Original subtitles

[music]

My name is Craig Anderson.

I'm a 38 year old actor and filmmaker

and I live in Sydney, Australia.

And though you probably can't tell by looking

at me I'm a little bit overweight.

This is my castle, my fortress of solitude.

It's a combination of creative art studio

and open plan living space, better known as a warehouse.

It's here that I pursue my dream of being a filmmaker.

I write, act in and edit a lot of my own material and this

is where the magic happens.

But being creative isn't easy.

It requires stimulation of both the mind and the body.

And that's why I start each day with a trip

to the local swimming pool.

Alright so this is the warehouse where I live and I'm now driving

to the local pool/gym.

It's got everything, but most importantly it has a shower

and my warehouse only has cold water shower,

so every few days my daily routine is to drive to the pool

and have a shower there.

This might seem inconvenient but it beats a cold shower.

Plus it gets me out of the house,

which let's face it is pretty much my only exercise

for the day.

After avoiding weird glances from people

who have actually been in the pool,

I head home, time for breakfast.

Working long hours takes energy

and creative work is no different.

So, I like to start the day with a big hearty breakfast.

A well rounded diet is important so I try

to include all the important food groups, bacon, eggs,

sausages, hash browns and a serving of Fruit...Loops.

I'm clean, I'm fed and it's time to get to work.

Alright well, this is my room.

When I finish at the pool I come back here and that's my bed,

which I haven't put away.

I sleep on the floor on this mattress, but I put it

in the corner during the day so that potential clients who come

in to check out the edits

that I've been doing don't think that I'm a hobo.

That being said, I do have a clothes rack in the corner.

No one ever says anything. I don't know why.

I keep my clothes, this is where the fresh clothes go

and the used clothes; I won't open that.

That's in there.

This is my edit suite where I sit pretty much all the time.

Maybe once a week I get to go out

and actually shoot something which is fun.

But most of the time I sit here at the control tower

and edit exciting film and TV projects.

Video editing is a time intensive job and it's normal

for me to sit in my edit suite for hours on end getting

up to only go to the bathroom or to eat.

And I often work late into the night,

which means my dinner options can be very limited.

Alright, well it's 11:30 at night

and I finished some editing which is great,

because I nailed it but it's 11:30 at night

and obviously all the places that should be open

where you can buy food are now closed,

which means I don't have many options.

There's convenience stores where I could get a sausage roll

and a flavoured milk or there's McDonald's.

So I'm going to McDonald's.

[packaging rustling]

I'm back from McDonald's

and I got the big value meal because value.

You get a whole bunch of burgers which is good,

because I'll eat a few of them now and then the ones I don't

get through I can put in the fridge and have for lunch

or for breakfast tomorrow.

So, yeah it's economic sense.

So there you have it, a snapshot of my life.

You might find it strange but I'm doing what I love.

I'm chasing my dreams and at the end

of the day I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The only problem is it's killing me.

[music]

Another day, another burger.

In a typical week I'll eat at least four fast food meals.

I don't know how much of its convenience

and how much is addiction.

I'm not sure I want to know.

And when I do cook for myself it's usually just as bad.

I decided to keep a record of my eating habits.

It's not pretty.

Pizza, burgers, fries, all kinds of sweets and gallons of soda

and that's just in one week.

I know how bad this is for me, but I can't seem to stop.

I've tried every diet under the sun,

but in the end the results are always the same.

The diet becomes impractical to maintain

and I fall off the wagon.

I know I need to change but I really don't know how.

Fortunately the change I needed found me.

Hang on, like the country?

Japan the country yeah.

No I've never been before.

A few weeks ago I was contacted

by my friend Tim, a fellow filmmaker.

He told me he wanted to make a documentary

about the health benefits of the Japanese lifestyle.

As someone who grew up in Japan,

he knows how different their food culture is compared

to the typical western diet.

His idea was this, send someone to Japan for two weeks

to learn how the Japanese live and eat.

Then have them return home and recreate that lifestyle

for a further 10 weeks and see what effect this three month

Japanese diet has on their health.

For some reason he thought of me,

probably because of my good looks.

After talking to Tim I did a little research

on Japanese health.

I found out that they have some of the lowest rates of obesity

and heart disease in the developed world.

They also have a very low cancer rate.

The weird thing is they don't seem to skimp on their meals.

They're eating all the time and it's a part of their culture.

So how it is a nation that's so devoted

to stuffing their faces is amongst the healthiest?

What is it about their diet and lifestyle that lets them live

such long and healthy lives?

I was intrigued so I told Tim I was in.

But before the fun could start,

there were a few things I had to take care of.

Okay are we ready?

Yeah, I love blood tests.

Okay, alright.

Okay, just very still, thank you.

Great.

I'm doing some medical tests before I leave

to get a snapshot of my overall health.

Once the diet is over I'll come back and do the same tests

and compare the results.

This should provide a very clear picture

of what effect the diet has had on my body.

How is my health in general?

Obviously it's not the best.

We've got your baseline here

and there were some areas of concern.

The most obvious one is this red number here 4 GGT,

and that is a liver enzyme.

This particular enzyme lives inside a healthy liver cell

and does its toxic waste recycling job.

When that liver cell is damaged it releases this

into the bloodstream and then we measure it.

And yours has come back out of reference range for that.

Out of reference?

Absolutely; yours is high out of range

and that would indicate an excessive inflammation

of your liver that can be due to a lot of reasons.

But sometimes just carrying extra weight

and perhaps having a very high refined sugar diet will actually

promote that extra demand on the liver, damage those liver cells

and then show this sort of result in a blood test.

[music]

This diet is about more than just weight.

It's about improving my health.

That's why I'm doing this bio-impedance test.

Developed by NASA, the test measures the biological age

of the patient and I think I'll be pleasantly surprised

with the results.

The healthy body weight for you should sit

between that red line there around 72 up to about 75,

and unfortunately this is you here.

I look like the timeline.

Just a little bit overweight, so that's something

that needs to be looked at.

The bad news is when we look

at your biological age you've ticked in at 64 years of age.

The good news is that all of this is reversible.

I get to keep this?

You get to keep that.

I get to keep that? - Yes

How very exciting for me to have this document.

My exam results weren't as pretty as this footage.

Here's how I shape up.

I weigh a whopping 138 kilos and although I'm only 38 years old,

I have the liver of a 64 year old heavy drinker.

My high process sugar diet has caused my liver

to have serious inflammation.

And the enzyme levels

on the liver function test were completely

out of reference range.

I'm also at risk of future cardiovascular disease,

particularly heart attacks and strokes.

There's a thing called a C reactive protein level

which is a good indicator of cardiovascular risk.

