Japanese diet less about carbs, more about healthy choices
Question: I don't understand Americans and their no-carb craze. I am Japanese, and though I eat a ton of rice, I am very thin. Why don't they get it? It's not so much what you're eating but how much you're eating.
Answer: It's true that very few Japanese are obese, and you're right that there is a big difference in portion sizes on the American and Japanese plate.
Japanese people eat significantly smaller portions than Americans. Japanese serving bowls hold one cup of rice at most. Their typical bowl size is what Americans would consider child-size.
Japanese also consume far more vegetables than Americans do, so they fill up more quickly because of the high fiber content of vegetables.
They also grill, boil or steam their foods, which are more healthful cooking methods. The Japanese also often lead a more active lifestyle.
posted by JC @ 12:41 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I'm American, and I haven't understood the no-carb fad ever since I first heard the name "Atkins," and the Asian diet is exactly why. Obviously, if a nation's diet uses a fair bit of noodles and white rice and doesn't have an obesity problem, there's something skewed with the "rice is evil" logic.
I also wish Chinese restaurants would produce more authentic dishes. If I understand correctly, a lot of Chinese dishes consist primarily of vegetables, and the meat is simply like added flavor, since meat is not so readily available to many Chinese (i.e., to get meat, many in rural areas have to kill needed livestock... so it's not like they just go to the corner market and get a steak). If you go to a Chinese restaurant here in the U.S., you typically get a heaping plate of meat with almost no veggies. I went and tried a new Chinese place a week ago and ordered cashew chicken. I figured this place would be a bit more authentic, since they had more exotic dishes like pig's ear in pig blood sauce and such.
Now, when I think cashew chicken, I think stir-fried chicken with carrots, celery, water chestnut, maybe broccoli and onion, and cashews. What they put down in front of me was A PLATE PILED HIGH WITH BREADED, FRIED CHICKEN with some vaguely cashew-like sauce. The only veggies were a pinch of spring onion for garnish. WTF???
The portion size issue is also a problem. Americans are used to "family size" portions.. even though families may be smaller. Americans also come from a background that's a double-edged sword. One edge is that we're still carrying a mentality from the pioneer days.. where we were very active and may not know when the next meal was coming.. so it paid to pack a little on for lean times. Obviously, however, this is not a problem anymore. We don't seem to have adjusted our diet accordingly, however.
The other edge is that, as a "land of plenty," we can be very wasteful. Conscientous parents tell us to clean our plates, "because children are starving in China." So, we're raised with a mentality to eat everything that is set in front of us. It can be hard to fight that... especially when dining out. You feel like you're wasting money if you don't eat the whole meal. While you can get a doggie bag, many dine-out foods don't reheat well. I would personally like to see restaurants offer smaller portion options.. like half-orders on all entrees. Of course, it would be nice if the price were adjusted for this as well. Instead of spending $15 at Outback for a huge split chicken breast entree, you could pay maybe $8 for a half-sized order.
I also try and fight this by using smaller plates at home.. so it looks like more. When going to something like a Chinese buffet, I skip past the large plates and get the little dessert or salad plates to put stuff on so I'm not taking as much.
I would also like to see some focus on fitness training used in Asia. I'm not talking about rigorous martial arts training, but maybe drawing ideas from such things. "Fitness" in America can seem like a huge goal, because everyone is told they need to look like Arnold Schwartzenegger. Personally, I'd like to be looking like Jet Li... fit and trim, but not huge. I've been developing my workouts based on my martial arts training for cardio work and working up a routine that tries to emphasize body-weight and combination move exercises over isolation exercises for resistance training. I'd really like to see some publications shed some light on more total-body fitness approaches and less emphasis on bulging biceps.
Post a Comment
<< Home