the part about walking really hit home - tokyo is such a well-designed city where everything is really within walking distance, and the public transport network can get you to places you can't walk to. contrast this with so many hell towns in the US where cars are essentially the only way to get around, and the streets are hostile to people and cyclists.
I was actually surprised when he said the average American walks 5000 steps a day, that's probably only in the East Coast particularly NY. Elsewhere in the US, people just don't walk even at Walmart, no wonder there are so many fatf*cks here.
@@lettuce1305 the way you said fatf*cks got me dying 😭😂 no, cause literally america and japan has if not everything but america takes that privilege to another level by being obese...??!
When I was in Japan I was happily surprised to be offered portion size options and I always went for the smallest one.I told my friends restaurants around the world should learn from Japan . The size options help reduce obesity and food waste .
Food waste, yes! Restaurants here give you so much food i cant possibly eat. And i dont want to eat the same thing / leftovers for 3 days straight. Charge me less, give me less food.
Definitely true with the food waste. Yes, that bowl of pasta is delicious, but that's also ALL the calories a person my size is meant to have in a day. Please give me a normal portion.
USA thinks the bigger the better! Big Food Corporations Chains don't want to down sale ,they are taught during their training to up sale...more is better.
Not Japanese, but I had a friend who is Taiwanese who was (really!) a perfectly healthy weight, but she was not that super skinny type, but I remember her family basically fat shaming her. There was also a “interview on the street” series and all these girls who were all slim felt they were overweight. I think fat shaming is an issue in Asian cultures
I grew up with my folks constantly educating us 1) stop when you are eighty percent full 2) chew your food well 3) no junk food and soft drinks 4) walk and exercise regularly and I grew up all my life remembering these points and I never have weight issue so it probably work!
I ate a full bag of prawn crackers yesterday in one go.. then I read the bag and it said 37% Carbohydrates and 20% of fat per bag.. then I ate another full bag today.. because they're f*cking delicious 😂
Ramen has too much salt and will make you hold water. Try the gluten free noodles from Lotus. Add Coconut aminos, a little toasted sesame oil, few drops of orange essential oil, even a little peanut butter powder. Delicious!!
I’m an American and when I was in Japan the biggest difference I noticed in the food was the salt and sugar levels. America uses a lot more salt and sugar in everything. Deserts in Japan aren’t as sweet as in America and same with fast food. McDonald’s in Japan barely salted the fries compared to USA. Even things like cereal have twice the amount of salt and sugar in USA.
I live in The Netherlands and have American coobooks. The amount of sugar on the USA for cakes and cookies is way higher than we use. And also don't we like frostings and hardly make them.
So true, we really over do both of these things. When I purchase foods from Japan at my local Asian market, I'm always impressed by how much less sugar is used - allowing the natural flavors to shine.
I ordered popular american sweets and crisps last week and I gotta say the sweetness and saltiness killed me. I had stomach problems for a couple of days.
Japan has a high salt intake, but they don't consume their salt in pre-packaged junk food. The sugar content is the US is insane. Portion sizes are crazy. A soft drink/fizzy drink serving size should be 200mL (like 6 ounces), but it's enough for a whole party in one individual cup. Bye bye pancreas. Australia is following the US's lead. So many people think 'not much soft drink' is 1L/ 4 cups per day. 🤦♀️
There are a lot of chemicals in the US diet which are not allowed in Europe or Japan. Most of these chemicals significantly affect metabolism and increase estrogen levels. Plus there are many who inhibit insulin which leads to obesity and a feeling of never being full.
Most people look at metabolism but forget microbes in the gut are a key factor in a good metabolism. The biggest problem is the American sterilized diet is not conducive to great Gut Health. Having diverse beneficial flora matters. If you don't have that, fighting the satiation level will never work.
Fast food and lack of exercise is killing America. I recently got rid of all the sugar and junk in my eating and starting jogging or walking every evening. I lost 50 pounds in 5 months. Feel great.
Yeah, so true! Everything is so spread out here. You can't walk to places to shop. Well, I did live in a really nice area. I could walk to work, to grocery stores and stuff. I can't do that now because they are so far.
@@light_and_sound Thanks, it's all about moderation. I eat what I want now from all the food groups. If you deprive yourself of all the good stuff, you will crave it more. So much of healthy eating is mental. If I mess up I just start again the next day. It's okay. I've kept all the weight off.
@@Luna-uh1ss I do not count calories. It's a slippery slope when you do that. For some it may work. What happens at Thanksgiving and Christmas or a birthday/ graduation party. I eat from all the food groups. When you tell yourself you can't eat something you will crave it more. I just try to eat healthy most of the time. Salads, fruit, eggs, tuna, walnuts, meat for protein. If I have a bad day the next day I just try to get after it again. I have found the exercise really helps with keeping the weight off. The first few months I didn't eat a lot. As the months went on I added back everything. Lots of weight loss is mental. I'm not going to obsess over calories. I watched a show about Kelly Ripa that literally starves herself. She said for a snack she allowed herself one almond. I can't live like that. I will have a cookie or ice cream with my little grand-daughter. Moderation is the key. I have found that when I do eat something that isn't healthy my stomach will hurt. There is a lot of diabetes and high blood pressure in my family. People that have lost weight can sometimes go off their medications too. I have more energy. When I was 50 pounds heavier I was tired all the time.
I just returned from Paris and observed that the French are not obese. Guys and gals around George's age are slim too, again because the Parisians walk or bike a lot. Portion sizes are 30 to 50 percent larger than in Japan, and traditional French meals are structured around the appetizer-main dish, main dish-dessert, or appetizer-main-dessert paradigms. But they don't snack in between meals. I never saw anyone drinking soft drinks in restaurants. At a cafe, maybe, but not many. There is also a wide variety of ethnic cuisines available, e.g. Arab, African, Asian, Indian because Paris is so multicultural. Parisians also see meals not as something to get through as quickly as possible, but as a time to relax and socialize.
I lived in Paris for three years until 2018 and I agree with much of what you said. In addition, you will never, ever, ever see a Parisian walking around eating or drinking. They always sit down to eat and it is always at a meal time. The sizes of their glasses in restaurants are also small and I don't think I ever saw a Parisian order a soft drink at meal time.
This sounds like a good thing....but personally I fucking despise eating with people who "take their time". Maybe it's because I'm an ADHD med student who needs to spend as little time as possible during meals so I can study. But honestly, to the people who spend 1 hour+ to eat lunch, how the fuck do you get anything done on time 😳
@@theorangecandle Maybe you should find another profession. With intolerant and narrow minded thinking such as this, your "bedside manner" will come across as "grave side". BTW what is it that you can't get done during lunch hour? Don't you have anyone to have lunch with? Bon appétit!
@@hori166 I agree with you. If someone doesn’t have the patience for another person to eat a meal they won’t have the patience to listen to people being vulnerable every day.
@@theorangecandle I love eating out and taking a long time. It's an opportunity to spend a couple of hours with my friends. As for eating at home though that's usually a 10 minute rush job :-)
I alternate between Japanese and Mediterranean diet. I saw the difference within months : lost weight, higher energy, less inflammation, sleeping better, and able to tolerate higher intensity exercises.
I once vacationed in Japan for 3 weeks. I’m 6’3 and at the time when I arrived in Japan, I was 270 lbs. By the time I left Japan, I weighed around 250. Between a Japanese diet for 3 weeks and all the walking and activities I had massive weight loss.
@@honeyspoonbeewrangler4550 actually 20 lbs in 3 weeks is massive. It’s healthy and normal to lose 1or 2 pounds a week. 5 to 6 over a 3 weeks period. So him losing 20 lbs in 3 weeks is massive.
When my husband and I went to Japan for a holiday we found that most meals we ate at the restaurant came small in portion size, anything from ramen to sushi, so we always ended up ordering more than one portion and we always got shocked looks from the locals lol. I don't think I would be skinny in Japan because Japanese snacks are too tasty!
Interesting! When my husband and I went to Japan, we order the 1 portion (each) at the restaurant. We actually didn't get hungry until or next meal. We walked A LOT (Kyoto, Tokyo, & Osaka). The reason we didn't order a lot during meal time was because we wanted to try the snacks. We would have 1 or 2 between meals. It was perfect. However, I have to say, I'm used to drinking a lot of water here. I'm always carrying my Hydroflask filled with water. Every time I buy something to drink in Japan, it shocks me how small the cups/bottles are! How do Japanese people don't get dehydrated?
Between the Japanese diet which is mainly Seafood and the fact that women in Japan aren't supposed to eat that much at one time apparently they're supposed to take delicate bites according to my mom she was born in Japan she's half Japanese
Actually a lot of foreigners get fat in Japan (like I did some time ago) because there's so much delicious food. And all in all, Japanese cuisine is not healthy, generally speaking. Of course, from an Americna or British point of view it would be considered healthy. But, for example, I'm Russian, and food we eat in Russia (not Russian cuisine but just food we eat in Russia in general) is much healthier. Japanese cuisine has a lot of stuff fried in oil, karaage, ~age, tempura, kushikatsu, okonimiyaki, and stuff like that which is extremely unhealthy. If you're a single working man/woman you'd definitely buy food from the conbini from time to time and conbini food, even usual rice/fish bentos are loaded with sugar. By the way, if you look at Japanese recipes, you will see that they add sugar almost everywhere. That healthy Japanese cuisine that you see is only common in families where there's a young child and parents have no other choice than to cook healthy food for the kid. However, at the same time I know a lot of Japanese people, both men and women, that eat A LOT, a lot of trashy food yet are still very thin. Should I even mention that Japanese drink a lot of alcohol, beer in particular. It's just constitution, I guess.