Ideally you want a score below one.

Mine is at 4.6 and speaking of unhealthy numbers,

my insulin level is at 36.

Ideally it should be below 10, which means I'm

on the fast track to type two diabetes.

All this information has just shown me how much damage my

current lifestyle is doing to my body.

As someone who doesn't have much experience with Japanese food

or healthy food in general,

I need a little guidance before I leave.

So I'm seeing a dietician to get some advice on what to eat

and what to avoid eating whilst in Japan.

The Japanese have a wonderful way of eating very close

to nature and they eat, they eat primarily a plant-based diet.

And it will be easy as far as I'm aware for you

to eat a much healthier diet in Japan.

So let's have a look at the foods you'll encounter in Japan.

We have fish here.

We have salad, particularly seaweed salad.

Don't make that face.

What face?

Seaweed salad is so good for you.

It's full of greens. - Sure, sure.

It's really good for you.

We have a little bit of rice, some tofu, a Japanese omelette.

The other thing that I love

about this diet that's particular

for Japan are the fermented foods.

When you ferment a food not only do you make it easier

for your body to absorb it and therefore get the nutrients

from that, but it also increases the bioavailability

of the bacteria.

So it increases our vitamin K2, which is really important

for the absorption of your vitamin D. And so

in your diet plan here we're going to include several

of them every day, Natto being one of them.

Have you come across Natto?

No. Natto is one that people have told me is a little

displeasing so to speak.

I'm ready for it, but...

- Pungent perhaps. - Oh okay.

I think you could get used to anything.

- Okay.

And I think in terms of the increase of vitamin K2

that it's going to bring into your body,

I think we should get used to it.

[laughter]

Another thing I'd like to make an amendment

to your current diet is the coffee that you drink.

Can you swap it for green tea? - Yeah, yeah.

And you can have four to six cups

of green tea a day, no problem.

Green tea is amazing.

It just has so many different nutrients, antioxidants,

phytonutrients in it that are going

to be really useful for us.

This is the size of your stomach fully expanded.

So one fist is your plant-based foods.

Whatever they are and your second fist half and half.

You can have rice on one half.

And the protein food on the other half.

- Okay.

So here I am about to embark on one

of the biggest adventures of my life.

In less than 12 hours I'll be in Japan.

This could be the start of a whole new chapter of my life,

a chance to turn things around and start living healthy.

As long as I stay focussed and stay strong,

nothing will be able to stop me, I hope.

[music]

The city of Tokyo is overwhelming;

neon lights on every surface and thousands

of people bustling through the streets.

Even late at night the sidewalks are crowded with pedestrians.

I've been told the average Japanese day involves a lot

of walking and seeing as I've already walked about a mile

from the bus stop to my motel, I can believe it.

This constant daily cardio is a key component to Japanese health

and something I'll need to adopt.

To help me I'll be wearing an activity tracker

which will record my physical activity the whole time

I'm here.

This will give me an idea of how much walking I'm doing

and how much I'll need to do

to maintain the lifestyle back home.

Tomorrow my diet begins.

Well, I'm excited, but I'm also nervous.

I'm 38 years old going on 64

and if I can't make this lifestyle change now I don't

know how many more chances I'm going to get.

Alright, well I'm in Japan.

I arrived last night and I slept here in a motel

and I'm very drowsy and excited.

But this morning I'm going to have my first meal of the diet,

a Japanese breakfast at the motel buffet.

So, last night before I went to sleep I went

to a convenience store and asked, "Do you have chopsticks?"

or to be honest "Do you have like chopsticks for people

who aren't very good?"

And they said, "yes", and they gave me these.

Kind of like children's chopsticks,

but they said it will make it easy for me

because they won't keep falling around.

So, I'm off to breakfast.

Alright, well it's breakfast time and I'm

in the buffet downstairs at the motel.

And this is western over here.

This is what I would normally have for breakfast, pikelets

and pastries, sausages, bacon, and because I'm

at a buffet I'd probably have three or four of these plates.

But that's not what I'm eating today.

It's my first Japanese breakfast so I'm eating this.

My dietician said eating slowly will help me feel full

and stop me from overeating.

So I've decided that for the duration

of this experiment I'm going

to eat all my meals with chopsticks.

And with my elite chopstick skills eating slowly should be a

piece of cake.

My dietician also recommended

that I drink green tea instead of coffee.

Apparently it's jam-packed with antioxidants, vitamins,

nutrients and all the other things

that are usually healthy person talk, for disgusting.

I'll be drinking a lot of green tea over the next three months.

So I've decided to attend a green tea ceremony

to learn how it's traditionally prepared and served.

I've been told to sit in complete silence

as the tea master prepares the tea.

It's kind of like waiting for the barista at Starbucks,

except a little bit less exciting and I'm not allowed

to play with my phone.

Thank you.

Very good.

- Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Do you want some?

You don't have any?

You don't have tea? - Yes.

In general you don't have tea?

Oh, only the guests? Okay. I'll finish it then.

I do like it. Yeah I like it. It's great.

I just thought you might want some, okay.

Okay. Okay, I'm going to put it back.

Yes. Thank you very much.

- Thank you very much.

Do I...

I push it to you? - Yes.

Okay. My leg's gone dead.

Yes, okay thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

The tea master just made the tea in a ritual

and they just shut the doors and I don't know what I should do,

if like I'm supposed to leave, alright.

My leg is dead.

You're sitting there the whole time.

Do you always sit there?

Okay, what do I do?

It's okay, yes.

Are you finished?

Okay, thank you.

I am in Japan because I need to be healthy.

- Yes.

Well you don't have to laugh. What are you laughing at?

I heard green tea is very healthy.

I was surprised.

I didn't know anything but when you brought

out green powder I thought it would be like tea leaves,

but it's not, it's powder?

Powder, yes.

What is the powder?

- Amazing.

Very fine?

Yes.

Can I smell it?

Yes.

Yes, okay.

Yeah, you can smell it.

Okay, sorry.

Would I like to make it? Okay. I would like to make it.

You will teach me?

- Okay, great.

As he taught me how

to make the tea the tea master told me

about its health benefits.

He said it's great for weight loss and is full of vitamin C,

B1 and B12 as well as iron and magnesium.

Thank you, thank you for having me.

Thank you. I'll just see myself out.

Okay.

I am out for lunch and instead of being at McDonald's

or in my office I am sitting in a fancy department store

in Tokyo and this is the top floor where I've gotten, horse?

No not horse, soba, which is buckwheat noodle

and that's horseradish and these are called mountain vegetables

and I think some of them have been tempurified

and I also have sauce that goes on it and scallions

and wasabi to mix all in.

