I am following the Atkins diet and doing well. However, I have always eaten a lot of asian food and now find the thought of giving up rice permanently rather daunting.

Why is it that people in Asia seem to remain enviably slim in spite of eating a lot of rice?

Some factors may be that they don't eat a lot of sugar, corn syrup in any form, refined flour, processed foods, other grains or corn. Their fat source may be different too - oils of various kinds, clarified butter.

And they probably do more physical work or exercise. At least up until the last 25 years.

Perhaps when you have been on low carb for many months or a few years, your metabolism will be less sensitized to carbs & not produce or need so much insulin. Then you can probably reintroduce some carbs but try brown rice as being lower on the glycemic index. That's for when you are at and have maintained your goal weight.

Metabolism.

But that doesn't mean they have escaped. Diabetes is almost epidemic in Asia. There's an article TIMEasia about it.

And what's the cure for diabetes? Not drugs but low-carbing! Just because you're thin doesn't mean you are healthy.

Here's more...

Diabetes Growing Fastest in Asia

HONG KONG, Apr 30 (Reuters) - Diabetes is spreading faster in Asia than anywhere else in the world and is affecting children as young as 9 years old, medical experts said here on Wednesday.
An estimated 60 million people in the Asia Pacific, including India, now have the disease and that figure is expected to balloon to 115 million by the year 2025, they said. The high rate is blamed on a chronic lack of exercise, due to a sedentary lifestyle, and a move away from traditional diets in favour of western fast foods that are high in carbohydrates and fat.

Clive Cockram, co-chairman of the Asia Pacific Type 2 Diabetes Policy Group, told Reuters that diabetes was Asia's biggest epidemic and would have major social and economic consequences for the region. Cockram's policy group will launch guidelines in Hong Kong on Wednesday aimed at tackling diabetes.

"Ten to 20 years ago, it was regarded largely as being a disease of middle and old age. We're now recognising that it's cropping up regularly in people in their 20s and 30s, teenagers and children at the age of 9," Cockram said.

"There's been a big shift downwards in the age of onset and we believe that that's related to changes in lifestyle." He highlighted India and China as being at the forefront of the epidemic and said their populations of diabetics were expected to double to 60 million and 40 million, respectively, by 2025.

The United States, Russia, Indonesia, Japan and Pakistan are among the nations with the most diabetic patients, Cockram said.

Increasing numbers of people in Asia have adopted a more sedentary lifestyle. Growing affluence, popularity of western foods and taking less exercise has given rise to growing obesity, even among children, medical experts say.

In places like China and Hong Kong, many worried parents send their children to "fat farms" where they are subjected to strict diets and lots of exercise. More often than not, these children revert to their old ways once they leave the camps, they say.

Cockram said the diabetic trend could prove devastating if it is not stopped. In the United States, Australia and Europe, as much as 10% of healthcare budgets are spent on treating diabetes and related complications, he said.

The guidelines, meant for health workers, will elaborate on the scale of the problem, its diagnosis, complications and ways to prevent and control the disease.

From: http://www.lifescan.com/care/news/dn050302-1.html

Karen

Karen,

Thank you! As always, an excellent post. I hadn't seen the TimeAsia piece. I have been confronted by my family with the "Why are the Japanese so thin when they eat a lot of rice?" question as a means of showing me how deluded I was by following a LC WOE, and couldn't really respond beyond pointing out that they don't have corn syrup in everything and they eat a lot of fish and fresh vegetables. Now I have more ammunition!

As I read the article, it really brought home to me that I have made a positive choice. I started this WOE because my dad and uncle both have Type II, and my grandfather died from it. I am more convinced than ever that I am doing all I can to keep from following in their footsteps. Why is the medical community so slow to rethink their obviously faulty theories?

Thanks again.

I also wanted to mention that William Dufty in his book, Sugar Blues, says that the reason Asians USED to be fine on rice diets is because their rice was the natural form - brown rice, or non-stripped versions. When they switched over to polished white rice, the epidemic began.

