What other countries can teach us about healthy living

by Martha Edwards (Subscribe to Martha Edwards's posts)
Nov 15th 2007 5:10PM

Categories: Fitness

Americans have a long lifespan, on average, but as this article points out, that's more down to fancy medicines than actual healthy living. There seems to be this worldwide cliche of Americans being unhealthy and generally obese, and if you travel often, you'll know that it's kind of true -- we do eat more and we are lazier.

So maybe it's time that we look to other countries for healthy living inspiration. Here's where we can find it, according to Dr. Oz:

In Costa Rica, they eat fruit ever day
In Sardinia, the wine has 10 times more antioxidants than other wines
In India, curry spices ward off dementia and Alzheimer's
In Okinawa, Japan, they drink tea instead of coffee. And they only ever eat until they're 80% full
In Turkey, Kefir (a form of yogurt) is a regular par of the diet, providing lots of healthy antibiotics.

What healthy habits have you learned from other cultures?

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

marcie0305 11-15-2007 @ 9:39PM

Thank you for posting this, Martha, this is great information. If I may, for those who would like more information about kefir, I wrote about it here:

http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com/2007/08/spending-money-on-activia-or-danactive.html

I think we are fortunate to live in a country where we have access to so many healthy options from around the world. Take advantage!

~Marcie
http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com

felix 11-16-2007 @ 4:35PM

I'm from spain, when i visited usa (about 15 years ago) was shocked to see the fattest man i've ever seen just after leaving the plane. After a few days i got used to that kind of volume, but believe me, after 15 years haven't seen something like that at home (and think your problem worsened quite a bit during these years). You had the fittest people i've ever seen but also the fattest.

Then we went to eat some pizza. The amount of pizza we ate that day (and no one was able to finish) is far beyond a normal ration here. After that, two of the three friends couldn't barely move, we had to walk to the hotel feeling quite dizzy, almost puking every few meters. And is not just the rations, you cook with plain fat, we do it with just a bit of olive oil.

So my impression was that you eat way too much, also lots of weird snacks. It was pretty usual to see someone eating at malls, in the subway, in the street or wherever, this doesn't happen here, same goes for sodas.

I guess this says all: In just 40 days I packed 7 kilos (that's more that 15 pounds) and a friend of mine packed even more (but he will not concede it :) ).

Just a final note, the typical european ice cream (made with milk and fruits) has 1/3 of the fat of the typical american one. I agree that yours tastes better.

"I think we are fortunate to live in a country where we have access to so many healthy options from around the world."

Most people in the developed world can eat what they please, is just a matter of will.