I've also got a green tea right here.

I am enjoying the green tea a lot more than I expected

and everyone seems to swear by its health benefits.

So I've decided to step things up.

For the remainder of my diet I'm going to drink nothing

but green tea and water.

This means no more soda, no more juice and no more coffee.

Can I go in and look?

Absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

All green tea? - Yes.

Wow.

Yeah. Okay, that's that one?

- Yes.

Okay. I'm going to get that.

I've only been in Tokyo for one night

but already I've noticed a large number

of elderly people out and about.

I read the Japanese have the longest life expectancy

and more people over 100 than any other country in the world.

Is this because of their diet and lifestyle?

I sure hope so.

If the doctor was right about my biological age I'm going

to need some of that longevity.

Me and the crew have left the motel.

We'll be staying in a house we rented for the next two weeks,

that is, if I can find it.

Okay, well I'm in Asakusa and I've left the hotel

and I'm going to move into a house for a week,

but it's my job to find the house.

Unfortunately my phone has died, so good day for my step tracker

because I'm going to try and find it by walking around.

The guy on the internet who owns the house

on Airbnb said follow the golden poo to start with.

So, pretty sure that's it.

So off we go across the river.

You know unless there's another golden poo somewhere

around here I'm pretty sure that's it.

I followed the golden Godzilla turd across the bridge

and after a lot more walking I eventually found the house.

Alright, hey.

I think I just turned on,

there's like nine light switches here.

Oh, what does this mean?

Okay, I haven't been in a Japanese house.

I have no idea maybe it's wrong to walk in with your shoes.

Yeah, okay.

I'm going to put on some of these and I'm going to dress

up like my grandmother and keep looking.

Now that fits well.

Remind you of anything?

It's just like how I sleep at the office, except prettier.

This is, it's either a sauna or a decompression chamber.

I reckon it's a sauna.

Oh and there's rocks in there.

This is just like Japan.

Okay, I'm in.

There's rocks in here.

It's the end of day one and it's been a good day.

It's been all Japanese food today and I'm feeling good,

but also weird, a little light-headed and I've gone

to the bathroom like four times to push stuff out.

And I don't know if it's just the difference in food

like not being used to it here

or if it's got to do with detoxing.

Green tea all day, water all day, I feel tired.

I've had a good day and then I've done

like at least the amount of walking that I was supposed

to have done and I didn't skip a meal.

So now I'm off to bed.

Today I'm off to the outskirts of Tokyo.

The crew has arranged for me to be a dinner guest

with a typical Japanese family.

If I'm going to stick to this diet when I get home,

I'll need to know what kind of ingredients the Japanese use

and how they prepare them.

Hopefully Yuko and her family will be able

to give some guidance.

Hey, hi.

Should I take my shoes off?

Okay. This is all that you eat for dinner?

Yes.

That's a lot of stuff.

Wow what is that?

Rencon.

Rencon?

Wow, like potato.

No.

No, no not at all.

You can see straight through.

I can see you.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

What's this long thing?

Gobo.

Gobo, okay.

Shiitake.

Oh, shiitake.

Shiitake. - I've heard of Shiitake.

Yes, mushroom yes.

There are a lot of vegetables.

Yeah. - Vegetables.

Small amount of fish, tofu?

Yeah, tofu.

Tofu, okay.

Konnyaku.

Konnyaku?

Let's do that konnyaku.

No that's like a cube of something floating

in a gel of some description.

So we're cooking a very healthy meal.

We have these fish shavings in the big pot

and they're soaking off, yes for my, check my sweater.

Thank you very much.

Harrods, Harrods okay.

I hope it fits.

No, doesn't fit.

She's laughing. Alright.

Well that's the second insult for today.

Carrot. - Carrot?

Cut please.

Oh I should cut the carrot?

- Yeah, yeah. - Okay, I'm coming behind you.

It's a very sharp knife.

I'm pushing hard and I'm used to a very dull knife so I'm cutting

through the chopping board.

Okay, now triangle, yeah?

Yeah, yeah okay great.

Okay great.

What are you laughing at?

Is that wrong? Is that okay?

I thought I was doing a good job.

Oh now you're in trouble.

What? Oh very thin, no?

That is exactly what I was doing.

I don't know why I was taken off that task.

That's fine.

I've been told to cut the konnyaku.

I think I'm massacring this.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Every time the knife tries to get in it bends and folds

and moves and then I know you're not going to be happy

with what I've done here.

Okay, sorry.

Oh sorry, sorry.

I dropped a knife but it's okay.

It did land straight into the ground.

Sorry, I probably so, hey let's look at origami with Aiya.

Origami? Okay we go this way, okay.

I'm sorry I dropped the knife.

Okay, I'm sorry.

I'm going okay.

I have been removed from the kitchen after dropping a knife

and sort of cutting my finger.

So I feel bad but I'm relieved to be here, yeah.

No? Yeah, yeah okay, yeah yeah.

And we're doing origami.

[japanese phrase]

Sorry oh that's nice.

What? Should I take this, yeah.

I put that on there.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay.

Oh what's this?

Gobo.

Gobo. Gobo.

Oh yeah the long one yeah.

Umm it's like squash almost.

What's this one? This is...

Rencon.

Rencon, Rencon.

I have parents.

I go to their house for dinner, but on our plate we have meat,

big meat like steak, sausages.

I eat hamburgers.

No, no, no.

No, no I shouldn't, but I do.

I'm trying to stop hamburgers, pizzas, chips,

like fries all the time.

That's all I ever eat is a lot of bad food, junk food.

Yeah, yeah I never have good food.

Arigato and Sayonara.

[laughter]

[music]

Dinner was delicious.

The dishes were small but satisfying

and presented beautifully and best of all they were all made

without the use of an oven.

This is a big plus considering I don't actually have an oven

in my warehouse.

I did some research on the vegetables I'd ate for dinner.

Gobo, rencon and daikon.

I'd never heard of them before but they each seemed

to be packed with different kinds of vitamins,

minerals and nutrients.

They're also low in calories, perfect for weight loss.

My old pal the potato is starting

to look a little bit shabby.

Well today's the day I've been dreading but I suppose it's

about time I bit the bullet

or in this case the fermented soy bean.

It's natto day.

I've heard a lot of talk about natto.

People call it a super food and they say it does wonders

for the digestive and absorption of nutrients.

But they also say it stinks like gym socks and mouldy cheese

and tastes even worse.

But I can leave Japan without at least trying the stuff

and the crew found an entire restaurant devoted

to the natto thing, which is lucky for me.

Hello. - Hello.

Hi.

