oolala53 wrote:
Also, it's been shown many times that immigrants who come from countries where they were originally slim fatten up when they live on our shores for a few years.
That's true. but as citizens of many of these countries become a little more affluent and as American foods, restaurants and eating habits move into other countries, the obesity levels in these countries is rising sharply. In places where obesity was rare two decades ago, it's now common. A friend just had me watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth on YouTube. The speaker said that bariatric surgery for
children is now becoming common in Japan, China and Korea. Two decades ago obesity was rare in those countries.
A few years ago I read that scientists measured the levels of health of the people in one village in Japan and citizens from that village who had emigrated to the U.S. Most of those who had emigrated to the U.S. had settled in one general area in California, I think. All of those who had emigrated and adopted the American way of eating were heavier and less healthy than the people who remained in their village in Japan.
Over 35 years ago Dr. John McDougall worked as the physician on a sugar plantation in Hawaii. Many of the workers were people who had emigrated from Japan, China and the Philippines. He noted that the elders who maintained their traditional diets were slim, healthy and active well into old age. Their children and grandchildren, who adopted American ways of eating, were not only significantly heavier but also less healthy at far younger ages than their elders.
Michael Pollan wrote:"FACT 1. Populations that eat a so-called Western diet -- generally
defined as a diet consisting of lots of processed foods and meat, lots
of added fat and sugar, lots of refined grains, lots of everything
except vegetables, fruits, and whole grains -- invariably suffer from
high rates of the so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes,
cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Virturally all of the obesity and
type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of the cardiovascular disease and more than
a third of all cancers can be linked to this diet. Four of the top ten
killers in America are chronic diseases linked to this diet. The
arguments in nutritional science are not about this well-established
link; rather, they are all about identifying the culprit nutrient in
the Western diet that might be responsible for chronic diseases. Is it
the saturated fat or the refined carbohydrates or the lack of fiber or
transfats or omega-6 fatty acids -- or what? The point is that, as
eaters, (if not as scientists), we know all we need to know to act:
This diet, for whatever reason, is the problem.
"FACT 2. Populations eating a remarkably wide range of traditional
diets generally don't suffer from these chronic diseases. These diets
run the gamut from ones very high in fat (the Inuit in Greenland
subsist largely on seal blubber) to ones high in carbohydrates (Central
American Indians subsist largely on maize and beans) to ones very high
in protein (Masia tribesmen in Africa subsist chiefly on cattle blood,
meat, and milk), to cite three rather extreme examples. But much the
same holds true for more mixed traditional diets. What this suggests
is that there is no single human diet but that the human omnivore is
exquisitely adapted to a wide range of different foods and a variety of
different diets. Except, that is, for one: the relatively new (in
evolutionary terms) Western diet that most of us now are eating. What
an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the
one diet that reliably makes it people sick! (While it is true that we
generally live longer than people used to, or than people on some
traditional cultures do, most of our added years owe to gains in infant
mortality and child health, not diet.)
Old joke:
Is Speaking English Bad for Your Health?
The Chinese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or Americans.
The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or Americans.
The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or Americans.
The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or Americans.
The Latinos eat lots of Chilli and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Australians or American
CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is what kills you.