READING 3 Eat Less, Live Longer

An Okinawan woman inspects a handful of edible seaweed.

Eat Less,

Live Longer

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 9.4

More than 70 percent of Americans are overweight. The typical American consumes1 too many calories and too much fat and doesn’t get enough exercise. Many American children are overweight, too. About 30 percent of two- to five-year-olds and 35 percent of school-age children are overweight or obese2 in the United States. Children spend too many hours watching TV and not enough time getting exercise. They see too many commercials for food products every day. Over 90 percent of food commercials during children’s TV shows are for foods that have a lot of fat, sugar, or sodium.

Eating fewer calories can help us live longer. Doctors studied people on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Okinawans eat 40 percent less than the typical American. The Okinawan diet is low in calories and salt. Okinawans also eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, and fish and drink a lot of green tea and water. Many Okinawans in their eighties have excellent health. Okinawa has a lot of people over the age of 100. However, as younger Okinawans start to eat like Westerners, they will probably have much shorter lives than their grandparents.

How can we live longer and healthier lives? The answer is simple: eat less and exercise more.

1 to consume: to eat or drink 2 obese: very overweight