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

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]

Originally Posted by Goldiegirl

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. Those are really good noodles. MMM...

[Shibuyaexpat]

Originally Posted by kireikoori

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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...

[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

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.

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!!

[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.