On 21 Mar 2022, when the Swami Sivananda, a yoga guru, who has been practicing yoga on the Ghats of Kashi, was conferred with the Padma Shri, he sent shock waves across the country, and abroad, when he became the oldest person to receive the award, at an age of 125 years.
Born in 8 Aug 1896, in Sylhet District of Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh), Swami Sivananda; received his training from Guru Omkarananda, mastered yoga and started serving on the ghats of Kashi.
What was surprising was not only his age, but that he was hearty and healthy at this age, absolutely disease free, with all his senses intact, without even the usage of spectacles to correct his eyesight.
He has undergone quite a few health check-ups, because the doctors wanted to check the structural and functional health of his vital organs. He is an lively supporter of the COVID-19 vaccine and among the many oldest to be administered the vaccine.
Of course, what attracts is his very simple life as a yogi. He wakes up at 3 am, and practises yoga. He consumes very simple- only boiled food without oil or spices, rice and boiled daal (lentil stew) with a few green chillies. He even avoids fruits and milk, as he considers them fancy foods. He sleeps on a mat on the ground and uses a picket slab as a pillow.
On the opposite hand, we’ve the nation of Japan, which it’s the country with the longest life expectancy and the best variety of centenarians (people living to 100 years and beyond).
It also has probably the most accelerated growth of ageing on the planet. In other words, life expectancy in Japanese women increased at a gradual rate of near 3 months yearly for the previous 160 years. Life expectancy of Japanese women in 2016 was 87.1 years.
In Japan, there’s a region that’s home to the population with the best variety of centenarians worldwide: the Okinawa island, which exceed even the remaining of the Japanese in life expectancy.
The eating regimen followed by Okinawa people, has attracted the interest of many, because they not only live longer but most of them maintain lively lives. In fact, Okinawa is a component of the five “Blue Zones”, which comprise populations with the world’s longest-lived people and the bottom risk of age-associated diseases. Okinawa is the biggest of the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, where the normal eating regimen could be very wealthy in nutrients and low in calories.
Other “blue zones” are Sardinia (Italy) with the best concentration of centenarians and the community of Seventh Day Adventists of Loma Linda in California. Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica is one other “blue zone” where healthy centenarians live in a solid support network of family and friends.
The Okinawan eating regimen consists of mainly plant foods with 80% of its calories coming from vegetable sources, specifically, whole grains, fruits, legumes (mainly soy), relatively small amounts of fish, and limited amounts of lean meats. The traditional Okinawan eating regimen has 20% less calories in comparison with the standard Japanese eating regimen, and a big proportion of colored vegetables.
Sweet potatoes and rice, are the foremost source of carbohydrates within the Okinawan eating regimen. The Okinawan eating regimen has low amounts of saturated fats on account of a limited consumption of eggs, meat, and dairy products. Okinawan centenarians follow the Confucian teaching of “hara hachi bu”, which is the truth is a kind of caloric restriction.
“Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. This can be a difference in feeling full and feeling satisfied. When you eat with the concept of Hara Hachi Bu, you’d stop eating, at a time, if you still have capability to eat some more food. You try to depart the table slightly hungry.
Now one of the vital consistent research in the case of prolonged lifespan or human longevity, which has been strongly proven, is on Caloric (or dietary) restriction.
Caloric restriction refers back to the reduction in the whole energy intake by 20 to 40% without causing malnutrition or deficiency in essential nutrients.
Okinawans indeed seem like one in every of the few populations on the planet which will have experienced long-term caloric restriction without significant malnutrition, and this may increasingly be linked to their exceptionally healthy survival.
Chronic low caloric intake and chronic low protein and/or low intake of particular amino acids (e.g., methionine) may additionally be chronic low-intensity stressors and can have contributed to a phenomenon often known as “hormesis,” where low levels of otherwise damaging agents have positive, potentially life-extending effects.
The Caloric restriction status of the older Okinawans appears to be due, partly, to a high level of occupational energy demand from their foremost vocation as farmers. This was coupled to low caloric intake from an energy-poor but nutrient-dense Okinawan eating regimen.
But what’s that one common factor between Swami Sivananda, and lots of within the likes of him, and the centenarians from Okinawa?
It’s the concept of Hara Hachi Bu. Both eat traditional meals and foods, but eat only till they’re app. 80% full and even less. Due to which they practice overall calorie restriction, a practice linked to healthy and longer human life.
In fact, in my program Genesis, that is one of the vital common advices I give to all my clients. That you can’t live your life with a calculator and weight machine, to calculate the calories of each food you set in your mouth and weigh every gram of food.
The most significant aspect of nutrition is to know your individual hunger patterns, and eating habits. Practicing Hara Hachi Bu might be one one of the best ways to do this.
