Japanese diet vs American diet

Options
12467

Replies

  • WhisperAnne
    WhisperAnne Posts: 453
    Options
    I've lived in Japan. Of the many things I have noticed is that their sweets aren't as sweet as they are in the U.S. Mochi is one example of a sweet that I think is just sweet enough. Also people over in Japan eat white rice. I never heard of brown rice until I came back to America. Nutritionists in U.S. seem to love demonizing white rice.

    Did you lose weight, or manage to maintain your weight there?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Options
    If America actually ate smaller portions and relied less on vehicles we probably would be a lot healthier.

    Well, yes. "Eat less and move more" is generally the path to health.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Options
    I eat lots of veggies and rice already! I would eat more shrimp if I had the money.
    I love eating shellfish on my diet as you get double portions of that. Makes me wish I lived on the east coast, would be great to live in Maine on this diet. :)

    Same here! I'm in land-locked Misery, I mean Missouri, so any seafood is high-priced and a rare treat. I hate sushi though, at least what I've had at the restaurants around here. I like dim sum. They have an EXCELLENT Chinese place here called Bo-Ling's. The guy brought a dim sum starter from China, literally had the stuff in a container on the plane, and they are the best. That is my annual birthday treat is going to Bo-Ling's on the Plaza once a year.

    http://www.bolings.com


    (Is that off-topic since it's not Japanese? :laugh:)
  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
    Options
    Japan is not a GMO free country o.O Yes, they do have less over all chemicals in their society. Japan cost, a lot of money to live there.I mean alot. Students eat ramen and very cheap food. They just have a completely different lifestyle. Heck, they watch TV, pig out, and do all kinds of unhealthy things. However, they keep busy and active and walk alot of the time. Now I love Japan, and Asia overall. It is a place I really want to visit, but Americans can not nor will they live a lifestyle like the Japanese.
  • RivenV
    RivenV Posts: 1,667 Member
    Options
    That's it. I'm going on a Japanese diet. Sushi, pocky and sake only. Doing it for reals

    pocky.jpg

    Yes. Can I do it with you if I help? Bonus: I can actually make sushi.

    Yes, you are a must! I suck at making my own sushi. Perhaps we can learn sushi art and make them into cute little cats and stuff.

    Sushi is easy to make. It just takes forever.

    Patience is not a virtue I have for food. It would end with me stabbing the attempted roll with chop sticks and using my face as a vacuum.
    Troof. It's easy to make but it takes so much time... Just like packing my bento did this morning. Easy but time consuming. There's some food I have no patience to prepare, though; so I feel you there. (I'm looking at you, specialty pastries.)
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Options
    I've lived in Japan. Of the many things I have noticed is that their sweets aren't as sweet as they are in the U.S. Mochi is one example of a sweet that I think is just sweet enough. Also people over in Japan eat white rice. I never heard of brown rice until I came back to America. Nutritionists in U.S. seem to love demonizing white rice.

    Brown rice is just blech..
    tumblr_inline_mtjcaknkc81qa1rj7.gif


    Also, Japan adds MSG *on purpose* :noway:
  • perseverance14
    perseverance14 Posts: 1,364 Member
    Options
    I have lived in Japan. It all boils down to calories in and calories out. People in Japan don't eat huge servings of food and are pretty active. The cities are fairly congested and people walk and bike a lot. It isn't necessarily the foods they eat that makes them have a healthy weight, it is the fact that they don't eat huge servings of food and don't sit around all day doing nothing while consuming huge portions of food.
    ^ This...I completely agree!
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    I favor Okonomiyaki, Oyakodon, and Melon Pan. Pocky and Koala cookies are great, but fresh melon pan is amazing <3.

    I made Melon Pan, last summer. So freaking good!!! Caloric, though. Definitely not a regular indulgence for me.
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
    Options
    Pointing at the foods a particular nation consumes is just another way of deflecting attention from individuals' poor eating and exercise habits.

    It's not what they eat or do, it's how much they eat and do.

    Once you accept responsibility for the condition of your own body, it's amazing how things change. Look at all the successful people on this site. Regardless of what actual diet they use - IIFYM, paleo, raw, vegan, etc - they all have one thing in common. They took responsibility, ate less, and moved more.
  • perseverance14
    perseverance14 Posts: 1,364 Member
    Options
    The Japanese eat a lot of smoked and pickled foods, and have a high rate of stomach cancer. True.
    Where did you get the part about it being caused by smoked and pickled foods? I would like to see that reference. The first thing I think of is the work ethic, that could cause ulcers.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Options
    I favor Okonomiyaki, Oyakodon, and Melon Pan. Pocky and Koala cookies are great, but fresh melon pan is amazing <3.

    I made Melon Pan, last summer. So freaking good!!! Caloric, though. Definitely not a regular indulgence for me.

