it is often amusing to find paleo afficionados and blogs incorrectly asserting that the Okinawans are eating a near paleo diet. These individuals then try to cite things like they are eating "unprocessed food" (which is false, many of the dishes are cookes, boiled for a long time, ingredients added, etc. this is not in a lab but this is processing), or they will attempt to assert that the Okinawans are eating soy but it's the "fermented" kind and somehow that kind is either "OK now" or for some reason cavemen fermented and ate soy but only after fermenting it first(false). None of it is correct of course, but it is rather amusing the dietary gymnastics involved in order for some to try to fit paleo into the okinawan grain-based diet like a game of Twister gone wrong. The Soy claims all harken from a dietary fraud group called the Weston A. Price Foundation which makes false claims about soy. The claims that Soy is unhealthy were all mainly found based on pseudoscience and half-baked claims, whereas actual scientific articles have found soy staves off cancer, soy does NOT contain any estrogen AT ALL (it's phytoestrogen an isoflavone, not mammalian estrogen 17-beta estradiol which is in dairy and meat), and soy was found not to harm the thyroid especially when iodine levels are sufficient (which is obviously the case in okinawans eating seaweeds), and the claim that not fermenting it results in Soy being "EVIL" and revealing its "DARK SIDE" but then if you ferment it it's ok is found baseless. All of these false soy claims have been traced back to a meat industry lobbyist organization called the Weston A. Price Foundation which is listed on QUACK WATCH and spreads articles based on health fraud. Stanley Fishman, the individual above caught spreading the Island of Pork myth is also tied to the Weston A. Price Foundation. The WAPF represents meat farmers who do not want their sales of meat diminished if people find out that meat has been linked to shorter lifespans and ill health. The Weston A. Price Foundation and its officers and member post fallacious articles on nutrition throughout the web and have many believers.
One individual, among others, spreading the "Island of Pork" myth is named Chris Masterjohn who was found also to be part of a health-fraud group called the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Another example clearly showing this idea is laughably debunked is a blogger named Stan Bleszynski who is often caught posting under the pseudonym "Stan-Heretic" who has postings on UFO's and flying saucers, is interested in "the paranormal", he believes low-dose radiation is healthy for you. Yes, that kind of radiation: atomic radiation. Stan-Heretic, or "Heretk" has put up postings on how exposing yourself to radiation will"extend your lifespan". This individual has posted that they follow "remote viewing" (this is where someone believes in "Astral Projection" where someone believes they can transport their spirit to a different place while their "body" remains in the same place, or they can "see" things thousands of miles away by transporting themselves in their own mind somewhere.) These things are all "astrology" and not based on facts or science. This is pseudo-science. Like "ghost-hunting". If someone wants to "believe" in things without basis, that's fine, but then this person cannot come on comment blogs and assert that they are "scientific" and all of their diet and nutrition information are based on facts and peer-reviewed scientific journals. Stan Bleszynski of Velsensor who goes around posting under the names "Stan-Heretic" and "Heretk" is now exposed as debunked. This individual goes around writing postings that appear 'scientific-looking' merely to the layperson, not to actual biologists and scientists. This person has No registered dietitian certification and is merely found to be a tinkerer in electronics and physics with no Medical degree or license to practice medicine whatsoever. This individual issues postings on medical sites and on blogs claiming to be scientific, and basing his findings on facts and peer-reviewed scientific journals, claiming he is firmly grounded in facts with citations of pubmed studies, yet when looking at his own sites he is found posting articles on flying saucers, UFO incidents, falsely claiming cholesterol is good for you(wrong), he is a denier of The Lipid Hypothesis, making claims that Okinawa means the "Island of Pork", is found claiming that exposing yourself to levels of Radiation is what can extend your life (many Japanese in World War II may have a different opinion on Stan Heretic's views on Okinawa and Japan and the effects of exposure to Radiation). Once again, we find Stan Bleszynski citing the Weston A. Price Foundation (now listed on Quack-Watch as a crank organization) as his 'source' for his theories agaisnt vegetarians, and on pork and okinawa centenarians. Stan Heretic even cites an individual named "Barry Groves" as a "recommended" source on his blog for solid health and diet information. Barry Groves touted eating lard, meats, and pork. Barry Groves denounced plant-based diets and railed against vegetarians. Barry Groves was a low-carber who denied that fat and pork and lard did any damage to anyone, and he was a cholesterol denier who touted eating pork and rashers of bacon. Barry Groves is DEAD. Barry Groves is no longer alive and he died prematurely at an earlier age (not a centenarian for sure) and is reputed to have died from heart disease and cancer after eating his highly-touted meat-based diet. It turns out also that Barry Groves was an honorary board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation. He was a board member of the Quack group. And this is the web site (no longer maintained because he is dead) recommended for excellent solid information on your health, by Stan Bleszynski / Stan-Heretic who is found posting that Okinawa means "The Island of Pork" and claims to be highly scientific basing his posts on pubmed articles yet is found posting about UFOs and the ability to mentally transport yourself around the earth to supposedly "see" things outside of your body. This is Stan Heretic. The man making dietary claims and claims about radiation and eating pork and trying to tell people what will make them live longer. All items by Stan-Heretic can now be considered unusable, non-reputable and debunked. If you see postings by this individual watch out for this name, this individuals postings and theories have been revealed to be disreputable and based on fallacious information. This is highly ironic, because this individual, Stan-Heretic, also has postings claiming to "watch out" for the supposed "Okinawa Diet SCAM!" when he in turn is the scammer. This is often something used by cons, calling someone else what he turns out to be. In this case, he thinks it is HE, the person who is citing as his source, a biased meat-influenced lobbyist group listed on Quack-Watch for health fraud, and touting a board member of this front-group who is dead for secrets of long-life, that has the REAL CORRECT info. And all those other people who are using data that came back from the results of a study published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal by un-biased scientists with no reported financial conflicts of interest who are the SCAMMERS. Stan Bleszynski should report a scam post on the interent about himself. With all the postings about UFO's, his involvement in interest in the paranormal (ghosts, devils, psychic stuff), beliefs that doses of radiation will extend your lifespan, and citing as his 'reputable' source a group now listed on Quack Watch, cholesterol denialism, low-carb-ism, and highlighting a man named Barry Groves, a board member of the quack based WAPF who extolled eating bacon and fat and is now dead, as a site with secrets to living longer, there is absolutely no shortage of inflammatory information totally debunking the credentials of Stan Bleszynski and his dubious ungrounded supposedly scientific information posted under his usernames Stan-Heretic and Heretk.