I also believe that Asians - as well as most of the world - ate a diet very similar to their ancestors until the latter part of the 20th century. Records in China show rice cultivation going back 4000 years. You don't see a lot of "Western" disease in populations who eat a biologically appropriate diet. We on the other hand eat a diet so far removed from our own unique biology that we're dying from it.

IMHO sugars are the worst. Before mass production, you had to actually work at it to get something sweet like honey or tree sap.

Trivia Bite: Did you know that sugar became the prime reason and motivator for the African slave trade? Most of the Caribbean became a vast sugar plantation supplying Britain and Europe, which then annexed more African land to provide more slaves for the plantations. Sugar created immense bureaucratic, mercantile and industrial wealth.

And here's a few USDA statistics...

FOOD CONSUMPTION IN THE U.S.A.

Between 1900 and 1980
Fresh fruit and vegetable consumption decreased from 40% to less than 5%
Butter consumption decreased 75%
Lard consumption decreased 66%
Unprocessed potato and sweet potato consumption decreased 40%
Processed potatoes comprise 33% of all white potatoes consumed
The majority of these are in the form of french fries
The fast food industry sells 75% of all french fries eaten
Whole grain consumption decreased 50%
Beef consumption increased 75%
Dairy product consumption (other than bufter) increased 25%
Cheese consumption increased 400%
Fat and oil consumption increased 150%
Margarine consumption increased 800%
Corn syrup consumption increased 400%
Sugar consumption increased 50% (the average person consumes 150 pounds of REFINED WHITE SUGAR per year)

Between 1910 and 1980
Poultry consumption increased 350%
Fresh apple consumption decreased 70%
Fresh fruit consumption decreased 33%

Between 1930 and 1980
Processed citrus fruit consumption increased 2500%
Fresh citrus fruit consumption decreased 50%

Between 1940 and 1980
Egg consumption decreased 25%
Food coloring consumption increased 90%

Between 1960 and 1980
Soft drink consumption increased 300%
Each person consumes 38 gallons of soft drinks annually (one fifth of our sugar intake is in soft drinks)

And 'ya wonder why we're all messed up!

Karen

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Ooops! In my ranting, I forgot to give you a hand.



It's hard to look into the future from the place you are in now because you're still in the "look at all I have to give up" phase. The future is not here yet. You will go through many changes that really will change you. If you stay with low-carbing as a lifestyle choice, you can decide what to do once your in the future. For now, you just don't eat rice, one day at a time.

Your're not alone. It's something every lifer goes through.

Karen

I lived and worked in South Korea for a little more than a year in the early 90s and was pretty thin after my time there, but definitely not as thin as the Korean women.

We walked A LOT - up and down hills, several miles per day, no matter what the weather. Public transportation is pretty good there, but it doesn't take you straight to your garage door like in the U.S.

Fast food was only an occasional treat, although that's starting to change nowadays. We went back recently and there were many, many more fast food restaurants than there were a decade or so ago. Same thing with cakes and sodas and junk food in the grocery stores; they had several desserts, but people didn't eat them often.

We ate a lot of rice, but also a lot of low-fat options that went along with them, so maybe the total calorie consumption was pretty low. Except for white rice, we didn't get a lot of other refined carbs (well, maybe alcohol on weekends). Lots of the food were *very* spicy so made you feel more satisfied. They did eat a lot of those instant (Ramen-type) noodles which are loaded with carbs and fat, so I don't know how they managed those without gaining weight. They were mostly college-aged people, so maybe youth was on their sides.

Very few Koreans (my age) drank milk. Their kids today are drinking tons more milk and are actually getting chubbier.

Very few Koreans were obese yet, but I don't know what will happen to future generations once the junk food culture starts creeping in.

You may also find this to be of some interest,
WestonAPrice

and another one about Japan

Happy reading!

Beth