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Just curious. My dad just read the book called, "The China Study", the author claims that the chinese eat ~20% more calories than the avg american but are thin because of what they eat (lots of rice and vegetables or a very high carb, lower fat diet).
Also, there is another book called "Why The Chinese Don't Count Calories", and the author also states that they eat a ton of rice (at least 2 cups per person at a meal) and stay thin due to their high starch, high vegetable diet, yet they eat more calories than us.
I had a friend in collage that was from China and she ate so much rice but was really tiny. Maybe, its genetics and what they are accustomed do? Or, maybe their portions are a lot smaller.
Hmm, just wondered if anyone has vacationed or spent time there and what their observations, experience was?
I have been to Asia a few times for work, mostly China, but also Taiwan and Hong Kong. I'm going back the end of the month.
I would have a hard time believing the average Chinese person is eating anywhere close to the number of calories we eat, and certainly not 20% more. Compared to the absolute worst you can think of in the US, the poverty is too great and the standard of living is too low for me to believe it. These are people making a couple of dollars a day if they have good paying jobs and might not even have hot water where they live. The normal lunch for somebody in the factory is some rice with some chicken mixed in. Maybe two cups of rice at most and some of the parts of the chicken we would throw away.
This is based on what I've seen in industrial cities. I can't imagine how tough it might be in the rural areas people migrate from to go to work in a factory.
Business meals are a different deal. I'm taken to eat as part of the relationship building, etc. that has to go on. Those meals are large, but they are so abnormal for how things are over there for 99% of the population, it's hard to explain.
I've spent time studying around Asia, and have found that their diet seems to increase the risk of colon cancer due to such low amounts of fiber. The other issue is the large amounts of soy based product consumption and the interconnection with estrogen and cancer increases.
The China Study was based more on the West's over-consumption of protein and the support of consuming carbohydrates. The problem is that the authors didn't incorporate the statistics of Asia having the highest international incidence of colon cancer, nor current research on large amounts of soy derived products in the diet. But of course, the book states that you can decrease your risk of cancer by eating the way the Chinese do. It's an interesting read with a lot left out. I do, however, agree on the over-consumption of animal-based products in the West.
The china study is largely a lovely piece of propaganda put out by a vegan.
You can find some of the information published, but the large part of information that is covered in the book, is not published in peer-reviewed publications. This is because Cambell overstates the significance, but makes some lovelyl claims...
I have been into china, i managed to gain weight. Some of those buffets at some restaurants are awsome
I used to live in China. In an urban area, though. Never did much eating at people's private homes except for holiday meals which aren't typical of what goes on everyday. I'd venture to say that the average Chinese person just consumes fewer calories and gets a lot more exercise (most people bike to work). There's a lot of rice consumption. In addition to breakfast and dinner, the common breakfast was a rice porridge called congee. I always felt like their was a lot of fat and oil in Chinese cooking. Vegetables were frequently swimming in oil and fatty meat was more desirable than lean. But then if you compare the fat with a trip to Taco Bell.. whose to say?
I've visited China twice. I echo a bit of what Ramona just said. The first time I was there the main form of transportation was by foot or by bicycle. I'd say that the average diet was starch based, with a mix of vegetables... and a lot of oil. Of course, that first time I was on the typical tourist trip. The second time I was a little more off the beaten path, eating in local restaurants (not tourist ones). The meals tended towards the same thing... lots of rice, a little meat and vegetables, with a fair amount of oil used. In all cases though I was in urban areas.
What is interesting though this last time (and maybe because I wasn't with a guide) is the obvious intrusion of western junk food. I spend time in an internet cafe in Tianjin and most of the guys in there were drinking coca cola (or some recognizable item) and eating bags of lays potato chips. In most of the Chinese cities we were in there were McDonalds and KFC (seemingly quite popular with the locals), although we didn't bother with them.
KFC is HUGE with da Chinese people I hang with in Bejing. I cannot comment on the book but it is remarkable to me how much they can eat. Even I am put to shame at the table with them and I can eat pretty awesomely for a chick. All of those little people eating more than me. It cracks me up. The Chinese have a joke that they have two stomachs. One for other food and one for rice.
That said I have to third (I think it is third now) that there is a bunch more activity going on as a whole in that culture than here in the US. One of my memories from my last trip was on the great wall where I walked straight up the wall/walkway for more than 2 miles. I walked past all the European and American looking people and kept asscending the mountain. Finally I reached the very top (where it was blocked off) and I was all proud of myself for this great physical feat when I noticed that at the top where all these Chinese people with white freak'n hair and wrinkled skin. These people were not young but they ventured up that wall for a nice walk and seemed less winded than I. It was amazing to me how fit they were as a people.
