diet differences between east and west

[MadamePapillon]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6934709.stm

The article is a little old but it made me wonder about the differing diets between east and west.

While historically asian cultures have eaten a lot of rice and seafood, western cultures have historically eaten a lot of red meat and dairy products.
What happens when you switch over from one food balance to another to suddenly? Anything from a sudden rise in acne to being violently sick in some cases.

Has anyone that moved to Japan experience any wierdness from switching to the asian diet because I know sometimes people that were born and raised in asia have a hard time adapting to our love of dairy, red meat, and grease. Does the food intolerance run both ways or is it somthing uniquely asian?

[nice gaijin]

It's just as varied no matter where you go. I know people who couldn't handle most food in Japan and sought out "comfort food" as much as possible. I had no problem with the diet change, and have thus far enjoyed food everywhere I've been. Some people are just pickier than others, it's not so much a cultural thing.

[MadamePapillon]

True. The first time I tried a chunk of raw fish in a Japanese resturaunt I couldn't swallow it, I almost blew chunks right then and there, ruined my appetite for sure. Now I'm to scared to try the more...exotic japanese foods.

But I don't think it was pickiness, my brain just didn't register raw fish as something edible because the way I normally eat, raw meat is a no no :p

Same with Indian food, most of it is so spicy my throat just closes but I've seen other people just inhale it as if it were nothing. :-)

...I think I just answered my own question XD

[Tatsuki]

I can take the British diet sometimes, but the first time I went to America on holiday and ate, i felt so sick. I cannot explain why ><. I got used to it though.

[Derfel]

Well i like almost everything, except for sweets, i love soy sauce, truly, but almost every time i eat soy sauce, i either get this weird feeling of "weakness" when you aren't sick or anything, you just don't feel well, or i throw up in a few hours, thankfully the latter rarely happens, but still i love soy sauce, its just that my stomach can't take it.

[bakaKanadajin]

When I went abroad I didn't have any violent reactions to the food. I had been in contact with it throughout my life as my mother cooks traditional Japanese food from time to time. But it wasn't part of my daily diet. So taste-wise I was familiar, but my body was accustomed to a more Western diet. Despite that, no problems. I ate tons of sashimi and sushi, rice, drank green tea, all the peculiar looking but delicious assorted salads and side dishes, table service items, etc. Then again who knows, I'm half Japanese so perhaps I have some genetic pre-disposition to accepting the peculiarities of Japanese food.

A friend's ex bf, as I learned one night off-hand during a conversation on skin conditions and why the Japanese have problems with enczema, had terrible problems when he visited her in the US. She was originally from Mass., if I'm not mistaken. When he got over there he immediately puffed up and had to be hospitalized for a few days. His enczema was pretty bad, I'm told. Back in Japan, not nearly as bad. Actually, I met him and to look at him you wouldn't have known he had it.

One more friend of mine, an Australian, had her enczema flare up while she was in Japan, but it wasn't normally that bad back home. She was doing trial and error testing by cutting various things out of her diet from week to week but I don't think she ever figured out what was causing the reaction. Humidity might have been a factor in her case.

I think, if I had to draw on my piecemeal knowledge of diet and nutrition, that the traditional Japanese diet is on the whole healthier than the Western diet. That's a no-brainer I suppose. Even with the increasing prevalence of fast food and whatnot, I think the Japanese diet still possesses many merits in its day to day application. Green tea is high in polyphenols and anti-oxidants, and things like ume boshi and natto, tsukemono, etc., have in them certain qualities beneficial to health stemming from their fermented properties. Many cultures have this to a certain degree, like the Germans and their sauerkraut for example, or certain nomadic cultures that make yogurt from livestock milk. These bio-cultures and enzymes helps break down meat and other heavy compounds in the digestive system.

Raw foods and uncooked foods are also more prevalent in Japanese society; sashimi, nori, various salads and side dishes, sushi's various components, etc. The addition of legumes and various root type plants such as ginger are also quite healthy. Fish is also high in essential fatty acids, omegas, calcium (if one eats the small, tender bones), and other elements not found in red meat, not to mention its more easily digested. This added roughage may be tough on the newly-arrived.

