weight gain automatic in Japan, loss automatic in Europe
Every year I follow the same frustrating pattern: in Japan I gain kilos (about 5), when I go home in summer I loose them-without dieting-in a matter of weeks. In fact, I have to be far more careful of what I eat in Japan to limit the damage. As an example, I just spent the last 10 days in Italy eating sandwiches, pizzas, pasta (all drowned in generous quantities of olive oil), cheeses and ice creams, and drinking beer every day and came back one jeans size thinner. For years I've been trying to understand why this happens, what exactly makes the Japanese diet so bad despite claims to the contrary, and have come to the following conclusions (further suggestions very much welcome):
1) additives. Easily avoided in Europe, additives are present in almost all Japanese foods. They can cause problems such as water retention (especially when the additive is precisely designed to keep a food stuff from drying up- look at shokupan for example, it is so full of bloating chemicals that it won't even toast properly)-obviously if you eat bloating chemicals, you bloat too. Such chemicals are present in a large number of foods such as ham, cheese ,other meats, to make them look fresh (because if they were fresh, they wouldn't be needed). Italian ham is basically just lean pork and salt. (I once received a very luxurious natural Italian ham as a present, and Japanese customs incinerated it because I didn't have an import license-considering the execrable quality of ham in Japan, full of chemicals and sugar, I found this outrageous!)
2) sugar! Aside from deserts, NOTHING in the European diet contains added sugar. In Japan EVERYTHING contains sugar: the sauce on the fish, the rice in the sushi, the mayo in the sandwich (real mayo is made with only olive oil, egg and lemon), the nabe broth, and just about every condiment imaginable. Even bread contains sugar (I keep trying to explain to the Japanese that putting sugar in bread is the equivalent of putting sugar in their bowl of rice every day- the one thing they don't put sugar in!)
3) sweeteners. Anything that doesn't contain sugar contains sweeteners. Recent studies have shown that sweeteners produce much the same effect on the organism as sugar. The body registers the sweetness and interprets it as sugar, so you can gain weight and even get diabetes from too many sweeteners. (I'm not a scientist so if you want details look it up)
4) Fat content. Take the example of pizza. Italian pizza (eaten in all of Europe) uses fresh natural ingredients without additives and relatively low fat cheese (real mozarella is a fresh cheese with a high water content, so the fat content is a relatively low percentage of the whole)-the other ingredients on pizza are mostly fresh veg, sometimes a bit of raw ham(without the stuff that bloats you). Japanese pizza instead uses industrial cheese with a very low water content, so the fat is in far greater concentrations, meaning that for the same amount of cheese you are consuming about 50 percent more fat (that's without including all the other fatty junk they put on top). Not even taking into account all the fried foods (which I don't eat anyway), your regular meat at the supermarket is infinitely fattier than its European counterpart. I've never even once seen a lean filet steak in Japan, not once in 10 years! Bread, again the eternal culprit, contains butter and/or other fats in Japan-no such thing in a real bread (you don't see Japanese putting butter or oil in their gohan, why in bread!)
5) Fattening hormones. I haven't done my research on whether Japanese breeders use fattening hormones or not, but if they do it means that like in the US, ANY beef product you eat or drink (meat, milk, yogurt, cheese) will transmit those fattening hormones to your organism.
6) Insuficient mineral water intake. High mineral content waters, drunk all over Europe, have diuretic properties, thus ridding you of your toxins and water retention (caused by all the other junk you've eaten). Such water is hard to come by in Japan and very pricey; despite springs being abundant in Japan they prefer to use tons of fossil fuels to transport it from Europe, instead of bottling their own.
7) very limited variety of fruit and veg -or too expensive when available : depriving one of many vitamins can cause the urge to binge as the body knows it's lacking.
8) White grains only. Making genmai at home is possible sometimes, but expensive and time consuming. Brown bread and pasta hard to come across and expensive (and probably contain sugar to compensate for being too healthy) The rest of the time (out) one is forced to eat large quantities of high calorie, 0 fiber white rice, bread, noodles. Even soba, which in itself would be healthy, is made with a sugar tainted broth.
9) lack of movement: most European cities are walkable, Japanese ones require public transport. And in summer it's simply too hot to move.
Cooking at home every day is not something everyone has the leisure to do, so unfortunately we rely heavily on ready made foods. In a rush at lunch? Japanese sandwich: almost no veg, white soppy sweetened bread full of additives that bloat you, sweetened ham full of additives that bloat you, heaps of sweetened mayo, butter. Onigiri? a big lump of white rice- ie, empty calories with no fiber, sweetened seaweed (more unnecessary sugar), a tiny filling (no nutrients), which again contains sugar. Swiss sandwich: wholegrain bread (no sugar or fat obviously), lots of veg, sprouts etc, natural cheese, real (olive-oil based) or no mayo. Italian sandwich: fresh bread with no sugar, fat or salt, low fat fresh cheese, tomatoes or rucola, herbs, a slither of olive oil, and absolutely no mayo.
