chinese food
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loafyofbread
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and your point is? if anything it sort of tells me the diets of americans are worse...not sure what youre trying to prove.
food is not the only determining factor for life expectancy.
My point is that Chinese people tend to get picked off by almost exactly the same things that pick off Americans (cancer/heart disease/strokes, heart disease/cancer/strokes). Americans just tend to stick around a little bit longer. I was responding to scootermcgavin7's post which mentioned that many Asian societies do in fact enjoy higher life expectancies than the U.S.A. Food is not the only factor in determining life expectancy, but many experts believe that it is a big if not the biggest one in societies where people aren't getting wiped out by war, famine, pestilence and the like.
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Let me step back for a minute. I have a tendency for making imprecise statements, and after re-reading I made another one by mixing two correct statements. For starters, my comments were about the traditional "asian" diet, not China specifically. While every region has unique twists on cuisine, the vegetable/fish/rice + whatever else you can find is a fair base to assume. My point is that eating vegetables and lean meats is probably positively related to a longer lifespan, while eating processed, salt laden plastic is probably not.
I made a claim that "many of those nations have longer lifespans than the average American even though our medical research is top notch."
This statement is probably incorrect, at least unconditionally. Off the top of my head, Japan, Hong Kong (and POSSIBLY South Korea) have longer average lifespans than the U.S. I do not know the median numbers, which are more important, at least to me. Since Hong Kong is not a "nation", the above statement likely does not meet the vague definition of "many".
Regardless, providing data comparing one country to another does not disprove the claim I made. However, unconditionally, it is probably not correct.
Conditionally (which I did not specify), my statement is absolutely correct. After controlling for pollution, GDP, and other "stuff", diet absolutely shows a strong affect on lifespan. My mistake was in the wording, and I apologize. I also made the mistake of attributing a positive attitude to the U.S. healthcare system.
I am not sure what exactly you find contentious in my post. My only point is that eating vegetables and lean, fresh meats conditionally lead to a longer lifespan than eating processed "food". You seem very focused on China, which has serious problems with pollution. Diet is the focus of this forum, not environmental or political aspects.
Specifically: is your issue with my point, or the setup to my point? This will help me address your issues in detail. Thank you in advance.
1. Sorry for calling you "Scootermcgavin7".
2. I don't seem focused on China, I am focused on China. For no other reason than the fact that the title of the thread is Chinese Food.
3. It is true that people in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong (which while not a nation does get to report many of its vital statistics seperately from the rest of China) do live, on average, longer than Americans do, but the Chinese do not. It is also true that the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese do eat vegetables and lean fresh meats (so do many many Americans that I know, by the way). However, no one with even the slightest exposure to the three nations in question would get the three national cuisines mixed up. Chinese that I know, who have not had extensive exposure to foreign eating habits, tend to gag at the thought of eating raw vegetables. Koreans often love to wrap their grilled meats in leafy greens. Many Koreans I have met view Chinese food as an oily mess, better suited to the gulf of Mexico than table. Then there is the matter of portions, Koreans and Japanese that I have observed at the table tend to be abstemious eaters. The Chinese I have dined with are not (to put it mildly).
4. Are all vegetables and fresh lean meats created equal? Or does the question of whether they have been fried, grilled, blanched, boiled or baked affect their over-all value to health?
5. Never trust a chef who tells you that its physically impossible to de-bone a fish.
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Iggy,
I had a reply ready but on second thought I think it is a stupid argument. We basically agree that lean meat and asstons of vegetables are generally better for you than processed, salted, deep fried garbage that at some point ten years in the past might have been alive.
Any specific remarks to address your numerical points seem counterproductive and beside the point. If you disagree I will happily PM them but I do not think it is relevant to the thread.
I had a reply ready but on second thought I think it is a stupid argument. We basically agree that lean meat and asstons of vegetables are generally better for you than processed, salted, deep fried garbage that at some point ten years in the past might have been alive.