Two elements outside of basic 'diet' come to mind as possible reasons for turmoil when I envision Westerners having violent reactions to eastern food. One is simply psychological duress due to the eating of strange foods. I'm sure the body would react differently in many cases if one were to accept food as food (really that's all it is) vs. labelling it as 'raw fish', 'strange', and creating barriers that may invoke a physical response.

Something more concrete: when a body accustomed to processed, fatty, high-sodium foods suddenly becomes saturated with nutrients, minerals, etc., and the intake of preservatives and whatnot ceases, the body performs a detoxifying process. This will naturally result in a minor period of discomfort, much akin to the soreness in ones muscles after a day of vigorous exercise. So it's not uncommon for someone to break out in rashes, develop diarrhea and digestive hiccups, and so on, as these changes take place. This happens even here in the West when individuals embark on detoxification programs and use detox or colon cleansing kits. The plaque on the insides of the bowels is eliminated, often quite violently. (Pardon all the gross details). Many vacationing westerners may just be experiencnig a combination of jet lag along with detoxification, depending on what they're eating. Naturally, if they're running for the nearest McD's the process is less pronounced and it's perceived to actually be healthier to stick with Western food and stay away from the strange Japanese food. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Another reason why the Japanese diet is perceived as healthier is that, simply put, the Japanese are more physically vigorous than many suburban Westerners. They walk more, ride bikes more, drive less, have better immune systems as a result, and so on. An octogenarian in the West is usually quite run down and near death, whereas individuals in the same age range in Japan usually, on average, lead more independent and healthy lives despite being in their 80's. This is thanks in large part to their daily active lifestyle. So some of it isn't entirely diet, there are social and cultural factors in play as well.

Sorry for the long post.. I didn't realize I typed so much. They need to give me more to do at work.
...(_ _)...

[kireikoori]

The only bad reaction I had was coming back from Japan, I missed the food! ;_;

[Goldiegirl]

I don't think you can say there is a standard "Western" diet or "Japanese" diets. Depending on where you live and what your cultural background is determines a lot of what is eaten. I also think that most people get sick when travelling to different countries and they would get sick just because of the flights, the stress, new germs that their body isn't used to. I get sick everytime I go to Japan, and it's not the food becuase it's different, it's because I pick up a gastrointestinal virus or influenza. Sure there are some foods that have risks when eaten....As for the Japanese not eating a lot of red meat, why are beef bowls so popular? :)

[bakaKanadajin]

And yaki niku...mmm Gyu Kaku *reminisce*

There's definitley more red meat in the modern Japanese diet. But maybe less so in rural areas, not as many Yoshinoyas either. My grandparents don't eat much meat at all though, they eat mostly fish, veggies and rice.

[jmwintenn]

bakaKanadajin, there's nothing wrong with eating red meat or dairy. The problem is the lack of vegetables or exercise, and the sheer amount consumed.

Though I don't know if you're attributing the exercise to a stronger immune system, but it's actually the opposite. Exercise actually weakens the immune system quite a bit.

[bakaKanadajin]

Red meat is tough on the digestive system. No there's nothing inherently wrong with the eating of red meat itself in moderation as it's high in protein and iron, but the richness of it prevents one from eating it regularly without ill-effects. A connection between heavy red meat consumption and bowel cancer does exist I believe, although many continue to debate it. It's often the chemicals and preservatives within the meat that come from processing that are harmful as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4088824.stm

And you're right, too much exercise can weaken the body as a whole, this is called overtraining syndrome and it's the result of a back-up of waste materials in the body such as lactic acid, nitrogen imbalance, etc. At this point the body's immunal response is compromised. But moderate exercise such as walking and carrying things around is definitely good for the body.

[TuskCracker]

-
Diary Products; Cheese and Milk, diet differences between east and west

I lived in Asia for over 2 years. A very big difference is Westerners like dairy products; milk, cheese, and cheese/milk based products

Many asians do not have the same tolerance for; Milk, Cheese.

