I am posting this question here, not that I want to be critical or start an arguement, but I thought the question may offend some people. I was in the bookstore today and picked up a copy of the okaniwa (spelling wrong I know) diet and just read the cover, and began wondering....why do the countries with the lowest percentage of obesity seem to eat higher carbohydrate diets? I mean, look a the chinese, they eat rice, noodles, meat...all kinds of things pretty low fat (I am talking traditional chinese, not the resturant stuff we get here) and they seem to enjoy decent health well into old age, same with the japanese. One could argue genetics, but are their genetics really that different from ours? And take the french, they eat bread, wine, pastries and don't have a problem like the US does...

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or input on this????? It really is making me re-think the whole low carb thing......

Have you been to China or France. They aren't all thin I assure you.

Anyways I think it's there style of living too that keeps some of them slim. For example, alot of the Orientals, walk alot and ride bicycles. And the French too. I see them walk every where or riding there bikes all the time. Ever notice in the states how Europians always have back packs on them. They walk every where. Exercise is the key.

IMO and from what I've seen anyways.

Carbs didn't make most of us fat. Our lifestyles made us fat.

Cutting the carbs is simply one way of curbing our diet and changing our lifestyle. Low fat works too, but I much prefer low carb.

1. Asians may eat rice 3 times a day but in small quantities at each meal (not a plateful heaped with pasta like you see people here do).
2. Asians do not have any other what I call real solid sources of other carbohydrates besides rice and vegetables - cereal, bread, pancakes, potatoes, corn, beans (such as baked in sweet sauces - although they do use some kidney beans) porridge, muffins, dairy, donuts do not play a very large part in their traditional diets. If they do use pasta it is paper thin in which bits of fish, pork or chicken are wrapped or ramen noodles or even green onion cakes (pancakes), but again in small quantities if they do use them.
3. Asians eat a lot of animal and fish , saturated fat, and pork fat.
4. Asians eat traditionally fermented soy, not the crap they make everything with here (and they certainly don't do soy milk, soy cheese, tofu burgers, weiners, etc) and they eat it in very small quantities as a condiment.
5. Asians, with the exception of MSG if they do use it, do not use as much processed food as we do.
6. When north-americans sit down to a meal, it can contain several high-carbohydrate foods at one sitting, for example: corn, potatoes, gravy, bread, rolls, peas besides some meat, whereas Asians do not. It's either rice or noodles but never mixed.
7.Vegetables used are never potatoes, corn, seldom peas in the quantities we use. They use low-glycemic veggies, lots of mushrooms, bok choy, spinach, brocolli, etc.
8. My ex-mother-in-law was Asian. Everything was made from scratch, lots of vegetable, chicken, pork, fish soups and stews, lots of low-carb vegetables, steamed rice (not fried) and fruit.
9. One thing I also need to add is that Asians do not use any bread products of any kind. Even their noodles are usually not made with traditional grains.

While Asians may have less cancers of one type, they have higher cancers of another type for example thyroid.

As for the french, they may eat lots of bread and pastry but it's purely made, with real butter, grain, cream not frankenfoods. They eat pure natural foods, saturated fats, fresh vegetables and no junk foods, although they are starting to. They are also more physically active.

I work in a lab with a bunch of chinese people.. they eat rice and veggies like zuchini and some kind of meat every day. They never eat sweets.

I, on the other hand, love(d) a good Ho Ho!

Sorry, I missed that, but it's true. If they eat sweets it's very rarely, not an every day thing and more in tune to traditional holidays, such as moon cakes or some sort of kidney bean concoction wrapped in large leaves and baked.

Another thing I forgot that is very important is that their traditional beverage of choice is always tea, be it green, jasmine, whatever, to which sugar or cream is NEVER added. No soft drinks or fruit juices, heavily laden with sugar.

Also look at portion size, in the North American Super-Size Me mentality, it obviously shows, and even though other countries do eat carbs (and healthy ones at that), the portion sizes are 1/4 of what we scarf down here in this country.

LL

I think another big difference is the amount of refined sugars in the North American diet.

Mike

I think there are a lot of misconceptions regarding what traditional diets in Asian contries look like as well as the quantities consumed. Here are some links that may be of interest, particularly of note is that while they may have a lower incidence of obesity than Western countries (although that too is beginning to change), they have health problems of their own as well:
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi...d_in_china.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi...iets/japan.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi...s/thailand.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi...orean_beef.html

Keep in mind, too, that even Dr. Atkins readily admits that those with more active lifestyles can tolerate a higher level of carb intake and in many Asian countries, the idea of "leisure time" is a foreign one. They are very active physically, much more so than in most Western countries, but even so Asian countries, particularly China and India, are currently leading the world in new cases of diabetes being diagnosed yearly.

I can tell you people are from the good old USA. Remember also, that in other countries you do a lot of walking which is the normal transportation. Cars are a luxury of this country and the sedentary life style that we have here. Every time I move and live in another country I lose weight without dieting. Last time I lost 120 lbs eating great desserts and junk, however, I walked everywhere I went. Great excercise !

Hi,

This post caught my attention, there was an article in our Sunday paper, "Okinawa's eat wisely and live longer"

This is quoted from my newspaper, if I had a scanner, I would scan, I just typed the first part of it, quite interesting.



Also, here is the website for the diet:

http://okinawaprogram.com

http://okinawaprogram.com/okinawa-d..._diet_plan.html

I find it interesting, if I can get the rest of the article from our paper on here I will, too much to type....

Just an interesting quote
http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/skinny.html

Also, look at the ingrediants they use. Chinese use very little wheat in their cooking, unlike Americans. And what wheat they use is different than the refined wheat we use here. They also use lots of rice flour and other kinds.

They eat much less than Americans do. Many chinese ride bikes, which burns off the extra calories, as does walking. Their culture also has a set of standards to go by which means they don't sit in front of the tv, if they even have a tv, and stuff their face. They eat as a family, chat, and enjoy their meals like America USED to do in the 1940'2 before fast food really got to the point it is now.

Asking questions is good, that's how you learn, but I really have to wonder...are you really asking questions to learn? Are you having doubts yourself? If you are, I suggest you do a little internet research. There are some good studies out there that may provide you more information on low carb diets.

thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses and comments...

lisaN, thanks for all the great links, very helpful

seemyself, thanks for the links as well..

lisaAC, yes, it is to learn, the subject of food and cultures has always intrigued me. Especially since the "low carb craze" has really took off in this country.

once again, thanks everyone..

Ok, that's not true. I can several purely asian sweets that are very popular.

Pocky(cracker sticks covered in candy coating), Yan Yan(cracker sticks you dip in candy coating), Conjaku gels (almost like jello), Colon (crackers filled with chocolate), rice candies which are very sweet and lots of others.