Japan Obesity Essay

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Obesity has been a growing concern in most counties over the past decades. Obesity has made the astonishing jump from affecting 857 million to 2.1 billion people from the 1980’s to 2013 (The Lancet). The numbers of overweight and obese citizens is starting to become a norm in most societies around the world. The United States is one of the countries that are trying to decrease this growing concern. Where/who do individuals look for the source of this epidemic? There have been no countries in the world that have lowered their nation’s obesity statistics from the past thirty three years according to Donald McNeal and the New York Times. Japan is one of the few richer countries in the world with a low number of obese citizens. Only 3.6 percent …show more content…
“Thanks to relatively healthier diet and lifestyle, Japanese women and men live longer and healthier than everyone else on Earth” (Moriyama, Naomi). Japanese citizens walk more daily than their counterparts in the United States. Citizens in Japan walk about two thousand more steps than people living in the U.S., this is the equivalence of more than a mile or so according to (Mynetdiary.com). People in Japan walk far greater because of high parking prices and their society views car usage as more of a luxury. Also the Japanese are involved in more activities and hobbies because of size of their living quarters. Their homes tend to be smaller which influences many to keep busy elsewhere and hence more walking according to Peter Mcgary, a health and lifestyle editor from Streetdictionary.com. “Usually people who live in Japan, especially the urban and suburban areas, just have to move a lot more” (Palash Gosh). Exercise is another factor in Japanese lifestyle; the reasons why the Japanese exercise and workout involve the nation’s …show more content…
The Japanese culture and diet is drastically different to compared to their western neighbors. “Japanese adults are the least obese among the industrialized countries” (Japan Times). Small portions and fish are major components of every day meals. “Home cooked meals including grilled fish, rice, vegetables, miso soup (stock soup from, dashi, a traditional Japanese paste), green tea, and a piece of fruit” (Campbell). All these different cultural food staples construct a normal meal. Since World War Two, obesity and western influence has contributed to the growth in obesity in Japan. The consumption of more western style foods such as: “bread, ice cream, doughnuts, hamburgers, French fries, pizza, and sugary cereals have resulted in an average height and weight increase of twelve percent amongst children from the 1950s through 2000s” (Moriyama, Naomi). The western customs of eating contributed to the raise in obesity prior to the recent increase in weight. The normal cultural foods consumed by the Japanese provided lower obesity and an overall healthier

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