Obese China

[Minty]

Americans are fatter than the Europeans because they eat too much! Eating has become a hobby here and there is no regard to nutritional content whatsoever.

In America, their fast food is cheap so people buy more and don’t bother to cook. In France for example if you go to eat at a fast food joint or if you go eat in a traditional restaurant, fast food is not cheaper and people prefer to eat their traditional French food rather than junk.
If Chinese in China are getting fat it must be them copying the American way of life. The last time I checked people of China admired America. They love Disneyland, McDonalds coca cola, star bucks…etc.
I don’t think having a traditional Chinese diet is fattening. It depends on what you eat, there are high fat ones and there are low fat ones. If you want to stay slim stick with foods that are steam, braise, boil and a bit of stir fry is ok. If you like to eat food that is fried, deep fried and majority of your diet consists of those you are likely to be fat. But there is also metabolism rate and lifestyle. People in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore…etc walk a lot to work, study and they work on weekends too. However eating high fat foods in moderation with a healthy lifestyle of physical activity such as walking will not get you fat.

One thing that comes to mind is China's low reliance on rice. I think the heavy reliance on rice in Japan and Korea is widely different from the variety of staples in the diets of US and China where there isn't such a strong preference for rice. I really don't know how else this might be related to obesity per se though. It might be that their diet is somewhat healthier because it's more diversified ?

Is rice so much more prevalent in Korea & Japan that it makes
China's reliance on rice look comparatively low?

Actually the Southern Chinese have strong reliance on rice, the northerners eat noodles and Chinese steamed bread. But this is not the cause I think, it is the American fast-food industries that is spreading in China.

I confirm that kimchi is becoming quite popular in Japan. My wife and I just love it. Whenever I pass through Incheon Airport, I see loads of Japanese buying kimchi as "omiyage". In fact, the Korean staff selling it greet customers in Japanese assuming only Japanese will buy it at the airport !

Kim Chi is just one of the items brought by the Korean wave that is very popular among not just Japanese but East Asians in general at the moment. I like Kim chi, but I like it because it taste good to me I am not following any trend or anything.

There is a big gap between North and South China regarding rice consumption. Most Chinese restaurants in Western countries are the Southern type, with mostly rice. I noticed that Chinese restaurants in Japan, and especially expensive ones, mainly serve fried rice as the last dish of a long course, with no rice during the rest of the course. Chinese food in Japan means more "men" (麺), gyoza (餃子), shoronpo, nikumanjuu (肉饅頭), etc.

Yep, that’s true.

Anyway, I don't think that either Southern or Northern Chinese suffer from obesity due to their traditional cuisine. It's probably mostly fast food with a certain lack of physical activity that does it.

Yes that is what I am thinking as well.
On the subject of smoking I don’t smoke but a lot of my family members do for some reason.