A couple other key points. Japan comes down really hard on people that are even a little chubby and even employers are required to monitor their employees weight. Processed food or prepared food in Japan does not have all the chemicals or preservatives as compared to the USA. There are even some food additives In US food that is illegal in food in any other country.
There is a Japanese man on youtube who makes videos on his culture, and in one video he shows studies of how Japan had approved 1000+ artificial chemicals and uses 4x as much pesticides as other countries.
I don’t believe that about less additives in Japan. Just look at all those toxic packaging material. Just to looking at this video you can tell Japan has a huge problem with plastic waste and I’m curious how much recycling waste each household produces at the end of the month
This was super informative & really interesting. I was skinny up until adulthood. Looking back to that time, versus my adult-hood - I rode my bike or walked everywhere - now, I live 20 minutes from the closest anything and an hours drive from my workplace (and am working at home at the moment, too) - so I definitely drive everywhere. The no-carb, no gluten craze has gotten really out of hand here & I always point to the rest of the world when people say things like "rice isn't good for you" - rice isn't the enemy, our portion sizes & other unhealthy habits are. Thanks for all the ideas about how to turn it around. And dude, that's a LOT of onion! LOL
I love the larger portions in the USA. Me and my wife are Asian. So we will order a 'supersize' and just split it. It's really enough for two and it comes out cheap in the end. Also, when we were in our 20's, we could order cheap ethnic meals and end up with 1-2 meals the next day. I was getting my doctorate, so I ate once a day and the huge portions on lunch specials were awesome. The biggest portions, coincidentally, came from my Los Angeles Japanese Restaurant: Yashima! All the Japanese expats loved it!
True story. When I studied abroad during university, I first tried Natto and absolutely was disgusted by it. Slimy, bitter.... And I only tried it once. But when I moved back to the USA, half a year later I randomly crave Natto. I've been eating Natto routinely ever since. It has been 10 years.
I think that's commonplace with fermented foods for some reason, probably the microbes in our gut wanting more diverse species of good bacteria. Had similar experience with both koji anko and a fermenting experiment of my own, fermented watermelon rind. at first, i didn't know what to think, both had inexplicable tastes, but now I could eat either as a large side dish and have to restrain myself from more.
When I lived abroad, I got really fat because everything is so big and hight High calories and I realized how healthy Japanese foods are 🤔but, the food I ate other county was so delicious🤤🤤 thank you for the awesome video as always😆💕
My mom was raised in Japan she's half Japanese and yes the Japanese diet is very healthy. I wanted to ask you because you're a female who grew up in Japan my mother told me that women are supposed to take small delicate bites, you couldn't eat fast and you shouldn't eat too much is that still true
@@cleoharper1842 tell me about it my dad used to be in the Coast Guard and he was the cook so he picked up a lot of different recipes from different cultures and ethnicities that's why my son eats just about anything! 🤣
I think you missed that many Japanese people are still able to eat home cooked meals (though this seems to be changing.) Yes, people get fast food at times, but there's still the idea that people, often the wife/mother, cook in the morning to prepare breakfast/lunch and then cook again at night. The expectation that women do this work is still prevalent (though again, changing.) And a strong food culture also means people are willing to pay more and take more time, to get good, quality food.
You're spot on. Many years ago, I lived in and visited east Asian countries including Japan. It was effortless to stay slender by simply adopting their habits which I've kept. I'm well known in my county because so many think walking outside is such a strange activity. lol I've been told that in some places over there like Seoul, South Korea many people are overweight now because they adopted both American diets and car culture. Besides having jumbo portion sizes here, our processed, fast, and restaurant foods have been engineered intentionally to make them highly palatable and addictive which also causes overeating. I think the vast majority of Americans today are lucky to walk just 0.5 mile daily. They hide in climate-controlled buildings and vehicles almost 24/7. Being out in cold or hot weather for at least some time expends quite a bit of extra calories.
I would be fat AF eating all that. Shit ton of food in a day. Especially the rice! So carb heavy. That would super spike my insulin. I wish I could eat like George. Looks delicious, but my body can’t eat like that.
Tip from someone who is slender and doesn't like Japanese food - eat moderate portion sizes (measure or weigh if needed; most food items list portion sizes) and lots of fruits and vegies and restrict your intake of sugar and processed foods. Don't completely eliminate any food groups (e.g., carbs) as it is unnecessary, makes social eating difficult, and leads to cravings.
Rebecca, totally agree. I don’t think people realize they are over eating. Reduce portion sizes, eat a variety include as many real fruits and veggies as you can.
You are so misinformed! Limiting carbs is what CEASES cravings. And saying "it makes social eating difficult" is a complete cop-out. Once you limit your carbs to at least
I agree completely. Don't force yourself to completely stop eating certain food that you like just because they aren't healthy. Have a piece of cake, ice cream, pizza, and fries, etc. once in a while if you like them. By that I mean every other week/month and in moderate amount (meaning not indulging in a whole tub of ice cream or a whole pizza by yourself lol). Doing so would satisfy your cravings and perhaps give you something to look for as a "reward" for maintaining a healthy and balanced diet regularly. This is what I do and I have never been slimmer and healthier in my life. I do like Japanese food tho :D
I think sometimes in countries like Japan there is such a massive emphasis on being skinny and not in a good way. My mums friend is Japanese and she was constantly called fat by her Japanese family members because she was a UK size 10. I know many of my Japanese friends have also been through this too. Many clothing brands in Japan are not size inclusive and if you are a bigger guy or girl there there's no way you can buy your clothes in a Japanese store. It's definitely not solely down to diet but also aspects of Japanese culture being very fat phobic.
Asian people are small and eats in small amount compared to west. Western people are really big, they are tall and their bone structure is big. You cannot really compare the genes.
@@MurangShaBu_MahalNaBiGas Clearly, you've never struggled with weight issues; congratulations 👏 other people aren't so lucky and can be overweight for a variety of reasons. Also, being overweight doesn't necessarily = unhealthy. Same as skinny doesn't always = healthy. I'm telling you what my friends experienced growing up in Japan, please don't minimise what they experienced.
Thanks for the fun(ny) video! Just discovered your channel and am enjoying it. Please consider doing a video about natto - how it's made, who loves/hates it, other ways to prepare it besides just mixing it with steamed rice, if there are natto festivals anywhere in Japan, etc. I had it with breakfast when visiting Japan and love it!
You're not skinny at all, George. You're normal and perfect. Actually, if we look at pictures and videos from the 60's of Americans and Europeans, they were much slimmer then. Humans are naturally slim. Nowadays, the food people eat and the muscle craze have resulted in guys look like rhinos and hippos. Haha.. By the way, I love your videos. They're interesting and hilarious. Thank you, George!
I went there on vacation for two weeks and lost around 20 pounds(I was very fat). I walked around 15 miles a day, their foods have very little to no fat, and they drink a ton of water (either in foods or in liquid form). I walked because there was no other way to get around. we had to eat McDonalds (this was one of the only restaurants that had "fatty" foods, at this point we were going crazy, our disgusting american bodies craved fat) just to get some fat in our diets, and it normally wasn't enough. they drink a TONNNN of water, there is water in everything, from their vegetables (which are not very carb dense, they eat a lot of water roots and sprouts) or the 1000+ vending machines, that really only house water, coffee or tea, you dont find a lot of soda there. If your looking to start a weight loss journey, I would just go to Japan.
I went to Japan and I craved fat too. I suddenly became obsessed with drinking the delicious milk I found at 7/11 and wanted to try all the different types of ice cream. Unfortunately I gained at least 3 lbs in the week I was there 😞 Other than that it was healthy eating and lots of walking
ngl George's dinner looks delicious and I'm definitely taking notes, always looking for new ideas for quick, healthy meals with great flavor! Thanks for sharing!
I think one thing that doesn’t help (UK but probably applies in other countries) is that the portion sizes are too big and we are encouraged as children to eat everything on our plate or it is seen as rude. So we learn to completely ignore the signals that our stomach is full in pursuit of finishing everything on our plate. This ends up carrying over to adulthood so when you are served that big dinner you can’t “waste it” so you eat it all, even if your stomach hurts and you feel uncomfortable afterwards.
I actually walked a lot when I lived in a bigger city in Australia because you had to rely on trains and busses. Moved to a smaller city where you have to rely on cars and I ballooned out. So now I am trying to remind myself to walk daily to anywhere I can that is in walking distance from my home and not just use my car all the time!
I literally just went through George's lunch and dinner meal preparation segment, took screenshots of each ingredient, and now I'm on my way to the local H mart to buy them. Thanks, George! 😄
Walking being the norm in Japan is so true. You just walk and walk around mostly. When I last visited there I lost 3kg from just walking and eating Japanese meals for about a week.
I eat mostly Korean food and make the longest distences with bike or on foot from my whole family... They say how am i still not fat even tho i eat so much... If i eat a whole pot of kimchi their will still be less bad stuff in it then 1 hamburger...