Any specific remarks to address your numerical points seem counterproductive and beside the point. If you disagree I will happily PM them but I do not think it is relevant to the thread.
yeah, can't help myself sometimes!
BrownShadow**
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what about egg foo young
This had me cracking up at my desk.
hongkong style chinese food is pretty healthy and what i prefer. It's mainly seafood and vegetables. Of course you can't generalize chinese food entirely if its good or bad for you. You have to be selective with your sauce type, and cooking method of the dishes.
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Wow....cooked in a frying pan in lots of low grade oil=good for you?
The Chinese that live a long, long time are the ones who are really poor and eat basic foods in simple dishes. The rest are getting fat rapidly as the society has switched from bicycles to scooters and cars.
The Chinese athletes are eating MUCH healthier than the rest of the country...by cutting the oil WAY down and having no deep fried and battered items at lunch, upping the RAW vegetables and the cooked vegetables as well, and supplementing with protein and vitamins/electrolytes.
Chinese homecooking is to Chinese restaurant food what moms home burger on a whole wheat bun is to McD's...both are better for you.
The Chinese that live a long, long time are the ones who are really poor and eat basic foods in simple dishes. The rest are getting fat rapidly as the society has switched from bicycles to scooters and cars.
The Chinese athletes are eating MUCH healthier than the rest of the country...by cutting the oil WAY down and having no deep fried and battered items at lunch, upping the RAW vegetables and the cooked vegetables as well, and supplementing with protein and vitamins/electrolytes.
Chinese homecooking is to Chinese restaurant food what moms home burger on a whole wheat bun is to McD's...both are better for you.
Truth is people here don't care about additives (bacon, ham, sauces, fast food, commercial spices, protein shakes) because they taste good and they just hope that they are not damaging to the health.
Besides additives I don't see what's wrong with chinese food, I would eat the vegetables and protein (meat, eggs, fish) but cut down on the white rice.
Also as poster above said, the frying oils for any fast food and most restaurants are not the ones you see advised in the sherdog sticky.
But I guess if it tastes good let's all pretend that it's healthy
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Besides additives I don't see what's wrong with chinese food, I would eat the vegetables and protein (meat, eggs, fish) but cut down on the white rice.
Also as poster above said, the frying oils for any fast food and most restaurants are not the ones you see advised in the sherdog sticky.
But I guess if it tastes good let's all pretend that it's healthy
.
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the truth! A basic dish would consist of rice or noodles topped with a portion of veggies topped with a portion of meat. NOT General Tso's chicken, NOT boneless spare ribs slathered in sauce, NOT anything fried. It really depends on what you eat. You can't demonize an entire genre of food though based on a couple of shitty items. One of my favs is chicken and steamed broccoli. I dare someone to say that is not a healthy dish.
Traditional chinese food came about because of economic scarcity. Charcoal was expensive and so food was chopped up and stir fried quickly.
Oil was also a scarcity and fried food is considered something for special occasions, even in contemporary china. Fried food also has a reputation for being a 'yang' food which can lower your immune system (folklore or not, it's commonly enforced by traditional chinese mothers to the point that 'baked' foods are unhealthy).
Oil was also a scarcity and fried food is considered something for special occasions, even in contemporary china. Fried food also has a reputation for being a 'yang' food which can lower your immune system (folklore or not, it's commonly enforced by traditional chinese mothers to the point that 'baked' foods are unhealthy).
mrpopenfresh
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I like your answers.
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This sounds true but it's not when you actually travel to any of these Asian countries. They are generally not at all concerned about trying to be 'all-natural' or whatever and really go all out when it comes to salt, MSG, and oils. The food you find in some place like Hong Kong will be a lot greasier and filled with additives than anything you'll find stateside, and those living in more rural regions of China will likely be suffering from malnutrition and MSG is the least of their worries. You see, worrying about what's in our food, instead of whether we have enough food at all, is a wealthy western luxury and psychosis.
