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How do Thais stay slim?


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4 minutes ago, bignok said:

Thais eat way more veges and fruit than farangs. They often eat too much and get gas.

Farangs don't eat enough fruit and veg also, Thais often have rice and a meat dish, missing veg, but there is a massive fruit and veg market in Pattaya so some must be eating, just not enough

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From a blogger I just read yesterday . 

 

I lived in Japan for two years, and lost a ton of weight. I drank a lot of alcohol, ate whatever food was convenient, and never consciously exercised. I lived upstairs from a Genkizushi sushi shop, and across the street from Chuuka Ton-Ton with excellent ramen and surprisingly large Jumbo Bikkuri Gyoza. I had a car, but walked and took public transportation because it was more convenient. After two years of Japanese life, my BMI was 19, just on the underweight side of healthy.

I now live in an American suburb. I track my diet and exercise on apps. I have a home gym with weights, a Peloton exercise bike, and VR boxing subscriptions. I have another gym at work. My BMI is 29, overweight bordering on obese.

I’ve thought about the reasons for this. Why did I get thin without trying in Japan, then get fat while trying to stay thin in the USA? If you were trying to design the perfect obesogenic society to make people fat, you would do two things:

  1. Subsidize low-nutrient foods with a lot of calories, like corn.
  2. Use fear, zoning restrictions and tax laws to keep people away from sidewalks, parks, and “the gym of life.”

America does both of these things. Due to the peculiar way Americans select presidents, Iowa has outsized political influence. Iowa also grows a lot of corn, so it’s not surprising that American agricultural policy favors corn. Modern varieties of corn, and especially those varieties processed into corn syrup, have calories but not much else. Our bodies didn’t evolve to directly sense the taste of nutrients, but they did involve to sense some tastes and aromas that are often seen alongside nutrients, sensations that are a reasonable heuristic for nutrition in wild and natural foods. If your body tells you to eat until it senses that you have tasted enough, and you eat bland foods like corn, you’ll consume a lot of calories and still be hungry. If your tongue tells you to eat until it has tasted enough, you can consume a lot of calories of corn syrup. On the other hand, traditional Japanese restaurants serve small amounts of carbs (rice or noodles) intensely flavored with small amounts of high quality protein and fat (fish in sushi or pork slices in ramen). Japanese cuisine is quality over quantity, while common American food is the opposite. It’s easier to stop eating after a few bites of intensely flavored carb/fat/protein medley than a few bites of bland fat-free sweetened engineered food.

At the same time that Americans consume more calories than Japanese people, Americans move around less. American zoning laws encourage large residential areas with no commercial areas nearby. Where there are commercial areas, there are huge parking lots which are unpleasant to walk through. Parking spaces occupy the area that a sensible construction would use for walking paths. Japan is the opposite. There are plenty of walking paths and pedestrian-only areas. Mixed zoning with stores on the first floor and residential units above are common, and possible without requirements for a parking space per bedroom or restaurant table. Parking and highway tolls in Japan are expensive, so people are encouraged to walk and take public transportation.

Finally, American media encourages people to be afraid. Afraid of kids getting abducted while walking to school, so they are driven instead. Aftaid of the neighbors calling the police because your kids are outside, so kids play inside instead. Afraid of crime on public transportation, so everyone drives instead. Afraid of ticks and mosquitoes and sunburns and nature so everyone stays inside and watches screens instead. Japan has giant swallow hornets (so called because the hornets are as large as a small bird like a swallow) that kill dozens of hikers a year, but nobody stays out of the mountains because of them.

It’s possible to live a healthy lifestyle in America if you constantly invest time and effort, eat unlike most Americans and live unlike most Americans. It’s easy to live a healthy lifestyle in Japan by just being lazy, eating common restaurant food and taking the easiest path from home to work to shopping. Being unhealthy in Japan requires as much extra work as being healthy in America.

 

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5 minutes ago, jerryonjay said:

From a blogger I just read yesterday . 

 

I lived in Japan for two years, and lost a ton of weight. I drank a lot of alcohol, ate whatever food was convenient, and never consciously exercised. I lived upstairs from a Genkizushi sushi shop, and across the street from Chuuka Ton-Ton with excellent ramen and surprisingly large Jumbo Bikkuri Gyoza. I had a car, but walked and took public transportation because it was more convenient. After two years of Japanese life, my BMI was 19, just on the underweight side of healthy.

I now live in an American suburb. I track my diet and exercise on apps. I have a home gym with weights, a Peloton exercise bike, and VR boxing subscriptions. I have another gym at work. My BMI is 29, overweight bordering on obese.

I’ve thought about the reasons for this. Why did I get thin without trying in Japan, then get fat while trying to stay thin in the USA? If you were trying to design the perfect obesogenic society to make people fat, you would do two things:

  1. Subsidize low-nutrient foods with a lot of calories, like corn.
  2. Use fear, zoning restrictions and tax laws to keep people away from sidewalks, parks, and “the gym of life.”

