The 7 Keys of the Japanese Diet
For Makiko Sano , author of Sushi Slim or how to keep the line to the Japanese , the success of Japanese thinness is based on 7 major fundamentals .

- Portion control
3 or 4 dishes can often be a single Japanese meal. As a result, we have the impression that Japanese meals are more plentiful than they really are. The low amount of calories is the main slimming asset of the Japanese diet. A typical sushi portion contains about 300 kcal when a well-stocked western plate can have up to 500 kcal more.

- The baguettes
It is well known: to eat slowly, it makes you lose weight . In fact, eating more slowly can make our brain understand that it is full. Namely, it takes 20 minutes to our stomach to record the feeling of satiety . The Japanese are more aware that they are satisfied because they use chopsticks and eat, in fact, more slowly.

- Few dairy products and little meat
Compared to Westerners, Japanese eat very little meat. Dairy products are not part of the Japanese diet and remain rare. Knowing that these two types of food are also sources of fat ...

The art of eating in Japan is based on some key ingredients: rice, miso (a fermented paste rich in protein whose texture resembles a little like that of tapenade), wasabi (a plant that like rice, grows in a semi-aquatic environment with which green dough is made that stings and rises to the nose a little like mustard), tea, fish and seaweed .

- A hearty breakfast, a light and early dinner
In Japan, breakfast is often made up of several dishes. The Japanese often do not take snacks after 4pm and eat early, mostly fish and vegetables. And most importantly, they rarely take a dessert when they are at home.

- Green tea
The Japanese drink all day long. Green tea contains almost no calories while cappuccino, macchiato and other hot gourmet drinks are bad for the line.

- In small pots, the best ointments
Japanese prefer delicacies sold in small quantities rather than large packages of biscuits. Small packages help limit temptations.

- The virtues of acid
Ubiquitous in Japanese cuisine, vinegar has a noticeable effect on the digestion of fats . According to Makiko Sano, "introducing vinegar into a diet could reduce fat production by up to 10%".

The Japanese diet: facts and figures

In 2012, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made the conclusion of its study on obesity in the world. Japan has the second lowest obesity rate : 3.9% of obese people out of a total population of 127 million. The United States, for their part, was largely ahead of this ranking with an obesity rate exceeding one-third of the population.

Eating healthy and keeping the line is more than a tradition in Japan ... it's a way of life. In Japan, the average daily caloric intake is 2,574 kcal against 3,825 kcal in the United States. "Some restaurants in Tokyo have even equipped their tables with scales while other restaurants serve meals limited to 500 kcal" says Makiko Sano, author of Sushi Slim or how to keep the line in the Japanese .

More unusual still, obesity is even illegal in Japan since 2008 . A law provides for the waist circumference of the Japanese: the maximum waist circumference of a woman over 40 years old must not exceed 90cm. The goal: to fight cardiovascular diseases.