Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat

Sandy's book #8
Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat by Naomi Moriyama with William Doyle

Following the recent trend of nutrition books here on the 25/25/25... here's one I checked out because of its hilarious title. I suppose it's possible that Japanese women really don't get old, and that all those bent-over, bow-legged, blue-haired ladies wandering Tokyo are over 90 years old and therefore completely justified in being bent-over, blue-haired and bow-legged.
Anyway, I confess that this book has influenced the way I've been eating/cooking lately. We just spent a small fortune at the Asian supermarket on stuff like mirin, wakame, miso paste, hon dashi, a big-ass bag of Nishiki rice... man, I don't even know what else. It was a lot. All so I could start doing "Japanese home cooking" like this lady and her gaijin husband/co-writer advocate. Be warned: this book is really cheesy. Par example, check out this passage about edamame, which reads like a lusty romance novel about a little green snack:

“I slowly squeeze a pod between my index finger and thumb to push a bean loose. As soon as the edge of a bean is out, I bring it to my lips and squeeze the pod harder to pop it into my mouth. Sliding my fingers up the pod, I repeat the squeezing and popping motions two more times, until each of the three beans that are usually in a pod have been eaten.”

There's lots more of excruciating descriptions like this one, but in between the loaded statistics and bad writing, there's some good practical advice about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and prolonging good health. Banzai!