20 Comments
Jul 1Liked by Mark Kennedy

Very interesting! Diet and exercise built into traditional rural life in Japan certainly appear important. Another factor, I'm guessing, is the low level of anxiety that comes with living long-term in a small place where people know each other and don't relocate much. Also, no religious stress over being judged after death and perhaps going to hell.

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author

While I'm not sure that attitudes about the afterlife can have an effect, that's a good point about the positive impact of a sense of belonging to a community.

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Jul 2Liked by Mark Kennedy

Yes, I also think the spiritual aspects of health are highly important. There is a lot more to us human beings than just a meat suit.

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Jul 1Liked by Mark Kennedy

Naito's recommendations had me hooked until the end; what a mic drop moment. Some studies suggest the same about blood—apparently, the ultimate solution to staying healthy seems to always involve leeching off healthier specimens.

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author

Yeah, sorry about that, but I wanted to provide the full picture. I'll be skipping the FMT, too.

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Jul 2Liked by Mark Kennedy

Me, I'd be more in favor of FMT than many pharmaceuticals, like vaccines, for example.

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author

Please let us know how it goes.

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Jul 2Liked by Mark Kennedy

Oh, I'm not committing to trying it; but I don't want to poo-poo the idea either!

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author

Got it! I guess that pun was intended!

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😜

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Jul 1Liked by Mark Kennedy

Never a "good thing" in becoming a parasite.

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Jul 1Liked by Mark Kennedy

Congratulations Mark on making some great choices. I'm with you on Professor Naito's recommendations. FMT is a step too far. Great article tho'. Keep up the good work & best wishes.

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author

Thanks for reading and the positive feedback. Yes, FMT would be too much.

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My husband’s not a fan either!

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This was so interesting, Mark. I eat natto about three times a week, and a lot of the other healthy stuff mentioned but I tend to cut back on miso soup in hot weather. I may reconsider!

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Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. While I understand that natto is a superfood, I have, unfortunately, never been able to stomach it!

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Jul 2Liked by Mark Kennedy

Another very interesting post, Mark. Thank you. I guess this explains why the old adage, "You are what you eat," is an old adage!

The problem with dietary advice is that there is so much of it these days; and any one piece of advice can be compared with another piece of advice which is completely the opposite. For example, while one piece of advice says avoid red meat, another says eat only red meat and so on and so on and so on.

Perhaps the problem is that each of us is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, leaving the typical lay person, like me adrift in a sea of conflicting advice?

An appeal to "The Science" is not much help either because, if the Covid scam taught us one thing, surely it was that "The Science" has had its integrity fatally compromised by money and politics; and the peer review system has completely lost its credibility for anyone who has been paying attention.

This is also interesting on the gut microbiome:

https://home.solari.com/the-solari-wellness-series-the-gut-microbiome-why-we-should-care-with-dr-tom-obryan/

This is good on diet and dementia:

https://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Dementia_-_a_symptom_with_many_causes_from_Alzheimers_to_poisonings

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author

Yes, the opposing viewpoints can be confusing. Thanks for sharing the links.

Dr. Naito's research is important, however, given the size of the cohort of elderly residents he has studied for so long. While not all of his suggestions should be blindly followed (e.g., promoting FMT), he does seem to be on to something.

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Nice article. Japanese food can really be healthy if controlled. As long as we don’t buy prepackaged bento and snacks most of which are loaded with sugar, it can do the trick.

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Agree.

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