[Goldiegirl]

My parents-in-law drink milk everyday, along with a little yogurt drink. Everyone in their neighborhood has their milk delivered; that's something even I can't get living in the "Dairy" state of Wisconsin. Yes they eat fish, but eggs, milk, pork and beef are eaten just as much. I know that this is my personal experience, but from what I saw their diet is pretty average.

[tokapi]

Everyone in their neighborhood has their milk delivered; that's something even I can't get living in the "Dairy" state of Wisconsin.



My grandparents missed those good old days of morning milk home delivery in the 1950's-60's.:(

[Goldiegirl]

I wish we had more home delivery! I am envious of my in-laws. They also get these noodles delivered in this wood crate/carton when I visit. :ramen: Those are really good noodles. MMM...:halloween

[Shibuyaexpat]

The only bad reaction I had was coming back from Japan, I missed the food! ;_;
SOOOO TRUE!!!! It's been 2 years since I repatriated to the States, and my wife and I still talk about the food in Japan. I miss so many things like really good natto, tofu, oden, and the occasional tonkatsu.

Prior to moving to Japan, my diet mainly consisted of red meat, hardly any vegetables, fried foods and lots and lots of bread (gee, no wonder I looked like a sumo wrestler). After completely converting to a Japanese diet that consisted of mostly vegetables, fish, some chicken and hardly any red meat (and walking everywhere), I lost about 45 lbs. I did not join a gym or do any other physical exercise (i was basically a sloth).

The hardest part of coming back is the diet and the portions served at restaurants. I never realized how much we serve here, but some of the portions I've received could feed an outing for 3 people back in Japan. Also, I think that we Americans eat too fast. I was amazed at how quickly my American colleagues wolfed down their meals.

I've now joined a gym and exercise regularly to maintain a semblance of my slimmer self. I still eat very little red meat, primarily because as bakaKanadajin pointed out, it's very hard on my digestive system. Luckily, my wife's a great cook and only likes to cook Japanese dishes.

[Goldiegirl]

True, the portions in Japan are much smaller. I love that. I can't eat a lot of food at one sitting, but rather I like to nibble. I just love all the little dishes with all the different food. As for eating fast, I think Japanese eat way faster than Americans. I am amazed at the efficiency of eating a bowl of ramen in less than 5 minutes. I am always the last and everyone is waiting for me to finish. Plus, they eat their food so HOT (temperature)! Yikes, I popped this little potato in my mouth like everyone else; I almost died it was so freaking HOT, I was puffing air in and out and pretty much gave everyone a chuckle! I love hot, spicy food, but burning hot food I can't tolerate. I couldn't taste anything for a day or so! Maybe that is why they eat so fast! :)

[bakaKanadajin]

The dishes in Japan ARE small. For me, it was difficult to keep up my caloric intake at a reasonable price. I mostly cooked for myself to save cash. I've been tricked a few times in restaurants when ordering, thinking I was getting a full course meal but it ended up being a peppering of little dishes. I lost about 10 pounds within the first few months of being there.

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Asian people are generally more lactose intolerant simply because dairy products traditionally don't contribute much (if at all) to traditional dishes and the case is still quite true now days, you can build up a lactose intolerance simply by not eating dairy products for long periods of time, because you need a special gut bacteria to break down dairy products and this will start to die off if you don't eat dairy for long periods of time.


I think traditional japanese diet is very healthy in general (although not everything traditional is healthy of course), the traditional diet of the peasant in Edo japan was all vegetables and rice with no animal products. Now days in the western world we have a problem with people getting too much animal products in their diets and so people are becomming too fat, but back then in old Japan they have the exact opposite problem, with people becomming malnourished in animal products, so vegetable/nut/seed oils were invented to help compensate for the lack of animal fats in the general middle to lower income persons diet.