When he gave the information about how much they walked I laughed. I'd fit right in, I have too many people in Britain asking me too many questions about why I walk to most of my destinations.🤣 🤣 🤣
I love Japanese food. I want to learn to cook more. So far i can do fried rice balls and sushi. In England all meat and most fish has to be cooked before eaten. Health and safety /food safety is a high target here in the UK. I love maki sushi. California roll, octopus balls or tamagoyaki, teriyaki chicken, katsu curry bento, shrimp, eggplant, potato, rice etc. I will eat most foods and vegetables. Except mushrooms or avacado. Xx
@dkfca some places do it but the places where I am have the "it has to be cooked" rule. I know there's some places in London that does sashimi. i don't live there though. 😊🙏. Xx
Would be great for the midwest people to walk everywhere. However for the majority of us it takes us 30 minutes to an hour to get to town from our home. It's 14 miles from my home to the grocery store or town. That's one way. Some are farther away in the country. Plus not many of us want to walk to work in -20 degree weather during the winter. That is without wind chill.
You described my problem. I'm semi-rural. In the summer, I'm honestly eaten alive by mosquitoes if I walk our easement road. I'd love to walk an hour after supper.😥 I don't want to spray on OFF to walk only to sit in the house later for hours stinking until my bath... I haven't resolved this...
my dads become really conscious about our health recently and has been incorporating a lot of japanese food into our diet because of its health benefits ☺️ i love japanese food a lot, natto looks really interesting :0 i want to try it
Yeah.. I would litterely starve to death.. I'm sure their food is nice but as an extremely picky eater I would rather starve than eat something I didn't like the taste of. (As my mother found out when I was a child.. I went several days a week without food)
@@Molr026 I recall in my childhood my mother already tried that. Unfortunately for her all it did was cause a binge eating problem. I also wouldn't live in a 3rd world country, because the amount of foreigners and refugees my country has, we're going down the shitter. Its basically already 3rd world with better human rights laws.
The dinner looked amazing. The raw egg was different and then there was the packaging. There was so much packaging to all those foods. Our stores in the US have packaged vegetables and meat but then there are places where they are bulk and you can bag them yourself if you want. I started going to local Saturday Markets which tend to shy away from packaging. Loved the video!
@@tay6410 It's supposedly a concern in Japan too, but my family and our pets have eaten raw eggs for years without issue. Of countless people I know who do, I haven't happened to have heard of anyone getting sick from it. It can always happen- the latest salmonella outbreak has been carried by onions. I wouldn't suggest eating chicken eggs at all that are not organic and pasture raised. A raw quality egg is perhaps the most nutritionally complete food there is.
@@silviasuppo6450 Do some research, it's still a big problem. Around 67% of Japan’s plastic waste is incinerated, which releases harmful toxins, with 8% ending up in landfill.
@@B_27 They have carbon filters in factories in countries that incinerate (like some places in Europe). Are they not effective? Waste management has really got to come a long way.
When I lived in Japan I was my thin ideal weight without trying by just going along with their eating culture etc. Came back to the US and gained 20 lbs (well COVID happened too)
He said he's skinny af while his arms and biceps are bigger than mine. I think I should consider myself a walking skeleton with dried muscles and working organs
I’ve been meaning to make the “real truth” about most skinny women and teenagers I’ve met here in Japan. Girls are bulimic or anorexic. Meaning, I’ve heard women in the bathrooms throwing up their meals or I’ve heard their stomachs growling because they skipped their meal again. It happens EVERYDAY at my job and often when I go out with Japanese friends. I know my experiences are not how every girl stays skinny in Japan, but I know plenty from 10 years up to 70 years that use these methods to really make me wonder how many are taught to think this is okay.
This is exactly what I’ve been trying to get people to understand and stop the romanticizing of the skinny Japanese. Thank you for sharing this. The stigma is huge and the data on EDs incredibly skewed.
@@elinstill And! A lot of overweight people hole up in their homes and barely leave their apartment. (If you don’t know about hikikomori, check it out.) So you’ll see a bunch of skinny people on the street and in stores. When I went to get my vaccine, and for every yearly health check, there have been SO MANY more overweight people than I even imagined my city had. Before that I had only seen about a dozen of the same older men that were overweight. I admit I haven’t seen morbidly obese though.
@@Midori_Seabreeze Yeah, it doesn’t require more than remaining within the Japanese standard of a healthy BMI to be called chubby or even fat. The shaming of peoples bodies, pressuring especially young women and girls to EDs and dieting truly is heartbreaking. It’s not at all healthy. I’ve lived here for several years now, and what George says in his video, that fat people are rare, and essentially only sumo wrestlers, is just weird. I also had this idea that Japanese washoku is super healthy, and yes, many parts of it are, yet I was surprised that so many restaurants served huge meals and at the amount of grease and synthetic ingredients. Not even the eggs that come on top of bentos in the conbini are actually real eggs. The label says so clearly.
ahh i’ve always wondered about this! whenever i watch japanese cooking videos, it looks like your meals are SO BIG, but in reality the portions are small but there are many dishes that give the illusion of a large size (to someone used to one large portion of food). i wish the US would adjust infrastructure to promote walking and cycling. i have to think that it would be easier to choose more exercise when it means you save gas money and still get to eat your favorite unhealthy foods rather than changing only your diet and not your lifestyle.
laughterrrrrr! yes!! Be around those who help you to laugh, not those who encourage stress...and if you can't be, then laugh at the ones who try to make you stressed.
Great information George! I actually changed my diet to a healthy Japanese (and some healthy Chinese foods) last year and turned vegan and I dropped 62 pounds. I will always eat a healthy Japanese diet for the rest of my life and never be overweight again. I now shop at a local Asian supermarket and buy natto to add to my breakfast, and buy other things like Japanese pumpkin, and Korean melon, and mung bean sprouts and bok choy. I also walk three miles at night at a local track six nights a week. Laughter is important for sure. Hopefully that guy who was laughing in your video wasn't married. I have a feeling his wife will have to wear ear plugs living with him. lol Thanks so much for a wonderful video. I agree with everything you said because I have seen it work in my own life. :D
When I use to work at this animal clinic my co-workers would stare at me like I was growing an extra head when I told them I walked from home to work. It only took about 30-40 minutes. Plus there's a bunch of small shops around it never seemed like a long walk. Mostly, I prefer to walk if it's within walking distance. Plus when I was in elementary up until high school I would walk to and from school. I didn't want to stop doing this as I got older. Sometimes in my neighborhood I'll see people walking, but it's more like they're taking a stroll. It's more common for people to walk in the city, but they also have access to trains and buses and everything is pretty close together. But cars are very common here though.
Me the Swahili speaker dying from laughter 1. Hara = runny stomach 2. Hachi= right, righteousness, truth (in Kipfokomu , my tribe) 3. Hachibu is foreign. So much lingual humor is available for Japanese people in a Swahili culture and vice versa
We moved to Singapore six years ago. Walked 10,000 a steps a day and often more at the weekend. No car plus wonderful public transport and year round sunshine. We both lost around 4kg in the first months. The food is super tasty and depending on which cuisine you pick it can be low fat. Japanese food is the best for weight loss. The moist sticky rice and low fat way of food prep is filling and low calorie. The small but varied little side dishes of vegetables and pickles are so much more tempting than a big salad or a large blob of greens on a plate. I think the intensity of the flavours helps satiety. Even with portion sizes being smaller you still see couples and friends sharing one meal between them.
You're gorgeous. I just want to warn people who are hoping to travel to Japan soon as international travel restrictions lift: I'm a thin UK size 8 to 10 and when I browse the clothing stores in Japan I'm horrified to realise that I'm considered 'bigger than average'. I had real difficulty finding clothes to fit me, they were all too small! I can only imagine how a UK size 12 to 14 woman would feel trying to buy pretty clothes in Japan. If I hadn't experienced this myself I'd have thought such a report was an exaggeration.
Lol thanx for the hint. This was exactly what I was hoping for. Like travelling with no luggage and shop the hell out of Tokyo . I‘m trying Georges‘ diet now
trying to be skinny in America is literally SO HARD, and even here at least 20% of us are skinny on the outside but obese on the inside. Thanks for sharing the secret I've been trying to uncover XD
I used to walk about 10,000+ steps per day when I was in Japan,you don't even notice it when you are in Tokyo or Osaka. Not to mention how delicious the healthy food actually is.
I eat super healthy ,and skinny ,but my family constantly give me shame to be skinny ,they think fat is healthy .Thanks George to tell me how healthy it is to be skinny
Are you done shooting all of the episodes of Japan vs. USA food Wars? I assume you haven't been posting to your channel for a while because you've been busy doing that project.
In the US, it would be unsafe to eat a raw egg. This is my first time watching your videos. But I watch other Japanese food related ones. What always catches my attention, is the heavy use of single portion packaging and plastic wrapped everything.
My takeaway: George's videos are good for my health because they make me laugh! I'll be skinny and Japanesey in no time! 🤣 All joking aside, thank you for this video. I appreciate that you walked us through some typical meal preparation. I feel inspired to try cooking the George way! 🥰
Hi George, I haven't seen you in awhile, I've been missing you! You are not skinny, you are well built. And I am envious. You are right, potions of food here are gigantic and everybody loves it. They just hate the fact that it fattens you up in no time. But still eat to the last bite. Public transportation is inexistent, distances are enormous, from the couches we jump directly in the car, from car back on the couch. The gyms are used only for show, it's more of a fashion statement. I hope to see you soon! Take care! (I live in Texas)
Sweden is quite skinny too and we also have smaller portions and walk a lot and have more home cooked meals but eventhough I didn't change too much in eating habit here in the US the less walking and all the high fructose corn syrup in everything did make me gain easier than normal. For reference, at my unhealthiest eating habit in Sweden I drank about a liter or two of coca cola each day plus ate so much chips and cookies each week and didn't gain weight at all, I was still underweight but here in the US while I was trying to stop that habit and only drinking half a liter a day I still gained weight despite eating almost no chips or cookies compared to what I was before. The corn syrup makes a massive difference. I'm luckily eating much better now but I thought I'd mention the difference I experienced.
