Name: 為什麼在日本很少胖子？ (Why is it so Easy to be Thin in Japan?)
Uploaded: 2021-08-03T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 7 min 1 s

程度副詞

If you've ever been to Japan, you may have noticed that it's really hard to find an obese Japanese person.

如果你曾去過日本，你可能有注意到很難找到肥胖的日本人。

In the United States, it's quite a different story.

情態副詞

The rate of obesity among adults in America is on average around 30%, whereas the Japan obesity rate is only 3.5%.

美國成人肥胖比率平均約在 30%，而日本的肥胖比率則只有 3.5%。

But what makes the weight of people in these two countries so different?

是什麼造成這兩個國家人民的體重如此不一樣？

At first, I was thinking about things like…

Japanese people drink a lot of green tea, and they get a decent amount of fermented foods like kimchi or natto, which is great for the gut microbiome.

日本人喝很多綠茶也攝取相當多的發酵食品，像是泡菜和納豆，那些對腸道菌叢有益的食物。

But, in this video I want to focus on a very simple yet key point about Japan.

但在這部影片中，我要著重在關於日本一個非常簡單但關鍵的一點。

The food environment is drastically different from the U.S..

日本的飲食環境和美國的天差地別。

As of 2017, there's over 243,000 Fast food establishments in America.

2017 年美國有超過 243,000 家速食餐廳。

There's only 6,169 establishments in Japan, meaning per person, there's about 15 times more fast food restaurants in America.

而日本只有 6,169 家，代表在美國每一個人對應到的速食餐廳多了 15 倍。

Then again, in Japan, fast food, fried food, chips, chocolate, candy, soda, and not so healthy things are still available wherever you go.

再重申一次，在日本，速食、油炸物、洋芋片、巧克力、糖果、汽水等等不太健康的東西仍然是隨處可見的。

But there's a huge variety of equally convenient reasonably healthy food.

但也有很多種、方便的健康食物。

Let's say I'm the average busy person in the states who would like to be healthy but doesn't have time to cook at home.

比方說我是一名繁忙的美國人，希望能吃得健康，但沒有時間在家自己煮飯。

Most people's options are limited to things like a McGriddle with hash browns and coffee, or maybe an egg and processed cheese sandwich with tater tots at Dunkin'Donuts, or some pancakes at Denny's if you have more time.

多數人的選擇局限於麥當勞鬆餅漢堡加薯餅和咖啡之類的東西，或是 Dunkin'Donuts 的起司蛋三明治和薯球，或者 Denny's 的鬆餅，如果你有較多時間的話。

Surely some people would have healthier options than that, but I'm trying to think of what most people are going to have access to.

當然有些人有更健康的選擇，但我試著設想大多數人會怎麼做。

那麼在日本快速的早餐是什麼？

While there's more than 6000 fast food establishments in Japan, there's also 5000 "rice bowl" establishments.

日本有超過 6000 家速食餐廳，同時也有 5000 家「丼飯店」。

The big ones are Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Matsuya.

大間的有吉野家、Sukiya 和松屋。

And for 4 dollars at Sukiya, for breakfast you can get plain rice, miso soup with seaweed, an egg, baked fish and a small potato salad comes with it.

在 Sukiya 4 美元的早餐可以吃到白飯、紫菜味噌湯、蛋、烤魚、還附上小份的馬鈴薯沙拉。

If I'm extra hungry maybe I'll add some kimchi, fermented soybeans and stewed beef for 4 dollars.

如果我餓扁了也許會多花 4 塊錢加點泡菜、納豆和燉牛肉。

Or, you can put together a reasonably healthy meal from a convenience store.

或者，你可以在便利商店買齊足夠健康的一餐。

At a Japanese convenience store, I can get a rice ball which is just rice, salmon and salt, a small salad, or a package of sushi, or a thing of fish with miso, or some soup.

在日本的便利商店，我可以買到純粹是飯、鮭魚和鹽巴的飯糰、小份沙拉、或一包壽司、或加了味噌的魚或是湯。

I was pretty impressed with how little junk is in this: it's basically just vegetables, pork and fish broth.

我滿佩服這裡面的垃圾食物這麼少：基本上只有蔬菜、豬肉和魚湯。

And, there's a bunch of foods like this - here's what I can get for under 10 dollars USD.

而且，這裡有一堆像這樣的食物 - 這些是我可以用不到 10 美元買到的東西。

Compare this to what's available in American convenience stores - they're usually limited to fried foods sitting under heat lamps or foods loaded with trans fat, sugar, preservatives and unhealthy additives.

相較之下，美國便利商店能買到的，局限於加熱燈下的油炸物或含有反式脂肪、糖、防腐劑和不健康添加物的食物。

If you're lucky, you might be able to get a package of plain nuts with nothing added.

幸運的話你或許能買到一包無添加物的堅果。

So the items in Japanese convenience stores are not top quality health foods, but they're not bad.

日本便利商店的物品不是最頂級的健康食品，但也不差。

This is big because practically everyone has access to these places. Convenience stores like these are everywhere.

這很重要因為幾乎所有人都會到這些地方，這類的便利商店到處都是。

Japan has about 55,000 convenience stores meaning there's about 10 times more convenience stores per square kilometer in Japan compared to America.

日本有大約 55,000 間便利商店，表示日本每平方公里有比美國多十倍的便利商店。

For most, these places are in walking distance.

這些地方主要都在走路可到的距離。

I understand that of course there are healthy restaurants here and there in America, and you can make a really healthy meal with ingredients from the supermarket.

我知道美國當然到處都有健康的餐廳，而且也可以利用超市的食材做出健康的料理。

But when it comes to cheap, convenient and quick food - it's almost always quite unhealthy.

