Korean Job Discussion Forums

[R. S. Refugee]

Think that a vegetarian low-fat diet is the key to weight loss and good health? Sorry to say, but you're wrong if you believe that.

Even the Lame-stream American media is taking note of this disastrous disease-causing approach. See this LA Times article.

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-12-20-scientists-say-carbs--not-fat--are-the-biggest-problem-with

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-carbs-20101220,0,5464425.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+latimes/features/health+(L.A.+Times+-+Health)&utm_content=Twitter


No time to get personally involved in this discussion, but it seemed like a good time of the year to get this info out to all ASAP. We've all been brain-washed on this issue for decades now. Time to get the info out and let the healing begin.

Good luck with seeing through all the propaganda you (and I) have been feed for decades now (or for the younger of you, I could just say, "for your entire life.")

[eamo]

I've personally believed for years that carbs and not fat is the cause of most obesity........but the, fat-is-bad-and-food-pyramid-can't-possibly-be-wrong, people seem to get really riled up when this is brought up.


The food pyramid and the science behind it was developed when? 1950's? It all needs to be reevaluated.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

It depends on the fats. I try to get as many healthy oils into my diet as possible. Lots of fruit and veg, the grains that I do eat are all whole grain and of varied sources (10-grain porridge, whole grain bread for toast, barley, and the very occasional bit of brown rice. My only vice would have to be tortillas, as I can't find the whole grain variety here).

Eat what keeps you feeling your best. I feel my best when I have 2 or 3 small oranges a day, a nice amount of protein, some healthy oils, some whole grains, and my delicious cheese and apple snack. This diet varies some, but you get the point.

My little sister needs to eat a lot of protein for her diet, as she needs to maintain muscle tone to be able to lift obese people down flights of stairs and into her ambulance.

[jdog2050]

[bobbybigfoot]

And I keep hearing "it depends on the kind of fat".

Actually, it's only trans fats that are bad for you. (A man-made monstrosity!)
Saturated fat IS good for you.

[balzor]

Carbs are a good source of energy. Kept in moderation they are fine. In fact, any food in moderation is ok. Keep meals balanced and lay off the sugars and your body will be healthy. Begin overweight doesn't mean your not healthy I am overweight and except for my size, I am in almost perfect health or so says my last medical checkup. Cholesterol, blood sugars, and various other essentials are all in healthy range. Before i left the US i had high cholesterol and blood sugar and was on medication for hypertension. After 2 years in Korea, it has all normalized. the difference - less sauce and fats on everything/eating more rice and grains/eating more veggies/walking more. So basically living in Korea has probably extended my life a little. I have lost about 40+ pounds over the past two years although it yo-yos a bit.

Just stop eating Western foods so much and move around more

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

[Spud10]

[Panda]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I think one of the reasons that I gained weight (besides the atrocities that they call gyms here, which haven't motivated me to go [I went 3-4 times a week back home. Now I only work out at home after letting my membership waste away and expire]) is that I always saw Koreans finish their entire bowls of noodles or rice.

I'd never eaten that many processed carbs (well, not since I was a child), so my body went into fat storing mode. Now, I always leave between a third and a half leftover, when I eat Korean foods out.

The ajumma who cooks for my building knows that I'm "wellbeing" and "diet-uh heyo" so customizes things for me. I give her presents, though. A pear one day, some persimmons another, nice sesame oil or olive oil on holidays, you catch my drift. It's strange for Koreans to customize meals, but she likes me, and I'm friendly with her, so she makes me the broth for kong-guksu, rather than the whole noodle dish, as well as noodle-less jeol myeon. She even prepares the veg for a dolsot bibimbap, and adds the cooked barley that I bring down. Would I do this at a restaurant? Never. That would be rude. But the woman in my building is familiar with me, and we have a good relationship.

I'm dying to find some Brazil nuts, though. I recently ordered some coconut oil from iherb, based on another poster's recommendation. It's got saturated fat, but it's the good kind. It's great stuff!

[Caffeinated]

[Fox]

I've lost a noticable amount of weight since coming to Korea a few years ago. In America, I ate a lot of meat, a lot of bread, and a lot of noodles. In Korea, I eat just as much meat, but substantially less bread and pasta. I generally feel good and I rarely get sick. My cholesterol is low, my blood pressure is fine, and my yearly health checks come back with no problems. Someone would have a hard time persuading me that meat is especially unhealthy.

I do take vitamin supplements, but I'm not convinced they are actually improving my life (I take them primarily to make my wife happy, who is convinced they're necessary due to my reticence to eat vegetables in any real quantity). I do believe vitamin D makes a difference based on what I've heard from certain people I think are trustworthy, but I've no idea where I could buy it up here in the mountains, and I all ready feel good enough most of the time that I'm not really convinced I'm vitamin D deficient anyway.

[oldfatfarang]

What is a healthy diet? How does diet promote health and prolong life?
I used to think I knew the answers to these questions (eating healthy/exercize etc), but now I'm confused. You see I have two very aged parents. Mum turned 95 two days ago (or was it 96?), and my dad's 90, going on 91.

My parents came from very poor backgrounds, survived depressions and a World War. They never knew healthy food until they immigrated to NZ. My dad talks fondly of sunday dinners of "bread and dripping." That's the fat that's dripped off cooking meat and then spread on bread. Poor people in Scotland couldn't afford meat, so bread and dripping was what they ate.

Both my parents wouldn't have known what fresh fruit was until they were in their late 30's (when they emmigrated). Any fruit they ate was always in a can.

My mum grew up in an institution, and she worked her whole life living and working in a hospital environment. She ate 'hospital food' (basically any meat and vegetables, boiled to death).

The only food she cooked for our family was either boiled to death, fried, then frozen and reheated. We also ate a lot of food from tins (preserved meat, beans, fruit, vegetables, fish etc). Mum only started giving us salads when I was in my teens. To this day, my father doesn't eat vegetables and only rarely eats fruit. He's had porridge (oats) for breakfast every day of his life. I still remember him gently picking out (and then discarding) the vegetables from mum's stews.

So both my parents defy current dietry conventions. By rights, my dad should have died of scurvy years ago. Admittedly, lately they have suffered from age-related dementia, but their diet still saw mum walking her dog every day well into her 90's - and dad chopping wood into his late 80's.

I can only remember my dad going to a doctor once in his life - and he had to be taken kicking and screaming to get there. Mum's always been healthy, even though she had her last child at 40 (me).

Myself, I was a vegetarian for 5 years (but I got really sick), and I still eat 6-7 servings of fruit a day, plus a huge bowl of raw vegetable salad each night, and a little protein (tinned tuna or some fried meat). I used to try and tell my parents how they should eat more healthy (vegs/fruit etc), but my dad just used to say:"How old are you son?"

Somewhere along the line I think we've been brainwashed by the army of professionals in the health/medical industry.

Food for thought.

[R. S. Refugee]

[Sergio Stefanuto]

Carbs make you put on weight. Fat clogs up your arteries, but doesn't make you gain weight. Both are bad, but being overweight is worse, because eating saturated fat is only dangerously unhealthy when combined with other unhealthy things such as smoking