The Japanese Diet Mystery Solved!

[Rinse & rePeat]

“The famously long-lived people of Azerbaijan eat a diet containing a low ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats, emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.” -Ray Peat

 

[IndigoBoy]

“Where are we going wrong?

I also feel that people in Australia like to eat a lot more sushi than people in Japan do. And it’s often eaten with mayonnaise or a sweet sauce. To me, that’s a westernised version of sushi and not the way we would usually have it in Japan.

The fact is Japanese rice (that’s used for sushi) has one of the highest sugar contents of all rice and is quite unhealthy when compared to other types, like basmati rice. But in Japan, we typically eat lots of little tiny dishes consisting of [some rice], a lot of seaweed and vegetables, and some meat but not a lot of it.”

Not just sushi and tempura: Here's how to eat the healthy Japanese foods I grew up with

Japanese food advocate, nutrition coach and former chef, Yoshiko Takeuchi, wants to promote traditional Japanese foods and flavours that can benefit your health.

www.sbs.com.au

Australians do indeed like Sushi (n=4). However our Sushi opportunities in Oz are very limited and similarly bastardised as the US. Also there are 124M Japanese compared to 25M Oz. They would smash us to pieces in a Sushi eating comp.

In Oz we eat Lamb and beef as our meat of choice. Our fish intake is way lower that other Asia Pacific nations.

I agree that the smaller meal size is the key to the Japanese slim figure. Am interested in the effect of chopstick use on this parameter.

Their longevity is postulated to be associated with high iodine intake from seaweed. This may upregulate thyroid function. It also helps to detox halogens such as flouride and bromide and may deal with lead, mercury and aluminium. Perhaps this high idoine (15-20 x higher than RDA) is a factor in Japan low cancer rate.

They also eat a lot of fermented soy based products like Natto and Miso soup. So possibly their gut health and nutrient absorption is improved.

They also pioneered the isolation of amino acids and creation of unique dipeptides to increase the therapeutic effect - so it is possible that they are not as negatively affected by Western meds such as statin and PPI's?

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I agree that the smaller meal size is the key to the Japanese slim figure. Am interested in the effect of chopstick use on this parameter.


They also pioneered the isolation of amino acids and creation of unique dipeptides to increase the therapeutic effect - so it is possible that they are not as negatively affected by Western meds such as statin and PPI's?

These two you mentioned (above) are good points. Eating slower is proven to be a key to staying slim, and chopsticks are probably a factor in Japan weight control. The second point about the meds is interesting, but more to the point that I am certain Japan doesn’t have anywhere near the the amount of people on meds that America has. Great food for thought IndigoBoy!

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

This is why people are so fat in America. Look at all the PUFA and trans fats in this burger, and then add fries to this?!!!….

“The Bacon Rancher Burger is the most unhealthy item on the Chili's menu," Jesse Feder, RDN, CPT at My Crohns and Colitis Team, told Eat This, Not That! "It is one of the highest calorie foods with the highest fat content out of all the entrees—specifically, 123 grams of fat, which is way above the recommended amount you should have in a day."

The fat content in this burger is no laughing matter. "It has 50 grams of saturated fat and 5 grams of trans fat, which are both linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke," Feder continues.”

“While the burger easily ranks as the worst item to order at Chili's, if you need to watch your waistline, some folks find ways to pack even more calories into this meal. Chili's goes a step further by letting you customize your burger with extra patties, bacon, and the chain's classic chili. All of these customizable add-ons can easily turn the 1,710 calorie Bacon Rancher Burger into a menu item that easily surpasses 2,000 calories.“

11 Unhealthiest Dishes to Order at Chili’s

Chili’s menu is better known for its appealing flavor than healthfulness, but these dishes have some excessively unhealthy nutrition facts.

www.eatthis.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“The amino acids in proteins have been defined as “essential” on the basis of their contribution to growth, ignoring their role in producing long life, good brain development, and good health. The amino acid and protein requirements during aging have hardly been studied, except in rats, whose short life-span makes such studies fairly easy. The few studies that have been done indicate that the requirements for tryptophan and cysteine become very low in adulthood.” -Ray Peat

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“Dietary customs began to change faster in the late 19th century. After Emperor Meiji assumed power in 1868, the Japanese government moved to end their two centuries of isolation and adopt Western practices and technology as quickly as possible. Plus, many believed "that one reason why the Japanese had poor physiques compared to Westerners was that they did not eat meat or dairy products,” writes Ishige.”

