It’s official – Japanese are super healthy. According to WHO, only 3.6 percent of Japanese adults have a body mass index (BMI) over 30. It is the international standard for obesity, while 32.0 percent of Americans do.
If you have spent some time here in Japan, you realize that it’s the combination of what kind of food and drinks are consumed in Japan. And the availability of diverse healthy food choices.
Just like in many countries
Japan is a home to many fast food restaurants. Usual suspects, MCdonalds and KFC, are thriving in Japan and Japanese traditional fatty foods, such as tonkatsu, ramen and okonomiyaki. They have been part and parcel of Japanese culinary culture.
But in addition to such fatty food choice, there are equally a great number of healthy food choices, even at fast food restaurants.
For example, if you are opting for a cheap, but healthy breakfast, you can just pop into Yoshinoya or Matsuya. Their main dish is the famous gyudon or beef and rice bowl. They also serve reasonably priced breakfast sets. For example, US$3 fish breakfast set comes with a bowl of rice, a piece of grilled salmon, pickles and some green vegetables.
Japanese convenience stores
Even Japanese convenience stores are also full of healthy food choices. In addition to usual greasy food of fried chicken and french fries, they also have a variety of salads, rice balls, and balanced sandwiches. All of them have a label indicating how many calories each item is.
Japanese pubs are greatly different from pubs overseas. They offer a wide range of healthy food and snacks for drinkers, including edamame, salads, grilled fish and sashimi. So obviously, the key to tackle obesity is clearly tied with the availability of diverse healthy food choices.
Japanese drinks with no sugar
Also, Japanese consume a lot of drinks that do not have any sugar in them. While Coke and other types of sugary drinks are available and popular in Japan, like food. There is equally a large variety of non-sugar drinks, and the most popular is perhaps Japanese tea.
Hundreds of thousands of convenience and drug stores to 5.52 million vending machines, you’ll always find healthy drink choices right next to less healthy ones. The key is again diversity of drinks and their availability.
But Japanese are also obsessed with sweets and snacks, too. In fact, Japan is a home to snack giants such as Glico, Meiji, Morinaga, Calbee and Kracie. Their products are not only popular in Japan. Also overseas, and there seems to be one success factor that stands out. Their sweet products are not that sweet compared to local snacks in other countries.
Japanese healthy snacks
Also, there is an emergence of ‘healthy’ snacks, which carry less calories and have a higher nutritive value. Like Japanese manga is often written for adult audience. Many of Japanese snacks are targeted at health-conscious adults.
If you are looking for healthy snack choices, Takaski has a wide range of such products available for you. Surround yourself with wisely chosen food and drinks and enjoy the benefit of Japanese lifestyle of being healthy and below BMI 30!
