"What if it's all been a big fat lie?" [NY Times Article]
I came across a link to this article today and thought I'd pass it on. The article is from 2002 and mentions some studies that had just received funding so it would be interesting to find out what the results of those studies were.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/ma...l?pagewanted=1 First paragraph: Quote:
I do still have my standard complaint about this type of article. They give all sorts of evidence that bread, rice, and pasta will make people fat. However, there is no accounting for the fact that in countries in Asia where rice is the staple of the diet, there is much less obesity. I would love to see an article that actually addressed that apparent paradox. |
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It's really not such a paradox. In countries (and for that matter time periods) in which a lot of starchy carbohydrates are eaten, the amount of physical labor that is being done is astronomical. These people are working very hard and burning a lot of calories. Hubby and I have close friends who are Hmong, and for the most part they eat the same diet they did in Thailand (the wife more than the husband, who loves meatloaf and other American dishes. He has a very active/strenuous job in a factory, though and has never had a weight problem). Abouth a month ago, the wife was complaining that she never had to worry about her weight in Thailand, and that she eats the same as she did there, but is gaining weight like mad in the US. She paused for a minute and then said "but then again, every morning we walked down a mountain to get to the marketplace and every evening we walked up a mountain to get home." My dad ate huge amounts of food including carby breads and potatoes as a young farm boy and almost as much as a delivery guy for Butternut (having to carry very heavy loads, and do a lot of walking, lifting, bending). He was super slim until retirement. Unless you're willing to be VERY active, carby foods may be a luxury that some of us can't afford. |
I think the active lifestyle is definitely part of it. But I also think there has to be more to it. I also haven't seen much direct, open (without preconceived ideas either way) about the discrepancy between all the rice in Asian diets and bread/pasta in Mediterranean diets compared to low carb or nongrain concepts. I do find both kinds of diets very interesting.
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I think part of it also has to do with the individual person- I can't handle carbs very well so while my husband eats a high carb diet- if I do I gain because of my insulin resistance/PCOS. Even when I eat too many Complex carbs my weight loss stalls.
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With my own research in PCOS it seems that women of certain descents seem to have this issue more than most. Speaking with one of my doctors she said she notices it a lot in middle eastern/greek and north europeans. I have not met one woman who is of asian descent who has PCOS- I'm sure they exist- but if say people of asian descent generally do not have insulin resistance issues- then that combined with their lifestyle makes it more possible for them to eat a higher carb/low fat diet.
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It's part lifestyle and part portion. I'm sure people who eat rice as a Staple in some countires eat smaller portions than a typical person in North America would eat. So combine that with the amount of physical activity they are doing daily and you can see why they don't have obesity issues.
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I don't know. To hear most of the carb-sensitive talk on these forums, eating smaller portions of rice/bread/pasta and staying active would not be near enough to fix their carb sensitivity. I can't see how a traditional Asian or Italian diet, including appropriate portions and activity, would be at all acceptable to them. I still wonder what the differences are.
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I dislike generalizations about how people can/should lose weight so much.