They also allow more hormones in their meat and antibiotics that serve the same purpose, growing fatter faster. If they show a chickenbreast it's like two or three times the size of a regular supermarket chickenbreast here in the netherlands. I've heard dutch women say their skin started getting bad after moving to the U.S too, so much is banned in the EU and not there.
If I could get all the ingredients in my country, I would absolutely switch to the japanese diet. But it is so hard to find just a few of those things... And is it just me or does nearly every japanese dish look delicious as hell? xD
@@yahikokurotama4351 Yeah, it's just that I love japanese food... Every single japanese dish I tried was amazing and I love how they put together their meals. Sure, the diet in my country and others can be delicious as well, but thats just personal preference. And after years of having the same diet you just enjoy meals of different cultures more than your own. It is just "frustrating" that you cannot easily switch diets because of a lack of access to the things you need. F.e. for me it's hard to even find stuff like miso paste.
@@Izith69 I get that you like it but it's not very sustainable to be eating a fully foreign diet... Look into cooking Japanese with your local ingredients.
When I lived in Matuyama, my breakfast was often natto, usually dunked in miso soup, with a raw egg cracked over steaming hot rice, a small piece of broiled salmon, and some nori to eat it with.
I can confirm the walking. When I lived in the city of Townsville, Australia. I did not have a car so I walked everywhere. I lost alot of weight. I also ate better since Australia's portion sizes are also smaller then Americas. I was used to our American large. Our American medium is Australian large. So yeah, i totally get this. You want to lose weight? Live in a city and dont have a car. Walk everywhere. You will lose weight fast.
Hey George, nice to see your videos again! I studied in Japan and I always saw the Japanese people walk and bike a lot in the spring and summer. They were so skinny that the only fat people I saw were other foreigners. I can imagine that if there’s a fat Japanese, they might be bullied. You say that people from Okinawa are fat but one of my professors is from there and he is skinny and very short, like maybe even shorter than the average Japanese man. When I was in Japan, I could not find any clothes that fit me most of the time and I wasn’t even that overweight. Just a few pounds to be honest. I also went to Dominos and asked for a medium pizza and it was tiny!
I'd love to eat Japanese dishes all day every day, but sadly I cannot find a lot of Japanese ingredients around where I live and ordering them online costs too much for me. :(
I remember when US fast food was in what is now Japanese portions. We saw it a little bit in the late 80’s, but the bigger fast food portions really skyrocketed in the 90’s.
I would be interested to see some commentary about Japan's rates of addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, etc. This video seems solid...I mean, it's important to note things like exercise, portion sizes, and overall nutrition. But you also have to remember that food is often just another way for people to comfort themselves. So I would be curious to know if Japanese people aren't fat, what other addictive substances might be replacing food to fulfill those emotional needs in Japanese culture.
Or if all the other factors mentioned in the video are also correlated with lower rates of substance abuse as well (for example, exercising and eating right are good for mental health, which also reduces risk factors for substance use)
George, you can’t disappear for a month. We need you to help us stay healthy. 😀 You should do another video with Abroad in Japan. Your little cameo was great, but I bet we’d be burning a lot of calories if you joined up for a Wacky Weekend.
The funniest line was that I should be laughing uproariously while watching this video. It truly had me laughing uproariously. Yeah, I have no control over what the restaurant puts on my plate so guess I need to eat only 80%.
Yeah! I felt fat when I went to visited Japan. I was so scared to try clothes on in their shops. 😂. I did manage to lose 10 lbs while on vacation in Japan due to all the walking. I loved that! I do love Japanese pickle vegetables. Something hard to find where I live! Food in Japan is fabulous. I still miss it to this day. Time to go back for another vacation.
Nattos K2 content is where it's at. I did not like it when I was 16 in Japan, but I am desperate to get my hands on some in Australia now. Miso soup for breakfast and the little sausages is so good!!!
That's so true. I just cut off sodas and sweets and shred a few pounds almost immediately. My nutritionist also reduced the meals portions almost to nothing. But so far so good.
Japanese foods look so good. 😊 I tried a few times to make some ramen soup and something like that, it was good even if I didn't have so much japanese ingrediences.. I live in such a small town in Finland that they don't sell many asian stuff here.. 😔 I would love to taste the seaweeds etc. Maybe some day..
Also if you go visit Helsinki, you should check out Tokyokan and Muji. Oh and check out some restaurants too since there will be a lot of options to choose from.
@@Tuulenkukka I rarery visit Helsinki.. :D I really don't like the amount of people there.. :D But yeah, I keep those in mind, if some day it happens I go to Helsinki.
I love walking. It actually makes me feel good. As for the Japanese diet, I wouldn't be opposed to it at all. I do find a lot of the food to be enjoyable. Despite me being pretty slim, I can definitely still afford to improve on my health, because there's a lot more to it than just weight alone.
“ Being fat in Japan is so hard we made it a sport” - I couldn’t stop laughing 😂
Awesome attitude … keep it up 🌟👏🏻🌟✨🦋✨
Well done now you are no longer depressed!!
Omg while I was reading this comment suddenly it appears this part of the video 😂😂
I laughed out loud at that.
That comment made my day hahaha
the part about walking really hit home - tokyo is such a well-designed city where everything is really within walking distance, and the public transport network can get you to places you can't walk to. contrast this with so many hell towns in the US where cars are essentially the only way to get around, and the streets are hostile to people and cyclists.
Agree
I was actually surprised when he said the average American walks 5000 steps a day, that's probably only in the East Coast particularly NY. Elsewhere in the US, people just don't walk even at Walmart, no wonder there are so many fatf*cks here.
Same in most Mexican cities, a car ends up being the most comfortable way of transportation for your commute.
@@lettuce1305 yes they drive around in scooters in walmart
@@lettuce1305 the way you said fatf*cks got me dying 😭😂 no, cause literally america and japan has if not everything but america takes that privilege to another level by being obese...??!
When I was in Japan I was happily surprised to be offered portion size options and I always went for the smallest one.I told my friends restaurants around the world should learn from Japan . The size options help reduce obesity and food waste .
Food waste, yes! Restaurants here give you so much food i cant possibly eat. And i dont want to eat the same thing / leftovers for 3 days straight. Charge me less, give me less food.
Also their toilet game is amazing
Definitely true with the food waste. Yes, that bowl of pasta is delicious, but that's also ALL the calories a person my size is meant to have in a day. Please give me a normal portion.
USA thinks the bigger the better! Big Food Corporations Chains don't want to down sale ,they are taught during their training to up sale...more is better.
In the US, GM and Ford had to redesign the cup holder sizes because they no longer fit. That should sum it up.
Not Japanese, but I had a friend who is Taiwanese who was (really!) a perfectly healthy weight, but she was not that super skinny type, but I remember her family basically fat shaming her. There was also a “interview on the street” series and all these girls who were all slim felt they were overweight. I think fat shaming is an issue in Asian cultures
That's true. But at the very least I have to admit they know how to stay in shape.
Beats an obesity epidemic.
@@theguybrarian i don’t know if shaming people’s bodies constantly it’s exactly the right answer
I'd rather steel my emotional fortitude so that someone's shame doesn't reach me than be obese.
@@theguybrarian I don’t really get it but you do u
I grew up with my folks constantly educating us 1) stop when you are eighty percent full 2) chew your food well 3) no junk food and soft drinks 4) walk and exercise regularly and I grew up all my life remembering these points and I never have weight issue so it probably work!
Thank you for mentioning the junk food part. It's impossible to lose weight if a person eats sugar and junks out. Your parents did well!
Are you Japanese?
"Why are Japanese People So Skinny?"
Food Proportions? Nah, They don't eat 10 bowls of ramen in one sitting like me. 120% full at all times
I ate a full bag of prawn crackers yesterday in one go.. then I read the bag and it said 37% Carbohydrates and 20% of fat per bag.. then I ate another full bag today.. because they're f*cking delicious 😂
Ramen has too much salt and will make you hold water. Try the gluten free noodles from Lotus. Add Coconut aminos, a little toasted sesame oil, few drops of orange essential oil, even a little peanut butter powder. Delicious!!
I’m an American and when I was in Japan the biggest difference I noticed in the food was the salt and sugar levels. America uses a lot more salt and sugar in everything. Deserts in Japan aren’t as sweet as in America and same with fast food. McDonald’s in Japan barely salted the fries compared to USA. Even things like cereal have twice the amount of salt and sugar in USA.
American food is horrible.
I live in The Netherlands and have American coobooks.
The amount of sugar on the USA for cakes and cookies is way higher than we use.
And also don't we like frostings and hardly make them.
So true, we really over do both of these things. When I purchase foods from Japan at my local Asian market, I'm always impressed by how much less sugar is used - allowing the natural flavors to shine.
