Having lived in Japan for 9 years, I can tell you why they do not get as fat as we do.

First, the high population density makes travel by car too much of hassle. One uses a car to go places on the weekend. So, you walk and ride bikes to and from the train station as well as to get to places in the neighborhood. Also, one often must stand on the trains, because they are very crowded. In the U.S. (except for NYC and maybe SF) everyone drives where ever they want to go.

Second, meal portions are much smaller. Even the fast food sizes (like at McDonald's or MOS Burger) are much smaller than in the U.S. The U.S. Burgerking whopper is simply enormous. Every time I returned to the U.S. and ate in a restaurant, I was surprised at the huge portion sizes we have here. Americans are gluttons when it comes to eating.

Most (not all) traditional Japanese food is better for you than most American food is. However, some Japanese food can actually be high calorie (ton-katsu for example).

The reasons are mostly 1 and 2.

Posted by: kurt9 on July 8, 2008 3:22 PM

Iodine?

Japanese diets higher in iodine, iodine supports thyroid health, properly functioning thyroid optimizes metabolism.

I think it has to be a factor . . .

I've started orthosupplementation on iodine as of about 6 weeks ago and am considering how to blog about it . . . don't want to give out anything that appears to be medical advice, and a lot of people are scared of the stuff . . . OTOH I feel so amazing it's hard to restrain my holler-from-the-mountaintop impulse to evangelicize . . . as one example: these two little gals I carry around here on my chest? They feel like TEENAGERS again. I mean feel, to the touch -- the tissue has completely re-built itself . . .

Posted by: Kirsten on July 9, 2008 8:52 AM






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