The Asian Diet

[squeak]

I think it's more than just their food.
My mother came to Germany about 30 years ago and she cooks Asian food every day but she also eats a lot of German (Bavarian which i think isn't that healthy) food. Today she's over 50 years old and I just love her hair and her skin. The only thing she uses every day is a moisturiser... lucky woman.

 

[michyed]

Sure there are other factors: genetics - family history, exercise, stress level...etc. But darn, you'd be surprised at how much a healthy long-term diet can affect how well/long you live and also reflect upon your appearance positively. My great grandma just hit 102 a few months ago... She eats traditional Japanese food everyday!

 

[Ryan Riverz]

I know this is a tad off topic, but still somewhat relevant...I recently saw an interview with "the worlds oldest man" who is 113, and he was attributing his age to only eating 2 meals a day, breakfast and lunch but no dinner.

I'm not advocating that anyone tries this, and I don't think that I could do it, but it was an interesting interview. Who knows if this is the real reason for his longevity, or just a coincidence.

 

[michyed]

^Not eating dinner is actually very common here (I try not to eat past 6PM because I don't sleep as well...) But I doubt it has anything to do with how long he's living.

 

[misspistol]

My Aunt is Japanese and her brother used to be really, really obese because whenever they'd eat he'd go massively heavy on the rice. I guess the fish/vegetables/soy products are great for nourishment but if the portions of rice/carbs are off it's not going to do any good.
Nobody could figure out what the problem was for ages because he was eating what the rest of the family was eating....only sneaking 2nds and 3rds and 4ths!

 

[Lite_Brite]

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. We're talking about asian diets here, and so far nobody here has "romanticized" the asian diet. It's true that the traditional EAST asian diet is generally more beneficial to the health.

relative to what? the "American diet"? well yeah but so is pretty much anything.

It's been this way for thousands of years- since 10th century BC, when the Chinese drank tea for medicinal purposes... And although over the years our diet habits may have changed, we have still, as a culture, preserved the mindset to eat healthy foods.

cool. I love China and Chinese food. but these qualities aren't unique to China or East Asia.

There's nothing wrong with "idealizing" the asian diet. It is widely acclaimed for a reason.

I think you're using the word idealize in an unintentional way so I'll assume you meant "revere". sure, but I don't think we should be placing it above every other culture's cuisine. like I said, there are cues to be taken from many styles of cooking from around the world.

edit: as long as we're using anecdotal evidence, my great-grandmother is 98 and from Oklahoma and I assure you there has been generally very little overlap between her diet and that of the Chinese or Japanese over the years.

 

[Ryan Riverz]

relative to what? the "American diet"? well yeah but so is pretty much anything.

I don't want to speak for her, but I think she meant relative to some other parts of Asia, that's why she emphasized EAST.

cool. I love China and Chinese food. but these qualities aren't unique to China or East Asia.

I didn't see where she was claiming that the qualities were ONLY unique to East Asia. She was just making a statement about the history of the diet.

I think you're using the word idealize in an unintentional way so I'll assume you meant "revere". sure, but I don't think we should be placing it above every other culture's cuisine. like I said, there are cues to be taken from many styles of cooking from around the world.

edit: as long as we're using anecdotal evidence, my great-grandmother is 98 and from Oklahoma and I assure you there has been generally very little overlap between her diet and that of the Chinese or Japanese over the years.

I've been following the topic and I haven't seen where she said that it was "above every other culture's cuisine." It's generally recognized that's it's a healthy cuisine, but no one here was dogging other cuisines in comparison.

And despite what the diet is, there's always people who defy the odds, look at Keith Richards

 

[lollicandy]

I guess I'm confused by "Asian Diet" and what that means. That could be anything, from tons of carbs and drenched in oil, to spicy food, to lamb and ding ding mian, or seafood and dumplings cantonese style; Sichuan? Guizhou? Korean? Japanese? Thai?...to me this all sounds like a new name for portion control and "clean eating."

Some things that stick out to me are the fact, that at least in China dairy products aren't popular here (unless you count their version of drinkable sweetened yogurt). Butter, cheese, whole milk are relatively expensive and not popular etc etc. They don't like their cakes or desserts to use too much sugar, I find a lot of the average pastries and cakes here very bland and dry. Baking isn't really done here. Dessert is fruit and sweetened soups not cakes and creams and whatnot. Coffee not as popular here as tea. Most people aren't going out to eat every single night, and cooking done at home has less additives and oil than streetfood and average restaurants, so that contributes too. Also, people here walk and bike all day long, and the public transport here is quite inefficient so that means a lot of walking and biking.

