Recently there have been a few posts on eating more like the Okinawans used to. I have received a few emails asking for a list of the types of foods that would be common in an old Okinawan diet. This is just a quick cheat sheet for that. The categories are based on how often you should eat them. Foods are categorized by caloric density (calories compared to volume).

60 Percent of Your Diet – Vegetables

• Sweet Potatoes
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Romaine Lettuce
• Gōya (Bitter Melon)
• Seaweed
• Garlic

20 Percent of Your Diet – Grains

• Brown Rice
• Whole Grain Noodles

10 Percent of Your Diet – Fruit

• Pineapples
• Papayas
• Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Limes
• Mangoes
• Passion Fruit
• Guavas

6 Percent of Your Diet – Soup, Soy, and Beans

• Miso Soup
• Mushrooms
• Bean Sprouts
• Soy Milk
• Cooked Beans

1 Percent of Your Diet – Fish

• White Fish
• Nuts
• Dark Chocolate

3 Percent of Diet – Everything Else

• Turkey
• Pork
• Beef
• Everything Else

Vegetarian

This diet looks a lot like a vegetarian diet. This is not an intended effect, but it is how the diet works. Meats were expensive and in small quantity. Compare that with sweet potatoes which should make up the bulk of your diet. It was economically driven, something a lot of us can appreciate in today’s world.