Why are People so Healthy in Japan?

People from Japan eat a lot of food instead of food-like products

Obesity is a deadlier epidemic in the U.S. than COVID-19. There, I said it.

Is that controversial?

Maybe on Reddit or the NYT’s comment section.

Now two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese— nearly 45% of White adults are obese, 50% of Black adults are obese, and more than half of Black Women living in America are classified as obese.

I learned by reading “The Real Anthony Fauci” by RFK JR. that when Dr. Fauci took office as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984, America was still ranked among the healthiest populations.

Now the land of the free has the lowest life expectancy at birth among industrialized nations, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates. Yikes.

You can go a whole day without finding a fat person in Japan unless it’s a tourist.

They have three secrets to better health and longevity. Let’s explore them.

First, some things to note about Japan:

• The mortality rate from heart disease is one of the lowest in the world, at about 31 deaths per 100,000 population. This is compared to the U.S. at 655,000 people or 1 in 4 Americans.

• Japan has one of the highest life expectancies both for women and men worldwide. Japanese have an average life expectancy of nearly 84 years.

• In Japan, only 3.6 percent of people have a BMI over 30 (overweight metric) compared to 73% of U.S. adults.

1. Quitting junk food is easy. I've done it thousands of times.

Americans are generally tired after waging until 6pm and having a 1-2 hour commute home. So they pick up more fast food or takeout on the way home.

If they have the energy to cook and remember to go grocery shopping, it’s probably Tyson chicken nuggets and oven fries or some other abomination of frozen food. Ice cream for dessert from the big two-gallon bucket, and a soda to wash it down. Most countries come home around 3-5 pm. They cook up a nice large wholesome meal since this is the only decadent meal of the day.

No guilt no shame, but this is our environment—it’s a constant assault of marketing, fake cheapness, and mouth pleasure.

It’s why there are 196,839 fast food restaurants in the U.S. as of 2021, and only around 6,500 fast food stores in Japan.

According to a UConn study, more than “80% of all food advertising promotes fast food, sugary drinks, candy, and unhealthy snacks.

Fast food in America desperately tries to trick you into thinking it’s healthy. Words like “crispy” are used instead of “fried” or “natural” instead of “USDC organic.”

2. Japanese people HATE the gym

It's not that their foods are healthier in Japan. You can be just as healthy by cooking your own meals and not oversaturating with it processed sauces.

The thing about their culture is that the portion sizes are a lot smaller and they get more physical activity than the regular American.

One survey revealed that 55% of Japanese people between the ages of 20 and 70 years old do not exercise regularly; these individuals exercised less than once per month on average.

The factor here is that Americans don’t walk at all and the Japanese walk a lot (6,846 steps a day for men, 5,867 steps each day for women).

America is very big. So everyone spreads out. In Japan and Italy, they face space issues with such large populations so they pack everything closer together. It's crazy to think about how many people you fit in such a small space. Meanwhile, Wyoming has all of 500k people. Japan is only 1.3x the size of Wyoming, yet has 260x the number of people. Imagine if half your country was just New York City. Like holy fuck that's dense. People E V E R Y W H E R E.

But it allows for more walking and bike riding opportunities.

3. Japanese people eat fat

There is no fatphobia in Japan.

More specifically, there isn’t a phobia towards eating foods with fats in them.

In Japan, it’s common to eat fat-rich pork belly, fatty cuts of chicken, marbled beef, and fatty cuts of fish like salmon. Despite this diet — which I’d be remiss to say is high in vegetables — Japanese people can maintain their status as one of the healthiest countries in the world.

This is because fat doesn’t make you fat. Carbs and sugar are what make you fat.

Food in the US is almost radioactive. You can get the same hamburger in the US and in France: Beef, veggies and cheese, but you compare the sauces that are chock full of corn syrup and are enough for two people.

It’s hard not to fall for the trap of cheap food: yet it’s poisoned with preservatives and even MORE sugar. Besides learning to cook, we don't have many real options for healthy cheap meals.

The Takeaway

One key metric Dr. Fauci and the World Health Organization never mention about COVID-19 is maintaining good health starts with you:

We never talk about exercise.
We never talk about eating healthy.
We rely on vaccines and pharmaceuticals to bail us out.

As much as Americans think of ourselves as capitalists we're really a corporate oligarchy where corporations stomp over small business owners.

It’s hard for a diner charging $19 (plus tip, plus blowjob, plus racial justice surcharge) to compete with a fucking Little Caesars offering 6 buck pizzas.

Sometimes I treat myself to a burger. Today seems like a good day for it. But let’s be real: big pharma and 80% of fast food chains can take a hike.

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