Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Whistleblower]

Well, I read this article and I thought diseases occur to anyone no matter the race.

[Whistleblower]

Perhaps we are affecting Korea's disease with people contracting major illnesses by eating foreign beef, no?

[ttompatz]

... and the high smoking and drinking rates have nothing to do with it?

hmmm.....

[Whistleblower]

I like the article clearly blaming the foreign food for the cause of a 'Non-Korean Disease'. How can a disease have a nationality? I am curious whether the writer was applying positive or negative racism.

Korea Sparkling!

[Mr. BlackCat]

So Koreans are contracting diseases at a much higher rate and at a younger age than in the West, yet it's Western food that causing it? A nice steady diet of rotten cabbage, chicken bones and pig fat really is much better than a sandwich, afterall.

Naw, they got it all wrong. It's the fans.

[moosehead]

especially poignant is the fact western food is so damn difficult to find here

walk into any convenience store and what do you see? crapola from the shelves to the kid's backpacks.

remember when snack parties were the rage in the hakwons? I'd take a taste just to see what the kids were so crazy about and couldn't believe how bad that stuff is!! OMG!!

and the preservatives!! food here is LOADED with preservatives, artificial chemicals, colors, way too much garbage!

diet soda is almost nonexistent, sugar overloaded in juice, drinks, everywhere. Skim milk just appeared a few months ago ?? I was drinking it in the U.S. since about 1977 maybe???!! come here and had to drink whole milk which is loaded with fat, what's called low fat milk is more like 2% or something.

whatever.

[Privateer]

The label 'western' covers a lot of things, in this case 'developed' because it's true that the types of diseases typical of developed countries are a lot different than those of undeveloped ones. The increased incidence of these diseases is just another sign of Korea's developed status.

Many of the ills of modern society are blamed on 'western corrupting influences' here. At home we talk about the loss of traditional values or the problems of modern society. Here they can label such things 'western' as if alienation, say, was an integral part of western society from long ago.

[michael5799042]

Koreans can now afford to eat all the fat, sugar and salt they want. This is the cause of the diseases. Just like in the west. But, here it is samgipsal and other local fatty foods that are the prime culprits.

[icicle]

But it is also true that a traditional Korean diet despite including a large amount of rice has actually been shown in research to lead to lower blood glucose levels ... prime positive elements are kimchi and the soybean paste and high vegetable levels ...

At the same time the traditional Korean diet does appear to lead to higher levels of stomach cancer ...

But in this article blaming the higher level of "western" diet for the increase in those diseases what they are saying is essentially what research from both Korea and other Western countries have said about the reason historically for much lower levels in Korea in such things as diabetes and heart disease ... the traditional diet ...

I can at least short term support the fact that a traditional Korean diet will lead to better control of blood glucose levels than a normal western diet (even a low GI one) ... I have Type 2 diabetes and had reasonable but not really good control of my BGL ... But for a number of reasons including financial ones I have been eating a primarily Korean diet for the last month ... including rice and kimchi in at least 2 meals a day ... And have had the best control I have ever had ... despite eating what to me was a large amount of white rice (which I would normally have avoided) at most meals ...

I think that there is actually probably a reasonable level of validity in what they are saying in the article...

[michael5799042]

A traditional Western diet and lifestyle was also healthy. Isn't the mediterranean diet supposed to be the best in the world? The problem is that they are making the same mistakes Westerners made- but their own version of it. Western fast food is not healthy and neither is most korean fast- street food.

[billybrobby]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

I once worked in a hagwon where the only thing I ate during the breaks was ramyen-- I did this several times a week and eventually had to stop because I couldn't stop my hands from shaking, I could hear my heartbeat in my head, and I got a terrible head rush every time I stood up.

Last time I checked, there wasn't an enormous ramyen aisle in every Western supermarket and convenience store.

SO WHY can't they just say they're eating unhealthy food now?? Why does it have to be WESTERN food?

I would actually feel bad about hating this place if they would just stop blaming everyone else for their own problems. It's incredible how self-unaware they are, considering how much time is spent in front of the mirror everyday.

[icicle]

[billybrobby]

[ryouga013]

Korea: Moderation isn't an option

"Western lifestyle" + "Korean lifestyle" = dead 20 years earlier than either lifestyle alone