In the final instalment of our nutrition blog series, we’re going to assess the commonalities of the diets of the longest living nations and see what we can learn from them.
It is well established now that our nutrition is a key aspect of overall health and is a major risk factor when it comes to heart disease, cancers and metabolic diseases such as diabetes. It stands to reason then that diets are key driver of health outcome measures.
Regional diets have been lauded for some time, with the ‘Mediterranean Diet’ held in high esteem by many. Since the last 90’s attention has turned to Japan and the far eastern diets. When you compare the two (Mediterranean and Far Eastern) diets, there appears to be a clear winner in terms of life expectancy.
According to Worldometers.info, four of the top five nations in terms of longevity are in the far east…
When 80% of the longest living people in the world are from a particular corner of the globe, there must be a commonality there. Whether this is genetics, culture, cuisine etc isn’t immediately clear, so you have to investigate it further - are people from the far east less likely to suffer the ill-effects of poor nutritional choices, ruling out their diet as a key reason for longevity?
The answer is no, they’re just as likely to suffer from poor choices as westerners. Research conducted in 2008 compared American and Japanese people and concluded that the risk of obesity, diabetes and related co-morbidities is the same between the two races.
Further evidence that there is no genetic resistance to lifestyle diseases that naturally occur with the Asian population can be found in this research from the OECD, showing that although the Japanese have made excellent strides in reducing Cardiovascular disease, there are high incidences of end stage kidney disease and circulatory diseases (such as high blood pressure) with their figure suggesting they have a 39% higher than average mortality rate from such disorders.
Now we know that Japanese people aren’t ‘immune’ to the effects of poor lifestyle choices, we can investigate further the nature of their diets and what we can learn from them.
Far Eastern Diets
The commonalities between the far eastern diets are clear - even across the various different cuisines, there are some very obvious similarities between the make up of dishes, the cooking processes, seasonings and the variety of fruit, vegetable and protein sources used.
Here are some of the major commonalities in far eastern cuisine…
Lower calorie cooking methods
Across the major cuisines in the region, there is a lot of steaming, boiling and simmering. Other foods such as fish and vegetables are eaten raw or very lightly cooked. It’s known that heavy cooking and high temperatures can reduce nutrient density of foods, so where possible switching to a healthier cooking method will have significant advantages.
Seasonality and Variety
The variety of ingredients across the regional cuisines is enormous. Seasonal vegetables, a huge variety of seafoods, seaweeds, meats, mushrooms, rice, tubers, legumes, fruit, spices, seasonings and fermented foods are eaten by those in the far east. Eating a wide variety of nutrient-dense, lightly-cooked foods in season is said to improve gut flora and that is known to improve various overall health markets.
Portion Size
The interesting point with far eastern cuisine is that dishes tend to be much smaller than we’re conditioned to eat in the west and meals are often started with a soup or broth, which helps to fill the stomach and reduce the need for larger portions. This is followed with a mixed meal of carbohydrates, fibre and protein.
‘Clean’ Carbohydrates
Rice is the dominant carbohydrate in far eastern cuisine, which is important because it is filling yet easily digestible. It’s less associated with allergies than many grain-based alternatives, is largely unprocessed and has a good nutrient profile. It’s also easy to cook in a healthy way, with steaming, boiling and simmering all used.
Seasonings
In the far east the seasonings are much lower in calories than those we have in the west. Common seasonings include soy sauce, spices, miso, sake, rice wine vinegar, mirin, wasabi, pickling and sauces made with fermented foods. These are significantly lower in calories than the oil-based dressings, sauces and gravies we use in the west.
Snacking
Most of the cultures in the far east don’t have the same snacking habits that we have in the west. Compared to western diets, this will save hundreds of calories per day, which is a lot of saved weight.
What can we Learn from Far Eastern Diets?
There’s an awful lot that we can learn from the food cultures of the far east. Whilst I’m not suggesting that everyone should start living off sushi and tofu, there are lessons to be learned. By adopting a few of the principles for 80-90% of the time, you can enjoy a few drinks and meals out with friends guilt-free!
Here’s the main takeaways (pun intended!)…
Cook differently - instead of frying or roasting something, perhaps pick foods that could be boiled, steamed or flash fried. The calories saved over the course of a year will be huge.
Eat a varied, seasonal diet - challenge yourself to try new things, to mix your foods up and experiment with new flavours. Also shop seasonally - food in season has higher vitamin and mineral density, plus it tastes better.
Get a grip on portion sizes - sounds so obvious, but so many of us get it wrong. Eat as much as you need to eat. Some practitioners say eat until you’re 80% full. That will help!
Cut the snacks down - another obvious one, but snacks are almost always highly-processed, abundant in sugar, fat and salt and rarely offer much in the way of a vitamin and mineral profile.
Far Eastern Diets - Final Thoughts
Given we know that people from the far east don’t have some magical physical make up that protects them from lifestyle diseases, we can attribute their low rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease to their diet and lifestyle. By copying the principles of their diets, we can make ourselves healthier and leaner in the process.
If you’d like some help using these principles to improve your health, contact us on 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Other blogs in our nutrition series…
All About Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss…
The Ketogenic Diet - What, Why and How…
Vegan Eating - The Good, The Bad and The Realities…
An Overview of the Paleo Diet - What You Need to Know…
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness: Arch 457 Robeson St, London E3 4JA
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