The Okinawa diet – could it help you live to 100?
7:00AM BST 10 Jun 2013
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Be realistic
People dream about a particular weight because they’ve seen somebody in a newspaper or a magazine and imagine that they could look like them. In reality, everyone is affected by genetics. An achievable 'right’ weight for most people is usually about the weight they were when they were naturally at their slimmest, without being on a diet
Don’t be too tough on yourself
If you try to be slimmer than your 'right’ weight you’ll probably end up putting weight back on after you have finished dieting. The main reason people give up on diets is because they get frustrated at having to ignore their cravings. Don’t feel guilty if you give in to temptation once in a while; just make sure that you compensate with healthier meals the next day. You won’t die if you eat four chunks of chocolate – just substitute it for something else that day
Drink is not forbidden
A glass of wine is 100 calories. It’s not the same type of calories as in fruit, but it is the same quantity, and the pleasure you get from drinking it changes the taste of the diet. The best thing to do when you want a glass of wine is to ensure you have water on the table, too. By balancing your sips of wine with water, you will drink less but still get the pleasure from the wine
Be a better shopper
Becoming thinner begins with your shopping-list. The more vegetables you buy, the more you eat. Prepare your list after eating – you will be less hungry, and therefore buy less. When I was little, my grandmother planned the entire week’s recipes the Sunday before. She knew what she had to buy and what recipes she’d make, which added to the pleasure of eating
Enjoy your food
A really good diet has to be flexible, sustainable and endurable. So make recipes that are enjoyable to eat. In Paris, food is a pleasure; Parisians even eat out at restaurants alone since they enjoy food
Relax to succeed
You have to approach eating in a relaxed way. Very often people end up feeling stressed when they diet – they feel pressured to lose weight and as though they need to deny themselves lots of things. But in reality people who succeed with their diets are the ones who are most relaxed
An ideal meal
I recommend cooked tomatoes, because they are very rich in lycopene (a powerful antioxidant), with fatty fishes such as salmon. When you cook salmon with tomatoes you don’t need as much oil and you produce a very rich and healthy dish. It is full of omega-3, which helps to reduce blood pressure and inflammation. Plus, you could also add some lemon or grapefruit to get even more vitamin C.