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Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

economist.com

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

#201

Post by CodeGlitch »

whoknew1122 wrote: post #194
CodeGlitch wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm not sure why people think it's their duty to fat-shame people into losing weight. I'm 6'2" and weighed 220 lbs when I was working out three hours a day 5 times a week. You'll notice that's considered 'overweight' and nearly obese. I'm about 100 lbs. heavier now. I know I'm too heavy. And I need to work on it. Incidentally, a large part of my weight problem stems from an anxiety/PTSD problem. Sugary junk food make…

Yes you are right - but something has to be done about Western health (I live in the UK, so the populations' health is a concern to me as we have a national health-service - the more people who are sick means fewer resources to go around). As you say, fat-shaming people is unhelpful - but on the flip-side we have "progressive"-types who claim images of skinny-people in the London underground are "offensive" [1].

[1] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/body-shaming-adverts-...

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

#202

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

jb1991 wrote: post #49
handmodel wrote: post #24

For what it's worth, Asian-Americans in New Jersey (and several other wealthy states) have a higher life expectancy than Japanese people in Japan. Source: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/08/asian-americans-men-in...

If you are going to pick a small arbitrary region of the country to compare, then I’m sure you could pick an arbitrary region of Japan to compare to New Jersey favorably.

That could be attributed to the fact that Asians in new Jersey are more affluent and can afford better care than the japanese counterparts.

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

#203

Post by Blikkentrekker »

thick wrote: post #14

I would sincerely like to get a breakdown of all the factors that contribute to the Japanese living to such an old age, rather than the usual "this one weird trick" bullshit that Economist and others try to swindle on the Western readership. It's quite frankly annoying, although I've lost the last ounce of respect I've had for the Economist years ago so I'm the idiot for expecting them to be any better. I've gone thr…

> I would sincerely like to get a breakdown of all the factors that contribute to the Japanese living to such an old age, rather than the usual "this one weird trick" bullshit that Economist and others try to swindle on the Western readership.

Why is it that the term “western" is so often at some point introduce with some implication some culturally cohesive unit called “the west” exists any time Japan in particular is mentioned somewhere?

I find that very often when this happens, and when attributes of this supposed “western” culture are listed, it seems to mostly mean “The Anglo-Saxon world”, not so much “the west”.

The last time it happened on H.N. where someone complained about a sensationalist “western" article about Japan, it was pointed out that it was posted in a Japanese newspaper, and a translation from an original Japanese article, however sensationalist it might be.

Other than that, yes, there is probably not a single simple rule that governs it but a myriad of factors that contribute with many no doubt also working in the opposite direction, such as Japan's famously stressful workplace life and the high suicide rate of office workers.

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

#204

Post by vinni2 »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #199
marcyb5st wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>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. this is the same kind of situation in Denmark, I've lived most of my life outside of Denmark, after I cam back in my early 40s I went to the Doctor and said innocently "well I guess I'm getting to that age now where…

You should probably change your doctor.

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

#205

Post by NoOneNew »

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #193
euske wrote: 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…

> - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have they looked into Japan. Small clinics are everywhere and they're always filled with anxious patients because they have a benign stomach pain or something. Physical checkup is mandatory for most companies. I also read that the fear of COVID in Japan is the strongest in the world, despite a relatively low infection/death n…

The nurses in US schools (I've been out for 15 years, things may be different now) are mostly there if a kid gets a bloody nose, deals with a kid's allergic reaction, verify a sudden extreme temperature to dismiss the kid or generally stabilize before a paramedic arrives if it's serious. In high school, one kid cracked his head open on the gym floor from slipping while playing indoor soccer. Pretty much all she could do was slow the bleeding. Plus, school nurse isnt a cert nurse's first pick in jobs. Which I dont blame them. Who would want to deal with kids all day trying to fake sickness so they can skip class? A simple cough and low fever wouldn't get you out of class. You needed head lice, vomit 3 times within 1 hour, vomit blood, or a 101f fever to get out of class back in my day... or a cracked skull.

But "infirmary"... it's a $25 first aid kit (at best) and like 2 EpiPens. I carry a better medical kit in the trunk of my car just because I like being prepared.

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

#206

Post by amanaplanacanal »

darkerside wrote: post #187
woutr_be wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It does seem like it's offensive in america to mention overweightedness at all, which seems like it enables overweight people to ignore it. Seems unhealthy as well, both physically and mentally.

In American culture being fat is seen as a moral failing. Calling people out who already know they are overweight is offensive. You aren’t telling them something they don’t know. Likely they have already tried to lose weight and failed.

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

#207

Post by H1Supreme »

lhjn wrote: post #147
gillesjacobs wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goes to show how important culture and religion can be in diet. Eating seafood instead of meat once a week, usually on Friday, is a widespread Christian practice called the Friday Fast. [1] In Europe, I know a lot of people that still stick to this practice even without practicing Christianity. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Fast

Oh, there was some people following the Friday thing, but I've only heard about it during lent and not everyone is following it - it's quite going out of fashion esp with younger generations.

> but I've only heard about it during lent

And even then, it's usually breaded and deep fried. Not sure, I'd qualify it as a healthy alternative to a steak.

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

#208

Post by whoknew1122 »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #201
whoknew1122 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why people think it's their duty to fat-shame people into losing weight. I'm 6'2" and weighed 220 lbs when I was working out three hours a day 5 times a week. You'll notice that's considered 'overweight' and nearly obese. I'm about 100 lbs. heavier now. I know I'm too heavy. And I need to work on it. Incidentally, a large part of my weight problem stems from an anxiety/PTSD problem. Sugary junk food make…

Yes you are right - but something has to be done about Western health (I live in the UK, so the populations' health is a concern to me as we have a national health-service - the more people who are sick means fewer resources to go around). As you say, fat-shaming people is unhelpful - but on the flip-side we have "progressive"-types who claim images of skinny-people in the London underground are "offensive" [1]. [1]…

I'm not saying that I agree with the idea that that ad is offensive. But the issue isn't that the person is skinny.

The issue that it's a very skinny model is pictured alongside the words "Are you beach body read?" This implies that the only people who have 'beach bodies' are those as skinny as that model.

The idea isn't 'OMG, skinny people are offensive' The idea is 'The implication of this ad is that only people who look like that very skinny model are beach body ready. Meaning, only incredibly skinny people are welcome at the beach.'

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

#209

Post by amanaplanacanal »

yowlingcat wrote: post #184
CodeGlitch wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Perhaps after covid people will take their health more seriously? I'm not hopeful of it. The problem is that it's just such good business to keep people in poor health. Consider all the products that can be sold to them: - addictive junk food to exacerbate the cycle - type 2 diabetes medication - plus-size clothing - plus-size identity media - weight loss programs and medications Now, I'm not saying that all of thi…

It’s unlikely the problem will be solved until we can get some agreement on what is causing it. There isn’t consensus on this one. Why are people now overweight in many countries when they weren’t 50 years ago? What changed?

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

#210

Post by haltingproblem »

baxter001 wrote: post #190

Can't let this pass without the old classic: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/704080v1 In the United States, supercentenarian status is predicted by the absence of vital registration. The state-specific introduction of birth certificates is associated with a 69-82% fall in the number of supercentenarian records. In Italy, which has more uniform vital registration, remarkable longevity is instead predicted by l…

Measurement error. How many people forget this detail and build whole lives around faulty studies like the Blue Zones.

The Blue Zones is also selective in other ways. Utah has similar life expectancy to Loma Linda seventh day adventist. This was left out in the Blue Zones "study" since it did not fit the data.

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