Fish is very healthy for you, BUT (and there's a big "but"), the problem people face now days is that the worlds ocean's are becomming very poluted, and toxins like mercury are becomming a big problem in particular since when these toxins are ingested by the fish they stay in the fishes body- as you move up the food chain, the levels of mercury in fish become more and more concentrated.
Fish which are at the top of the food chains, so this would include fish like swordfish and tuna, have particularly unhealthy levels of mercury concentrated in them.

So basically, while fish is good for you to eat for many reasons, it depends a great deal on what type of fish you eat- its best to eat only the fish which are at the bottom or near the bottom of the food chains like small sardines etc, or only eat other types of seafood creatures are the bottom of food chains like mussels and small crabs etc.

Of course there is also an environmental/moral concerns to take into consideration too now days- many types of fish are being fished to extinction, tuna and cod stocks are a good example of a fish which has drastically declined in numbers due to over-fishing and will probably go extinct in the near future if not more is done about the problem of over-fishing and other problems like trawling etc.

I love eating sushi and a great deal of types of sushi include some type of fish or other seafood, but now i am faced with the moral problems faced with eating these foods now days and i am in doubt over whether i should eat these foods on a regular basis or not. Afterall, eating such foods is a lifestyle choice, and a choice which could contribute to many bad current problems/issue in the environment we face today etc.

(continued in a moment)

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I read i very interesting BBC news article yesterday, it was titled " Be thin to cut cancer, study says", the article is quite indepth and talks about what you can do to cut your chances of getting cancer in general or certain types of cancers- the article goes into many aspects of lifestyle, including diet.
I found the article to be very interesting, it included info which i thought was quite common sense, some of the info also just confirmed my suspicions about certain things, but it also contained many facts which were new to me and suprised and interested me- i recommend you guys read this article in the link below;

"Be thin to cut cancer, study says";

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7069914.stm?lsm



"RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE:
Limit red meat
Limit alcohol
Avoid bacon, ham, and other processed meats
No sugary drinks
No weight gain after 21
Exercise every day
Breastfeed children
Do not take dietary supplements to cut cancer"




To me at least it makes sense to limit the consumption of red meat. I am no vegetarian, however overal i would say that i am probably verging on being vegetarian considering how little my consumption of meat is in general.
I used to eat a great deal of meat whenever i could in the past, however as i became more aware of the horrors of certain immoral methods of farming like battery, barn range and 0 grazing farming etc, i became determined to cut such foods out of my diet and to only eat animal products which i knew were free range and organic and were slaughtered in a humane manner etc.
I still go by this way of life, however naturally when i started to cut out the bad farmed animal products, my intake of animal products like meat in general dramatically declined because good farmed animal products are not as easy to come by as the bad farmed ones and they generally cost more too (because you have to pay more for the farmer to be able to give his animals a better quality of life etc).


Since cutting down on animal products the first thing i noticed was that after a couple of months i stopped craving foods like chicken, sausages and gammon, lamb chops etc as much.
In the case of poultry, i have stoped craving it completly now i think, this wasn't intentional, but just happened as i cut back on such foods. I think eating meat is actually a form of habit, when you stop eating it as much initially you miss and crave it a lot, but after a little while your taste buds simply just stop craving for it, and after a while you just end up thinking "why did i want to eat those foods so much back then? They don't taste as good as they used to etc".

Another thing i noticed was that my skin and hair gets a lot less oily than it used to in the past, i get less spots, i have lost weight (i'm 5'6 and weigh 10 stone 4 pounds, my BMI is very good and healthy for my height and gender, however years back when i used to eat loads of animal products all the time i was just under 11stone)- i don't do much excercise, i'm an artist by profession so i spend a lot of time sitting down scribbing away on peices of paper, so the weight loss i experience in my opinion was in relation to the changes in my diet by cutting back on animal products. My body weight also stays an aweful lot more stable now days too, it used to fluctuate wildly in the past from month to month, but now days i have had pretty much the same body weight for about 1 and a half years or more now.

My digestive system also runs more smoothly too, i get ill less often (i used to suffer headaches and stomache aches a lot in the past), i feel more energetic and my moods feel happier too.



