(no subject)

[laurainlimbo]

Interesting article about centegenarians in Japan: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050913/hl_nm/japan_aged_dc

I have first hand knowledge about why people in Japan are so healthy and live so long:  its the incredibly nasty food that they eat.  What most people in America think of Japanese food, and what you get in the states in a Japanese restaurant, does not reflect what people here really eat (especially in the country or rural areas).  Masahiko's parents, for example, eat food that I can't even palate:  seaweed and kelp (seaweed is fine dried with sushi, but otherwise, yuck!), "natto" (fermented soybeans, which are sticky and smelly, though incredibly healthy), vegetables such as "goya" which comes from Okinawa and resembles a zucchini, but is extremely bitter, a bit like brussel sprouts, and lots and lots of fish - cooked whole with the head and bones! 

I say its better to eat what you like and not worry so much about how it affects you - then if you die young at least you died satisfied!!

But it does make me wonder about the next generation of Japanese . . . certainly with stress, tobacco, alcohol and the ever-popular Western diet (fast food, fried food and beef), they can't reach 100 - much less even 70!! 

well, its food for thought . . .