SO don't anyone ever tell me again the Japanese diet is healthy! This is a myth created by the Japanese when comparing themselves to the US, although the US has nothing to envy Japan as regards unhealthy food.
I welcome more examples of why one gets fat in Japan, I'm sure I haven't thought of everything.
Anyone else suffer systematic weight gain in Japan and loss when they go "home"???
1) additives. Easily avoided in Europe, additives are present in almost all Japanese foods. They can cause problems such as water retention (especially when the additive is precisely designed to keep a food stuff from drying up- look at shokupan for example, it is so full of bloating chemicals that it won't even toast properly)-obviously if you eat bloating chemicals, you bloat too. Such chemicals are present in a large number of foods such as ham, cheese ,other meats, to make them look fresh (because if they were fresh, they wouldn't be needed). Italian ham is basically just lean pork and salt. (I once received a very luxurious natural Italian ham as a present, and Japanese customs incinerated it because I didn't have an import license-considering the execrable quality of ham in Japan, full of chemicals and sugar, I found this outrageous!)
2) sugar! Aside from deserts, NOTHING in the European diet contains added sugar. In Japan EVERYTHING contains sugar: the sauce on the fish, the rice in the sushi, the mayo in the sandwich (real mayo is made with only olive oil, egg and lemon), the nabe broth, and just about every condiment imaginable. Even bread contains sugar (I keep trying to explain to the Japanese that putting sugar in bread is the equivalent of putting sugar in their bowl of rice every day- the one thing they don't put sugar in!)
3) sweeteners. Anything that doesn't contain sugar contains sweeteners. Recent studies have shown that sweeteners produce much the same effect on the organism as sugar. The body registers the sweetness and interprets it as sugar, so you can gain weight and even get diabetes from too many sweeteners. (I'm not a scientist so if you want details look it up)
4) Fat content. Take the example of pizza. Italian pizza (eaten in all of Europe) uses fresh natural ingredients without additives and relatively low fat cheese (real mozarella is a fresh cheese with a high water content, so the fat content is a relatively low percentage of the whole)-the other ingredients on pizza are mostly fresh veg, sometimes a bit of raw ham(without the stuff that bloats you). Japanese pizza instead uses industrial cheese with a very low water content, so the fat is in far greater concentrations, meaning that for the same amount of cheese you are consuming about 50 percent more fat (that's without including all the other fatty junk they put on top). Not even taking into account all the fried foods (which I don't eat anyway), your regular meat at the supermarket is infinitely fattier than its European counterpart. I've never even once seen a lean filet steak in Japan, not once in 10 years! Bread, again the eternal culprit, contains butter and/or other fats in Japan-no such thing in a real bread (you don't see Japanese putting butter or oil in their gohan, why in bread!)
5) Fattening hormones. I haven't done my research on whether Japanese breeders use fattening hormones or not, but if they do it means that like in the US, ANY beef product you eat or drink (meat, milk, yogurt, cheese) will transmit those fattening hormones to your organism.
6) Insuficient mineral water intake. High mineral content waters, drunk all over Europe, have diuretic properties, thus ridding you of your toxins and water retention (caused by all the other junk you've eaten). Such water is hard to come by in Japan and very pricey; despite springs being abundant in Japan they prefer to use tons of fossil fuels to transport it from Europe, instead of bottling their own.
7) very limited variety of fruit and veg -or too expensive when available : depriving one of many vitamins can cause the urge to binge as the body knows it's lacking.
8) White grains only. Making genmai at home is possible sometimes, but expensive and time consuming. Brown bread and pasta hard to come across and expensive (and probably contain sugar to compensate for being too healthy) The rest of the time (out) one is forced to eat large quantities of high calorie, 0 fiber white rice, bread, noodles. Even soba, which in itself would be healthy, is made with a sugar tainted broth.
9) lack of movement: most European cities are walkable, Japanese ones require public transport. And in summer it's simply too hot to move.
Cooking at home every day is not something everyone has the leisure to do, so unfortunately we rely heavily on ready made foods. In a rush at lunch? Japanese sandwich: almost no veg, white soppy sweetened bread full of additives that bloat you, sweetened ham full of additives that bloat you, heaps of sweetened mayo, butter. Onigiri? a big lump of white rice- ie, empty calories with no fiber, sweetened seaweed (more unnecessary sugar), a tiny filling (no nutrients), which again contains sugar. Swiss sandwich: wholegrain bread (no sugar or fat obviously), lots of veg, sprouts etc, natural cheese, real (olive-oil based) or no mayo. Italian sandwich: fresh bread with no sugar, fat or salt, low fat fresh cheese, tomatoes or rucola, herbs, a slither of olive oil, and absolutely no mayo.
SO don't anyone ever tell me again the Japanese diet is healthy! This is a myth created by the Japanese when comparing themselves to the US, although the US has nothing to envy Japan as regards unhealthy food.
I welcome more examples of why one gets fat in Japan, I'm sure I haven't thought of everything.
Anyone else suffer systematic weight gain in Japan and loss when they go "home"???
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