[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<206> Foods I Like, Foods My Body Likes

The lifespan of people in our country has become much longer than in the past, and many people now live for quite a long time even after contracting diseases that would have been fatal in the past. The life expectancy of Korean men increased significantly from 58.7 years in 1970 to 79.7 years in 2018, and for women from 65.8 years to 85.7 years, surpassing the OECD average of 78.1 years for men and 83.4 years for women. At first glance, it seems that people have become much healthier.

However, the healthy life expectancy, which excludes the period of illness or injury during which normal activities are not possible, is 64.0 years for men and 64.9 years for women. This means men live about one-fifth and women about one-quarter of their lives in poor health. Looking at mortality by age, among the 295,110 deaths in 2019, 21.2% of men and 10.9% of women died before the age of 60, and 39.1% of men and 18.9% of women died before the age of 70, indicating that a considerable number of people still die relatively early.

In 2019, deaths from digestive diseases, including stomach cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer, accounted for 32,793 men, representing 20.5% of all male deaths, and 19,708 women, representing 14.6% of all female deaths, showing a significant number of deaths from digestive diseases. Internationally, stomach cancer ranks first worldwide, colorectal cancer second, gallbladder cancer fourth, and liver cancer tenth, indicating a high incidence of digestive organ cancers. These statistics suggest that there are considerable issues with the food we consume.

Since we obtain the energy needed for activity from food, we cannot survive without eating. Not only the energy required to live but also all the necessary nutrients come from food, so food that contains all the appropriate energy and nutrients is what the body prefers and is considered healthy food. If we live eating mainly foods that are good for the body, wouldn't digestive health improve significantly?

People tend to prefer foods they like rather than foods their bodies prefer. Eating favorite foods is one of the great pleasures, so it is not something to blame much. However, if the cost of insisting on favorite foods is too high, it is worth reconsidering. If reducing favorite foods can greatly improve health, the investment is worthwhile.

Let’s look at animals as an example. When animals contract a disease or suffer a severe injury, most of them fast and do not eat. This is not due to animal wisdom but because a substance called cytokine, produced by immune cells, reduces appetite. This substance has the effect of allowing the animal to focus on healing without expending energy on digestion, thereby shortening recovery time.

Humans, who have free will, behave differently from animals. When humans get sick or severely injured, cytokines are also produced by immune cells, reducing appetite just like in animals. However, humans do not follow the body's order to fast and try to eat forcibly even when they have no appetite. People around them encourage them to eat well and even provide food.

People think it is better to eat better food when sick, but this is a misunderstanding caused by not knowing the body well. Eating requires digestion, which takes a lot of effort, so it prevents focusing on healing. People worry about nutrient deficiency, but surprisingly, the body has energy reserves that can last about a month (see Life Story episode 205).

The type of food eaten is also important. If the food you like differs greatly from the food your body prefers, many problems caused by improper eating like now cannot be reduced. The smaller the difference, the healthier the body becomes, but the choice is up to each individual. Whether to not compromise on personal taste and accept the resulting problems or to compromise more and live healthily is a personal decision.

Jaeho Kim, Independent Researcher

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.