Comment by chefandy
1 year ago
There are lots of "common wisdom" answers to this but almost every one spins out pretty quickly. Look at the snack foods readily available in Japan.
1 year ago
There are lots of "common wisdom" answers to this but almost every one spins out pretty quickly. Look at the snack foods readily available in Japan.
What about them? Are they designed to make you overeat? Or do they fill you up? I don't know which is why I ask. It is possible that they regulated things differently or their food companies had different values so they engineered snacks and fast food to not make you overeat.
As I said, engineering food isn't bad in itself, it depends on what goals you have when you engineer it. Just because Japanese people eat a lot of engineered food doesn't mean it is bad for them if that food wasn't engineered to make them fat.
Many say they slim down as they visit Japan, so I wouldn't rule it out.
What I'd want to see is if two countries that has the same snacks available had vastly different outcomes. But as far as I know most countries has domestic snacks so it varies wildly around the world. For example, why is Czechia much fatter than Slovakia? They were the same country 30 years ago.
I'm looking... https://youtu.be/lr4MmmWQtZM?t=34
Ok, so this time look in good faith? Japan is famous for their huge variety of junk food. Is it equivalent? No. Is the ratio of availability the same as the ratio of obesity between the two countries? No.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgXdQ0QXRA
I'd be surprised if the ratios matched up exactly. That'd mean the only factor dictating the level of obesity is food culture. Not likely.
I'm sure Japan has a variety of unhealthy foods, I don't see how that matters. That unhealthy food exists in Japan doesn't tell us anything about how much of it people actually eat.
That's why I linked the video, its author talks about the experience of the average person, here's an exact link: https://youtu.be/lr4MmmWQtZM?t=176.
I cannot stress this enough, the only thing that matters is what is readily available to the average person. That's the determining factor of most people's diets, not what's theoretically possible to purchase.