但論及便宜、便利又快速的食物時 - 幾乎總是頗不健康。

In Japan, for a quick lunch, I can go to burger king, or right next door, I can get some sushi.

在日本要快速吃一頓午餐，我可以去漢堡王，或是去隔壁吃壽司。

I can get a Hamburger and some Popcorn at ...Vandalism cafe, or I can go next door to Matsuya and get a bowl of spicy tofu soup with a bit of beef, green onion and cabbage, some pork, a soft boiled egg, some mustard spinach, rice and there's free pickled ginger to go with it.

我可以去 Vandalism 咖啡店吃漢堡和爆米花，或是也可以去隔壁的松屋喝一碗辣豆腐湯，加一些牛肉、蔥和高麗菜，豬肉、半熟水煮蛋、芥末菠菜、飯，還有免費的醃薑可以配。

And of course there are many healthier non-chain places that offer many different types of cuisine.

當然有很多更健康的非連鎖餐廳供應許多不同種料理。

It's going to be much easier to stick to healthier options if you aren't getting bored of having to eat the same things at the same places over and over.

如果能在同樣地方吃同樣東西不會膩又能堅守健康，將會容易得多。

Even if you're going out to drink with friends at dinner time, there's still a variety of good food choices.

甚至在晚餐時間要與朋友小酌，同樣也有很多種好的用餐選擇。

The standard place to drink at is an Izakaya - at 10,000 establishments, there's almost twice as many Izakayas as there are fast food places in Japan.

標準的喝酒地點是居酒屋 - 有 10,000 間，在日本居酒屋的數量幾乎是速食店的兩倍。

Replacing fast food for alcohol is not a good strategy, but let's see what the common Izakaya chains have to offer in the way of food.

用酒精取代速食固然不是一個好主意，但讓我們來看看類似的居酒屋是如何提供它們的食物的。

Let me point out one more time that there's of course much better quality food than what you get at convenience stores, rice bowl chains or Izakayas and this is not what most Japanese people eat on a daily basis.

先點明一點，日本一定有比這些丼飯店、便利超商還健康的食物，而且這也不是每個日本人會每天吃的東西。

I'm not really recommending these places either - Most Japanese people wouldn't think of these places as "healthy".

我也不是要特別推薦這些地方，大多數日本人也不會定義這些地方為健康。

但這不是為了最佳的身體健康。

I just mean to point out that even someone who puts minimal effort into being healthy can get some reasonable quality meals out of these very convenient places.

我只是要點出，即使要吃的健康也能在這些便利的地方用最不費力的方式吃到健康的料理。

By the way, what's everyone drinking with and between meals?

說起來，大家在餐與餐之間都會喝什麼？

In America, more often than not, it's soda, considering a survey of 80 countries found that America comes in at rank number 1 for soda consumption at 170 liters purchased per person in 2011.

在美國，基本上是會喝汽水，一個2011年的調查顯示美國在80個受測國為當中消耗量第一的國家，一個人平均喝了一百七十公升。

Japan came in at rank 56 at 32 liters per person.

日本則是排行五十六，一人三十二公升。

In Japan most places serve tea with your meal for free, and in general it's harder to purchase massive quantities of soda - there's no comically large big gulps at seven-eleven.

日本許多餐廳會免費提供茶，而且在日本要買到超大容量的汽水也比較難，市面上很少在販賣大瓶裝的汽水。

I haven't seen these packs of soda here, and Japan has the smallest "large" cup size at McDonald's - an American medium size drink is bigger than a Japanese large.

我從未在日本看過這樣包裝的汽水，而且日本有最小的「大杯」麥當勞飲料杯，美國的中杯裝甚至還比日本的大杯的杯子還大。

Another factor to thank for keeping people's soda intake low is again: variety.

另一個理由減少人們攝取汽水的原因是多元化。

What's interesting is despite Japan drinking 5 times less soda than America, soda is available in vending machines everywhere in Japan.

有趣的地方是儘管日本人喝的汽水比美國人的五倍少，日本所有的販賣機基本上都有賣汽水。

There's 5.52 million vending machines, meaning there is a vending machine for every 23 people in Japan - that's the highest vending machine per capital on the planet.

日本有五百五十二萬多台販賣機，代表每二十三個人可以擁有一台販賣機，日本是全球人均飲品販賣機最多的國家。

那麼，飲品販賣機裡有什麼飲料呢?

Why don't we take a look at this vending machine I came across on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in Hakone.

讓我們看看這台在箱根一個鳥不生蛋的地方的飲品販賣機。

Among other things, They have black coffee, six different types of unsweetened tea and water.

除了其它飲品外，這裡有黑咖啡、六種不同種類的無糖茶和水。

A typical American vending machine offers 13 varieties of drink, the only non-sweet one being water.

一般的美國飲品販賣機提供了13種不同的飲料，當中唯一的無糖飲料只有水。

So convenience and variety - simple, but it makes a difference.

便利程度和多元化看似簡單，卻能造成相當的差別。

It's easier to pick the healthy choices when they are just as easy and convenient as the unhealthier choices.

當這些健康與不健康食品一樣簡單方便取得食，人們會更容易選擇健康的食物。

Now, this is by no means the full story on Japan and health, but I think these are two key factors.

以上並非日本和健康的完整面貌，但我覺得它們都是關鍵因素。

I'll be doing another video on some of the many other things that contribute to health in Japan, so if there's a particular point you want to hear discussed, leave a comment below.

我會再拍一支影片討論關於日本健康的其它因素，如果有什麼是你特別想跟我們討論的，就在底下留言處留言吧！