I ordered popular american sweets and crisps last week and I gotta say the sweetness and saltiness killed me. I had stomach problems for a couple of days.
Japan has a high salt intake, but they don't consume their salt in pre-packaged junk food. The sugar content is the US is insane. Portion sizes are crazy. A soft drink/fizzy drink serving size should be 200mL (like 6 ounces), but it's enough for a whole party in one individual cup. Bye bye pancreas. Australia is following the US's lead. So many people think 'not much soft drink' is 1L/ 4 cups per day. 🤦♀️
There are a lot of chemicals in the US diet which are not allowed in Europe or Japan. Most of these chemicals significantly affect metabolism and increase estrogen levels. Plus there are many who inhibit insulin which leads to obesity and a feeling of never being full.
Increase insulin, you mean.
@@darrenmacwhirter1706 insulin resistance
That's why I cook more at home
Most people look at metabolism but forget microbes in the gut are a key factor in a good metabolism.
The biggest problem is the American sterilized diet is not conducive to great Gut Health. Having diverse beneficial flora matters.
If you don't have that, fighting the satiation level will never work.
@@hoshireed77 That is true and a big factor is not enough fermented foods and too many foods with antibiotics in them like chicken.
Fast food and lack of exercise is killing America. I recently got rid of all the sugar and junk in my eating and starting jogging or walking every evening. I lost 50 pounds in 5 months. Feel great.
Yeah, so true! Everything is so spread out here. You can't walk to places to shop. Well, I did live in a really nice area. I could walk to work, to grocery stores and stuff. I can't do that now because they are so far.
Good for you!
@@light_and_sound Thanks, it's all about moderation. I eat what I want now from all the food groups. If you deprive yourself of all the good stuff, you will crave it more. So much of healthy eating is mental. If I mess up I just start again the next day. It's okay. I've kept all the weight off.
@Karen Hardie wait ok so wait because lots of ppl say that its important to "count calories" so do u count calories or u just eat small portions?
@@Luna-uh1ss I do not count calories. It's a slippery slope when you do that. For some it may work. What happens at Thanksgiving and Christmas or a birthday/ graduation party. I eat from all the food groups. When you tell yourself you can't eat something you will crave it more. I just try to eat healthy most of the time. Salads, fruit, eggs, tuna, walnuts, meat for protein. If I have a bad day the next day I just try to get after it again. I have found the exercise really helps with keeping the weight off. The first few months I didn't eat a lot. As the months went on I added back everything. Lots of weight loss is mental. I'm not going to obsess over calories. I watched a show about Kelly Ripa that literally starves herself. She said for a snack she allowed herself one almond. I can't live like that. I will have a cookie or ice cream with my little grand-daughter. Moderation is the key. I have found that when I do eat something that isn't healthy my stomach will hurt. There is a lot of diabetes and high blood pressure in my family. People that have lost weight can sometimes go off their medications too. I have more energy. When I was 50 pounds heavier I was tired all the time.
I just returned from Paris and observed that the French are not obese. Guys and gals around George's age are slim too, again because the Parisians walk or bike a lot. Portion sizes are 30 to 50 percent larger than in Japan, and traditional French meals are structured around the appetizer-main dish, main dish-dessert, or appetizer-main-dessert paradigms. But they don't snack in between meals. I never saw anyone drinking soft drinks in restaurants. At a cafe, maybe, but not many.
There is also a wide variety of ethnic cuisines available, e.g. Arab, African, Asian, Indian because Paris is so multicultural. Parisians also see meals not as something to get through as quickly as possible, but as a time to relax and socialize.
I lived in Paris for three years until 2018 and I agree with much of what you said. In addition, you will never, ever, ever see a Parisian walking around eating or drinking. They always sit down to eat and it is always at a meal time. The sizes of their glasses in restaurants are also small and I don't think I ever saw a Parisian order a soft drink at meal time.
This sounds like a good thing....but personally I fucking despise eating with people who "take their time". Maybe it's because I'm an ADHD med student who needs to spend as little time as possible during meals so I can study. But honestly, to the people who spend 1 hour+ to eat lunch, how the fuck do you get anything done on time 😳
@@theorangecandle Maybe you should find another profession. With intolerant and narrow minded thinking such as this, your "bedside manner" will come across as "grave side". BTW what is it that you can't get done during lunch hour? Don't you have anyone to have lunch with? Bon appétit!
@@hori166 I agree with you. If someone doesn’t have the patience for another person to eat a meal they won’t have the patience to listen to people being vulnerable every day.
@@theorangecandle I love eating out and taking a long time. It's an opportunity to spend a couple of hours with my friends. As for eating at home though that's usually a 10 minute rush job :-)
I alternate between Japanese and Mediterranean diet. I saw the difference within months : lost weight, higher energy, less inflammation, sleeping better, and able to tolerate higher intensity exercises.
I do both at the same time every day! 😄
@@tadashihatsudai sounds even better 🤗
I've been on Mediterranean diet for all my life 😂
Haha so relatable, me too.
answer:
lifestyle
portion control
beauty standards
high societal emphasis on health
(an east asian thing)
genetics
Your philosophy on health and laughter is wonderful, so glad to see you back again! I can't wait to try the meals you made!
I once vacationed in Japan for 3 weeks. I’m 6’3 and at the time when I arrived in Japan, I was 270 lbs. By the time I left Japan, I weighed around 250. Between a Japanese diet for 3 weeks and all the walking and activities I had massive weight loss.
20 pounds is great, but not "massive". You probably did lose some inches, which is better than pounds as a measurement of success. Congrats.
@@honeyspoonbeewrangler4550 actually 20 lbs in 3 weeks is massive. It’s healthy and normal to lose 1or 2 pounds a week. 5 to 6 over a 3 weeks period. So him losing 20 lbs in 3 weeks is massive.
Dang, that’s amazing!
When my husband and I went to Japan for a holiday we found that most meals we ate at the restaurant came small in portion size, anything from ramen to sushi, so we always ended up ordering more than one portion and we always got shocked looks from the locals lol. I don't think I would be skinny in Japan because Japanese snacks are too tasty!
Japanese chips are best in the world.
It's a cultural thing, Americans are so used to over eating, that you see proper, regular portions as being "small"
@@OncleJer I know! It’s so gross!
Same!
Interesting! When my husband and I went to Japan, we order the 1 portion (each) at the restaurant. We actually didn't get hungry until or next meal. We walked A LOT (Kyoto, Tokyo, & Osaka). The reason we didn't order a lot during meal time was because we wanted to try the snacks. We would have 1 or 2 between meals. It was perfect. However, I have to say, I'm used to drinking a lot of water here. I'm always carrying my Hydroflask filled with water. Every time I buy something to drink in Japan, it shocks me how small the cups/bottles are! How do Japanese people don't get dehydrated?
He's literally so goddamn funny, I wish he would upload more !!
George: "its hard to get fat in Japan"
Chris abroad: "..."
phhahahahha, you are funny phahha
He's not fat, he's fluffy. 🥰
***tkyosam
Between the Japanese diet which is mainly Seafood and the fact that women in Japan aren't supposed to eat that much at one time apparently they're supposed to take delicate bites according to my mom she was born in Japan she's half Japanese
Actually a lot of foreigners get fat in Japan (like I did some time ago) because there's so much delicious food. And all in all, Japanese cuisine is not healthy, generally speaking. Of course, from an Americna or British point of view it would be considered healthy. But, for example, I'm Russian, and food we eat in Russia (not Russian cuisine but just food we eat in Russia in general) is much healthier. Japanese cuisine has a lot of stuff fried in oil, karaage, ~age, tempura, kushikatsu, okonimiyaki, and stuff like that which is extremely unhealthy. If you're a single working man/woman you'd definitely buy food from the conbini from time to time and conbini food, even usual rice/fish bentos are loaded with sugar. By the way, if you look at Japanese recipes, you will see that they add sugar almost everywhere.
That healthy Japanese cuisine that you see is only common in families where there's a young child and parents have no other choice than to cook healthy food for the kid.
However, at the same time I know a lot of Japanese people, both men and women, that eat A LOT, a lot of trashy food yet are still very thin. Should I even mention that Japanese drink a lot of alcohol, beer in particular. It's just constitution, I guess.
"you'll be skinny Japanesey and georgey"
😂😂😂 I can't
A couple other key points.
Japan comes down really hard on people that are even a little chubby and even employers are required to monitor their employees weight.
Processed food or prepared food in Japan does not have all the chemicals or preservatives as compared to the USA. There are even some food additives In US food that is illegal in food in any other country.
One forbidden additive is the antioxidant TBHQ.
There is a Japanese man on youtube who makes videos on his culture, and in one video he shows studies of how Japan had approved 1000+ artificial chemicals and uses 4x as much pesticides as other countries.
@@alicia-hd2cs Would you mind sharing a link to is channel, please?
The additives part isn’t really true. Like in the US there are loads of additives that are legal in Japan which are illegal in most other countries
I don’t believe that about less additives in Japan. Just look at all those toxic packaging material. Just to looking at this video you can tell Japan has a huge problem with plastic waste and I’m curious how much recycling waste each household produces at the end of the month
This was super informative & really interesting. I was skinny up until adulthood. Looking back to that time, versus my adult-hood - I rode my bike or walked everywhere - now, I live 20 minutes from the closest anything and an hours drive from my workplace (and am working at home at the moment, too) - so I definitely drive everywhere. The no-carb, no gluten craze has gotten really out of hand here & I always point to the rest of the world when people say things like "rice isn't good for you" - rice isn't the enemy, our portion sizes & other unhealthy habits are. Thanks for all the ideas about how to turn it around.