Hello. I want natto. - Natto.

Natto, what do I, how do I, oh I just pick one.

Okay.

Okay. - Are they good?

Yeah. - Okay, I'll get those.

The gentleman is making my food on the inside of there.

I've ordered big beans and small beans.

Apparently they're the more popular dishes.

Oh yeah, thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much. Yes.

Okay. Wow there it is, how do I meant to eat?

What do I do?

Okay, just chopsticks...

And swirl.

Keep doing it.

A lot.

Okay and this and put in there. - Yes.

On top. - Okay.

Okay. That is freaky.

Why is it so sticky?

It's like a thing from "Alien."

This is my first try. - Yeah.

Never tried it before.

Okay here we go, natto.

Smell?

It smells, it smells a bit like glue.

Okay, yeah a lot like paint thinner or something.

Okay.

Okay. It's not too bad.

It's not, it's a weird, that is the weirdest texture.

The, it's so stringy and wet and glue-like.

And it does smell like I've just finished painting a house okay.

Okay.

Okay.

But the taste is not too bad. - Yeah.

Not bad.

Nice.

It may have smelt like a ruptured septic tank

and had the texture of thick snot,

but the natto didn't actually taste too bad.

It's definitely an acquired taste like a Japanese Vegemite,

but it's a great source of protein.

It's loaded with vitamin K and has been known

to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

It'll never be my favourite dish

but I don't think I'll ever have a problem eating it regularly

and speaking of regular.

Hey, so I'm in the bathroom a lot.

A lot as in three times a day I go to the toilet now.

It's really weird.

I have to keep going.

I don't know it's only, you know I've only been doing this

for a few days and I don't know if it's

because the Japanese food that I'm not used to

or my body's detoxing from all the rubbish

and the sugar and stuff.

But, yeah I have to go to the toilet a lot.

Everywhere I go in Tokyo I see food.

I feel like there's a restaurant on every street corner.

The Japanese really are all about their food.

And while there are plenty of fast food joints

and greasy restaurants throughout the city,

finding traditional meals doesn't seem

to be a problem at all.

I've been eating at these types

of traditional restaurants since I landed.

But the house I'm staying at also has a kitchen.

So I think it's time to put my new cooking knowledge

to the test, but first I'll need some supplies.

I too big.

It's true, I'm too big.

I do. I'm on a diet.

I'm trying to eat Japanese food so what is this?

Seaweed.

A kind of seaweed?

Yes this, this and this.

Is that that? - Yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's that one? - Uh huh.

Okay, maybe I'll try that.

[laughter]

What the hell?

Okay. Why is it so gluggy?

Okay.

Very sticky, sorry.

Okay.

Seaweed.

So sorry.

Thank you very much.

Bye-bye. Thank you.

Bye-bye thank you. - Thank you.

I just bought the world's sharpest knife.

It wasn't advertised as the world's sharpest knife

but as I'm opening I cut my thumb there and I've tried

to tape it up, but it keeps bleeding.

But, I bought a knife because I need to cut some pickles.

Oh that's great.

Oh that sesame and peanut mixed

in with some seaweed and some greens.

This is from the supermarket.

It is to be put on top of rice.

It's like something you mix with rice.

I only have a very small amount of rice today.

I'm going to just stick it on top anyway.

That's the miso from the package.

Now maybe it's because I don't have a good palate

or I'm not used to it yet,

but it kind of tastes the same as any other miso.

Unfortunately, there's a lot more

to the Japanese lifestyle then just eating delicious meals.

To discover what it is that keeps this nation

so healthy I need to experience the different facets

of their lives.

So today the crew has arranged for me to spend an entire day

with a typical Japanese businessman.

I'd only just met Kaz before it was time to get moving.

I'm told Japanese businessmen do a lot of walking

in an average workday.

Just spotting our way into the crowded morning trains

is exhausting.

I'm doing my best not to slow him down,

but when nature calls you have to answer.

Sorry. - It's okay.

Sorry. - That's okay.

That's fine.

As we get close to his first appointment,

Kaz relaxes a little and we get to talk.

How old are you?

I'm 42 years old.

You look very young.

Thank you. - I'm 38.

You're 38? - Thirty eight, okay.

But do you think I'm older or younger than I look?

Of course, older.

Of course, older.

[laughter]

Kaz has three different meetings today,

all across the city and he'll be walking to each one.

I'm trying my best to keep up

but my short strides are no match for Kaz's power walk.

I have no idea how he does this every day.

My feet are killing me so I am going to use my laptop bag,

which isn't a laptop bag because I wasn't going to carry

around a laptop all day.

I did pack it with my shoes, so I'm going

to stick these on instead.

With his schedule so tight I wasn't sure we'd be able

to stop for lunch.

But working men need to eat and Kaz is no exception.

He's brought me to a noodle bar for lunch though I'm not sure

if it counts as stopping.

There are no seats in here.

Okay. What are these called?

Udon. - Udon.

We're in and out of the noodle bar

in under eight minutes.

The udon noodles are tasty and relatively healthy compared

to the fast food options I have back home.

I'm not sure if standing to eat is good for digestion,

but there's no time to think about it.

We're already hustling to the next appointment.

Another meeting, a lot more power walking

and finally the day is over.

It's time to head home, or so I thought.

Hey. - Hey.

Hey. Good to see you again.

Good to see you. How did you go?

Well, meeting was good. - Yeah.

Went well. - Okay.

Now it's the end of the day.

The end of the day. - I'm free.

Oh that's great. - Do you go home now?

No, no, no. It's party time.

Party time, drinking time.

Do you want to come?

Okay. Yeah, sure okay.

It's Friday.

Yeah, and this is what you would normally do on a Friday?

Alright, then we should do it, yeah.

That's a capsule hotel.

It says Capsule hotel "Siesta". - Siesta.

so if we miss the last train we could stay

in this capsule hotel.

But there's only like regular size,

no extra large size for you.

What's that mean?

I can go.

Hang on are you serious? I might not fit in a capsule?

You can try, but I doubt.

Kaz booked us in at a small bar called an izakaya.

It's a place where Japanese businessmen often eat

and drink after work.

If there's ever a place to test my dedication

to this new healthy diet it's here.

What type of food do they make here?

Noodles, rice dish.

Some veggies, cucumber

and some tomatoes, tofu yeah and edamame.

You know edamame right? - Yeah, I love edamame.

Let's order edamame.

I have to eat Japanese food to lose weight

because its healthy food compared to Australia.

Healthy food, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So cabbage healthy, tofu healthy.

Yeah.

Oolong tea it's healthy yeah.

Alright.

What is this?

This is we call teppanyaki.