Why Eating Meat Was Banned in Japan for Centuries

The reasons were both religious and practical.

www.google.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Hmmm, maybe Japan’s longevity is more from a more peaceful state of mind….


“Since excess serotonin can cause thrombosis and vasospasms, and the excess cortisol resulting from hyperserotonemia can weaken blood vessels and the immune system, a person's longevity is likely to be shortened if something doesn't intervene to alter the patterns induced by stress early in life.” -Ray Peat

 

[Dave Clark]

These two you mentioned (above) are good points. Eating slower is proven to be a key to staying slim, and chopsticks are probably a factor in Japan weight control. The second point about the meds is interesting, but more to the point that I am certain Japan doesn’t have anywhere near the the amount of people on meds that America has. Great food for thought IndigoBoy!

Are you sure about the chopstick thing? When I see Asians eat with chopsticks, it looks like they are shoveling the food in their mouth. Maybe i will have to take another look, but that was the first thought that came to mind when I red the comment, lol. Everything else sounds logical though.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Are you sure about the chopstick thing? When I see Asians eat with chopsticks, it looks like they are shoveling the food in their mouth. Maybe i will have to take another look, but that was the first thought that came to mind when I red the comment, lol. Everything else sounds logical though.

They do shovel it in with the rice, but who can blame them?

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“The population trends toward greater obesity and earlier puberty, both of which are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, suggest that the war against cancer is far from over. In the 19th century when the incidence of breast cancer was much lower than it is now, puberty usually occurred around the age of 17. In countries with a low incidence of breast cancer, puberty still occurs in the middle to late teens. People who are now 100 generally had puberty years later than girls do now. The biological changes now seen in children in the U.S. suggest that the incidence of degenerative diseases of all sorts is likely to increase as these children grow up.“ -Ray Peat

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I think people associate a good thyroid with being skinny, but this is not the case…

“Twenty-five years ago I reviewed many of the issues of estrogen's toxicity, and the ubiquity of estrogenic substances, and since then have regularly spoken about it, but I haven't concentrated much attention on the phytoestrogens, because we can usually just choose foods that are relatively free of them. They are so often associated with other food toxins--antithyroid factors, inhibitors of digestive enzymes, immunosuppressants, etc.--that the avoidance of certain foods is desirable. Recently an advocate of soybeans said "if they inhibit the thyroid, why isn't there an epidemic of hypothyroidism in Asia?" I happened to hear this right after seeing newspaper articles about China's problem with 100,000,000 cretins; yes, Asia has endemic hypothyroidism, and beans are widely associated with hypothyroidism.“ -Ray Peat

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“If the role of the microbiome in health and diseases has not been overestimated, the findings regarding the transmission of these microbes between individuals who live in proximity have significant implications. For instance, some diseases that were not previously found communicable have now been considered to be at least partially communicable, such as diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease. Since it has been suggested that microbiota influence our decisions and desires, such as food selection behavior, a person who loves fast food may impact the food desires of their partner. Considering the role of microbes in metabolism and nutrition, it should not be far from our minds that the people around us can affect our metabolic health and even contribute to obesity.“

Microbiome: New Criteria for Selecting a Partner?

Microbiome transmission among individuals can affect your health.

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

It looks lik Japan’s reputation for good health has taken a turn for the worst…

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“Yisrael Kristal, formerly the world's oldest man, ate pickled herring every day and lived to be 113 years old. Unlike many of the other people we've mentioned here, Kristal wasn't that concerned with the food he ate. According to his daughter, he ate to live, he didn't live to eat. The oldest man in recorded history, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, ate a typical Japanese diet of fish, vegetables, rice and occasionally meat. He believed that only eating until he was 80% full gave him such a long and healthy life of just over 116 years. Eating like this is commonplace in Japan, where the concept is known as hara hachi bun me.”

The Strange Diets of The World’s Oldest People

A daily serving of pickled herring and raw eggs might not sound appetising, but these are just some of the unique dietary habits of the oldest verified people in the world. The world's oldest people are often asked about their secret to living a long life. Common responses include having a...

kwaiheartcare.co.uk

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

The Okinawans didn’t eat much much meat at all and ate mostly sweet potatoes, not rice….

