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Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

economist.com

101–110 of 268 posts

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re diet: putting aside that alcohol-per-capita consumption here in Japan is less than the OECD average [1], and also how the article is actually about how the introduction of meat into the Japanese diet has caused a decrease in strokes (i.e. this is probably off-topic); it is true that if you are eating out cheaply, you'll likely find lots of rice and meat stuff like gyuudon (beef on rice), katsudon (breaded meat on…

> anything served cold besides ice cream is disgusting, In the west there are salads. They're cold. In Japan salads are rare and usually nothing but iceberg lettuce and cherry tomatoes. > who thinks that anything pickled is gross, The pickled isle of a western super market has more pickled things than the corresponding Japanese super market. They're just different kinds of pickled things. > normal Japanese meal gener…

Agreed that it goes both ways - just making the point that tourists tend to have a pretty warped idea of what the food traditions in the countries they go to are. My point of reference is how annoying it is when you try to go to an oden spot or something and your friend complains that they’re not eating wagyu steaks (which you’ve eaten every week for the last month for each friend visiting Japan pre-corona times), and therefore this meal is unhealthy because it lacks a huge amount of protein. I think a lot of people’s impressions of foreign food are a result of their own pickiness.

Specific to the American culinary tradition though I find it pretty wild that for most people I know back home, healthy = salad, there seems to be very little mainstream options besides that. Like you said, it is possible to be healthy; but the default American family meal these days is a far cry from that, even compared to a typical convenience store food eating lazy Japanese person.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast food burgers are fine if you don’t eat the fries or soda.

And fries and soda are also fine if you are doing hard labor.

This is a common misconception - very few people in the west are actually doing hard labor consistently for such a long time that they would burn enough calories to balance crappy diet full of bad calories like raw sugar in sodas.

I mean how many do daily effort on the level of running 1-2 marathons to burn all those calories? If you look around you will see plenty of older manual workers being overweight in the US, and not only there.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#103
post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

> people here wouldn't even look at you straight Quite the opposite! Random strangers will stare, and friends and colleagues will make blunt comments in a way that would send them straight to HR in the US: you'll be told to your face you're fat, asked how much you weigh, get poked in the belly, asked if you've tried sumo wrestling, etc. A random デブちゃん's experience: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/fat-in-japan/

I’ve had those experiences in China, my friends would often comment on my weight. They never meant it in a offensive way, but it’s still hurtful.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#104
post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

Japan wearing face mask 24/7 since the 90s I believe (I wonder if it was all started after the diesel scandal)

That’s just false. In many places in Asia it’s considered a must to wear a mask when you’re sick, but nobody in Japan is wearing it 24/7. Not sure where you got this information from.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#105
post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

As an Italian person (also our life expectancy is really good on average) this hits home. An anecdotal example: I now live in Switzerland and my current doctor was shocked when I ask to get some blood analysis without being sick. He believed that I lied to my insurance company and hid some pre-existing condition.

In Italy, instead, it is pretty common that every couple of years you get a complete blood analysis just to see if everything is ok and whether you need to change something in your lifestyle.

Additionally, Sardinia (another "blue zone" with great life expectancy) also has a different diet compared to mainland Italy. Loads of seafood and relatively small amounts of livestock proteins.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast food burgers are fine if you don’t eat the fries or soda.

And fries and soda are also fine if you are doing hard labor.

There is not enough labor in the day that can work off a soda.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#107
post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

A culture that promotes health and well-being sounds great to me. Here in the West any criticism of someone's health gets you sent to HR, or accused of hate speech (ok I'm exaggerating a little but I don't think we're far off from that). Perhaps after covid people will take their health more seriously?

Edit: by health I meant fitness, obviously many people have health issues that they cannot help.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast food burgers are fine if you don’t eat the fries or soda.

And fries and soda are also fine if you are doing hard labor.

I’m pretty sure fries are very bad for you in ways you can’t work off. Maybe if you put a bunch of antioxidants in the spice mix.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#109
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more I try to read, the less I know, the more I believe the answer is: - eat few - eat varied - move more - be with others - sleep nice Basically, avoid modern lifestyle advice.

Modern lifestyle advice dictates people to eat more, to move less, to be alone and sleep less ?

Modern lifestyle makes you chase technohopium based ideas. Often they'll sell you complex solutions for a non existent problem.

Modern life is never calling for bad ideas loudly, but tons of incentives that make you go the wrong way slowly.

Bad job -> stress -> comforting with premade meals too tasty due to sugar and additives. No more walking because you want to leverage your car. You delay sleep to work later (bad work practices) to have leisure.

When I did simpler but physically demanding jobs, I ate simpler, went to bed early because I was simply cooked but it didn't feel like stress, but good fatigue (the kind you have after long swim session).

Modern jobs also turn you against each other way too often. I firmly believe there's a huge amount of benefits of doing simple chores in team, rather than ruminating in your cubicle delaying answers in mails..

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#110
post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

I have a hard time imagine that stress and fear over ones health is positive correlated to long life span. One possibility however is that less uncertainty in regard to health has a strong beneficial effect.
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