I've heard of -

Yeah, yeah lot of veggies and tofu and some pork.

Right.

I'm surprised by the range of food offered

in this small restaurant.

The teppanyaki dish isn't the healthiest, especially compared

to what I've been eating, but it's balanced

out with side orders of tofu and edamame beans, fresh tomatoes,

pickled cucumbers and sprouts.

When I went to the doctor they did tests to find

out what my biological age is.

You know what biological age, yeah okay.

Sixty four.

[laughter]

Okay. It's not that -

After the meal Kaz tells me

that no Friday night drinking session is complete

without a trip to a nearby karaoke bar.

So when in Rome do as the drunken Romans do.

Though Kaz and his friend are in the mood to celebrate I decided

to stick with my oolong tea.

Who says I'm not a party animal?

I've missed the last train home

so it's a capsule hotel for me tonight.

I guess I asked for the authentic businessman experience

so it's time to climb on in.

I just hope I fit.

Kazu the salary man, was making stuff up.

Obviously I can fit in here fine.

Yeah.

Rolling up I just got back from a walk.

I went for a walk.

Ah, what the hell's wrong with me.

Every day the pain goes away and I want

to do more fun based things like, and this is weird,

just go for a walk in the morning.

So I took my headphones and walked

around like I was a teenager in high school or university.

I remember doing that a lot,

listening to music when I walked around.

So I did that and that was awesome

and that is very unusual,

something I haven't done for a long time.

Tofu is another cornerstone of the Japanese diet.

I've been eating it with almost every meal

and while it doesn't taste bad, it's starting

to get a little boring.

But apparently it comes in many different forms and flavours.

So today, I'm travelling

to a traditional style tofu restaurant

to sample their many dishes.

Unfortunately, their menus are in Japanese.

This one.

This one? - Yeah, tofu?

No, this one is sake, sho-chu

Oh sake.

That's the sake.

This one tofu?

No.

Okay, okay. - Sake again.

Where is maybe this, oh no they all look like sake.

Oh all sake.

This is drinks, oh I see okay, sorry.

Let me try this one, I'm going to try this one.

Okay, this one.

Oh. - Tofu?

Oh, child's menu.

This is the child's menu.

I picked the child's menu.

Okay any moment now I'm going to find the adult menu.

This one.

Oh, okay.

Yeah for me yeah, tofu. - Tofu

Excellent, okay great.

Well, tofu.

Right. Tofu.

Nailed it.

A big white square. This is something

that I wouldn't expect was going to happen.

This is very exciting.

I've never seen this before.

I'm told tofu is a great source of protein, calcium and iron

and though it's a bit bland on its own when you serve it

with these tasty sauces

and condiments it's actually quite delicious.

Whoa. - Hot tofu skin.

Hot tofu skin.

Ooh. Is that off the top of this?

Yeah it looked like a giant square off the top of that okay.

Do you want something?

No, no.

Okay. That's confidence.

Alright, here we go.

Okay, sorry.

Um huh, umm.

One sec -

It went...

It's like one big long strip of plastic

or like I mean it's delicious sure.

But it was like eating cling wrap.

It just was one big long thing that was joined together.

So I digested it badly.

It all slid down.

But let's do it again, another one of these.

Yes, thank you.

After eating some more of the hot tofu skin it was time

to sample some of the other dishes.

Tofu salad, cold tofu skin and even a tofu dessert.

These tofu dishes sure are tastier than the packs

of plain tofu back home.

[music]

Okay, it's morning time and I have made myself some breakfast

and I have natto, soy bean and pickles.

And I've got soy bean because we don't have a rice cooker here.

So, I'm eating soy and beans.

Probably not good because they're both protein.

I've just realised, okay yeah but that's what I'm eating

and I've got some green tea here as well.

I've gotten into the habit of shopping for groceries instead

of relying on premade meals.

This will be invaluable when I have

to keep the diet going back home.

Hey, I just went to get some water and some natto

at the convenience store.

I put my jeans on today which is exciting,

not because they're jeans but because I haven't worn them

for a while and they are feeling loose, which is good.

Because when I wore them a couple of months ago

before I started you know this whole process

they were very tight.

So I think I've lost some weight around the waist which is good.

The whole time I've been here I haven't seen any overweight

people, certainly no one as big as me.

I was wondering what are the locals thinking

when they see someone my size when all of a sudden it hit me.

There are people this size in Japan, in fact,

they're much bigger in every possible way.

Sumo wrestlers are cultural icons and the majority

of them are still born and raised in Japan.

So what are they eating in order to reach their massive size?

I asked the crew to arrange a meeting with a sumo wrestler.

And as it turns out they got the biggest one of all time.

Konishiki is a sumo legend,

born in Hawaii he's a three time champion and holds the record

for the heaviest sumo wrestler ever.

If anyone could tell me what to avoid in my diet it's him.

I'm just hoping he won't be angry

when I ask him what I should be doing to not end up like him.

Did you notice a difference in food between here

and Samoa, Hawaii like?

Well the food is here is great man.

Yeah. - Even at the beginning

of my career there's some things I couldn't eat like natto.

Natto is a -

I know what natto is.

I eat it every morning now.

I love it. - Yeah.

I love it now but couldn't eat it before.

Like tofu was something I eat before.

But you know I think Japan has a very healthy diet naturally.

Yeah, I've noticed it's much easier

for me to eat healthy here.

Yeah. - A lot easier.

You notice everything that comes

with Japan food is always vegetables.

Yeah. - Always vegetables.

What do you eat to get big?

Chanko nabe is a, it's a mixture of a lot of vegetables

and then your base soup can be salt-based.

It can be miso.

It can be like kimchi and they add meat to it, maybe pork

or beef or seafood, it don't matter, chicken.

Right. - So it's like a stew.

It sounds, its healthy right?

It's not the food that really gets us big.

It turns our sumo wrestlers eat similar types of food

to regular Japanese people.

The major difference seems to be the quantity that they eat.

This is the normal what we call chowing in Japanese.

This is normal size of a Japanese person at home.

This is like the average bowl. - Yes

That we use in sumo staples, rice and stew.

And the young fellows will be eating three or four.

Everybody, everybody. - Right.

But the young ones will just eat more.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, this is the difference yeah?

Yeah, right.

So it, that's how come you see all these Japanese people

walking around skinny.

But that's not only the reason.

If you see the distance that they walk from door to door

to work every day you're going to find

out that all of them catch trains.

My meeting with Konishiki gave me a lot to think about.

All Japanese food is healthy for the most part.

Overeating can still cause problems

and Konishiki reinforced how much the Japanese walk.

They walk to work, to school, to the grocery store.

