Living Longer - Oprah.com

Living Longer - Oprah.com: "Dr. Gupta says Okinawa has the highest concentration of centenarians than any other place in the world for a number of reasons. For starters, they eat a plant-based diet, including lots of tofu and water-rich foods rather than calorie-dense ones.

The Okinawan cultural habit called hara hachi bu, which means you eat only until you are 80 percent full, also plays a big role in longevity, Dr. Gupta says. 'It means you never satiate yourself when you're eating, you never stuff yourself,' he says.

Perhaps the most important component of the Okinawans long life span is the way they approach aging. 'Elders as they get older are actually more respected, more revered, as they get up in years,' Dr. Gupta says. 'Aging is not treated as a disease and you are not discarded when you get to 65. In fact, there is no word for retirement in Japanese.'"