“The dietary intake of Okinawans compared to other Japanese circa 1950 shows that Okinawans consumed: fewer total calories (1785 vs. 2068), less polyunsaturated fat (4.8% of calories vs. 8%), less rice (154g vs. 328g), significantly less wheat, barley and other grains (38g vs. 153g), less sugars (3g vs. 8g), more legumes (71g vs. 55g), significantly less fish (15g vs. 62g), significantly less meat and poultry (3g vs. 11g), less eggs (1g vs. 7g), less dairy (<1g vs. 8g), much more sweet potatoes (849g vs. 66g), less other potatoes (2g vs. 47g), less fruit (<1g vs. 44g), and no pickled vegetables (0g vs. 42g).[2] As proportions of total caloric intake, foods in the traditional Okinawa diet included sweet potato (69%), rice (12%), other grains (7%), legumes including soy (6%), green and yellow vegetables (3%), refined oils (2%), fish (1%) and seaweed, meat (mostly pork), refined sugars, potato, egg, nuts and seeds, dairy and fruit (all <1%).[2] Specifically, the Okinawans circa 1950 ate sweet potatoes for 849 grams of the total 1262 grams of food that they consumed, which constituted 69% of their total daily calories.[2]“

“Okinawans ate three grams total of meat – including pork and poultry – per day, substantially less than the 11-gram average of Japanese as a whole in 1950.[2] The pig's feet, ears, and stomach were considered as everyday foodstuffs.[11] In 1979 after many years of Westernization, the quantity of pork consumption per person a year in Okinawa was 7.9 kg (17 lb), exceeding by about 50% that of the Japanese national average.[12]”

Okinawa diet - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

The Japanese diet mystery is why have we assumed the Japanese were so healthy?…

“In Japan, cancer has been the leading cause of death since 1981 (1), accounting for one third of total deaths in this developed country with a high life expectancy (2). According to the National Cancer Center of Japan, there were estimations of 1,019,000 new cancer cases and 380,400 cancer deaths in 2022. The most common cancers in Japan include colorectal, stomach, lung, prostate, and female breast cancers, which accounted for approximately 60% of all cancer cases in the country (3, 4).”


“As you can see at 2:06 in my video, the arsenic found in a daily serving of white rice carries 136 times the acceptable cancer risk, but brown rice is even riskier at 162. Brown rice averages two-thirds more toxic arsenic than white rice. But, is that just because brown rice tends to be a different strain or grown in different places? No. If you take the exact same batch of brown rice and measurethe arsenic levels before and after polishing it to white, you do get a significant drop in arsenic content.

It’s not what you eat, though. It’s what you absorb. The arsenic in brown rice appears to be less bioavailable than the arsenic in white rice. The texture of brown rice may cut down on the release of arsenic from the grain, or perhaps the bran in brown rice helps bind it up. Regardless, taking bioavailability into account, the difference in arsenic levels in white versus brown rice may be a third more, rather than 70 percent more, as you can see at 2:57 in my video. This estimate, however, was based on an in vitro gastrointestinal fluid system in which researchers strung together beakers and tubes to mimic our gut, with one flask containing stomach acid and another intestinal juices. What happened when it was tested in humans? Yes, “evidence suggeststhat brown rice may contain more arsenic than white rice,” but the researchers aimed to determine how much is actually absorbed by measuring the urine levels of arsenic in white-rice eaters compared with brown-rice eaters. For the arsenic to get from the rice into your bladder, it has to be absorbed through your gut into your bloodstream.

As you can see at 3:45 in my video, the urine of thousands of American test subjects who don’t eat rice at all still contains about 8 micrograms of toxic, carcinogenic arsenic a day. It’s in the air, it’s in the water, and there’s a little bit in nearly all foods. But, eat just one food—a cup or more of white rice a day—and your arsenic exposure shoots up by 65 percent to about 13 micrograms a day.“

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10690142/#:~:text=Colorectal%20and%20lung%20cancers%20were,females%2C%20respectively%20(14).

Which Rice Has the Least Amount of Arsenic: Black, Brown, Red, White, or Wild? | NutritionFacts.org

Brown rice contains more arsenic than white rice, but the arsenic in brown rice is less absorbable, so how does it wash out when you compare the urine

nutritionfacts.org

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“Small meals help to increase the metabolic rate, single big meals increase fat storage." -Ray Peat