Wow! I guess there are a lot of differences between different races. Since I came to Japan I've come to understand a few of these differences, which I think helps to understand where people are coming from. I think you've helped me out by teaching me about that.
It could be the reliance of cars and the good food in this area, but I have noticed a lot of semi to completely overweight people around here. What you said makes me think about the future around here.
The weight thing was such a shocker for me! I used to eat some rice in America, but I suppose not as much as now. It's funny because one of my coworkers mentioned what you said about rice to me the other day almost word for word. I remember I started drinking more sake than beer for a while in hopes of seeing that make a difference... it ended up having adverse affects
. I think another thing, which is a bit ironic, is that I think I eat more bread in Japan than I did in America. It could be those extra carbohyrdates just doing their job on me I suppose. When I came to Japan I was around 130lbs! At my fattest, I was at 160... which was in like a little more than half a year. I don't particularly think 130 is healthy either though so at first the weight gain was welcome, until one day I got curious and converted the kilograms on my scale to pounds!
About the egg yolk and garlic thing... that really does sound gnarly. I'm not so certain I'd be able to drink that down. I'd imagine making some kind of soup out of it and putting some udon in there might be a way to get it down though. Is it some kind of secret recipe or do you know the ingredients? There's no way I'm gonna pay 6000 a month for something like that. If I were to get something like that, I'd just go for regular garlic pills, which I'm assuming are cheaper... but I've never looked at their price in Japan before.
Another thing I've started doing-- although I admit I slacked off yesterday and this morning, is the Rajio Taiso on NHK at 6:25AM. My wife and I usually crack up at each other because we're always really groggy and... shoboi while doing it. About 20 minutes after I'm done though I usually feel quite awake and ready for the day. I notice it has taken some stress away too. I guess it just depends on the person, but I think doing that kind of stuff every morning has some benefits.
I've also read that drinking green tea before bed helps increase your metabolism while you sleep or something like that... I've drank it before bed and felt fine, but could that be the effects of caffeine? When I read that I was a little confused. Do you know anything about that? Also, are there anythings you've changed in your routine to help you feel better during the day?