I believe there is nothing wrong with eating animal products as long as the animals in question were allowed to lead a good quality of life (i.e. not couped up in cages, never seeing daylight, pumped full of growth hormones etc) and is slaughted in a humane manner.
Eating animal products is essentially a lifestyle choice, although it is certain that in the right ammounts eating animal products has many benefets for our health, it isn't absolutely nesarsary to eat them, so i think you should excercise some form of discipline and good moral decisions if you decide to eat animal products.

At least for me, cutting back on animal products has had noticeable benefets for my health, even if at first the descisions i undertook started as moral descisions, but even if my morals changed now i would still continue this way of diet lifestyle due to the improvements in my health i have seen since changing my diet.

I like japanese food a lot because many of the recipes are low in fat but are still very tasty, varied and filling. I do a great deal of home cooking (almost all of my meals are home cooked from scratch), however the main problem i face with doing japanese style food is the lack of japanese ingredients readily available over here- even just finding nori sheets for making sushi is very difficult where i live!

[Goldiegirl]

One thing I noticed, is that eggs are eaten very undercooked in my opinion. Even my husband eats eggs which are still completely runny...the whites are still clear! I ordered am "om-rice" (? spelling) and I had to send it back, it was still slimy and giggly! I can't eat eggs like that. I know some health fanatics will drink raw eggs, but I don't think the have an "appreciation" of undercooked eggs. My family will eat soft boiled eggs, but then of course the whites are cooked solid.

[epigene]

One thing I noticed, is that eggs are eaten very undercooked in my opinion. Even my husband eats eggs which are still completely runny...the whites are still clear! I ordered am "om-rice" (? spelling) and I had to send it back, it was still slimy and giggly! I can't eat eggs like that. I know some health fanatics will drink raw eggs, but I don't think the have an "appreciation" of undercooked eggs. My family will eat soft boiled eggs, but then of course the whites are cooked solid.
Yes, Japanese like to eat eggs raw or undercooked. We dip sukiyaki meat in raw beaten egg and like eggs undercooked and sometimes runny. We add beaten raw egg on piping hot rice and eat it as "tamagokake-gohan," which is actually very popular these days.

I think the Western concern for avoiding eggs raw or undercooked comes from the threat of salmonella and other hazardous bacteria that is very often found on the eggshell (on the outside). Although I don't have the statistics, salmonella outbreak from eggs had been very low in Japan in the past (probably because the eggs are washed thoroughly here?), and Japanese prefer the softness of eggs. Of course, when the threat becomes critical, we will probably stop eating eggs the way we do... :p

[MadamePapillon]

"Be thin to cut cancer, study says";

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7069914.stm?lsm



"RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE:
Limit red meat
Limit alcohol
Avoid bacon, ham, and other processed meats
No sugary drinks
No weight gain after 21
Exercise every day
Breastfeed children
Do not take dietary supplements to cut cancer"

It's really sad that N. Americans have such a bad rep for eating unhealthy. Yes, our portions are out of control, we consume way to much sugar and red meats, we love our fast food and we practically inhale fat. It's just really sad because (contrary to popular opinion) it's SO easy to eat healthy.

Over the past year or so I had abandoned fast food and sugary drinks and increased my fruit/vegetable intake. It wasn't a diet, I just got sick of feeling..gross for lack of a better word, and crap foods will make you feel gross.

Needless to say, the pounds came off, the mood went up, and overall I feel way better than I had before. Incidentally I also completely cut out japanese/chinese foods but that's just because I'm not a huge fan of the asian diet, it's healthy but given the choice I'd take corn over rice, y'know :p

But I will not give up my dairy. Say what you want about milk but I drink it all the time and not only is it tasty but it makes my skin really smooth and...luminecent almost and my teeth really white and shiny, before my skin was dull and oily and my teeth were...not very white ^^. Anyways, YAY for milk, I endorse thee.

