Japanese Diet Secrets

Japanese Diet Secrets

We have written in the past about the "Korean Diet Secret" on how Korean women and men stay fitness. And, in this article we will write about the "Japanese Diet Secret".

Well, if you travel to Japan, you will be shocked by how healthy and slim Japanese people are, and you will definitely see an extremely small percentage of people who are obese or over-weight and even when you do, you will see that their bodies are still nothing compared with what you will see in the United States where as many as 60% of the population has some kind of a weight problem.

Naomi Moriyama, the co-author of "Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen" shared the secrets in greater details on how healthy and slim Japanese people are.

Moriyama writes in a very simple format, it is a pleasure to read her book. In her book she describes the Japanese diet along with a bit of Japanese culture.

Below are the key points of her book:

- Japanese eat small amounts of many foods in each meal. Americans eat big amounts of the same food in each meal (e.g. pasta). There is a very old saying in Japan "Hara hachi bunme" (translated as "stop eating when you are 80% full").

- Japanese cooking is very light. They use broths to flavor the food instead of heavy sauces. One of these broths is dashi - it is sold in many gourmet stores or you can make it yourself.

- Japanese eat rice, instead of bread. Rice is better than cheap bread full of sugar, though not superior to all bread.

- Japanese eat fish, vegetables, rice, soy, noodles, tea, and fruits.

- Japanese bring beauty and harmony to the dining table. They use pretty sets of small dishes with different purposes.

- Japanese eat a heavy breakfast. The breakfast in Japan is a complete meal similar to dinner, along with fish and miso soup.

- Japanese do enjoy desserts but not very often and in a smaller amount.

- Japanese walk a lot. Walking or going on a bike is very much a part of daily Japanese life, although they do manufacture a lot of automobiles. Many old buildings do not have elevators and Japanese regulation does not insist on elevators for building with up to four floors - which means, plenty of opportunities to burn calories if you live / work in one of these apartment / office buildings.