Why do the Chinese and Japanese eat a lot, but do not get fat?

[Katya98]

[HighlyVolatile]

I think one major reason is that most Japanese don't drive cars very often so we usually walk on foot or cycle for our work and daily errands. I read the average is around 2 hours of walking/cycling per day.

Another is that Asians usually put pressure on kids to stay reasonably lean. For example, when I was a boy, I had a friend who was a bit chubby so his mother refused to let him have a second serving of rice even though she was happy to give me some because I was a skinny boy. He ended up slimming down a lot by his teenage years and probably as a result of the work done by his parents to make sure he didn't eat too much and exercised enough. It's similar to Asian pressures to study and excel in school; it can be harsh but it tends to work.

I think that makes it easier to stay lean as adults. If we were skinny for the bulk of the time growing up, then as we get chubby, we feel the fat we're starting to put on and get tempted to return our bodies back to their former lean selves. If instead, we were fat for the bulk of our time growing up, then we've never felt what it's like to be slim before, or ever became acquainted with the lifestyle required to become and stay slim in our youth when we tend to form our strongest habits.

Another thing here is that while we eat our share of junk food like ramen and sushi and even some Western junk food here and there, the bulk of our nutrition comes from home cooking of fresh ingredients. Japanese (and I think also Chinese) tend to shop for fresh ingredients on a daily basis. Our homes aren't stocked with processed and heavily-preserved foods as you find in even modest American homes.

[HighlyVolatile]

One other thing is that Asians are often much fatter than they look. Most Asians tend to have smaller and sparser bones and a higher ratio of body fat to lean mass. So they can look skinny and even be very light (ex: 22 BMI) in spite of having over 25% body fat. Crudely speaking, you can think of it as fat on thinner bones instead of fat on muscle on thicker bones.

[HighlyVolatile]

This is why our BMI standard is 23+ BMI for the average person to be considered overweight and at risk of health problems rather than 25+ BMI as in the West. It's not because our standard is higher. It's because an average Asian person at 23+ BMI -- unless they're athletes -- already likely carries too much body fat (especially visceral fat in the abdominal cavity most correlated with type-2 diabetes and heart disease and a host of other problems).

[Amy10223]

Excellent and true answer.

[HighlyVolatile]

I often see a lot of discussion about how Japanese eat smaller portions and so forth, but we eat many of such smaller portions:


The caloric intake still tends to be quite large. Depending on the sources, the average male Japanese caloric intake tends to be around 2200-3000 calories/day, and for women around 1800-2500 calories/day. Japanese aren't getting slim eating ridiculously low amounts of calories like 1200 calories a day as I see some people in the West trying to do. That's like recreating WW2 feminine conditions here.

So I think the bigger factor is the amount of daily exercise, eating fresher, whole foods with less preservatives, less sugar, etc, and social pressure to stay slim.

[HighlyVolatile]

Also while 2200-3000 calories might not sound like much, it's also worth considering that Japanese are much shorter on average. We eat a good amount. I don't think our slimness can be explained by caloric intake.

[HighlyVolatile]

@Amy10223 Cheers!

[Amy10223]

I agree about the food freshness and no highly processed foods. Homemade is best because you know what goes in it. I also like intermitten fasting for its brain benefits.

[Amy10223]

Cheers back!

[molonski2]

Japanese have infact started getting fat and its due to the transportation of the US diet , its a mistake to focus on food quantity , its vital however to focus on carbs , added sugar , processed , the USA diet in the standard end is the worst on the planet.

Most genuine ( not western ) Thai , Japanese , Chinese food is great but you must removed processed white rice , that's why they hit the wall at 45 / 50 , but not the traditional Asians , they never ate processed.

Follow Dr Sten Edberg , for holistic living , and how quantity of the right stuff doesn't matter , but processed Carbs? Live Berger rolls - just throw them away.

[Amy10223]

They are not overweight because they eat a lot of protein and different types of protein, along with rice and vegetables. Their plates are not piled up with food but rather they select from different ones. A typical Jap breakfast can be miso soup ( small bowl), half a salmon steak, sticky or fermented soybeans (nattily), rice, and fruit or vegetables with tea. They can add egg for protein too to sub for fish.
Here are many more reasons why:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lr4MmmWQtZM

[jennifer_bloom]

I’m not a nutritionist but the Chinese diet is very high calorie but also very low fat. Like a bowl of rice might be 1800 calories, but did you track how much fat is in there? Chicken might be only 200 calories but is high in fat. I think that is why people who track calories do not lose weight, they keep their calories low, but their fat intake high.

[Brendan24]

Fat intake is actually really good for you Trans Fat is the fat you gotta worry about, the main problem America has is we dont eat a balanced natural diet, we live stressful lives and eat too much carbs (minus fiber as it neutralizes the negatives sugar has on the body)

[t-8900]

They live in high fiber diets full of complex carbs rathe than mixing simple carbs (which Americans innsist on eating constantly). Stay away from breads, candies, cakes, donuts, sodas, etc. Ootvfor complex carbs if you must have them. Consume lots of fibers or ootvfor high protein and fat and low carbs

[t-8900]

*opt for complex carbs. Oats, buckwheat, rice, etc

[abc3643]

They burn a lot of calories because...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmfudW7rbG0

However, these guys took up a different physical activity and paid the price.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj_QyxPZE8M

[Gigi2019]

Portion control, regular meal times, lots of vegetables and protein, very busy lifestyle. If a person with this sort of diet doesn't supplement with lots of carbs for calories, they would be very skinny.

