Carbs - why are Asian people not fat?

Brendain

Hi,
I am currently on low carb diet and the less i eat of carbs the more I think about it!!
My most recent random thought is why is it Asian people "generally" are not fat, given that they eat so much rice with every meal?
(It goes without saying that obviously there are overweight asian people)

Any suggestions why?
B

Niall0

Brendain wrote: »

Hi,
I am currently on low carb diet and the less i eat of carbs the more I think about it!!
My most recent random thought is why is it Asian people "generally" are not fat, given that they eat so much rice with every meal?
(It goes without saying that obviously there are overweight asian people)

Any suggestions why?
B

Because eating rice with every meal doesnt make you fat. There are various reasons why people are fat or get fat and eating rice with every meal would have little to do with it. Its more complicated than that.

EileenG

Are you on bodybuilding.com as well? This question feels very familiar.

Jimoslimos

Probably more to do with quantity eaten (along with some other factors).

Although having travelled through much of Asia, obesity is becoming a bigger problem over there - indeed it is often seen as a sign of wealth to be be overweight.

El_Dangeroso

'Cos carbs don't make you fat? I mean I'm a huge proponent of low and moderate carb diets, but most normal weight people in the world that were never overweight are not eating low carb. Also don't forget that about 250 years ago Irish people at on average a stone bag of potatoes a DAY. Manual labour definitely helps!!

In many parts of Asia even getting enough food is an issue. They also suffer nutritional deficiencies in parts that we haven't seen in the western world for decades.

It's all a matter of relativity as well, I think eating rice as your staple food to the exclusion of other things is a terrible idea, but you probably won't be fat but you won't be the healthiest either.

I do wonder if there isn't a genetic componant too, Asian people tend to have slightly larger pancreas than Europeans.

Jarren

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-asian-paradox-how-can-asians-eat-so-much-rice-and-not-gain-weight/

saa

They don't eat rice all the time but its hard to say what Asians are we talking about they seem to eat a huge variety of vegetables we don't have and cook from scratch with a small amount of carbs or meat, I watch this Japanese Youtuber and when she goes to the convience store to get something for lunch she might bring back some noodles or dumplings but she always would have a whole load of veg as well opposed to someone here who might get a chicken roll and a banana.

So its not all simple carbs and don't forget there is huge pressure on especially girls to be thin in a very different way to the pressure here so its not like just because they eat better foods and they don't have to work to maintain their weight, its about being in the right frame of mind, they seem to really enjoy their basic ingredients and strong flavoured food without stressing about what they are eating.

Don't worry about them Asians, if the low carb diet is causing you a lot of stress is it really working for you or can you work through this.

Susie_Q

I live in India and I can tell you a lot of Asians ARE fat. The people with money here are overweight, and from my personal experience I think a lot of is IS related to carb intake.

A typical lunch or dinner here would be a very small helping of green veg (1 tablespoon maybe), small bit of lentils, small bit of raw salad (carrot and radish), some flatbread (naan or roti/ chapatti) and a MOUNTAIN of rice. Seriously a mountain - what I would easily consider enough rice for 3 - 4 people.

Carbs are also seen as totally essential here, even for people who are now working desk jobs or non-labour jobs. I get quizzed nonstop in restaurants if I ask for lentils without rice or curry without bread... big quantities of carbs are a cultural thing here.

saa

this is another contributing factor. http://www.asian-central.com/stuffasianpeoplelike/2009/02/10/109-being-skinny/

Brendain

Cheers everyone for the replies.
It was a silly question really but I'm glad I asked as your replies gave really good links I didn't know about.
EileenG - that bodybuilding.com website is great - honestly I didn't know about it. Great short videos on weight lifting / exercises etc. must explore more.

Jarren - i found a really good video on that marksdailyapple.com link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

the video is really worth watching. 17 minutes long but seriously worth watching. Its inspired me with my diet from now on! (stick with it for the first minute or 2);

Thanks again,
Bren