how do chinese people eat so much rice yet i rarely see an overweight china man?

Question

they are all about 4 ft 1in tall and skinny as bean sproutsHow is that possible when rice is full of carbs?

Answer 1

They actually eat very small portions. The portions they serve at their restaurants are 3 or 4 times more than they actually eat. Those portions were made for us fat Americans. The container of rice that comes with one order is what they'd eat the entire week!

Answer 2

Americans prepare it in an unhealthy manner maybe.

Chinese guys only 4 feet 1 inches tall? Must be very young or something. Anyway.

I think the body gets used to whatever diet you have and then adjusts accordingly. Also helps that many Chinese people do not sit on their couches all day. Or is that a stereotype too? Hmm. The ones I know of are active, but I'm sure there are just as many inactive....

You might want to have carrots with your rice for your eyesight so you can see how tall those "china men" really are.... ;-)

Answer 3

All Chinese of 4 ft 1in tall and skinny? Where did you meet them?

A Chinese man of an average build is 5 ft 8 in tall and certainly not skinny.

It appears you have a limited exposure to Chinese people in a sense that you are surrounded by only a segment of the Chinese not representative of the whole race.

I also used to think all Americans look as good as every male / female model on the diet soda commercials as they are the ones presented to me in the media most often, until I watched the movie "Supersize Me".

Answer 4

It's probably because of their body type. There are 3 body types and each one have different ways of metabolizing the food they eat. Most asian people have an Ectomorph Body which is the more linear of the 3 and require less effort to burn off calories. It is true that rice possess a lot of carbs but then carbs are relatively easy to burn off for the Ectomorph body type.

Ectomorph Body Types are characterised with a thin, linear appearance. They often possess narrow waist, hips and shoulders. The ectomorph also has a low body fat percentage. An Ectomorph body type may be considered lucky to some people because their linear appearance and ultra fast metabolism enables the ectomorph to stay slim even if they eat well, however the downfall is ectomorphs lack shape due to their low muscle weight. Lean muscle weight is what gives us that shapely figure.

Answer 5

I would have to guess that it has to do with the high amount of B-complex vitamins found in rice. It makes causes your metabolism to work faster/better so it could be that it burns the calories more effectively than other carb foods. Also, the Asian diet in general is an equal mixture of vegetables, rice, and meat, so Chinese people aren't necessarily filling up on carbs alone. This is a generalization, of course.

Answer 6

Yes, up until now, Chinese have had the reputation of being very skinny...

However, if you go to China today you will find what the researchers have found--that 25 percent of the children are obese, fat. If you walk the streets of China's larger cities, you will see fat people, and numerous fat "little emperors" (single children family boys who are doted upon by grandparents whose jobs it is to care for the young while parents work, and who feed the children junk food and candy). In a few years I think China will have the same proportion of obese people as the US--about 60 percent of the population...Yes, rice is the main staple in the diet, but to it has been added the most incredible variety of sweets--even their many, many breads are all laden with sugar.

Answer 7

Interesting - this article was in the news just yesterday:

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 3:58 p.m. MT Aug 18, 2006

HONG KONG - Nearly one in every five of China's more than 1.3 billion people are overweight or obese and the problem is getting worse among children, especially boys, according to a study.

The study, to be published in the Aug. 19 issue of the British Medical Journal, found that 10 million children from the ages of 7 to 18 were overweight in 2000, up 28 times from 1985.

Four million children were obese in that same age group in 2000, four times more than in 1985.

Answer 8

Simple -- Chinese people work very hard (the average work day in China is 11 1/2 hours, compared to the U.S. which averages 8 1/2 hours) and they don't stuff themselves like Americans do. Most of us have learned very bad eating habits, myself included. The Chinese usually only have enough food for everyone in the family to get some, but not enough to be completely full (and in many cases not enough to make them healthy and strong).

Answer 9

Up until very recently there were few cars in China. A visit to China would have revealed roads choked with bicycles. With increasing prosperity that will change. Lower levels of activity (more driving, less bike riding) will affect China the same way it has the United States.

Answer 10

LOL. People's ignorance never ceases to amaze me. Chinese people are NOT 4 feet tall. The average is 5'2. However, this generation is closer to 5'10 for males. We don't eat rice ALL the time, we also eat lots of vegetables, chicken and for those who like it, sea food. We also believe in daily exercise, not flopping in front of the television and stuffing our faces. We drink plenty of water, and yes, tea, which is a diuretic.

Answer 11

China man? Chinese person or asian person...
and we are not all 4 ft 1, I am actually 6 ft tall...
They eat rice, but the quantity is small... not like north american portion where it's super sized...