And dude, that's a LOT of onion! LOL
I love the larger portions in the USA. Me and my wife are Asian. So we will order a 'supersize' and just split it. It's really enough for two and it comes out cheap in the end. Also, when we were in our 20's, we could order cheap ethnic meals and end up with 1-2 meals the next day. I was getting my doctorate, so I ate once a day and the huge portions on lunch specials were awesome. The biggest portions, coincidentally, came from my Los Angeles Japanese Restaurant: Yashima! All the Japanese expats loved it!
My sister and I used to do that when we would go out to eat. We would split the food up. Lol
True story. When I studied abroad during university, I first tried Natto and absolutely was disgusted by it. Slimy, bitter.... And I only tried it once. But when I moved back to the USA, half a year later I randomly crave Natto. I've been eating Natto routinely ever since. It has been 10 years.
I think that's commonplace with fermented foods for some reason, probably the microbes in our gut wanting more diverse species of good bacteria. Had similar experience with both koji anko and a fermenting experiment of my own, fermented watermelon rind. at first, i didn't know what to think, both had inexplicable tastes, but now I could eat either as a large side dish and have to restrain myself from more.
When I lived abroad, I got really fat because everything is so big and hight High calories
and I realized how healthy Japanese foods are 🤔but, the food I ate other county was so delicious🤤🤤 thank you for the awesome video as always😆💕
But you also feel Japanese food's delicious too?
@@nu6363 I'm the same. I love Japanese food the best, but I still love other foods too! We have a delicious planet. 😋
By really fat, she means she gained 5 pounds. 😐
My mom was raised in Japan she's half Japanese and yes the Japanese diet is very healthy. I wanted to ask you because you're a female who grew up in Japan my mother told me that women are supposed to take small delicate bites, you couldn't eat fast and you shouldn't eat too much is that still true
@@cleoharper1842 tell me about it my dad used to be in the Coast Guard and he was the cook so he picked up a lot of different recipes from different cultures and ethnicities that's why my son eats just about anything! 🤣
I think you missed that many Japanese people are still able to eat home cooked meals (though this seems to be changing.) Yes, people get fast food at times, but there's still the idea that people, often the wife/mother, cook in the morning to prepare breakfast/lunch and then cook again at night. The expectation that women do this work is still prevalent (though again, changing.) And a strong food culture also means people are willing to pay more and take more time, to get good, quality food.
You're spot on. Many years ago, I lived in and visited east Asian countries including Japan. It was effortless to stay slender by simply adopting their habits which I've kept. I'm well known in my county because so many think walking outside is such a strange activity. lol I've been told that in some places over there like Seoul, South Korea many people are overweight now because they adopted both American diets and car culture.
Besides having jumbo portion sizes here, our processed, fast, and restaurant foods have been engineered intentionally to make them highly palatable and addictive which also causes overeating. I think the vast majority of Americans today are lucky to walk just 0.5 mile daily. They hide in climate-controlled buildings and vehicles almost 24/7. Being out in cold or hot weather for at least some time expends quite a bit of extra calories.
George: we eat small portions
Also George: cooks a mountain for dinner
looked tasty
low calorie dense foods
Huge bowl 😅🤣
That meal was massive - miles more than I eat. Looked delicious though.
I would be fat AF eating all that. Shit ton of food in a day. Especially the rice! So carb heavy. That would super spike my insulin. I wish I could eat like George. Looks delicious, but my body can’t eat like that.
Tip from someone who is slender and doesn't like Japanese food - eat moderate portion sizes (measure or weigh if needed; most food items list portion sizes) and lots of fruits and vegies and restrict your intake of sugar and processed foods. Don't completely eliminate any food groups (e.g., carbs) as it is unnecessary, makes social eating difficult, and leads to cravings.
Rebecca, totally agree. I don’t think people realize they are over eating. Reduce portion sizes, eat a variety include as many real fruits and veggies as you can.
You are so misinformed! Limiting carbs is what CEASES cravings. And saying "it makes social eating difficult" is a complete cop-out. Once you limit your carbs to at least
My Japanese adoptive mother (the one who welcomed me in her house for a year) always told me to eat until I'm 70% full.
Carbs ARE sugar. Fruit is full of sugar. They are supposed to be a treat, not a daily snack.
I agree completely. Don't force yourself to completely stop eating certain food that you like just because they aren't healthy. Have a piece of cake, ice cream, pizza, and fries, etc. once in a while if you like them. By that I mean every other week/month and in moderate amount (meaning not indulging in a whole tub of ice cream or a whole pizza by yourself lol). Doing so would satisfy your cravings and perhaps give you something to look for as a "reward" for maintaining a healthy and balanced diet regularly. This is what I do and I have never been slimmer and healthier in my life. I do like Japanese food tho :D
I think sometimes in countries like Japan there is such a massive emphasis on being skinny and not in a good way. My mums friend is Japanese and she was constantly called fat by her Japanese family members because she was a UK size 10. I know many of my Japanese friends have also been through this too. Many clothing brands in Japan are not size inclusive and if you are a bigger guy or girl there there's no way you can buy your clothes in a Japanese store. It's definitely not solely down to diet but also aspects of Japanese culture being very fat phobic.
I can't find cutesy clothes that fits me because I'm taller than average japanese girls lol
They are just into healthy eating. Clean eating. Not fat phobic.
Asian people are small and eats in small amount compared to west. Western people are really big, they are tall and their bone structure is big. You cannot really compare the genes.
Fat phobic sounds like an excuse, it's usually used by undisciplined fat person.
@@MurangShaBu_MahalNaBiGas Clearly, you've never struggled with weight issues; congratulations 👏 other people aren't so lucky and can be overweight for a variety of reasons. Also, being overweight doesn't necessarily = unhealthy. Same as skinny doesn't always = healthy. I'm telling you what my friends experienced growing up in Japan, please don't minimise what they experienced.
Thanks for the fun(ny) video! Just discovered your channel and am enjoying it. Please consider doing a video about natto - how it's made, who loves/hates it, other ways to prepare it besides just mixing it with steamed rice, if there are natto festivals anywhere in Japan, etc. I had it with breakfast when visiting Japan and love it!
yessss.. more natto content im obsessed with that stuff
You're not skinny at all, George. You're normal and perfect. Actually, if we look at pictures and videos from the 60's of Americans and Europeans, they were much slimmer then. Humans are naturally slim. Nowadays, the food people eat and the muscle craze have resulted in guys look like rhinos and hippos. Haha.. By the way, I love your videos. They're interesting and hilarious. Thank you, George!
Nice to see George reacting to a video of George
Btw welcome back Takuya san
Arigatou!
I went there on vacation for two weeks and lost around 20 pounds(I was very fat). I walked around 15 miles a day, their foods have very little to no fat, and they drink a ton of water (either in foods or in liquid form). I walked because there was no other way to get around. we had to eat McDonalds (this was one of the only restaurants that had "fatty" foods, at this point we were going crazy, our disgusting american bodies craved fat) just to get some fat in our diets, and it normally wasn't enough. they drink a TONNNN of water, there is water in everything, from their vegetables (which are not very carb dense, they eat a lot of water roots and sprouts) or the 1000+ vending machines, that really only house water, coffee or tea, you dont find a lot of soda there. If your looking to start a weight loss journey, I would just go to Japan.
I went to Japan and I craved fat too. I suddenly became obsessed with drinking the delicious milk I found at 7/11 and wanted to try all the different types of ice cream. Unfortunately I gained at least 3 lbs in the week I was there 😞
Other than that it was healthy eating and lots of walking
ngl George's dinner looks delicious and I'm definitely taking notes, always looking for new ideas for quick, healthy meals with great flavor! Thanks for sharing!
I think one thing that doesn’t help (UK but probably applies in other countries) is that the portion sizes are too big and we are encouraged as children to eat everything on our plate or it is seen as rude. So we learn to completely ignore the signals that our stomach is full in pursuit of finishing everything on our plate. This ends up carrying over to adulthood so when you are served that big dinner you can’t “waste it” so you eat it all, even if your stomach hurts and you feel uncomfortable afterwards.
I actually walked a lot when I lived in a bigger city in Australia because you had to rely on trains and busses. Moved to a smaller city where you have to rely on cars and I ballooned out. So now I am trying to remind myself to walk daily to anywhere I can that is in walking distance from my home and not just use my car all the time!
I literally just went through George's lunch and dinner meal preparation segment, took screenshots of each ingredient, and now I'm on my way to the local H mart to buy them. Thanks, George! 😄
Was it good?
@@yaeltuttebel Yes!! My family and I loved it. It was so good!
@@jess0219 nice!
I hope you walked there....
Walking being the norm in Japan is so true. You just walk and walk around mostly. When I last visited there I lost 3kg from just walking and eating Japanese meals for about a week.
I eat mostly Korean food and make the longest distences with bike or on foot from my whole family... They say how am i still not fat even tho i eat so much... If i eat a whole pot of kimchi their will still be less bad stuff in it then 1 hamburger...
I’m moving to japan that’s it
I’m so happy that George has his own TH-cam channel. I love watching him on Food Wars!