[diceke]

The risk of raw eggs being infected with salmonella is very low in Japan. A salmonella vaccine is used, so that makes the amount of eggs infected a minority. Even contaminated eggs are safe to eat, if you just keep them in the fridge!!:wave:

[Goldiegirl]

Honestly it's not contamination that makes undercooked eggs inedible to me, it's the texture. Kinda slimey and all goey and jiggly, just the look of them alone makes me shudder. But If that is what you like, that's cool. Different strokes for different folks! Oh, i just thought of this, egg nog, isn't that raw eggs traditionally? I do believe that the kind you buy at the grocery store is pasteurized now though....???? So I guess that raw eggs are kinda eaten (drank) in the West.

[Tokis-Phoenix]

One thing I noticed, is that eggs are eaten very undercooked in my opinion. Even my husband eats eggs which are still completely runny...the whites are still clear! I ordered am "om-rice" (? spelling) and I had to send it back, it was still slimy and giggly! I can't eat eggs like that. I know some health fanatics will drink raw eggs, but I don't think the have an "appreciation" of undercooked eggs. My family will eat soft boiled eggs, but then of course the whites are cooked solid.



I don't mind raw egg, however if i eat it raw it has got to be totally raw, and if i eat it cooked the yolk has gotta be soft or runny but not runny egg white.


It is true though that over in the west, when it comes to omeletes in particular, many of us actually way over-cook our omeletes.
Omeletes are not supposed to be completely cooked all the way through, if you go to a good resturant you will often find this is the case.

When doing korean and chinese cooking, there is a recipe that i really love in particular and which i often include as a side dish to my home cooking. Its basically an omelate wrapped around a portion of rice.
The rice is first fried for a minute or 2 in a small amount of oil and a handful of finely choped onion on a high heat before having the water added (you should add twice as much water as the volume of rice you use), the heat is turned right down, the sauce is added and quickly stirred in roughly, the lid to the pan is then added and the rice is then allowed to simmer for about 15mins on the lowest heat, never or only once been stirred before it is served up in the omeletes.
The sauce basically consists of 2 heaped tablespoons of tomatoe puree, one crushed vegetable stock cube, one tablespoon of soy sauce and half a tablespoon of worstershire sauce (if desired, although not essential), which is all mixed together before being added to the rice.
I usually use about 100mls of rice and 200mls of water, which will give you about 2 good portions/servings of rice.


The omelete's contain no more than 2 thoroughly whisked eggs per omelete, you should oil the pan well (putting the oil in the pan and then tilting the pan until the oil covers the bottom and sides of the pan completely) but not too much.
The omeletes should be cooked on a medium to low heat, too hot and the oil will either bubble through the omelete causing holes or cause the omelete to go wonky and un-even.
The omeletes should be served up as soon as the top of the omelete starts to go dry (but not completely cooked), serve the omelete up by sliding it off the pan onto the plate and then spooning the tomatoe stock rice in a thick line onto the omelate and then folding the sides of the omelete over the rice.


This is how omeletes should be done, not too cooked or oily or un-even and only lightly golden browned on one side (or both if you are doing a thick omelete). I love this korean omelete recipe, its really easy to do, the rice only takes 15mins tops and the omeletes only take about 4-5mins. I usually serve the omelete parcels up as a side dish to foods like home made seasoned sweet potato or normal potatoe wedges and chinese egg fried rice with sweet veg stir fry- trust me, it tastes really awesome and is simple, flavoursome and good delicious food :cool: !

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Needless to say, the pounds came off, the mood went up, and overall I feel way better than I had before. Incidentally I also completely cut out japanese/chinese foods but that's just because I'm not a huge fan of the asian diet, it's healthy but given the choice I'd take corn over rice, y'know :p
But I will not give up my dairy. Say what you want about milk but I drink it all the time and not only is it tasty but it makes my skin really smooth and...luminecent almost and my teeth really white and shiny, before my skin was dull and oily and my teeth were...not very white ^^. Anyways, YAY for milk, I endorse thee.



