Really? In Brunei? Haha.. Well.. since its Ramadan, where food are in abundance, I thought I just want to post this article for all of us to read and ponder. I am not at all surprise with the statistic, especially during this Ramadan month, people in Brunei LOVES to eat! I don’t have the latest statistic but the most recent ones were saying around 45 % of adult females and males are overweight here. Very telling. I don’t think it would be much difference on the statistic anyway. Food is such an integral part of everyday life here, which is very true. Where ever you go, its food and more food. Food business flourishes here. There are even many food blogs!
Why does this happen? I think its in our culture. In the old days, people perceptions are, if you are fat then you are healthy, lol. We used to be eating a lot. Even when we were young. I remember when I was little, my mom forced me to eat and finished everything on my plate. She will chase us around with food if we didn’t want any. Those habits now becoming a lifestyle where we just couldn’t live without good food. I wish my mom didn’t have to do that! Even in Islam we are taught to eat moderately and not to indulge oneself to the maximum. But still no body or less people listen and practice this. I think its time for a wake up call.
Just look at Japan, they only have 3% obesity rate. I never been to Japan but I know from tv or movies, most of them are so slim. You wont be able to see fat people walking away. Except for the sumo wrestlers, who are a minority and eat differently from others in their culture.
And here are some interesting facts I found from the internet on Japanese eating habits.
The Japanese generally eat twice as much fish as they do meat. Salmon, sardines and tuna are high in good fat. I actually love fish but we don’t seem to get more of that, for obvious reason, no time to go to the market lol. I wish I could eat more fish though.
Japan is a veggie nation. They eat lots and lots of vegetables. I can take vegetables more these days, not like in my younger days, I didn’t like it very much. But now I know all the benefits of taking vegetables so I am trying to eat more of them. And I love salad but unfortunately with lots of mayo dressing! Ayang doesn’t like vegetables very much, just like me when I was her age, which is very bad, but hubby is a vegetable lover and it shows!
Japan eats rice. We do too, but in abundance. I found that rice is a good carbohydrate from my reading. Even though they eat white rice. We don’t take much rice anyway but I think our problem is more to the way the food are cooked.
Portion size & Speed. Japan has smaller portion sizes generally and eating with chopsticks slows them down. All those vegetables takes more time to chew too. I try to keep my portion sizes down but sometimes its so hard to control when we are eating out. I know that I shouldn’t take lots of food during dinner time but this is the time when I am really feeling tired and beat and eating seems to take care of that. It’s a struggle everyday to control what I eat at dinner time.
Dessert: The Japanese usually have fruit for dessert. At home we don’t do dessert but when eating out, we do have lots of dessert choices, most loaded with sugar. That's what makes them taste so good, hahaha. But I don’t eat any cakes, ice cream, soft drinks in a regular basis but still the weight didn’t come off as fast as I wanted.
Variety: The Japanese do not eat the same things every day. They eat 30 different foods a day and 100 different foods a week! All those different vegetables add up. I don’t think we practice the same here. We eat mostly the same thing every day although I try to vary the food but its not easy.
Finally, here's the biggest difference of all: the main drink. Japan drinks Green Tea. What do we drink in Brunei? Teh tarik, what else? People gulp on soft drinks, Air Bandung, Milo Pink! All loaded with milk or sugar. But I do love green tea. I drink it as frequent as I can, its really not that bad. At least I do have something in common with the Japanese, lol…
So there… interesting stuff. Make me think definitely. And I think if we can follow these habit together with other factors such as do regular exercise, reduce stress level, I am sure we all can achieve our ideal weight! How I wish........
Why does this happen? I think its in our culture. In the old days, people perceptions are, if you are fat then you are healthy, lol. We used to be eating a lot. Even when we were young. I remember when I was little, my mom forced me to eat and finished everything on my plate. She will chase us around with food if we didn’t want any. Those habits now becoming a lifestyle where we just couldn’t live without good food. I wish my mom didn’t have to do that! Even in Islam we are taught to eat moderately and not to indulge oneself to the maximum. But still no body or less people listen and practice this. I think its time for a wake up call.
Just look at Japan, they only have 3% obesity rate. I never been to Japan but I know from tv or movies, most of them are so slim. You wont be able to see fat people walking away. Except for the sumo wrestlers, who are a minority and eat differently from others in their culture.
And here are some interesting facts I found from the internet on Japanese eating habits.
The Japanese generally eat twice as much fish as they do meat. Salmon, sardines and tuna are high in good fat. I actually love fish but we don’t seem to get more of that, for obvious reason, no time to go to the market lol. I wish I could eat more fish though.
Japan is a veggie nation. They eat lots and lots of vegetables. I can take vegetables more these days, not like in my younger days, I didn’t like it very much. But now I know all the benefits of taking vegetables so I am trying to eat more of them. And I love salad but unfortunately with lots of mayo dressing! Ayang doesn’t like vegetables very much, just like me when I was her age, which is very bad, but hubby is a vegetable lover and it shows!
Japan eats rice. We do too, but in abundance. I found that rice is a good carbohydrate from my reading. Even though they eat white rice. We don’t take much rice anyway but I think our problem is more to the way the food are cooked.
Portion size & Speed. Japan has smaller portion sizes generally and eating with chopsticks slows them down. All those vegetables takes more time to chew too. I try to keep my portion sizes down but sometimes its so hard to control when we are eating out. I know that I shouldn’t take lots of food during dinner time but this is the time when I am really feeling tired and beat and eating seems to take care of that. It’s a struggle everyday to control what I eat at dinner time.
Dessert: The Japanese usually have fruit for dessert. At home we don’t do dessert but when eating out, we do have lots of dessert choices, most loaded with sugar. That's what makes them taste so good, hahaha. But I don’t eat any cakes, ice cream, soft drinks in a regular basis but still the weight didn’t come off as fast as I wanted.
Variety: The Japanese do not eat the same things every day. They eat 30 different foods a day and 100 different foods a week! All those different vegetables add up. I don’t think we practice the same here. We eat mostly the same thing every day although I try to vary the food but its not easy.
Finally, here's the biggest difference of all: the main drink. Japan drinks Green Tea. What do we drink in Brunei? Teh tarik, what else? People gulp on soft drinks, Air Bandung, Milo Pink! All loaded with milk or sugar. But I do love green tea. I drink it as frequent as I can, its really not that bad. At least I do have something in common with the Japanese, lol…
So there… interesting stuff. Make me think definitely. And I think if we can follow these habit together with other factors such as do regular exercise, reduce stress level, I am sure we all can achieve our ideal weight! How I wish........
Hubby was too full he couldnt even open his eyes haha.
