In Japan, It is Now AGAINST THE LAW to be FAT

skinnylove00
skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/091109/fat-japan-youre-breaking-the-law

In Japan, already the slimmest industrialized nation, people are fighting fat to ward off dreaded metabolic syndrome and comply with a government-imposed waistline standard. Metabolic syndrome, known here simply as “metabo,” is a combination of health risks, including stomach flab, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, that can lead to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Concerned about rising rates of both in a graying nation, Japanese lawmakers last year set a maximum waistline size for anyone age 40 and older: 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) for men and 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) for women.

The amount of “food calories which the Japanese intake is decreasing from 10 years ago,” said Yoichi Ogushi, professor of medicine at Tokai University and one of the leading critics of the law. “So there is no obesity problem as in the USA. To the contrary, there is a problem of leanness in young females.”


Are you breaking the law in Japan?? Geez. If Japan wasnt crazy enough......

Replies

  • Jeffri210
    Jeffri210 Posts: 13
    While this is a little extreme, I do feel that America needs to take some steps into concentrating more on the rising overweight percentage of children. Last week, my boyfriend and I went out to eat and I saw an extrememly overweight child with his family (couldn't have been over 13) eating plate after plate full of food. This honestly shocked me, seeing the obvious health risk he is in, and his family doing nothing to encourage better eating habits for his health. I feel that we do need some sort of drastic implementation to encourage parents and children to eat better, maybe even getting Children Protective Services involed, just as they do with children that are extrememly underweight. Something needs to be done when no one else is taking the responsibility for a child's health. Being underweight is just as dangerous as overweight, why is that not so heavily looked upon? Yes the Michelle Obama campain for better health does encourage better child health, but does it really make a difference? Maybe we should have something similar to this but geared more towards children (dependents) those who are young to make a realize the importance of food decisions. Just a thought :)

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