Eating habits

I’m living in China now, and I can say that it’s very similar here. Most people are thin. But the interesting thing is that the Chinese love to eat fatty meat — and they cook with a lot of oil. They hate to exercise. Plus, they eat all the time. But most of them are slim, all the same.

I think several things work together to keep people slim here: 1) People eat an ENORMOUS amount of fruit and vegetables, of all kinds. I’m pretty sure that I eat more vegetables in one meal, of a wide variety, than my fellow Americans do in several days. And it’s normal to eat many kinds of seasonal fruit throughout the day. Nuts are a favorite snack. 2) Though they eat fatty meat, the quantity is small. It’s more like flavoring. 3) The oil is vegetable oil high in the good cholesterol. 4) Since fat makes you feel full, you tend to eat less. 5) Portion control: small bowls, and everyone shares the main dishes and takes small bites with their chopsticks. The way “foreigners” spoon out a serving into their bowl, or onto their plate, is seen as very gauche, rude, and selfish. 6) Because of the way they eat, they eat slowly, which is good for digestion and leads to feeling full before eating too much. 7) Though few people exercise, they do walk much more than most Americans do.

When I lived in the States, I did yoga twice a week, ate healthy food (at least I thought so) and walked about an hour and a half a day — but I still had trouble with my weight. Here, I eat like the Chinese do (mostly), and rarely do any exercise except walking. Yet I’m definitely thinner (and healthier, too: I almost never get colds now).