[crossdressingrihno]

They actually have a healthy diet
Fish is really good for weight loss
Vegetables help balance out the diet
They value their health more than the Western areas
And lastly I don't know if they actually eat a lot

[lrina]

i'm pretty sure that they often have these "bento" meals, which keeps them healthy i guess? so i think this kinda helps them a little bit so that they don't become fat

[NamerOfStars]

You think THEY'RE impressive? I want to know about the Italians. How can you be skinny when you eat your weight in pasta every day?

[Fuentes]

They're fat italians?‽? Tf

[t-8900]

Italian here. Most of us today sport pot bellies. My dad and uncles and cousins were super thin. But they did very labor intensive jobs like farming, brick laying, masonry, etc
Italians were big on those jobs up until the 80's rolled around. That was why. Any Italians you see now are either not eating what they did and watching themselves or they are busting their asses to keep the weight down.

[shaysh87]

Genes.
Asians also tend to have a heart healthy diet than the west. They also tend to consume more fiber from vegetables and less meat / sugar compared to Americans

[Apulu_3]

Because they have a very active lifestyle where they need a huge amount of food from what I have read in an article.

[DryGermanGuy]

They eat fresh and unprocessed food. Also, what I observed from traveling, the portions are quite small.

[MrNameless]

They eat less than westerners actually (especially smaller portions). Also they tend to be more vegetables.

[t-8900]

Yeah but eating veggies or not means nothing. I lost weight doing keto and straight carnivore. But the reason is your body can run on carbs or fats but not both at the same time. Your body will go for the carbs first for greater energy output. So if you ate rice with fat then your body will burn carbs but store fat. If you go straight to fat your body has less initial storage capabilities and smaller energy outputs. So you'll lose hella weight on high fat diets actually. So the better way to state it is "they use single fuel sources for energy" so to speak.

[josephinelcajon]

Several reasons including being very active, the type of food and when they eat. I am sure genetics play a role as well

[Tiptoetamm]

They are active and usually the food they eat is healthy and that matters

[SnakeBoop]

plenty of them do.
its all the individual's metabolism.

[WonderBell99]

They eat in smaller portions and consume more veggies.

[CoffeeBeanBlack]

Genetics, less sugar usage. Less sedentary lifestyles.

[WhitneySnow]

Authentic Chinese and Japanese food is generally much healthier than American food

[mobiusforniner]

Oh, I eat burgers ice cream and fries. Im Asian and it makes me fat. So...

[JuanVeIasco]

People of the Mongoloid race are ectomorphs and have low amounts of testosterone.

[MrNameless]

Mongoloid? Really bro? Smh

[ihatemylife123]

thats why you got taken over by spaniards cuz you're weak

[Gigi2019]

@ihatemylife123 Mestizos

[Amy10223]

@MrNameless Mongoloid is in fact a race. Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid. There’s one last major one from Australia whose name I forget. But they are the 4 major races in the world.

[t-8900]

Yes all that is well and good, however... Testosterone is linked to weight loss and estrogen to weight gain
So that's not why they keep the weight down. It's because they tend to be on a whole foods, high fiber diet full of complex carbs. You can lose weight on this or a high fat diet
Combining the two leads to weight gain and Americans insist on large portions of bread, crackers, biscuits, with lots of fat in th meals. Also they are addicted to soda and sweets

[Brendan24]

there's probably a few reasons from eating natural living a life less stressful might have a higher metabolism dont know and use energy work

[rabbitzzz]

They defy physics.

[Stupidsigninpage]

Because they eat the right foods and don't eat a lot of sugar.

[StrawberryShake]

What they eat and they're not lazy fucks like Americans.

[FýrdracaDócincel]

They don't eat a lot. Their diet is based on small portion sizes.

[Subarugirl]

Japanese people generally are more active and eat healthier.. it's that simple

[Exterminatore]

I’m just here to see the answers and I also want to know why they have superior math skills.

[bulletbob555]

I don't know. I have been having pork lo mein a couple times a week and its filling and can't be too many calories. It seems to be working for me

[Nagatoro]

Cause' they're not eating a bunch of greasy, fatty foods like 90% of Americans lmao

[melisaaa]

Probably they dont eat that much, and their meals are without any oil or butter

[IsoUser]

To be perfectly honest it's because they pace themselves

[Imsmurter1]

I think we get fat lol I mean look at sumo wrestlers

[LinkxPeach]

Because some of the food they eat is vegetables, and not fried meat.

[fegelen]

chinese and japanese eat a lot of food that is healthy. example salad.

[OneNineZero]

Did you see the sumo guys?

[Aurora1010]

They often eat healthy

[TwinkleLily5]

Genetics and their food is healthier

[FreyaRed]

They eat often but smaller portions.

[Biancam13]

It’s their genetics and how their metabolism is

[siseñor]

cos they don't overeat u eejit

[Nerdvana]

They don't have Super Bowl or black Fridays

[thedaffodils]

Got a question mark in my mind right now

[driven159]

it's what they eat not how much lots of veggies

[jimmy2]

Lots of rice, fish and noodles

[UpdateGloomyNights_]

I think they doesn't eating sugar

[Anonymous]

It’s the type of food they eat

[Anonymous]

because they're good at math and have small penis.

[siseñor]

nobody values your input

[Pudsmucker]

Mostly vegetables

[Wise4myage]

Healthier diets.

[Iron_Man]

Genetics

[Pterodon]

It’s what they eat

[JesseJayNeak]

They value fitness

[flirtatiousgirl]

It's genetic