Interestingly cars are now becoming more mainstream (this is only in the past 5 or so years) and so is Western type food. KFC is really a big deal to most of the younger folks. It will be very interesting to see if the Chinese stay such a slim race in the next decade or so.
Oh another thing I observed there is that the babies are all fat but there are few overweight adults. Weird...
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A friend of mine is a strength coach for Olympic speed skaters in China and spends a lot of time in the Olympic village.. I could ask his opinion, but w/o even having been there I'm predicting a big obesity epidemic building up within the next 10-20 years. At least for the richer urbanized areas where people start moving less and consume more food than they used to. Not so much for the rural areas where people remain dirt poor and can't afford other transport than a bicycle & hunger is a real problem.
As for the book.. seeking truth , cycomiko & Jenn Equestrian's observations combined don't even make it necessary to read it. I've heard about it many times but wasn't aware yet of how extreme the cherry-picking had been.
Jenn, I guess it's not so much over consumption of meat, as much as overconsumption of calories, over-heated meat plus lack of veggie/fruit intake.
Yet even when accounting for the overheating factors, eating white meat & fish is still healthier than eating red meat.. this remains a puzzle. Maybe 'red meat' eaters as a whole just are too different from 'white meat/fish eaters' .
BACKGROUND: High intakes of red or processed meat may increase the risk of mortality. Our objective was to determine the relations of red, white, and processed meat intakes to risk for total and cause-specific mortality.
METHODS: The study population included the National Institutes of Health-AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) Diet and Health Study cohort of half a million people aged 50 to 71 years at baseline.
Meat intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline. Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) within quintiles of meat intake. The covariates included in the models were age, education, marital status, family history of cancer (yes/no) (cancer mortality only), race, body mass index, 31-level smoking history, physical activity, energy intake, alcohol intake, vitamin supplement use, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, and menopausal hormone therapy among women.
Main outcome measures included total mortality and deaths due to cancer, cardiovascular disease, injuries and sudden deaths, and all other causes.
RESULTS: There were 47 976 male deaths and 23 276 female deaths during 10 years of follow-up.
Men and women in the highest vs lowest quintile of red (HR, 1.31 [95% CI, 1.27-1.35], and HR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.30-1.43], respectively) and processed meat (HR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.12-1.20], and HR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.20-1.31], respectively) intakes had elevated risks for overall mortality.
Regarding cause-specific mortality, men and women had elevated risks for cancer mortality for red (HR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.16-1.29], and HR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.12-1.30], respectively) and processed meat (HR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.06-1.19], and HR, 1.11 [95% CI 1.04-1.19], respectively) intakes.
Furthermore, cardiovascular disease risk was elevated for men and women in the highest quintile of red (HR, 1.27 [95% CI, 1.20-1.35], and HR, 1.50 [95% CI, 1.37-1.65], respectively) and processed meat (HR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.03-1.15], and HR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.26-1.51], respectively) intakes.
When comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of white meat intake, there was an inverse association for total mortality and cancer mortality, as well as all other deaths for both men and women.
CONCLUSION: Red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality.
Espi, the obesity epidemic has already really hit the younger generation, last I read they have almost caught up to the Americans...
I think the activity level is so key. When my sister went abroad to study in France she lived on wine, bread and cheese and came home 10 pounds thinner. She didn't continue her gym regime but she walked everywhere.
The same thing happened to my roomate who spent a summer in Italy. She said she never ate so much good food but lost weight from all the walking.
Sounds like my kind of diet. Good food and walking, doesn't get much easier than that
Really, I'd never thought switching from cycling everywhere in town to walking as much as possible would make such a profound difference = easier wt loss, but probably it does, especially when carrying around heavy schtuff.
A few days ago, I'd scolded Dianas in the GWF thread when she wrote how cycling was almost like glorified sitting, but when you cycle at a leisurely pace or need only 1/3rd of the time that's what it is.. and every kg you carry as luggage on the back or in your hands really adds up quickly.
Things do get way different once you have to cycle up the hills or are schlepping a LOT of luggage. I've done a combination of both about 9yrs ago and needed close to 5000kcal (if not more) for about 80km on avg in the French mts. You can imagine how fast the weight piles on once you are no longer active.
This is a major problem for many athletes that are either sidelined or stop their career. Or.. for Chinese taking up Western habits
Has anyone here ever spent any time in China?
, last I read they have almost caught up to the Americans...
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