Brava Mieko!

Mieko Ikegame, Senior Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa (OSAA) at the United Nations, has been named one of the 100 most influential Japanese women of the world by Japan’s Newsweek magazine 6/28/06. In 1997, I interviewed Mieko for my book Personal Renewal. Here are some of her wise health and beauty tips:

Life in High Gear
Mieko Ikegame is one of the youngest and most respected women at the United Nations. She told me that it took her eighteen years to develop the professional skills necessary to run her organization, which includes a large staff and many responsibilities. For about the last 15 years she has been in charge of policy coordination of Africa’s development for the U.N. She is highly creative and bold. She works to achieve her goals in putting forth her policies. This demands “confidence, courage, strength and faith in what you want to do.“ She says you need to be “convinced about yourself.” When I asked her how a person might build such confidence, she paused. It had been with her a long time. Her mother had encouraged Mieko to achieve all that a man can. Her mother had wanted to become a pilot. Instead, she sent Mieko “out in the world to become international.”

Natural herbal medicines are very popular in Japan. Mieko says they are part of Japanese people’s daily lives and are widely advertised in popular magazines. It’s interesting to consider that in the context of their health statistics: The vast majority of Japanese people live at least ten years longer than Americans. Many Japanese people live to be 100. In Japan, herbal remedies recommended for treating fibroids, heart trouble, and stroke have been laboratory tested for over sixty years and often require a medical doctor’s prescription.

Seaweeds
For her everyday well-being, Mieko prefers eating seaweeds. Every other day she eats nori, which is high in protein. Other favorites are kombu and wakame added to soups. Mieko feels the seaweeds are important for women’s menstrual health. Seaweed are high in minerals especially potassium and iodine, which is essential for healthy hormone balance. For information on the high mineral content of seaweeds and to order organic seaweeds from Maine, see www.seaveg.com.

Mieko’s high-energy diet of fish, rice, cleansing sour foods such as pickled vegetables, and phytoestrogenic soy products, including miso and tofu keep her young and sleek. She also likes to eat leeks, a blood cleanser, daily.

A Good Hot Soak
Jet lag is endemic to her profession. Mieko’s favorite cure for jet lag is a Japanese tradition–a long extremely hot bath. She always adds refreshing bath crystals. See www.saltworks.us for healthy mineral salts to add to your bath.

For more information about Japan see: Japanese culture, and animation. You can receive Asahi the largest weekly English-Japanese newspaper (Every Sunday) for 970yen a month–that’s US $8.40; 6.63 Euros; 11.14 Australian dollars; or 4.57 British pounds.