OKINAWAN CENTENARIANS DO NOT EAT A DIET BASED ON LARGE AMOUNTS OF PORK.
It is not true that the Okinawans eat a lot of pork. The okinawan centenarians in fact avoid meat, and eat so low-fat that it is one of the lowest fat diets on earth. An average diet may have 30% fat. A paleo may have 40% fat. And a low-carber may go up to 70% fat. The Okinawan centenarians are eating a lowfat diet of barely 6% fat. This shoots down any assertions that the Okinawan centenarians are owing their great health to a diet rich in saturated fats and lard. In fact, quite the contrary they are avoiding it. And it is not pork. Data shows that 99% of the Okinawan diet is NOT PORK.
THE JAPANESE OKINAWAN CENTENARIANS DO NOT EAT A DIET BASED ON LARGE AMOUNTS OF FISH.
Did you believe that "The Japanese eat a lot of fish" or since Okinawa is in Japan so the Okinawan diet must contain huge amounts of fish? If you thought that the Okinawan diet was rich in fish you would be wrong. The Okinawan centenarians' diet is NOT including a lot of fish. Not fatty fish. Not wild caught salmon fish. Not much of any fish. Not appreciable amounts of sashimi or sushi. 99% of the Japanese Okinawan diet is NOT FISH. It is Not true that the Japanese Okinawans eat a lot of fish. Japanese people avoiding eating fish: Yes. And living longer by avoiding eating fish: Yes. Living up over 100+ years NOT eating significan amounts of fish: correct. Fish is less than 1% of the centenarians diet. The Okinawan centenarians are not eating loads of fish. They are eating mainly plants.
The Okinawan Centenarians are eating a Diet that is 98% Vegetarian and 96% Vegan.
The Okinawans who lived to be centenarians up over 100+ years of age were eating a 98% Vegetarian plant-based diet. 96% vegan diet. Nearly 70% of which was potatoes, okinawan purple sweet potatoes which contain starches. Rice which is a starch. Grains and wheat, large amounts of Soy, and Tofu, Vegetables, and fruit, and ingested PUFA oils and even a quantity of refined carbohydrates in the form of sugar (composed of both glucose and fructose), and are among the healthiest longest-lived people on earth and are one of the Blue-Zones of longevity. This may be classified actually as an ANTI-PALEO DIET, due to the fact that it consists of grains, including wheat, encourages beans and legumes, is mainly vegetarian, encourages rice, contains hardly any fish, and hardly any bacon or pork, and avoids meat. It is almost the opposite of a paleo diet. This mainly vegetarian plant-based diet results in some of the longest lifespans on the planet.
Those Okinawans who avoided meat, avoided fish, avoided dairy, and avoided eating pork such that all of these items were less than barely 1% of their diet, lived the longest.
The Okinawan centenarian diet is 85% carbs, 09% protein, and 06% fat.
This is a High-Carb, Low-Fat, Low-Protein diet: HC-LF-LP. HCLF. This is NOT a lowcarb diet. This is Not a high-protein diet. Those people who ingested a lowcarb or high protein diet died sooner and had more disease.
The diet that matches most closely to this longest-lifespan diet, is an 80-10-10 plant-based diet.
The Okinawan diet is 98% vegetarian, which includes the eggs and dairy.
The Okinawan diet is 96% vegan, which excludes the eggs and dairy.
The Okinawan diet is barely 1% fish, and is 99% other than fish.
The Okinawan diet is barely 1% pork, and is 99% NOT PORK.
The Okinawans who lived the longest ate more plants and avoided fish, eggs, meat and pork.
Peer reviewed scientific journal studies. Confirmed.
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