I don't think dairy is a bad thing, but contrary to popular belief eating lots of dairy so you get lots of calcium in your diet will not prevent you from getting major problems like arthritis and osteoporosis, because for your body to absorb calcium properly and use it well you need to have good amounts of magnesium in your diet too.
Without magnesium, you could actually be doing your bodys system harm by having a lot of calcium in your diet;

"Because magnesium suppresses PTH and stimulates calcitonin it helps put calcium into our bones, preventing osteoporosis, and helps remove it from our soft tissues eliminating some forms of arthritis. A magnesium deficiency will prevent this chemical action from taking place in our bodies, and no amount of calcium can correct it. While magnesium helps our body absorb and retain calcium, too much calcium prevents magnesium from being absorbed. So taking large amounts of calcium without adequate magnesium may either create malabsorption or a magnesium deficiency. Whichever occurs, only magnesium can break the cycle."

You should read the article in the link below for more information on understanding the relationship between magnesium and calcium in your diet and body and how it works, as otherwise you may not get the benefets of the calcium you want;

http://www.mgwater.com/calmagab.shtml

"In experiments reported in "International Clinical Nutrition Review," a number of volunteers on a low-magnesium diet were given both calcium and vitamin D supplements. AU the subjects were magnesium-depleted and although they had been given adequate supplements, all but one became deficient in calcium. When they were given calcium intravenously, the level of calcium in their blood rose, but only for the duration of the intravenous feeding. As soon as the intravenous calcium was stopped, the levels calcium in the blood dropped. However, when magnesium was given, their magnesium levels rose and stabilized rapidly, and calcium levels also rose within a few days - although no additional calcium had been taken."

"A magnesium-rich diet can be helpful both for arthritis and to help prevent osteoporosis. This consists of nuts, whole grains such as brown rice, millet, buckwheat (kasha), whole wheat, triticate, and rye, and legumes including lentils, split peas, and a varieties of beans. A whole grain cereal or bread in the morning, a cup of bean soup at lunch, a snack of a few nuts, and serving of brown rice, millet, or buckwheat with dinner should help increase magnesium when a deficiency is suspected.

At the same time, refined sugar and alcohol should be reduced, and eliminated when possible to prevent magnesium from being excreted in large quantities in the urine. You may also want to re-evaluate the amount of dairy in your diet. If it has been disproportionately high, reduce or temporarily eliminate it until some of your symptoms are alleviated, or until you feel more of a balance has been achieved through the inclusion of whole grains and legumes. Oriental and Indian diets contain little or no dairy, yet arthritis and osteoporosis are not major health problems in these cultures. Their foods consist primarily of green vegetables, grains, tofu, and seafood, and are twice as high in magnesium as our average diets."

"A diet high in dairy and low in whole grains can lead to excess calcium in the tissues and a magnesium deficiency. The source of menstrual cramps may be coming from eating too much cheese, yogurt, ice cream or milk, combined with insufficient whole grains and beans. Or it could come from taking too much calcium without enough magnesium. Modifying your diet and increasing your magnesium supplementation may allow your menstrual cramps to disappear"



As you can see, the article contains a wealth of information and i have only copied and pasted a few chunks of the info into this post for general quick reading interest here, but i totally recommend anyone here to read the whole thing (which shouldn't take long), as it contains much valuable information on many aspects of nutrition in our body and diets etc :cool: .

http://www.mgwater.com/calmagab.shtml

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It's really sad that N. Americans have such a bad rep for eating unhealthy. Yes, our portions are out of control, we consume way to much sugar and red meats, we love our fast food and we practically inhale fat. It's just really sad because (contrary to popular opinion) it's SO easy to eat healthy.



I totally agree, its very easy and affordable (and more than anything, enjoyable) to eat healthily, i think the problem we have over in the west in places like America and England though is that many people view healthy diets as full of foods which taste and look like rabbit food.

Another problem i think many people have, is that many people view "diets" as something you only do when you are overweight and want to lose the weight, and many people stop doing their diets as soon as they are satisfied with their weight loss (or they have simply given up on the diet because it didn't work as well as they hoped).
This problem is one of the worst things to do, i think the problem is, is that many people view or treat diets as quick-fix solutions to their weight problems and they generally hate the whole dieting experience from start to end, so they never intend to continue with the diet in the long term because they don't like it. You can only reap the long term rewards of a good diet if you do it in the long term and enjoy doing the diet itself.