When he gave the information about how much they walked I laughed.
I'd fit right in, I have too many people in Britain asking me too many questions about why I walk to most of my destinations.🤣 🤣 🤣
*Professional cutting*
*Water*
*Fire* 😂😂😂
Thank you so much for making me laugh, I really needed it ❤️
I love Japanese food. I want to learn to cook more. So far i can do fried rice balls and sushi. In England all meat and most fish has to be cooked before eaten. Health and safety /food safety is a high target here in the UK. I love maki sushi. California roll, octopus balls or tamagoyaki, teriyaki chicken, katsu curry bento, shrimp, eggplant, potato, rice etc. I will eat most foods and vegetables. Except mushrooms or avacado. Xx
@dkfca some places do it but the places where I am have the "it has to be cooked" rule. I know there's some places in London that does sashimi. i don't live there though. 😊🙏. Xx
Would be great for the midwest people to walk everywhere.
However for the majority of us it takes us 30 minutes to an hour to get to town from our home. It's 14 miles from my home to the grocery store or town. That's one way. Some are farther away in the country.
Plus not many of us want to walk to work in -20 degree weather during the winter. That is without wind chill.
You described my problem. I'm semi-rural. In the summer, I'm honestly eaten alive by mosquitoes if I walk our easement road. I'd love to walk an hour after supper.😥 I don't want to spray on OFF to walk only to sit in the house later for hours stinking until my bath... I haven't resolved this...
my dads become really conscious about our health recently and has been incorporating a lot of japanese food into our diet because of its health benefits ☺️ i love japanese food a lot, natto looks really interesting :0 i want to try it
Yeah.. I would litterely starve to death.. I'm sure their food is nice but as an extremely picky eater I would rather starve than eat something I didn't like the taste of. (As my mother found out when I was a child.. I went several days a week without food)
@@Kat-mu8wq First world problem, if you lived in a 3th world country you would be left to die
@@Molr026 I recall in my childhood my mother already tried that.
Unfortunately for her all it did was cause a binge eating problem. I also wouldn't live in a 3rd world country, because the amount of foreigners and refugees my country has, we're going down the shitter. Its basically already 3rd world with better human rights laws.
@@Kat-mu8wq grow up I beg of you. Being a 'picky eater' is only acceptable for humans under the age of 5.
Eewwwwwwww natto looks sickening
George is a hoot! Love all Japanese meals he prepared and of course some great suggestions for keeping slim and healthy.
Your sense of humour is top-notch. I love it.
"skinny, japanese-y and george-y" this line floored me xD #georgesdiet
The dinner looked amazing. The raw egg was different and then there was the packaging. There was so much packaging to all those foods. Our stores in the US have packaged vegetables and meat but then there are places where they are bulk and you can bag them yourself if you want. I started going to local Saturday Markets which tend to shy away from packaging. Loved the video!
Packaging is not a problem in JP, because their recycling system is extremely efficient.
Eggs in Japan are safe to eat raw, since they have no concerns of salmonella. Where in the US the eggs aren't typically safe to consume raw.
@@tay6410 It's supposedly a concern in Japan too, but my family and our pets have eaten raw eggs for years without issue. Of countless people I know who do, I haven't happened to have heard of anyone getting sick from it. It can always happen- the latest salmonella outbreak has been carried by onions. I wouldn't suggest eating chicken eggs at all that are not organic and pasture raised. A raw quality egg is perhaps the most nutritionally complete food there is.
@@silviasuppo6450 Do some research, it's still a big problem. Around 67% of Japan’s plastic waste is incinerated, which releases harmful toxins, with 8% ending up in landfill.
@@B_27 They have carbon filters in factories in countries that incinerate (like some places in Europe). Are they not effective? Waste management has really got to come a long way.
Love seeing George back on youtube. Thank you for another great video!
Thank you for watching!
Great video George! I miss Japanese food so much. I think I’m going to learn how to make some traditional Japanese dishes.
This was awesome! Loved the humour, and it's great to see the food being outlined and cooked.
When I lived in Japan I was my thin ideal weight without trying by just going along with their eating culture etc. Came back to the US and gained 20 lbs (well COVID happened too)
He said he's skinny af while his arms and biceps are bigger than mine. I think I should consider myself a walking skeleton with dried muscles and working organs
He's so skinny his muscles are showing he's not ripped lol you can see his chest bones.
I’ve been meaning to make the “real truth” about most skinny women and teenagers I’ve met here in Japan.
Girls are bulimic or anorexic. Meaning, I’ve heard women in the bathrooms throwing up their meals or I’ve heard their stomachs growling because they skipped their meal again. It happens EVERYDAY at my job and often when I go out with Japanese friends.
I know my experiences are not how every girl stays skinny in Japan, but I know plenty from 10 years up to 70 years that use these methods to really make me wonder how many are taught to think this is okay.
Omg! That is so sad!
Jfc that's tragic
This is exactly what I’ve been trying to get people to understand and stop the romanticizing of the skinny Japanese. Thank you for sharing this. The stigma is huge and the data on EDs incredibly skewed.
@@elinstill And! A lot of overweight people hole up in their homes and barely leave their apartment. (If you don’t know about hikikomori, check it out.) So you’ll see a bunch of skinny people on the street and in stores.
When I went to get my vaccine, and for every yearly health check, there have been SO MANY more overweight people than I even imagined my city had. Before that I had only seen about a dozen of the same older men that were overweight. I admit I haven’t seen morbidly obese though.
@@Midori_Seabreeze Yeah, it doesn’t require more than remaining within the Japanese standard of a healthy BMI to be called chubby or even fat. The shaming of peoples bodies, pressuring especially young women and girls to EDs and dieting truly is heartbreaking. It’s not at all healthy.
I’ve lived here for several years now, and what George says in his video, that fat people are rare, and essentially only sumo wrestlers, is just weird. I also had this idea that Japanese washoku is super healthy, and yes, many parts of it are, yet I was surprised that so many restaurants served huge meals and at the amount of grease and synthetic ingredients. Not even the eggs that come on top of bentos in the conbini are actually real eggs. The label says so clearly.
ahh i’ve always wondered about this! whenever i watch japanese cooking videos, it looks like your meals are SO BIG, but in reality the portions are small but there are many dishes that give the illusion of a large size (to someone used to one large portion of food). i wish the US would adjust infrastructure to promote walking and cycling. i have to think that it would be easier to choose more exercise when it means you save gas money and still get to eat your favorite unhealthy foods rather than changing only your diet and not your lifestyle.
unfortunately the U.S. only cares about that dollar, so unhealthy populations means making bank for big pharma and their stock holders
laughterrrrrr! yes!! Be around those who help you to laugh, not those who encourage stress...and if you can't be, then laugh at the ones who try to make you stressed.
Yes. 😊
Great information George! I actually changed my diet to a healthy Japanese (and some healthy Chinese foods) last year and turned vegan and I dropped 62 pounds. I will always eat a healthy Japanese diet for the rest of my life and never be overweight again. I now shop at a local Asian supermarket and buy natto to add to my breakfast, and buy other things like Japanese pumpkin, and Korean melon, and mung bean sprouts and bok choy. I also walk three miles at night at a local track six nights a week. Laughter is important for sure. Hopefully that guy who was laughing in your video wasn't married. I have a feeling his wife will have to wear ear plugs living with him. lol Thanks so much for a wonderful video. I agree with everything you said because I have seen it work in my own life. :D
When I use to work at this animal clinic my co-workers would stare at me like I was growing an extra head when I told them I walked from home to work. It only took about 30-40 minutes. Plus there's a bunch of small shops around it never seemed like a long walk. Mostly, I prefer to walk if it's within walking distance. Plus when I was in elementary up until high school I would walk to and from school. I didn't want to stop doing this as I got older. Sometimes in my neighborhood I'll see people walking, but it's more like they're taking a stroll. It's more common for people to walk in the city, but they also have access to trains and buses and everything is pretty close together. But cars are very common here though.
Me the Swahili speaker dying from laughter
1. Hara = runny stomach
2. Hachi= right, righteousness, truth (in Kipfokomu , my tribe)
3. Hachibu is foreign.
So much lingual humor is available for Japanese people in a Swahili culture and vice versa
😂😂
You should have stated runny stool. Hehehe
@@CeeJay254Art It's runny stomach though....not stool
I loooove this so much lol language is fascinating.
We moved to Singapore six years ago. Walked 10,000 a steps a day and often more at the weekend. No car plus wonderful public transport and year round sunshine. We both lost around 4kg in the first months. The food is super tasty and depending on which cuisine you pick it can be low fat. Japanese food is the best for weight loss. The moist sticky rice and low fat way of food prep is filling and low calorie. The small but varied little side dishes of vegetables and pickles are so much more tempting than a big salad or a large blob of greens on a plate. I think the intensity of the flavours helps satiety. Even with portion sizes being smaller you still see couples and friends sharing one meal between them.
You're gorgeous. I just want to warn people who are hoping to travel to Japan soon as international travel restrictions lift: I'm a thin UK size 8 to 10 and when I browse the clothing stores in Japan I'm horrified to realise that I'm considered 'bigger than average'. I had real difficulty finding clothes to fit me, they were all too small! I can only imagine how a UK size 12 to 14 woman would feel trying to buy pretty clothes in Japan. If I hadn't experienced this myself I'd have thought such a report was an exaggeration.
remember also that people are much shorter in Japan
Lol thanx for the hint. This was exactly what I was hoping for. Like travelling with no luggage and shop the hell out of Tokyo . I‘m trying Georges‘ diet now
Oof, I’m a size 8 US… 😭
Size 8-10 is big dear anywhere in the world
@@lovethyself3989 that’s absolutely not true, a UK 8 is equal to a 26 in waist.