There are people who are carb sensitive. Reasons for that could be varied...a gene variant associated or non-associated to one's genetic heritage, metabolic differences, or even just a predisposition to crave other foods after eating carbs - all possible. The reason doesn't matter so much. There are people who lose just fine on a higher carb plan, again, for reasons that could vary wildly. Genetic heritage and metabolic issues almost certainly play a role. Saying that one can lose weight on a lower-fat, higher-carb plan is no more a lie than saying that one can lose weight on a higher-fat, lower-carb plan. Some people can lose well on either of those plans, and some cannot, and some need a bit of a hybrid (lower-fat, higher-carb, but only whole grain slowly digestible carbs, for example). Luckily, composition aside, usually lowered-calorie diets are associated with weight loss, and most studies looking at the calorie consumption of those on low-carb plans find that people on those plans are taking in fewer calories and losing weight. My personal belief is that, if you are eating a wide variety of foods that are close to the forms in which they grow and you're keeping your calories in check, you'll do OK. And this seems to be the common ground onto which nearly all popular diet plans congregate, particularly in the maintenance or later stages of more structure plans...whole foods, close to how they grow, without a lot of processed stuff, and a reasonable number of calories (again, plans like Atkins don't require counting, but tend to lead to a natural regulation of calorie intake by increasing satiety) |
There are a couple of interesting passages in the article that made me think about the Asian diet question. They're kind of buried since the article is 11 pages long. The author writes:
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If you take all of these things together, it just doesn't make sense when applied to countries on a rice-based diet. What they found with the Italians doesn't seem to have a counterpart in Asians. They also discounted exercise. Part of the problem is that the research presented is very Euro-centric. Who were the people that they studied? When they say exercise levels remained constant, does that include only intentional exercise? Is there a genetic difference that makes Asians more likely to remain thin, the same way many Asian people are more likely to be lactose intolerant? It would be interesting to see a study done of Asian-Americans. And, my personal question -- do carbs make you fat? (I would have to say no based on my own personal experience of losing weight and maintaining while getting 70% of my calories from carbohydrates.) Or is it just that eating A LOT of carbs makes you fat? Does eating a small amount of carbs make you eat a lot, therefore you get fat? Do people of different ethnic backgrounds have more sensitivity to carbohydrates and insulin? |
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And like I mentioned earlier- it seems certain ethnic backgrounds make a person more likely or less likely to have insulin resistance issues- I myself am middle eastern and it's very common amongst myself and my middle eastern friends. It sucks cuz I LOVE carbs but I overall have to stay FAR away from them :( |
Thanks for supplying that link, it was very interesting.
"However, there is no accounting for the fact that in countries in Asia where rice is the staple of the diet, there is much less obesity." When I visited Singapore, I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with a wonderful taxi driver. He said his daughter who worked for Singapore Airlines would never eat dinner. Also they eat out of bowls that you can hold in one hand - so there is not as much food as can go on one of our plates. I only saw one place to get snack junk food from and the only people there were Westerners. At the food court where we went for lunch one day, there was also cut up pieces of fruit that you could buy like watermelon, dragon fruit, etc. My brother went to Japan on his honeymoon and although he is an average weight, said that some days he was so hungry between meals that he felt like crying. Again, it is a culture that doesn't snack. I also found this really interesting: "The classic example is the statement heard repeatedly that 95 percent of all dieters never lose weight, and 95 percent of those who do will not keep it off. This will be correctly attributed to the University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Albert Stunkard, but it will go unmentioned that this statement is based on 100 patients who passed through Stunkard's obesity clinic during the Eisenhower administration." Thanks again. |
I also think we somethings think that because rice is a staple in Asian countries, that Asian people are eating huge mounds of rice at every meal - basically eating the same amount/calories of food as we are. That's unlikely.
Rice may be providing most of the calories, but by volume, I suspect the greater part of the diet is coming from non-starchy vegetables - and the people are eating fewer calories per day than the typical American (and living far less sedentary lives). I know in many cultures, rice is served most often in dishes such as congee (a rice porridge or soup). By serving the rice in broth, the calorie content per volume is greatly reduced. It becomes more filling on fewer calories (and if the rice porridge is served with foods containing protein/fat/fiber, the additions also reduce the glycemic index of the meal, which means it will be filling for much longer on fewer calories than eating rice dry and without condiment or accompaniment). |
The focus on rice doesn't take into account the low sugar content of Asian foods, as well. I agree with what has already been said, that portions are much smaller, but I also think it's important that they are not as likely to eat the sugary foods that we do, either.
As for Italians, hello, gelato? |
I think it's all biased in one way or another... there is no "perfect" diet, because someone, somewhere will tell you that it's not healthy. It's a double edged sword, in my opinion.
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