Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DCJames]

It's true Koreans and the Japanese eat rice in some form in almost every meal, but the Japanese have the highest lifespans in the world. Koreans have a considerably lower lifespan.

Why the difference? Maybe it's the fact that Koreans have embraced western food more quickly. Meat (including red meat) is becoming more and more common in Korean meals. Also, Korean food has lot of veggies, but also is highly salty and fried foods are a big part of the diet. The Japanese diet has alot of fish.

I think it's a myth that Korean food is healthy. It's simply not when you consider the amount of salt, fat, and oil that is now in the modern Korean diet. Occurances of stomach cancer and diabetes are very high in Korea and increasing quickly.

Your opinion?

[kermo]

There are a lot of factors at work here. Famine, war and forced labour have wreaked havoc on the average lifespan during the last century. However, cancer is now the greatest killer (responsible for 25% of deaths, according to _____.)

Stomach cancer is the most common kind of cancer, and the Korean diet does include some problematic and some preventative foods:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=11802218&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google

[cruisemonkey]

Your qusetion is asking too much from generalizations and is equating correlation to causation.

My school cafeteria serves health, balanced meals - I just won't eat them because they taste like crap!

[Ilsanman]

I would Korea's food on par with western food, as far as being healthy. But if you mean western food that Koreans think it western (pizza, burgers), it's certainly better.

I would chalk up Korea's not so stellar lifespan to smoking excessively, pollution, drinking, stress, and general bad living habits.

[Ilsanman]

I would also like to add that Japanese food isn't all that healthy, in general. For every good food there is, there's another that's battered and deep fried.

[MarionG]

A large portion of the current Korean population ate poorly and or little, and many were near starvation for some 20 years, '55 to '75 or so. Gotta think that had something to do with it.

[hellofaniceguy]

To each his own. What's good for you, will taste terrible to another.
I do know this....if korean food was so great and kim chee was the best for whatever....why then, does korea have so many people in their hospitals!?!?!?
Obviously it is not that great!

[sojourner1]

It's like anywhere else, you can choose to eat healthy or not so healthy. It is true that there are less healthier options and more unhealthy options with all the fried foods and no baked foods outside of sweet breads and pizzas. The selection is very limited, but offers a great deal of salt and some veggies with lot of fermented red pepper paste.

Young Korea does not eat very healthy while the old people low calorie, but foods with low nutritional value. Rice, gimchee, and soups don't have a whole lot of nutrition, but this traditional diet keeps the body weight low and is better than being fat on the fried foods and fatty meats with low nutritional value.

Do take a multivitamin and make some things like vegatable soup and chili on your own as well as eating fruit.

[huck]

As far as the long-living Japanese go, studies have shown that people who eat less (no, not like the starving people in Ethiopia), are more likely to live longer.

[Ilsanman]

B/c a lot of people are hypochondriacs. I also found that people here go to the doctor for any ailment at all, even a runny nose or minor cough.

[spliff]

Actually, it's very healthy and delicious to boot....

[DCJames]

[Ilsanman]

I saw a sign for 'Well Bing Sam Gyeop Sal'. That should say it all.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

[DCJames]

White rice pretty much has no nutritional value at all.