Fellow toastmasters and guests, now, it’s…7:00 o’clock. Aren’t you hungry? Would you like to have some snacks? I can serve you! This is smoked squid, from my country. Japanese people are health-conscious. Even when we eat snacks, we try to eat nutritious ones.
Actually, Japan has the world’s longest life expectancy. That is 82 years old. Just for the record, the U.S. is 77 years. It is said we live long because of our food. To tell you the truth, my mother is one who helps to keep our long life expectancy. She was a nutritionist. She has been making everything from scratch. Not only dishes, but also snacks, sweets, sauce, and salad dressing. After she got married, she made this chart with members of the Japanese National Women’s Friendship Group. Today, I will share my mom’s secrets of how to have healthy food. I know eating customs are different from the U.S. and Japan. But let’s find out what kinds of foods people eat with the longest life expectancy.
My mother’s main policies are two. One is to eat 30 different kinds of foods in a day. The other is that 30 kinds of foods have to be divided into eleven groups: the Grain Group, Meat and Fish, Dairy Product, Egg, Vegetable, Fruit, Potato, Beans, Seaweed, Sugar, and Fat Group. Fat means butter or oil. We have enough sugar and fat even though we don’t notice them. So, I will explain the other 9 groups. How much you are supposed to eat is depending on your sex and age.
First, the Grain Group indicates mostly white rice (our staple food is rice,) bread, and pasta. If you skip eating grain, your total energy from food is not enough. To be energetic, you should eat a grain at every meal. You need 7.4 ounces(210g) of grain per day if you are a girl in your thirties.
The second group is the Meat and Fish Group. However, you should be careful to take fish and meat in almost the same amount. Not much more meat. Ground meat and bacon have much fat, so you should not take them too much. Japanese often eat fish instead of meat. We love sushi, and, we have different kinds of fish snacks as I served you. They have good calcium.
Third, the Dairy Product Group. The younger you are the more you need them. But remember, you should make variations to have 30 different kinds of foods. If you need to have 10.5 ounces(300g) of dairy products, just drinking up the same amount of milk is not enough. I recommend you drink 7.5 ounces(200g) of milk. To take another 3 ounces(100g), get cheese or yogurt, whichever you want. So you can have different nutrition.
Fourth, the Egg Group means to have 1 egg per day unless you have high cholesterol readings. Egg has almost every nutrient expect for Vitamin C.
Fifth is the Vegetable Group. All of us have to eat 14 ounces of them daily. But, 14 ounce! If you take 14 ounces(400g) of veggies from salad, it seems too large quantity. Therefore, you should cook them in many ways like boiling, simmering, or adding salt to pickle.
Sixth, the Fruit Group. It is the best way to take 3.5 ounces(100g) of fruit in the morning to use up these calories of sugar. Fruit has too much sugar to eat it at night. You can take enough Vitamin C from potatoes. This is the seventh group. Vitamin C in fruit goes out in our urine. However, Vitamin C of potatoes is not vulnerable. It can be stored inside our bodies.
The eighth and ninth groups are Japanese characteristic food groups. One is the beans group, another is the seaweed group. Japanese food has many variations of bean foods; tofu, nattou(fermented soybeans), aburaage(deep-fried tofu), yuba(a sheet of soy bean boiled milk), and so on. (Look at the photo!) They have much good protein and calcium. But of course you can have your favorite beans! Seaweed has much calcium, iron, and fiber, and is also good for healthy hair. This is called Nori, which is a roasted seaweed sheet. We often eat this. Please try the taste.
Now, my mother is 68 years old, and my father is 74. Whenever they go to hospitals to be checked, doctors are surprised because their bodies have nothing wrong. They are very healthy because of keeping this chart. I have been trying to follow my mother’s way. However, my husband’s most favorite food is this one. Instant curry which is a Japanese-style fast food with a lot of fat! Usually I take much time to cook from scratch, but when I use this, he always says, “Wow! You have become good at cooking!”
Well, thank you for your kind attention! Oh, the answer of the quiz! It is...
No.1, smoked squid!! I thought they preferred seaweed because generally, American people didn't like chewy food like squid. But they said the taste of roasted seaweed was very unfamiliar & weird for them. However, they liked the chewy squid!!
If you want to get your audience to be VERY attentive, serve some food!!
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