America does both of these things. Due to the peculiar way Americans select presidents, Iowa has outsized political influence. Iowa also grows a lot of corn, so it’s not surprising that American agricultural policy favors corn. Modern varieties of corn, and especially those varieties processed into corn syrup, have calories but not much else. Our bodies didn’t evolve to directly sense the taste of nutrients, but they did involve to sense some tastes and aromas that are often seen alongside nutrients, sensations that are a reasonable heuristic for nutrition in wild and natural foods. If your body tells you to eat until it senses that you have tasted enough, and you eat bland foods like corn, you’ll consume a lot of calories and still be hungry. If your tongue tells you to eat until it has tasted enough, you can consume a lot of calories of corn syrup. On the other hand, traditional Japanese restaurants serve small amounts of carbs (rice or noodles) intensely flavored with small amounts of high quality protein and fat (fish in sushi or pork slices in ramen). Japanese cuisine is quality over quantity, while common American food is the opposite. It’s easier to stop eating after a few bites of intensely flavored carb/fat/protein medley than a few bites of bland fat-free sweetened engineered food.

At the same time that Americans consume more calories than Japanese people, Americans move around less. American zoning laws encourage large residential areas with no commercial areas nearby. Where there are commercial areas, there are huge parking lots which are unpleasant to walk through. Parking spaces occupy the area that a sensible construction would use for walking paths. Japan is the opposite. There are plenty of walking paths and pedestrian-only areas. Mixed zoning with stores on the first floor and residential units above are common, and possible without requirements for a parking space per bedroom or restaurant table. Parking and highway tolls in Japan are expensive, so people are encouraged to walk and take public transportation.

Finally, American media encourages people to be afraid. Afraid of kids getting abducted while walking to school, so they are driven instead. Aftaid of the neighbors calling the police because your kids are outside, so kids play inside instead. Afraid of crime on public transportation, so everyone drives instead. Afraid of ticks and mosquitoes and sunburns and nature so everyone stays inside and watches screens instead. Japan has giant swallow hornets (so called because the hornets are as large as a small bird like a swallow) that kill dozens of hikers a year, but nobody stays out of the mountains because of them.

It’s possible to live a healthy lifestyle in America if you constantly invest time and effort, eat unlike most Americans and live unlike most Americans. It’s easy to live a healthy lifestyle in Japan by just being lazy, eating common restaurant food and taking the easiest path from home to work to shopping. Being unhealthy in Japan requires as much extra work as being healthy in America.

 

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Maybe roids made him heavier, higher BMI

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1 hour ago, jerryonjay said:

From a blogger I just read yesterday . 

 

I lived in Japan for two years, and lost a ton of weight. I drank a lot of alcohol, ate whatever food was convenient, and never consciously exercised. I lived upstairs from a Genkizushi sushi shop, and across the street from Chuuka Ton-Ton with excellent ramen and surprisingly large Jumbo Bikkuri Gyoza. I had a car, but walked and took public transportation because it was more convenient. After two years of Japanese life, my BMI was 19, just on the underweight side of healthy.

I now live in an American suburb. I track my diet and exercise on apps. I have a home gym with weights, a Peloton exercise bike, and VR boxing subscriptions. I have another gym at work. My BMI is 29, overweight bordering on obese.

I’ve thought about the reasons for this. Why did I get thin without trying in Japan, then get fat while trying to stay thin in the USA? If you were trying to design the perfect obesogenic society to make people fat, you would do two things:

  1. Subsidize low-nutrient foods with a lot of calories, like corn.
  2. Use fear, zoning restrictions and tax laws to keep people away from sidewalks, parks, and “the gym of life.”

America does both of these things. Due to the peculiar way Americans select presidents, Iowa has outsized political influence. Iowa also grows a lot of corn, so it’s not surprising that American agricultural policy favors corn. Modern varieties of corn, and especially those varieties processed into corn syrup, have calories but not much else. Our bodies didn’t evolve to directly sense the taste of nutrients, but they did involve to sense some tastes and aromas that are often seen alongside nutrients, sensations that are a reasonable heuristic for nutrition in wild and natural foods. If your body tells you to eat until it senses that you have tasted enough, and you eat bland foods like corn, you’ll consume a lot of calories and still be hungry. If your tongue tells you to eat until it has tasted enough, you can consume a lot of calories of corn syrup. On the other hand, traditional Japanese restaurants serve small amounts of carbs (rice or noodles) intensely flavored with small amounts of high quality protein and fat (fish in sushi or pork slices in ramen). Japanese cuisine is quality over quantity, while common American food is the opposite. It’s easier to stop eating after a few bites of intensely flavored carb/fat/protein medley than a few bites of bland fat-free sweetened engineered food.

At the same time that Americans consume more calories than Japanese people, Americans move around less. American zoning laws encourage large residential areas with no commercial areas nearby. Where there are commercial areas, there are huge parking lots which are unpleasant to walk through. Parking spaces occupy the area that a sensible construction would use for walking paths. Japan is the opposite. There are plenty of walking paths and pedestrian-only areas. Mixed zoning with stores on the first floor and residential units above are common, and possible without requirements for a parking space per bedroom or restaurant table. Parking and highway tolls in Japan are expensive, so people are encouraged to walk and take public transportation.

