Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The green mountains, vibrant culture, blue sea, delicious local cuisine, and friendly people make Japan one of the best places to visit. If you’ve taken a trip to Japan or met many Japanese people, one thing that is easily noticeable is how slim and young they look, especially the women. You can easily mistake a 50-year old Japanese woman for a 30-year-old. Japan is also home to the highest proportion of people who’ve lived for more than 100 years in the world.
All these may have you wondering; how exactly do they do it? Well, the following are some of the reasons why Japanese women stay slim and age less quickly:
Drinking Green Tea
Japanese women love their green tea. If you walk into any Japanese home, the first thing you’re likely to be offered is a steaming hot cup of green tea. The powdered green tea (matcha) is made from high-quality tea leaves which are dried and ground into a fine powder. The powder is then mixed with boiling hot water to make the green tea.
Green tea is not only sweet but also has been proven to have a wide range of health benefits. It is rich in powerful antioxidants that delay the aging process and helps with weight loss.
Consuming Fermented Foods
Japanese women often consume fermented foods such as kombucha, kefir, tempeh, miso, and kimchi. Fermented foods are those which have gone through lacto fermentation, a process through which natural bacteria feed on sugar and starch in food and create lactic acid. Fermentation helps preserve natural food nutrients and created beneficial enzymes, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and other probiotics. It also breaks down food into a more digestible form which helps in weight loss.
Seafood
Unlike people from most parts of the world, Japanese people prefer seafood to red meat which is known to cause various health problems like obesity, inflammatory diseases, and high cholesterol. Since Japan is surrounded by a seafood-rich sea, things like tuna, salmon, shrimp, and mackerel are extremely popular.
Fish is great for you because it’s rich in proteins and omega-3 fatty acids which help reduce body fat.
Eating small portions
Portion control is a large part of Japanese cuisine. The Japanese eat smaller portions of food than most other cultures. At mealtimes, Japanese people usually spread their food out in multiple dishes that take up the entire table. Plates and rice bowls are also smaller compared to other cultures. This makes the food seem more as well as makes it take longer to eat. Japanese people also use chopsticks instead of spoons which slow down the speed at which they eat. Eating slowly helps them eat less thereby keeping their weight in check.