I think a lot of the body type you see here is due to genetics and lifestyle not so much diet (maybe even in spite of diet! Beijing food is notorious for being really unhealthy and oily). Basically, if you cut out over consumption of fattening dairy products, cut back on sugar esp. refined, eat smaller portions and walk more often you will have done a lot to improve your health. I don't think that's necessarily Asian, it's just that modernization in the West makes us sedentary and too lazy to cook with fresh ingredients.

 

[Fiancee]

Thanks Lollicandy

 

[g212142]

I'm hungry reading this thread , but isn't the mediterranean diet the one with the most benefits (using olive oil and all)?

 

[iluvjeisa]

ALL of them???

Well, apparently not your cousin? I was a bit curious reading your comment about how Norwegians never have smooth skin...I actually think Scandinavians have some of the best skin in Europe. Rosy colors...not greyish, rarely blotchy. Of course, these are just general terms.

It all depends....while light skin can be beautiful every flaw can also be seen very readily.

I am a sucker for Asian food. Especially Malaysian and Korean. The only food that is as delicious is French food. And if you can avoid the Westernized taste enhancers I agree it is probably really healthy too.

 

[Fabulyss]

I think there is a strong tendency to want to romanticize, or in some cases even fetishize, certain other cultures. Idealizing one diet is fairly illogical as virtually every culture has developed healthy and delicious cuisine.

With the world as it is today, people in globalized nations have access to produce that long ago would have had to been brought thousands of miles by boat, so we can often enjoy a wider variety and therefore more nutritious diet.

American culture just generally places a lower (I would say too low, but that's subjective) emphasis on home-cooking, partly because we are perhaps some of the most over-worked people in the world, working far from home. Maybe it's partly incidental too. It's possible to be very healthy and eat foods not outside the norm of food typically grown and sold in the US.

In the end I think it's wise to take cues from the knowledge we can share about cooking from around the world instead of trying to pull off living off of raw salmon when one lives in Kansas.

I think this is a very important and very overlooked point with regard for the American diet. Europe tends to view us as lazy gluttons (in many cases, it's true), but we also work far far more hours than our European counterparts, often times with at least an hour commute (and no vacation!) That understandably affects one's enthusiasm for cooking.

 

[michyed]

I'm hungry reading this thread , but isn't the mediterranean diet the one with the most benefits (using olive oil and all)?

Asians use olive oil as well In fact we're very picky about this stuff and we make darn sure we use extra virgin olive oil!

 

[lollicandy]

^Yes there's olive oil in China but it's also really expensive and most of what we have here isn't even extra virgin or of good quality. I'm sure it's different elsewhere in Asia where you have more access to western products.

 

[michyed]

^Really? I lived in China for 8 years before and never had any problems with that.

 

[g212142]

Asians use olive oil as well In fact we're very picky about this stuff and we make darn sure we use extra virgin olive oil!

I never knew that, the more you know . I just remember a study by a guy named Dr Willett (i think that's his name) that showcased this, that's all

 

[Fabulyss]

Does anyone have any recommendations for English language Japanese Cookbooks? I'd like one as authentic as possible.

 

[loonaka]

Someone ( I can't remember who) told me that you can get bad skin if you eat a lot of spicy food..I don't know if it's true or not, but a lot of ppl had bad skin in Seoul and Korean food is really spicy
What do you guys think?

 

[loonaka]

Does anyone have any recommendations for English language Japanese Cookbooks? I'd like one as authentic as possible.

I only have one Japanese cookbook, but I'm not even sure I can call it that since it's more of a diet book..The Japanese Diet, I haven't even read it so I don't know if it's any good, but I like the idea of eating miso soup for breakfast

You could always try youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog

 

[papa_levante]

My mother is a full South Korean woman. She was is 48 years old. She looks at least 35. Despite most of her family members, she has never smoked or touched any alcohol. She eats lots of sodium-filled foods mostly from a typical Korean diet and Ramen noodles.

She doesn't exercise or drinks any milk, yet doctors always tell her to keep doing what she's doing. her skin is beautiful -pores a bit big but no crime.

A lot of it comes from being Korean. I got my father's genes so my skin isn't like porcelain, but she certainly have my brother and me some of the "better" genes.