Japan's numa helps people lose weight

TOKYO Kyodo is a slimy, mushy, earth-colored dish that helps people in Japan lose weight while feeling fulfilled rather than famished by overcoming bad first impressions with its savory umami flavor and waistline-reducing qualities.

Diners are said to eat first, but numa, which translates to swamp in Japanese, has become the in-thing on social media, with people proudly posting snaps of what some might describe as an unappetizing sludge.

Yuki Azami, a 35-year-old professional bodybuilder and certified chef, created a rice porridge dish with chicken and vegetables.

I want people to enjoy the act of eating and be able to lose weight slowly, which is a healthy approach, said Azami.

Since the channel's inception, his videos have accumulated more than 100 million views.

Numa requires just five ingredients: rice, chicken breast, okra, dried seaweed and dried shiitake mushrooms. Put everything in an electric rice cooker with a big slug of water, add salt and curry powder, press the start button and wait. It's that easy.

Numa contains the primary macronutrients - proteins, fats and carbohydrates - and Azami, who previously worked in a hospital kitchen, says it is recommended for people who like eating a lot, people who are bad cooks and people who have a hard time sticking to a diet. Although it is ranked among the world's least obese nations, a significant percentage of Japan's population is trying to lose weight, some for health reasons, others because of poor body image, and the diet and weight loss industry is flourishing.

Since 2011, when it was about 56 billion yen $415 million, Japanese-based research company Fuji Keizai Co. sales of high-protein snacks and supplements increased by a factor of four in the 10 years since 2011, when it was around 56 billion yen per day. Successful retailers can capitalize and generate increased revenues, according to the latest trends on social media.

In June last year, Towa Kanbutu Corp., a dried food manufacturer in Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, collaborated with Azami and launched a new line of instant numa mix.

They sold more than 10,000 units in the last six months, including other similar products.

A male office worker living in Tokyo started a numa diet in February and planned to lose the kilograms he gained on a weight loss rebound.

Numa is great because it's low in calories but hard to feel hungry, and the recipe can be tweaked in different ways, he said.

The young dieter says it isn't necessary to overhaul one's whole eating regime to slim down. He said just swapping a regular meal for numa to get back on track after overeating makes a difference. He lost six kilograms in two months.

Healthcare experts support the numa diet, saying it is healthy and reasonable.

Ayako Tada, a nutritionist who helped develop the Asken diet, said that it saves you the hassle of meal planning and it's easy to count calories.

Tada points out that numa is not a cure-all, and warned that eating only rice-based porridge over an extended period can cause dietary imbalance, such as a lack of iron and calcium.

Tada says that food variety is important for health because of the fact that limited foods are kept in the same place over and over every day. She said numa is a diet mistake to avoid, considering numa as the only source of protein.

The smart thing to do is to make numa your post-workout meal and cycle it in with a normal dietary pattern.