The problem is though is that the fatter you get, the harder and the longer it takes to lose that fat- there are two types of fat in your body, short term fats (which are intended by the body to be used in the near future and to be easily burnt off) and long term fats (intended by the body to only be used in times when the short term fats are running out or have run out). There is also general water weight retention in the bodys flesh too.


With the media, more and more now days i notice in the newsagents these womens magazines with all the new celebrity fad diets with big titles saying "i lost 1stone in 2 weeks!" or "i lost all this weight after having my baby through this diet!" or "get bikini slim quick with the latest blah-blah diet!", "lose the christmas pudding pounds by new year with this diet!" etc etc etc...

I hate these quick-fix diet fads- vunerable/gullieble/insecure women look at these diets and think "WOW all my weight problems are solved if i go through this 2 week hellish diet!".
These diets do make you lose the weight quickly, but the weight which you lose often barely even begins to scratch at the surface of your bodys short term fats, rather instead, the weight which these diets cause you to lose quickly is almost always just the water weight in your body.
Such diets can also be particularly damaging to your body because they (in general) tend to not be very nutritionally balanced and the rapid weight loss causes the body a lot of stress (and also can give you mental stress too).


I've never been "fat" in my life, but i have seen the mental anguish some of my mates/friends who are fat go or have gone through (not caused by me BTW), so i know it sucks to be fat, and for many fat people, more than anything they dream to lose the weight quickly.
Now days so many of our problems can be solved quickly- if you have a headache, take an aspirin, if you cut yourself, put a plaster on it, if you get in debt, get a loan, if your fishtank cracks, get a new panel of glass and silcone it in place etc etc.
But there are not quick fix solutions to being fat which are successful or good for you in the long term. I think people have just got to come to the realisations that;

a. A diet is not some short term thing that you do, it is a change in your current diet that should be permanent.
b. Losing weight is not easy, but there is always a reason/s why people are fat, it is never impossible to lose weight, but the chances are it will be hard and the progress may be slow, so you gotta be honest with yourself and keep up your motivation and self-discipline levels.
c. Even if you are slim, just being slim doesn't mean that you have a good diet or are healthy. This is another problem in our society- many of us who have good body weights don't bother to eat healthily or do excercise because they see no need to do so because they are slim. Although being overweight increases the chances of getting numerous health problems, you can still get many of the same problems that people get through been overweight even if you are slim (for example like high blood pressure, artheritus, heart disease etc).



Anyways, these are just my opinions/views. I am in no place to seriously judge those who are fat or whatever, i don't wanna turn into one those PC yogurt eating morning jogging brigade of people we get more and more of now days who think they have every right to agressively judge others and impose their self-rightious views upon other people who don't reform to their way of thinking/behaving etc.
My thoughts/views here are just for reading and i don't want to force anyone to change, if they want to weigh 20stone, get wasted/drunk every weekend, smoke 20fags a day, eat hotdogs in one mouthful etc- then i say, go for it, its your life, live it the way you want, but don't complain if the consequences of your actions catch up with you. But that doesn't mean i don't judge people for what they do, and it doesn't mean that i don't have strong opinions on certain subjects too etc.

Anyways...In a way i understand those who don't live their whole life to be healthy, because in a way i am one of them (i may eat healthy, re-cycle, plant tree's, buy organic food and go cycling etc- but i do smoke, even though hardly at all). Because on a more philosophical note, for some of us we just want to add life to our years and not years too our life :cool: . With the way things are going right now, most of us in this country that live to 80 will probably just end up rotting in some NHS home alone suffering from dementure while dribbling away lying in their own filth while the under-staffed and over-worked staff in our old people's homes who eat our food and don't look after us just ignore them etc.
Meh, i know that sounds quite negative, but there are so many problems with old people's home and the NHS in our country now days, for many old people they have no life because this is the way it is for them- who wants to grow old in this country when they are just gonna end up like this?