Tip 82: Brown rice with barley recipe to live above 100 yrs

Today is a holiday in Japan called Respect for the Aged Day. Many would know that Japan has one of the highest life's expectancy rate in the world for both male and female. In many countries, you get certain senior citizen benefits at age 55 or 60, but the ex Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi said that age 60 is not considered old anymore. Every man in Japan has a 54% chance of living above 80 years young and women a 75.3% chance. Here are more statistics... the number of Japanese aged 100 and beyond was 10,000 in 1998, 36,276 currently and is expected to reach 1 million by 2050 and be the world's largest even for a nation with a relatively small population. Okinawa (Tomomi's hometown) has the highest number of centenarians, 61 out of every 100,000 people, which is far above the Japanese national average of 28 per 100,000. In Tokyo, its 25 per 100,000, while in the USA, its just 10 per 100,000. So what is the secret for living till a good old age? Its food, exercise and a government firm on food safety and low crime rates.















I am not picky about what food I eat and when Tomomi decided it has to be Brown rice, I have no arguments besides the cost of it. But there is surely no price tag to good health. Not many Japanese households do this, but Tomomi adds barley, green and red beans into the claypot of brown rice she cooks for me daily. It does not change the taste of the rice too much, but it certainly adds a rich chewy texture to it. This is something that is easy to try, yet reaps immense health benefits. Japanese diet is also very much low in fat and even if I have a taste of well fried tempura, its usually with clean oil and not recycled oil. Of course I miss the Malaysian char kway teow or Hokkien stir fried dark char mee with lots of oily pork lard but having it only once a year is probably not so bad after all. Most Japanese dishes are cooked with not too much oil, less seasoning and tend to emphasize the quality of the freshly caught and naturally grown food, rather than its cooking style. Probably its the age in me to want to sacrifice the lust for oily food and choose naturally sweet and fresh tasty food instead. Kudos also to the government that constantly monitors food contamination besides the Japanese society's culture that would not want to be shamed for cheating. Adding to this healthy eating lifestyle, there is lots of walking and cycling in central Tokyo. Even if most people catch trains to work, they would need to walk long stretches of subway pathways to get out of the station, then head out to their offices. Its interesting that even when Japan is a developed country and the second largest economy in the world, the police still follow a disciplined schedule to patrol the streets, even along less busy residential sidewalks on their bicycles, rain or shine. The past decade of slow growth in Japan only humbled the Japanese to keep their bodies and minds working all the time and if a balance between stress and rest is achieved, the Japanese hold the recipe for living it young past 100. Of course, its not a perfect country and in other post I will talk about its limitations, but so far it has its track record for the oldest people living on the face of this earth.

I still would love to hear about any health tip you have. Any nutritious food we should start eating?