Finally, American media encourages people to be afraid. Afraid of kids getting abducted while walking to school, so they are driven instead. Aftaid of the neighbors calling the police because your kids are outside, so kids play inside instead. Afraid of crime on public transportation, so everyone drives instead. Afraid of ticks and mosquitoes and sunburns and nature so everyone stays inside and watches screens instead. Japan has giant swallow hornets (so called because the hornets are as large as a small bird like a swallow) that kill dozens of hikers a year, but nobody stays out of the mountains because of them.

It’s possible to live a healthy lifestyle in America if you constantly invest time and effort, eat unlike most Americans and live unlike most Americans. It’s easy to live a healthy lifestyle in Japan by just being lazy, eating common restaurant food and taking the easiest path from home to work to shopping. Being unhealthy in Japan requires as much extra work as being healthy in America.

 

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Interesting

 

I wonder if there are similarities in this to back West in the 60s and 70s? There was a lot less fat people then too.

 

Less processed empty junk and more real nutrient dense foods.

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Genetically they tend to be smaller and of a slighter build.  Some of the Thai guys at my gym are in fine shape, low body fat etc but they struggle to build muscle mass almost to a man.  My GF's sister eats like a horse and is 38kg, she is drinking 2 litres of Pepsi most days as well. She is oblivious to any negative health effects this might have.

 

Many of them are getting fat though and when I pick my step daughter up from school seeing obese kids and kids with completely rotten teeth is just normal.  They live at 7/11 and the markets selling almost exclusively fried foods, deserts and high sugar drinks.   When I walk around these markets with my partner I usually pass on everything, it is just utter junk. They can drink an awful lot of calories and are oblivious to it.  Those bubble tea drinks that are everywhere can have 300+ calories and mountains of sugar and are available as little as 20 baht.    The lack of education and the convenience of it all is going to really cause a lot of health problems.

 

There are a lot of fat people in the UK but I'd say there is a much higher % of very healthy people too 

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Thais are getting fatter, or maybe I should say more Thais are getting fat. The ones who are still slim eat a lot less sugar than Americans (and, I guess, British and Israelis). I first came to Thailand in 1971. It's changed. Actually, it's changed a lot since Thaksin was first chosen Prime Minister.

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1 hour ago, sampson said:

Genetically they tend to be smaller and of a slighter build.  Some of the Thai guys at my gym are in fine shape, low body fat etc but they struggle to build muscle mass almost to a man.  My GF's sister eats like a horse and is 38kg, she is drinking 2 litres of Pepsi most days as well. She is oblivious to any negative health effects this might have.

 

Many of them are getting fat though and when I pick my step daughter up from school seeing obese kids and kids with completely rotten teeth is just normal.  They live at 7/11 and the markets selling almost exclusively fried foods, deserts and high sugar drinks.   When I walk around these markets with my partner I usually pass on everything, it is just utter junk. They can drink an awful lot of calories and are oblivious to it.  Those bubble tea drinks that are everywhere can have 300+ calories and mountains of sugar and are available as little as 20 baht.    The lack of education and the convenience of it all is going to really cause a lot of health problems.

 

There are a lot of fat people in the UK but I'd say there is a much higher % of very healthy people too 

See same thing. I see them checkout at 7/11 and it's just mountains of pure crap especially around pay day, I think eventually any biological resilience is going to fall through, but for what it's worth many of them seem currently immune to side effects at present, they are getting away with it, for now...

 

 

Edited by circa02
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9 hours ago, ezzra said:

Mostly it has to do with their genes, also they're not into heavy carbs, such bread potatoes and pastas sweets and other kinds of sugar intake like non Thai, the also don't eat as often as us and when they do it's smaller portions, also they move a lot owing to their life style.

I can confirm that. During the pandemic I mostly stayed at home, eating, among other things, a lot of potatoes, and sweets stuff, but also eating, basically, all day out of boredom. I gained a lot of weight. After the pandemic I tried for five months to lose weight by hiking, which, however, didn't help. Instead I have been slowly losing weight after I returned to Thailand by sweating the weight off, i.e. by often not turning on the aircon, amazing, but true.

Edited by StayinThailand2much
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Rice(sugar) , Corn(sugar) Noodles(sugar) Sugar... sugar

while your at it         ..look up the term    "skinny fat"

 

and throw in Insulin resistance for a kicker

like other countries in the Western Pacific region, Thailand is facing increasing numbers of patients with diabetes due to unhealthy diets, high obesity rates, and an aging society.

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10 hours ago, bob smith said:

thais are getting fatter by the day.

 

the obesity crisis is well and truly in full swing here.

 

however I tend to agree with a lot of what you have said.

I know a lot of thais who drink beer daily, eat like pigs and are stick thin.

 

go figure.

The issue isnt traditional diet, its the rise of processed and fast foods,  

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