[futurebeast]

Jazzercise. No, but seriously, everyone should get a dog and walk it everyday. It would also help to replace one happy meal with a salad everyday as well.

As far as the state? More parks, smaller streets with more bike lanes and, strangely enough, trains. When I lived in Japan I was a lot more inclined to walk because of the train access. I could go anywhere by foot. The other great thing is the government support for mom and pop shops in Japan. The diversity of shopping, restaurants, great parks system and convenience stores got me out everyday, all the time. It was also so easy to get on the internet wherever I was. Made it easy to justify leaving my computer.

There is also the crazy assortment of chemicals they use here. It is true that they are prevalent in Japan, but people eat smaller meals and exercise quite a bit more. They also eat a lot of vegetables which provide them with magnesium and vitamin C which are known to protect against the effects. I have read, since I am studying medicine, that MSG is the common method used to cause obesity in lab rats for scientific studies on the subject. Now granted that MSG is widely used in Japan, I can still safely say that 60-70% of all the stuff at the grocery in the states contains hidden sources of MSG. Vegetable protein isolate, soy products, anything labeled 'seasoning' or 'spices' etc. all tend to contain MSG. It is a common ingredient in baby food. I might be getting a lot of flack for mentioning that, but it is true.

I remember health class in high school and how crazy the information was. Was it 6 servings of starch a day? And they taught me how to make a bagel and cream cheese sandwich. They actually thought that was healthy? How about a salad? I remember, "Pizza can be part of a balanced meal. Starch, meat, dairy, vegetables and even fruit!" Nuts.