あなたは太り過ぎだと思いますか？

Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released new statistics for the most overweight countries in the world. The most obese countries are as follows:

Mexico (69.5% of people are overweight)
America (68% of people are overweight)
New Zealand (62.6 of people are overweight)
Australia (61.4% of people are overweight)
United Kingdom (61.4% of people are overweight)
Ireland (61% of people are overweight)
Iceland (60.2% of people are overweight)
Canada (60% of people are overweight)
Chile (59.7% of people are overweight)
Greece (58.9% of people are overweight)
Slovenia (55.1% of people are overweight)
Luxembourg (54.8% of people are overweight)
Spain (54.8% of people are overweight)

(Japan and Korea tied for last with about 2% to 3% of people described as obese.)

This information was released just after another study that was done in America by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that said that only 23% of meals include a vegetable. The number of dinners prepared at home that included a salad was 17% (in 1994, it was 22%). And at restaurants, salads ordered as a main course at either lunch or dinner was only 5%.

Of course, eating vegetables alone cannot make someone slim, however, I believe that a variety of food is the key to a healthy diet. Of course, there are many other factors that contribute to weight gain for example exercise or stress, but the fact remains that many people around the world are gaining weight like never before. Are you one of them? You can look at the chart on the left to calculate your ideal weight.

That brings me to this week’s question(s):

Do you think you are overweight? More importantly, do you believe you are healthy? How has your lifestyle and diet changed since you were younger? For example, do you eat the same kinds of food as when you were a kid? Do you exercise more or less than when you were younger? What are some of your bad habits regarding your diet?

I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak this week.

Be well,

This week’s vocabulary:

released
公表された

statistics
統計

overweight
太り過ぎ

obese
過度の肥満

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
米国疾病対策センター

prepared
用意される

main course
メインコース

slim
ほっそりした

variety
多様な

key
手がかり

healthy diet
健康的なダイエット

factors
要因

contribute
寄与する

the fact remains
その事実は相変わらずである

like never before
かつてないほどの

calculate
計算する

lifestyle
ライフスタイル

bad habits
悪い習慣

お金がいくらあれば幸せですか？

Please Note: I know that money and salary are slightly taboo topics so before we speak, I want you to know that during our classes this week, I do not want to know how much money you make, I simply want to talk about how much money would make you happy. OK, on to the question.　

注釈：お金や収入について話題にあげることは、わずかながらタブーであることは理解していますので、このトピックについて話す前にわかっておいて頂きたいのは、レッスンで話すとき、あなたが今どれくらいの収入があるかを聞きたいのでなく、「どれくらいあればあなたは幸せだと感じるか？」について話し合えたらと思っています。よろしいでしょうか？それでは、本題に入ります。

How much money do you need to be happy? For most of us, there is a real connection between our happiness and the amount of money we make. But this week’s question is, how much money is enough—how much money do we really need to be happy?

Of course, if people don’t have enough money to eat or properly care for themselves or their families, they will not be happy. But the results of a new study that was conducted at Princeton University in the US concluded that for Americans, $75,000 dollars per year ( 6,316,365 Japanese Yen ) seems to be just enough to make someone happy.

The study showed that the lower someone’s annual income was below $75,000, the unhappier they felt. This seems quite obvious, however, the study also showed that when someone’s annual income was more than $75,000 they didn’t have a higher degree of happiness. In other words, even if someone makes for example $150,000 a year, they aren’t any happier on any given day than compared with someone who makes $75,000.

Now this is the tricky part. The authors of the study identified two kinds of happiness, 1) someone’s daily mood and general outlook in life and 2) someone’s true level of satisfaction with their life and their career. This study concluded that someone’s overall mood and general life outlook does not appear to change even though they make more than $75,000 per year.

So how about you? How much money can buy you happiness? Is there some amount that would make you happy? I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak this week.

Be well and make lots of money!

Keith//

This week’s vocabulary:

connection
関係、つながり

properly
きちんと

results
結果

study
研究

conducted
実施した

concluded
結果を出した

seems
〜のようである

just enough
丁度十分な

annual income
年収

felt
感じた

obvious
明らか

degree
度合い

in other words
他の言葉で言うと、

on any given day
与えられた日

tricky
ややこしい

authors
筆者たち

identified
認識する

outlook in life
人生の展望

true level of satisfaction
真の満足レベル

「尻に敷く」人は誰？

Title：「尻に敷く」人は誰？

There is an English expression to describe the dominant member of a family or the dominant person in a relationship. We say that person, “wears the pants.”

The phrase came from a time when men typically were the leaders of a house and when women usually wore dresses, not pants.

In my family when I was younger, my father “wore the pants.” Whenever a big decision needed to be made, my father was the one who made it. My mother made many everyday decisions but in the end, it was always my father who made final decisions and the person in charge of discipline.

I think it is safe to say that regarding discipline, all of my brothers and sisters feared my father. At times, my mother was strict but she usually was softhearted and understanding. However, my father was quite the opposite: when I did something wrong, I knew that my father would discipline me.

Now that I am married, I try to have a marriage that is equal—where both my wife and I make decisions based on our best interests. It sometimes works and sometimes fails but we do the best we can!

So, who wears that pants in your family or in your relationship? And when you were younger, who wore that pants in your family?

I will look forward to speaking to you about your answers this week.

Keith//

This week’s vocabulary:

expression
言い回し

describe
表現する

dominant
権力を持つ

wears the pants
「尻に敷く」

a time when...
...の時代

typically
通常は

in the end
最後は

in charge of
〜を任されている（管理している）

discipline
躾

it is safe to say...
...と言ったほう無難である

fear (someone or something)
恐れる

strict
厳しい

softhearted
やさしい

understanding
理解ある

quite the opposite
全く正反対

based on our best interests
お互いにとって一番利になることを基本にして

we do the best we can
お互いにベストを尽くす