Japanese doctor, in an event organized by the publisher Wisdom House in estern Seoul, Tuesday.

Koreans on fad diet after Japanese doctor says hunger brings health





Readers of the book "Being Hungry Makes You Healthy" listen to the presentation by the author Yoshinori Nagumo.

By Yoon Ja-young

Lee, who heads the marketing team at a local publisher, shed 17 kilograms in 52 days to now weigh 109 kilograms. The only change he made was discarding the long-term belief that one should eat three meals a day to be healthy. "I only have lunch now. I used to have three meals a day but no matter how much exercise I took, I didn't lose any weight," Lee recollects.

He is one of many Koreans who are trying the one meal a day diet, currently the most popular method in Korea. The craze started with the book "Being Hungry Makes You Healthy" by Yoshinori Nagumo, a Japanese doctor, which was released here in September.

It has been receiving wild acclaim since then. It entered the top 10 best-seller list at major bookstores only two weeks after hitting the shelves and is still ranked 12th in the best-seller list of Yes 24, the country's biggest online bookstore. It is first in the health, hobby and practical books category. In Japan, it has sold over 600,000 copies.

An online community dedicated to the diet has nearly 6,000 people exchanging tips and experiences of the diet on portal site Naver.



Full lion wouldn't attack rabbit

Hundreds of readers gathered at a lecture by Nagumo in eastern Seoul, Tuesday. His assertion is that the longevity mechanism of the body is activated when one is hungry. Eating only once a day not only helps shed kilos but also keeps one young-looking and healthy, according to the doctor who seems at least 15 years younger than his actual age, 57 — a good way of marketing his theory.

Nagumo said that he weighed around 80 kilograms in his 30s, excessive when considering he measures just over 170 centimeters. Obesity caused him problems such as back pain and an irregular heartbeat. They became so severe that he decided to lose weight.

He first calculated calories as most of people do when they start diet. "It was very bothersome. I gave up after a few weeks. I thought of my own way and decreased the number of dishes I ate. I just had rice, porridge, and a side dish. Then I started losing weight."

He went further, switching to children's portions. He lost more weight. "Until that time, I thought eating three meals was good for one's health."

He began to feel sleepy after lunch, which was problematic as a surgeon. So he gave up lunch. He sometimes skipped breakfast if he felt full or had no appetite in the morning leading to having one meal a day.

"I not only lost weight, but also felt healthier and younger. I didn't know the reason, so I started researching why one meal a day is good for one's health."

He pointed out that a full lion wouldn't attack a rabbit even if passing immediately in front of it. Man, however, would eat again at lunch even if only a little while has passed since breakfast. He said the 170,000 year history of mankind has been a fight against hunger. "The genes that are nutrition-effective survived. People evolved in the way that they gain weight with the small amount of food they eat."

He asserted that people get healthy while their stomach is empty. "Animals' immunity level falls when they are full due to adipocytokines. It hurts cells of the vessels, causing sclerosis. When one is hungry, however, protein hormone adiponectin lets the vessels recover. Animals rarely have sclerosis but as men eat even if they are not hungry, adiponectin doesn't work, leading to sclerosis," he explained.

Nagumo said that one should feel hungry — or make their stomach vacant — at least once a day to avoid disease. When one is hungry, growth hormones and sirtuin are also activated, both of which keep people feeling young, he added. However, he doesn't recommend the diet for children and slim women who haven't gone through menopause. He also added that one should eat something more when the stomach makes sounds due to hunger.

Doctors skeptical about new diet

Most doctors disagree with Nagumo's ideas.

"One may think that one meal a day may help people lose weight as they will take in less calories but it isn't that simple," said Dr. Son Bodeuri at obesity clinic 365mc Gangnam.

"As we absorb less energy, the consumption of energy such as the basal metabolism also decreases. It can cause gradual weight gain. Moreover, if the stomach continues to be empty for long hours — 18 to 20 — the hormonal system strengthens the storing of energy. In other words, the food you eat more easily turns into fat and much of the fat is stored," she said. She added that an extreme plan of having only one meal a day may strengthen one's desire for food, which may result in overeating or consuming more fatty foods.

Another assertion by Nagumo is that one should eat before going to bed, which is contrary to common medical belief. We know that eating at night can lead to weight gain as well as causing reflux esophagitis. But Nagumo says that the parasympathetic nerve, which becomes active in the evening, helps digestion and absorption. "It is true that one gains weight when they sleep after eating but that fact enables people to carry out their daily activities the next day by having just one meal a day." Nagumo said it is the instinct of animals, including men, to sleep after eating. "Animals in hibernation burn fat to survive. Men should be asleep between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. to burn fat while they are in deep sleep, similar to hibernation," he said.

After listening to his lecture, this reporter, who has believed that skipping meals can be detrimental to one's health, still doubts whether one meal a day would be healthy. Most of all, the majority of doctors tell a different story. This reporter probably wouldn't try Nagumo's diet.

Even so, there was a lesson learned. Health problems rarely come from eating less these days. Mostly, it is about eating too much. Maybe we should worry more about how we may harm ourselves by what we are eating and how much of it we consume.