Terrible Foods

Recently, the US has had a lot of developments, such as population, power, opinion, money, culture and people. What do you think about their portions? When I came here, I was surprised that most foods were bigger than Japanese foods, artificially colored, and had a lot of calories. I do not want to be like a pig, so I researched about diet and found three interesting things.

First, there are different cultural values about food. In Japan, now we think that skinny people look beautiful and cute. Actually, when I see large people, I think these people can't control their body or health, and I guess the people are lazy. But what do you think about Rikishi (the Sumo wrestler)? At the Sumo field, all of the wrestlers look so large and fat, but they are popular in Japan. I think that Japanese people feel it is natural for them because it is part of our culture. This shows if it is part of our culture, we feel it’s okay to be super fat. Now, we should change our point of view, but how about other countries?

In South America, they feel that large-sized people are more attractive than skinny people. They think large people have eaten a lot of food, which means the person is wealthy. It is a cultural difference between Japan and South America.

Even people who live in the same country have different opinions about food and culture. In the US, Mississippi has the most difficult trouble because 25% of people have health problems. Mississippi has its own food culture, for example they eat traditional foods which contain too much meat and protein. Now, what about Washington state? I asked many RAs, but almost all said that they haven't dieted. I thought to diet is common in the US, but one of our RAs said that Spokane is rural, so basically they don’t worry about their figures. But if you observed people in California, Florida and Seattle, you’d notice that they would want to be more skinny like famous people. It seems food and lifestyle are part of our culture, depending on our country or state.

Next, I’ll talk about a well-balanced diet, which means not eating too much food and getting proper nutrition. Some people think that diet-drinks such as Diet Coke or non-fat milk don’t have calories, and even if you drink them everyday, you won’t gain weight. However, unfortunately, it is not true. If you drink a diet-drink everyday, you will gain 10 pounds per year. Actually, non-fat milk is better than whole milk, but if you drink too much, it’ll mean trouble. However, if you don’t get enough vitamins, your health will be bad. Then, what will you do? Maybe some people will exercise, but other people may use vitamin pills. What do you think about that? Japanese people often use pills because they not only want to live healthily, but they are sometimes too busy. If you use pills, it is an easy way to get vitamins. On the other hand, if you take too many, it won't work and will lead to health troubles. So, we should eat proper amounts of nutritious foods.

Finally, I’d like to discuss the latest problem. These days we have trouble with children. For example, the amount of fat children has gradually increased in the US. According to research, 24% of kids have trouble, and this number is growing with deadly speed. Parents should care about their children’s health and be concerned about this problem, and you should worry about your own body and health. If you want to diet, research the best way. Make sure of your specific purpose and do exercise. Please think of your body’s balance.