I just read through this and I have to say, if these are the secrets to long life (secrets?) Americans are doomed to die young:

Secrets Of The World’s Healthiest Children: 6 Longevity Lessons From Japan, Today, 6 October 2015

It’s not because Americans, children or adults, don’t want to eat or won’t eat, “locally grown” and “freshly prepared” foods, it’s because they can’t. It’s not because Americans won’t “take a brisk power-walk together with your family, no excuses,” for an hour a day, it’s because they can’t. That is, many Americans can’t. They can’t walk because the streets are unsafe; violent crime rates in Philadelphia are high and on the rise. They can’t eat locally-grown food because there aren’t enough organic farms in the city (in the country!) to feed everyone healthy, locally grown food. Good luck finding a bag of organic apples in a bodega. Good luck affording it … 28% of Philadelphians live below the federal poverty level. A single parent who works two jobs does not have the time to “freshly prepare” several courses of brown rice, miso soup, “modest-sized portions of fish, meat or tofu, and two vegetable-based side dishes” at mealtimes. A frail senior does not have the energy. I thought I was reading an Onion article. These are “secrets” for the privileged.

I’ve changed. I’ve become a proponent of processed food … for children, for stressed young parents, for adults working long arduous hours, for the elderly and infirm. This constitutes large swathes of America. When I say processed food I’m talking about packages of instant oatmeal and dried pasta, jars of tomato sauce and peanut butter, cans of beans and vegetables and fruits, bags of frozen vegetables. All processed, all good. You can live a long, healthy life eating those processed foods.