WHY MOST ORIENTAL PEOPLE ARE SO SKINNY
Most nutritionists recommend a reduction in daily fat intake as a means of maintaining a more healthful diet. Weight-watchers are advised to cut down on the amount of fat they consume each day as a way to reach and maintain their ideal weights. Does fat really make that much difference?
Perhaps the answer to that question can be found in the difference between the typical American and typical Oriental diet and the much higher prevalence of obesity in the U.S. than among Oriental people, such as the Japanese. A typical Japanese diet contains approximately 2,300 kilocalories per day. Fifteen to twenty percent of those calories come from fat, Another thirteen to fifteen percent come from protein, and from sixty-five to seventy percent from carbohydrates (less than 10% from refined sugar).
In America, the typical diet also provides about 2,300 kilocalories per day, but from thirty-eight to forty percent of those calories come from fat. Protein is responsible for twelve to fifteen percent, and the remainder—less than fifty percent—comes from carbohydrates (about 15% from refined sugar).
Besides a diet much lower in fat and sugar, some nutritionists believe that Oriental people get more exercise than most Americans, which could also contribute to their lower incidence of obesity.
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