Successful Ager: Eugene H. Kunitake
Eugene H. 
Kunitake, a retired Navy dentist with 26 years of active-duty service, has a motto which he lives by: “Eat like a bunny and jump like a bunny”, and at the age of 82 he puts this motto into practice every day and with every meal. Growing up as one of seven children on a 10-acre farm in Kona, Hawai'i, Eugene learned at a very young age the importance of farming and community. His village in Kona was extremely close-knit and while members of the village lived as far away as twenty miles, social connections were cultivated and prioritized. The importance of having strong relationships with family and friends and building this reliance on social relationships, Eugene believes, is part of what has helped him age successfully. He also believes a secret to his aging success stems from his diet. “In my village in Hawai'i, I observed all the farm animals like chickens and pigs. These animals’ lives were simple, and I think we need to keep our lives simple to live long lives. Animals eat a lot of vegetables. As I am getting older my body is telling me to eat less refined foods and focus on what a wild animal does: eating simple foods and sleeping well. This is why I decided to raise my own vegetables in my own garden”.
In fact, Eugene’s diet is strictly whole foods as he declines processed food and restaurant food. Eugene moved to San Diego with his wife Yutaka while stationed with the Navy. Together they raised three children and have three grandchildren. After retiring from the Navy in 1999, he started focusing his time on building a vegetable garden at their home in Carmel Valley. To do this, he transformed their backyard by taking out the entire lawn (except just a small patch) and has been planting vegetables there ever since. He now spends much of his retirement enjoying the benefits of gardening by planting seeds and growing his own young plants—tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, cabbage, herbs, etc. Year-round Eugene can be found harvesting fibrous foods from his own backyard garden. By expanding upon his own innovative gardening techniques, Eugene prides himself no pesticides are sprayed over the vegetables nor spread on the ground, and he has been able to grow cabbages that are over 10lbs!