They walk everywhere.

Back home I walk about 7000 steps a day.

Since arriving in Japan I average about 12,000 steps

and my day with Kaz the businessman saw this number jump

to over 20,000.

This daily exercise is more vital to the lifestyle

than I initially thought.

I'm going to need to keep it up when I get home

if I want to maintain the diet.

Konishiki also reminded me something my dietician told me

about portion sizes.

She told me not to eat more than the size

of my fists during any given meal.

I realise that the Japanese custom

of serving small bite-size dishes has inadvertently helped

me manage my meal portions.

Today I'm meeting with Mr. Otaka

who operates several cafeterias inside of factories, offices

and schools around Tokyo and he's agreed to give me a tour

of one of his kitchens so I can observe the type of meals

which are served in a typical Japanese cafeteria.

Oh, that's good.

Hey we look like train drivers right yeah.

This is good. - It doesn't... is that okay?

Okay.

Should I put another on backwards or something?

It's okay. - Okay

They won't get upset? - Right.

Okay, where do we...?

Like back home schools and large companies

in Japan, often provide hot lunches for their employees.

But unlike back home there are no burgers, French fries

or pizzas to be seen here.

This is miso?

This is miso.

Miso soup okay.

I don't how to make soup.

I'm sorry I don't understand myself but I use packets.

Oh yeah.

Put in a cup with water. - Oh yes, yes.

Young people, everybody use that in Japan also.

Oh right.

Even when cooking on mats providing healthy

and nutritious meal options is a priority.

Mr. Otaka even employs a nutritionist at each

of these cafeterias in order to ensure a high standard of meals.

How do I eat the fish without cutting it?

Oh actually you can

in the centre.

May I help you, okay?

Yes please.

Ah. - Centre you can pull it this way.

Yeah.

Oh this is rather difficult for you.

It is easy for us but, instead of cutting by knife,

we can do it by chopsticks.

Amazing. Thank you so much.

You're like my dad now. - Oh.

You cut my food for me before I eat it, right.

I'm going to pick it up like this okay?

That's okay. - Okay.

Umm and slurping is good?

Well as far as eating soba it is okay to make noise.

but otherwise we don't think so.

So with miso I shouldn't make a lot of slurping.

Little bit noise is okay but -

A little bit but not -

Umm good.

Not bad, that was okay. - Okay.

Okay, this?

I don't think so.

Alright it was probably too much.

We put rice bowl here then this way.

It's okay to drop.

Drop on the rice.

So it's like using instead of a hand -

Sometimes we eat this way.

Right. So I can - and I'll look good.

Oh, I just drop it.

My meeting with Mr. Otaka has shown me

that cheap healthy nutritious food choices are abundant

everywhere, even in places you would never expect.

The Japanese culture seems to promote a healthy lifestyle even

in location where greasy fried foods would be

so much easier to serve.

I don't know how I'm going to match this type

of food when I get back home.

My stay in Japan is almost over and I'm starting

to get a little worried.

While it's easy and affordable

to eat healthy here doing the same thing back home will be a

different story.

If I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere

on a film set all day I don't think catering will be offering

green tea and natto for lunch.

I thought back to the start of my journey and my dinner

with Yuko and her family.

She mentioned making her children a bento box,

a kind of Japanese packed lunch

which they took to school every day.

I called Yuko and she arranged for her friend Ryoko

to teach me how to make a bento box.

Oh, I know I learned this, gobo.

Gobo. - Gobo.

Cut in the centre.

Ooh and we'll make a finger puppet.

No, oh. You turn it okay, that's amazing.

You make a hole in the centre and then you, yeah.

Okay, what?

Okay, okay, alright, don't look over here for a second.

No, nothing. Okay, good, in. Gobo?

Gobo. - Gobo.

In it goes, gobo bamboo shoot in there.

To be completely honest I'm not sure what I'm making here.

But I'm using the same ingredients

that Yuko used for her dinner.

So I'm pretty confident that this is going

to be a healthy lunch.

We boiled and washed the spinach and now we'll slice it up

and it's going into sesame that I've just grounded up.

So this tamagoyaki is like an omelette.

Man this upper level.

This in it goes, okay, okay, okay.

Alright good. Under.

Under. Under

Under, so you just lift it up

and let it fall under, cool.

This is the worst part.

Oh boy. I can see what you're doing.

I don't know if I can okay.

Quickly, quick, quick hey.

Wow.

With all of the individual ingredients prepared it's time

to build the bento boxes.

Like most Japanese meals the bento box consists of a lot

of small side dishes and vegetables.

Oh look at that; that is beautiful.

We have our omelette called tamagoyaki.

We've got all of our vegetables there and we have a plum.

We have our rice with nori on top

and then underneath we have kombu, another type

of seaweed green goodness.

Now that I know how to make the bento box I'm wanting to buy one

of my own to take home with me.

That's pretty cute.

They didn't really have boys one, but I don't mind.

I like this.

Today I sort of solved a big problem.

I now know I can take Bento onto my work, my weed random

who knows what day, where I'm going to be type work

and I can open it and just have it at my regular times.

So that's going to solve a lot of problems for me

when I get back and I'm stressed

about what I'm going to do every day.

I pack, I can be self-sufficient pretty much for one

or even two meals throughout the day

and then just make sure I get home to prepare my other meal

or if I'm out at a place that sells sushi or the type

of food I need to get, I can do that.

I've been in Japan now for almost two weeks and I think

that I've got the food thing figured out.

I feel confident in knowing what to eat and what to avoid.

Shopping and cooking for myself has become a habit and foods

that I would never have eaten back home, tofu,

pickled vegetables, green tea,

even natto now feel normal to me.

And most importantly,

I'm keeping an eye on my portion sizes.

Yeah. So, I just lost my, well I'm carrying bags.

It's good news.

We're heading to the temple but my pants have become looser

but it means they fall down when I'm not able

to hitch them up as I'm walking.

So, yeah where do I put this?

How do I -

It's my final weekend in Japan and the crew

and I are spending it

in Zen Buddhist temple a few hours out of Tokyo.

I feel like I've learnt a lot

about Japan's food and lifestyle.

If I can stay motivated once I get home I know this diet will

be a success.

I'm hoping a Buddhist monk can give me some guidance

and help me stay focussed.

Konishiki when he visited temple last week they,

there's some sort of ritual where they hit you with a stick

and that because he's Konishiki and a big guy they went

and got a really big stick, a thick one,

and they hit him really hard and it welted and became black.

It was a very painful mark that they left

and he says they were doing it on you know for comedy.

So I'm a little bit worried

because I think the temple's been briefed that I'm a comedian

and there's going to be a film crew.