"If you eat what George eats everyday you'll be skinny, Japanese-y, and George-y"
trying to be skinny in America is literally SO HARD, and even here at least 20% of us are skinny on the outside but obese on the inside. Thanks for sharing the secret I've been trying to uncover XD
I love your username xD
@@lord_pants haha thank you lol ^///^
'skinny on the outside but obese on the inside' - what does that mean? Like skinnyfat?
@@helvete_ingres4717 it means they shit faster than they gain weight. Metabolism
It's called self control, ain't that hard buddy.
I used to walk about 10,000+ steps per day when I was in Japan,you don't even notice it when you are in Tokyo or Osaka. Not to mention how delicious the healthy food actually is.
'you'll be skinny, japanesy and georgy!'😂I CANT HAHAHAHA I LOVE THIS
I eat super healthy ,and skinny ,but my family constantly give me shame to be skinny ,they think fat is healthy .Thanks George to tell me how healthy it is to be skinny
I get Japanese snacks in the mail and I can immediately tell they use MUCH less sugar. I love them. Nothing is overly sweet.
Are you done shooting all of the episodes of Japan vs. USA food Wars? I assume you haven't been posting to your channel for a while because you've been busy doing that project.
I’ve done a couple of episodes but now I’m working on new one. Yes I was so busy. Sorry about that
@@GeorgeJapan just glad to see you back my brother from another mother.
@@TTM1895 ないす
That cooking segment was so cute! Food looked great. 🤤
In the US, it would be unsafe to eat a raw egg. This is my first time watching your videos. But I watch other Japanese food related ones. What always catches my attention, is the heavy use of single portion packaging and plastic wrapped everything.
Awesome dude you totally got it correct! Portion sizing.
My takeaway: George's videos are good for my health because they make me laugh! I'll be skinny and Japanesey in no time! 🤣
All joking aside, thank you for this video. I appreciate that you walked us through some typical meal preparation. I feel inspired to try cooking the George way! 🥰
And Georgey
Hi George, I haven't seen you in awhile, I've been missing you!
You are not skinny, you are well built. And I am envious.
You are right, potions of food here are gigantic and everybody loves it. They just hate the fact that it fattens you up in no time. But still eat to the last bite. Public transportation is inexistent, distances are enormous, from the couches we jump directly in the car, from car back on the couch. The gyms are used only for show, it's more of a fashion statement.
I hope to see you soon! Take care!
(I live in Texas)
Sweden is quite skinny too and we also have smaller portions and walk a lot and have more home cooked meals but eventhough I didn't change too much in eating habit here in the US the less walking and all the high fructose corn syrup in everything did make me gain easier than normal. For reference, at my unhealthiest eating habit in Sweden I drank about a liter or two of coca cola each day plus ate so much chips and cookies each week and didn't gain weight at all, I was still underweight but here in the US while I was trying to stop that habit and only drinking half a liter a day I still gained weight despite eating almost no chips or cookies compared to what I was before. The corn syrup makes a massive difference. I'm luckily eating much better now but I thought I'd mention the difference I experienced.
They also allow more hormones in their meat and antibiotics that serve the same purpose, growing fatter faster. If they show a chickenbreast it's like two or three times the size of a regular supermarket chickenbreast here in the netherlands. I've heard dutch women say their skin started getting bad after moving to the U.S too, so much is banned in the EU and not there.
Inspired!!!!!! You are awesome George! Thank you!
Thank you for watching!
1:27 i understood everything apart from hara and bu, this is what watching naruto has done to me its made me understand japanese like a 2 year old
If I could get all the ingredients in my country, I would absolutely switch to the japanese diet. But it is so hard to find just a few of those things... And is it just me or does nearly every japanese dish look delicious as hell? xD
There are a lot of online Asian markets you can order from
You don't need a Japanese diet only all countries have healthy foods or foods that would taste if done healthier
@@yahikokurotama4351 Yeah, it's just that I love japanese food... Every single japanese dish I tried was amazing and I love how they put together their meals. Sure, the diet in my country and others can be delicious as well, but thats just personal preference. And after years of having the same diet you just enjoy meals of different cultures more than your own. It is just "frustrating" that you cannot easily switch diets because of a lack of access to the things you need. F.e. for me it's hard to even find stuff like miso paste.
Just stick to the basics ingredients, US And UK are skinny during the 50's.
@@Izith69 I get that you like it but it's not very sustainable to be eating a fully foreign diet... Look into cooking Japanese with your local ingredients.
"It is so hard to be fat in japan, we made it a sport"😂
When I lived in Matuyama, my breakfast was often natto, usually dunked in miso soup, with a raw egg cracked over steaming hot rice, a small piece of broiled salmon, and some nori to eat it with.
I can confirm the walking. When I lived in the city of Townsville, Australia. I did not have a car so I walked everywhere. I lost alot of weight. I also ate better since Australia's portion sizes are also smaller then Americas. I was used to our American large. Our American medium is Australian large. So yeah, i totally get this. You want to lose weight? Live in a city and dont have a car. Walk everywhere. You will lose weight fast.
So so informative 🙏🏻 I miss your Japan dearly.
I enjoy your enthusiasm especially when you were on food wars
I now expect a new cooking channel called George’s diet.
Hey George, nice to see your videos again! I studied in Japan and I always saw the Japanese people walk and bike a lot in the spring and summer. They were so skinny that the only fat people I saw were other foreigners. I can imagine that if there’s a fat Japanese, they might be bullied. You say that people from Okinawa are fat but one of my professors is from there and he is skinny and very short, like maybe even shorter than the average Japanese man. When I was in Japan, I could not find any clothes that fit me most of the time and I wasn’t even that overweight. Just a few pounds to be honest. I also went to Dominos and asked for a medium pizza and it was tiny!
Can't wait to try these recipes!
I love the raw egg in the rice. I'm Irish and I remember my grandad would always eat 2 raw eggs in the morning before work (:
9:57 I really needed to hear that :') you make better and better contents and I love your edits!
Boy , I love his humor more than his content.
I'd love to eat Japanese dishes all day every day, but sadly I cannot find a lot of Japanese ingredients around where I live and ordering them online costs too much for me. :(
I remember when US fast food was in what is now Japanese portions. We saw it a little bit in the late 80’s, but the bigger fast food portions really skyrocketed in the 90’s.
I would be interested to see some commentary about Japan's rates of addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, etc. This video seems solid...I mean, it's important to note things like exercise, portion sizes, and overall nutrition. But you also have to remember that food is often just another way for people to comfort themselves. So I would be curious to know if Japanese people aren't fat, what other addictive substances might be replacing food to fulfill those emotional needs in Japanese culture.
Or if all the other factors mentioned in the video are also correlated with lower rates of substance abuse as well (for example, exercising and eating right are good for mental health, which also reduces risk factors for substance use)
They are addicted with protecting their self image
George, you can’t disappear for a month. We need you to help us stay healthy. 😀 You should do another video with Abroad in Japan. Your little cameo was great, but I bet we’d be burning a lot of calories if you joined up for a Wacky Weekend.
He's working with food insider (youtube channel) at the moment, check him out
The funniest line was that I should be laughing uproariously while watching this video. It truly had me laughing uproariously.
Yeah, I have no control over what the restaurant puts on my plate so guess I need to eat only 80%.
Yeah! I felt fat when I went to visited Japan. I was so scared to try clothes on in their shops. 😂. I did manage to lose 10 lbs while on vacation in Japan due to all the walking. I loved that! I do love Japanese pickle vegetables. Something hard to find where I live! Food in Japan is fabulous. I still miss it to this day. Time to go back for another vacation.
Nattos K2 content is where it's at. I did not like it when I was 16 in Japan, but I am desperate to get my hands on some in Australia now. Miso soup for breakfast and the little sausages is so good!!!
That's so true. I just cut off sodas and sweets and shred a few pounds almost immediately. My nutritionist also reduced the meals portions almost to nothing. But so far so good.
Japanese foods look so good. 😊 I tried a few times to make some ramen soup and something like that, it was good even if I didn't have so much japanese ingrediences.. I live in such a small town in Finland that they don't sell many asian stuff here.. 😔 I would love to taste the seaweeds etc. Maybe some day..
Also if you go visit Helsinki, you should check out Tokyokan and Muji. Oh and check out some restaurants too since there will be a lot of options to choose from.
@@Tuulenkukka I rarery visit Helsinki.. :D I really don't like the amount of people there.. :D But yeah, I keep those in mind, if some day it happens I go to Helsinki.
The sumo wrestling jokes made me burn 100 calories lol Thank you for this video you just got a new sub XDDD
I love walking. It actually makes me feel good. As for the Japanese diet, I wouldn't be opposed to it at all. I do find a lot of the food to be enjoyable. Despite me being pretty slim, I can definitely still afford to improve on my health, because there's a lot more to it than just weight alone.
The dramatic music is awasome🎻🎹🎻🎹😁
I'm subscribed. Too funny and absolutely right! Love you George!
Thank you!!