We visited a coastal area of China where the average age is 79 years old! People very routinely live to be over 100 and the area has become known as the “longevity region.” I asked the tour guide what they eat, and he said, local vegetables and fruit, and seafood. I saw not one overweight person. (I felt like I was visiting the China Study!)
Everywhere we went in Asia, the people eat YOUNG COCONUTS, like I advocate for in 12 Steps and recipes. Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam. They are plentiful and inexpensive, sold in snack stands at every tourist spot. Purveyors just whack the top off with a machete (see photo below) and pour the liquid into a container to drink. Or they’d just poke a hole and stick a straw in for you. What incredible nutrition.
Unfortunately, Coca Cola is also everywhere on the globe as you’ll see in the photo, competing with natural snacks like electrolyte-rich coconut liquid. The sons of the ladies serving the coconut liquid were running around underfoot drinking not coconut liquid, but Cokes! They were only 7 or 8 years old, but their teeth were black and rotted. (After I saw them, I wish I’d taken a photo. I taught them some Americanisms, though, like how to say, “Get OUT!” from Seinfeld and do “knuckles”). I’m sure these people think, Coca Cola is from America, so it must be good, because Americans are rich and happy! (Their exposure is limited to the mass media of glamorous celebrities, and tourists with pockets full of cash.)
What a terrible thinking error THAT is!