So I'm worried that the monk, he's going to hit me harder

because it's funny to do that.

We've stopped at a roadside diner for lunch

and I'm pleasantly surprised to find

that even here healthy meal options are readily available.

This is from a roadside diner in Japan.

The crew have been able to order slightly more exciting meals

with you know deep fried stuff and burgers and western things.

But, this is what I can get at a diner

in the roadside along a highway in Japan.

So it's very exciting.

If I was in Australia and I was pulling

over I'd be eating burgers and sandwiches and hot chips.

But this is what I've got here; a very healthy meal.

With lunch out of the way we continue to the temple high

in the mountain west of Tokyo.

We arrive to start the lunch to find Asami,

the temple's sole monk and caretaker waiting for us.

Hello. - Hello.

Hi. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

My name's Craig.

My name Asami and I live, live in this temple.

Oh, you live here? - Alone.

Alone? - Yeah.

Are you okay? - Yeah.

You're not scared? No.

Okay, good.

I will show you.

Yeah. It's beautiful.

Yeah it's really pretty, yeah. - Thank you.

Two hundred and fifty?

This building is 250 years old? - Yeah, yeah.

Wow. Oh it's in good shape.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Still strong, yeah.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

You're not 250 years old? - No, no.

[laughter]

Alright, just checking.

I've come to Japan because I'm too big.

Okay.

And I wanted to ask you what I can learn from Zen

to be healthy what I need to do,

prepare my mind for when I go back.

Okay, good.

I'm going to be very simple.

I'm going to think of nothing else other than this exercise,

copying the sutra. Okay.

Yes, okay.

No smell. - Okay, no smell.

Well, I'm not supposed to be talking to you

because I'm working on my Ku but I know

if it's a deliberate trick,

but this table isn't very you know, not stable.

And maybe it's a lesson, but it's very annoying

when I'm trying to think of nothing else.

I'm going to put my sock underneath it.

I just passed the first test.

I tried to clear my mind and focus

on nothing but writing my Ku.

And I think it worked because I didn't even notice

that the sun had set and that my toes had started to freeze.

All finished? - I think so.

Is this okay?

Is it perfect? - Yeah, perfect.

A bit bad with the -

Okay.

Not fat.

Thank you. That's why I'm here.

Not fat. - Yeah.

Do you need me to help you in the kitchen?

Yeah, thank you.

I would love to. - Okay.

Heater, okay. Great thank you.

Oh man.

Okay.

I've never seen tempura get made, only eat it.

First time see it yes.

Very good.

Vegetarian?

Which meat do you eat when you eat it?

Okay, I didn't think that was allowed but that's great.

Any meat you want.

Just whatever you can get your hands on.

Yeah, yeah. - MOS Burger.

I am not... I can't eat MOS Burger.

Okay, okay. That's a good secret.

I won't tell anyone.

Top secret, okay, okay good.

Could you, so I remove and put on there?

Yeah. - Yes, okay.

This is a real true test of chopsticks here,

180 degrees underneath.

Thank you.

I get a bus?

Outside bus?

You mean outside shower?

Okay, I'll find it. Oh you'll show me?

We'll go find the outside bath.

Wash my hands and then I can call them up.

Sorry, it's embarrassing.

Okay, yeah. - I will do it.

Okay, thank you.

No, that's worse okay.

It's alright. I will get better.

Okay, thank you.

Okay. There we go. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay good. - Yeah, yeah.

Good, thank you.

Outside bath. - Yeah.

This is underneath.

It looks like rocks and so - oh why is it so hot?

Yeah my feet are like boiling.

This isn't, that's not right.

It's hot, it's very warm.

But now it's really cold outside, so.

Okay. Well that's good, like it's really hot on my legs.

It feels like I shouldn't be in here, but it's so cold outside.

Oh man, okay.

Oh, oh, oh.

Okay, okay I think I'm getting used to it.

Cody? You okay man?

Cameraman just belched.

With my mind clear and my skin burning it was time for dinner.

Oh wow. Wow. - Yeah.

Thank you.

Oh, vegetarian.

Yes. This is the pumpkin.

Tempura.

Spinach with sesame. And mirin, mirin, yes.

Daikon.

Daikon, yeah.

Here we have... - Carrot.

Carrots, bean, shiitake and miso?

Miso soup. - Miso soup.

And rice. - And rice.

Thank you. - Please.

Alright.

Thank you.

It looks fantastic.

Try some. I might just start

with the one I made tempura pumpkin.

This is all extremely healthy and it's all vegetarian.

The monk is mostly vegetarian when in town.

But when he's outside of the building he'll drop

into MOS Burger, I'm having such a great time with this pumpkin.

Okay, this is what I made.

Yeah, yeah nice.

Today Asami will teach me more meditation techniques.

But first he has a little gift for me.

As you may have noticed I'm now wearing suspenders.

I'm not in a 1993 music video.

I am wearing suspenders because the monk after my pants fell

down embarrassingly in the kitchen when I was trying

to help him in the kitchen he said he had suspenders.

And he went and found them and he gave them

to me this morning as a gift.

I'll have to check if he wants them back,

but if he doesn't I'll be wearing some suspenders

with these jeans now because the jeans have become quite loose

in the time that I've been in Japan.

So that's both exciting and a real bonus.

Ooh. So, let's yeah.

Asami tells me today's lesson will be more enlightening

than tracing the Ku.

And all of a sudden, I'm a bit nervous.

I'm told this technique will help me say focussed

and keep my mind clear.

But I seem to be getting whacked more than the others.

I wonder if this is Asami's way of telling me to keep quiet

about his MOS Burger habits.

With my Zen training complete, it's time to fly home.

My journey here has taught me a lot of things.

It's taught me that eating healthy can also be delicious

and that daily exercise

and portion control can mean the difference

between slim and sumo.

Now it's up to me to take this knowledge home

and apply it to my life.

Come on, want to go for a walk.

Come, come on.

Yeah good boy.

Good boy come on.

I've been home for a little while now

and I've been wondering how to integrate what I learnt

into my daily routine.

Each day in Japan I was walking almost twice the distance I was

before I started this diet.

And with a little help from Malcolm here, I've been able

to keep that number up.

It's been great and not just for me but for Malcolm as well.

Because between you and me he was starting

to get a little bit chubby.

I've kept up my shopping habits

and though the big grocery chains don't have a lot

of the more obscure food items, I found an Asian grocer nearby

that stocks almost everything I need.

I visit them so often now

that the owner told me I was his biggest customer.

At first I was flattered

and then I realised he was making a joke.

I had a good source for almost all the ingredients I need

to maintain my diet.