    I feel deprived! I have never heard of any of these things. :sad:


    There are a couple of Japanese steak houses here, the ones where they toss the food around and cook your food at the table. I went to one once, again, just a rare treat because of cost, but it was basically just choose your meat and veggies and sauce and they stir-fried it. They did have Sake, which I thought was pretty interesting and a fairly strong.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    Options
    saki = winning
    seafood = NO! :sick:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
    Options
    It's a fact that America is a big country. And it's easier to get overweight here than in most other countries. I've been wondering..what if Americans went on a Japanese diet? Japan is one of the healthiest countries in the world. They eat a lo of fish veggies and rice and all maintain healthy weight. I'm subscribed to a couple on youtube who live in Japan and the wife is American and when she moved to Japan she lost 20 pounds without trying! so..yeah I would love to eat a Japanese diet. Would you?
    I love sushi. I could eat it every day. But over eating would make me fat. Japanese aren't overweight or obese due to the fact that they just don't eat big portions.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
    Options
    it's all the GMO's American foods have!
    No. Japan has GMO's. They just label them.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
    Options
    I agree, friends of mine from Guam eat smaller amounts and no junk they are small people. Life style is very important. When I move more and eat healthy I lose no matter where I am. Keeping my Head in that mode is the problem!
    Sorry I lived in Guam and Saipan and believe me, they are small in height, but not in girth.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    I favor Okonomiyaki, Oyakodon, and Melon Pan. Pocky and Koala cookies are great, but fresh melon pan is amazing <3.

    I made Melon Pan, last summer. So freaking good!!! Caloric, though. Definitely not a regular indulgence for me.

    I feel deprived! I have never heard of any of these things. :sad:


    There are a couple of Japanese steak houses here, the ones where they toss the food around and cook your food at the table. I went to one once, again, just a rare treat because of cost, but it was basically just choose your meat and veggies and sauce and they stir-fried it. They did have Sake, which I thought was pretty interesting and a fairly strong.

    Well, I used a recipe I found on the internet, so I have no clue how authentic it was, but it was definitely labor-intensive. You have to make bread (mix it, let it rise, punch it down, then let it rise again), then you make a type of sugar cookie to wrap around it and bake it. They came out huge, and I ate like 4 of them over the weekend. Lol!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
    Options
    I have lived in Japan. It all boils down to calories in and calories out. People in Japan don't eat huge servings of food and are pretty active. The cities are fairly congested and people walk and bike a lot. It isn't necessarily the foods they eat that makes them have a healthy weight, it is the fact that they don't eat huge servings of food and don't sit around all day doing nothing while consuming huge portions of food.

    Very true! Japanese people do much more activity and have different habits than Americans. I did research on refined sugar and in Japan they don't really have much processed junk. What I noticed is the portion size in all their food seems smaller than Americans portion as well.
    And the Japanese exercise together before WORK!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGPteoP2jg

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    saki = winning
    seafood = NO! :sick:

    Strike that and reverse it, for me. haha!
  • RivenV
    RivenV Posts: 1,667 Member
    Options
    I have lived in Japan. It all boils down to calories in and calories out. People in Japan don't eat huge servings of food and are pretty active. The cities are fairly congested and people walk and bike a lot. It isn't necessarily the foods they eat that makes them have a healthy weight, it is the fact that they don't eat huge servings of food and don't sit around all day doing nothing while consuming huge portions of food.

    Very true! Japanese people do much more activity and have different habits than Americans. I did research on refined sugar and in Japan they don't really have much processed junk. What I noticed is the portion size in all their food seems smaller than Americans portion as well.
    And the Japanese exercise together before WORK!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGPteoP2jg

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Fitness is important. And! It's more fun if we all do it together. :)
    poodle-exercise-o.gif
  • SF2514
    SF2514 Posts: 794 Member
    Options
    I favor Okonomiyaki, Oyakodon, and Melon Pan. Pocky and Koala cookies are great, but fresh melon pan is amazing <3.

    I made Melon Pan, last summer. So freaking good!!! Caloric, though. Definitely not a regular indulgence for me.

    I feel deprived! I have never heard of any of these things. :sad:


    There are a couple of Japanese steak houses here, the ones where they toss the food around and cook your food at the table. I went to one once, again, just a rare treat because of cost, but it was basically just choose your meat and veggies and sauce and they stir-fried it. They did have Sake, which I thought was pretty interesting and a fairly strong.

    The recipe I use is only about 200 Calories for one Melon Pan about the size of your palm. It's not that bad =). I make it quite often.

    I've been to those places too, but I prefer to eat what's cooked at home because of the price and I can control the ingredients lol. Okonomiyaki is delicious and simple to make, as is Oyakodon. Tonkatsu and Takoyaki are good snacks with sake too =). I think my favorite though is Char Siu Ramen. If you have the right ingredients on hand cooking anything is really simple.

    *edit* Nikuman/Bao xi are really filling for around 200cal too =)

Categories