Miso paste, tofu, natto, fish flakes, dried pickles,

ume plums and konnyaku.

Some of the fresh veggies I wanted like daikon,

gobo and bamboo shoots are a lot harder to track down.

So I have to make do with what I can find.

I still need to spend long hours in the edit room,

but I've replaced the coke with green tea.

And if I feel like snacking I can eat plenty

of edamame beans on hand.

They're delicious, high in protein

and vitamins and low in fat.

Plus it's a fun word say, edamame.

This evening I'm helping a friend perform

at the Sydney Comedy Festival.

In the olden days I'd have driven, but it seems

like a nice evening so I've decided to walk instead.

I always run into old friends at events like these

and sometimes they want to grab a bite to eat.

So I'm worried at this late hour the only food options will be

greasy junk food.

But it turns out my local sushi bar has a back menu full

of traditional and healthy dishes.

So I've been to the local sushi train.

So this is a whole tray of salmon,

natto and you can also get the pickled plum,

ume which is what I stick in my rice every morning.

You just got to work hard to find it; you need to ask.

Sushi train, they put out stuff in the train,

but they just put the big ones out, the ones everyone wants

because they don't want it to go to waste.

But the menu, that's where you can get plum

and natto and pickles.

It's great for nights when I want to go out

or don't have time to cook.

Plus the look the waitress's face the first time I ordered

natto was priceless.

For the most part adapting the Japanese diet

to fit my lifestyle has been a fairly simple

and painless process.

Keeping it up for the remainder

of my 12 week experiment shouldn't be a problem at all,

unless something drastically changes in my work life.

I've just checked my emails and I've got a job coming

up where I'm directing a comedy show starting in like two days.

So that's going to be a lot of work and I'm going to be

on set a lot, so I've been planning how

to do my morning ritual, so make sure I get my bento box done

in time.

I'm making my bento while I eat breakfast just because I have

to save some time in the morning.

And this is the plum that I put on, in the rice.

So that is my rice component, done.

Now I'll make the good side of the bento box,

because I'm not a big rice eater.

I love this part.

This has got all the protein and the vegetables in it.

Konnyaku, carrot.

I'm building my bento box for the day

and I'm also making a little brown rice,

tofu and avocado sushi roll as a snack.

And I can't forget about the miso soup

and Thermos of green tea.

Aside from all the extra walking I also like to start my days now

with some light exercise followed by my usual trip

to the local swimming pool.

But not just to shower, now I like to swim a few laps first.

Swimming at a swimming pool, who'd have guessed?

So today we're filming in a house in a suburb in Sydney.

There's always a lot of temptation in the morning

because the first things that happen is they lay out

all the hot food and everyone just sits

and eats while I wait for them to start.

But I still have to get here at the right time

because I'm the guy who picks the space and then we move

and they start slowly building and eating so I have to sit

and wait for them to finish eating.

But lucky I had natto to keep me sustained.

I would love you guys to still be orientated towards

the screens.

So the setting yeah and like I'll look

at what this person's up to, yeah.

And then maybe -

Directing is one of my biggest passions.

especially directing comedy.

But lunch on set requires discipline.

The catered meals smell good, really good.

Well it's lunchtime on set

and everyone's got their lunch that's been catered for.

But I've got my rice and bento box.

Everyone is very supportive.

They're teasing me today

but normally they'd be very supportive.

[laughter]

Yeah enjoy it.

I don't care.

People make fun of me and get to eat mashed potato.

Okay. Who wants to try, you can try some.

Come on man you want some, you want to try it.

I cook easy Japanese meals every evening after work

and tamagoyaki is a simple dish to make.

I don't have a square pan,

but my round frying pan will get the job done.

It's not pretty, but it works.

It's so nerve-wrecking.

We have to pick it up and get the thing to slide under,

in time

because if you don't it just starts cooking

and it doesn't slide anymore.

But I made it so, crisis averted.

Okay yeah let's do it.

Let's shoot that.

Can I get you standing further back,

everyone standing further back?

Directing the comedy programme

over the past few weeks has been hectic.

But through it all I've managed to stay true to my diet;

natto for breakfast, followed by exercise,

then my morning stroll, swim and shower.

I prepare my bento box daily to eat on set

and cooking meals has become a part of my daily life.

This Japanese way of eating no longer feels like a diet.

I eat every meal with chopsticks and drinking nothing

but green tea has become second nature.

The 12 weeks is up and though I feel great, it's time to return

to the doctor and see exactly what effect this lifestyle has

had on my health.

The first thing that we'll talk

about is your amazing weight loss.

You're down from 138 kilograms on our first visit

to 114 kilograms today and that's a 24 kilogram loss,

which is incredibly great.

And of course your weight loss has brought your biological age

down from 64 years down to 55.

So you're a work in progress there and again

that result is very dependent on the weight,

so the more weight you lose the more favourable

that result will be over time.

The other really good result from a medical perspective is

that your abnormal liver function tests are now normal.

The C reactive protein is the inflammation marker

that we looked at and you scored 4.6 previously but it's

down to two now and we know that the lower

that score the less cardiovascular risk you have

moving forward.

So you no longer have

that medically significant inflammation of your liver

that was quite obvious on your previous liver function test

that we checked a few months ago.

Your insulin levels, and we talked

about those pre-diabetic worrying insulin levels

previously, they've dropped by 64%.

They're nearly in normal range now.

You were at 36, you're now at 13 and the ideal is 10 or below.

So you're ever so close to that.

So if we look at across the board, a reduced risk

of type two diabetes and a reduced risk of heart attack

and a stroke, much improved liver function test,

and your knees will thank you.

The doctor's consultation produced some amazing results.

My weight is down from 138 to 114, a drop of 24 kilograms

or around 50 pounds in just 12 weeks.

My biological age is down from 64 to 55.

My liver function test also shows the inflammation is gone

and my liver enzyme levels are back within the reference range.

Also my C reactive protein level,

the heart attack indicator is now a much healthier 2.0

and I'm aiming at a perfect score of zero soon.

And finally, my insulin levels are also down.

Before the diet I was on a scary 36,

well above the healthy 10 and under range.

It's now down to 13 and with a little more work I'm confident I

can get it to under 10.

Living the Japanese diet these past few months has had a

profound impact on my life and I'm not just talking

about the weight loss and improved health.

It's shown me that it's never too late

to make a positive change in life

and that I've got the willpower to make it happen.

I've learnt that dieting isn't just about food choices,

it's also about mindset.

I'm determined to continue my journey towards better health.

My new lifestyle has filled me with happiness and energy

and because of that, I'm also filled with pride.