Half of Taiwanese are overweight - really?

thejakartapost.com/news/2012 … eight.html

Half of Taiwanese are overweight? Which half? Must be the males, because the females appear to be thin.

Is this body mass index all its made out to be though.

Obesity in Taiwanese children is a big problem. It is reaching worrisome proportions. Worst, with all the myths surrounding exercise and weight loss, I cannot foresee a solution, but rather the problem getting worse.

man, yesterday I went to this ghost festival baipei stuff with the family and my gf little cousins… they were not only fat… they were super fat… and they didn’t stop eating for 3 hours! One of them said he is full but his mom pushed im to eat more Aiyu Jelly and just 2 hours later we went for BBQ at the beach, where they kept eating everything… and there was nothing healthy to eat there… just fat meat and soft drinks.

there are a lot of people who appear to be of normal size, but it is just that they have a tiny frame. Underneath its man boobies and love handles.

When they say “overweight” I guess they’re really talking about bodyfat ratio. BMI is just a rule-of-thumb thing that tells you something about more hard-to-measure things, like how much the person exercises.

A lot of skinny girls are “skinny-fat” because they never do anything more strenuous than lifting their handbag (and not even that, if they’ve got a bf to do it for them). Most men are nerdy types who sit in a blue cubicle all day working on their atherosclerosis and man-boobies. As Icon says, what with all the myths surrounding diet and exercise, and Taiwan’s inherently unhealthy lifestyles, it’s unlikely to get better. And yes, it does seem to be mostly the kids. I’ve heard that fat kids, in Chinese culture, are considered cute and a sign of a wealthy family; there’s that “face” thing again.

OTOH I can’t believe it’s 50%. The US is only, what, 60%?

Well if it keeps up like this they will qualify to be “Americans” soon :laughing: May as well give em passports (and charge em all TAXES so they can really know what its like to be an American. Thank you very much) .

Reading the article slower now I see a few problematic areas:

[quote]In Taiwan, people with a BMI of 24 are considered overweight and at “moderate risk” of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

While the World Health Organization has suggested a BMI of 25 be used as a cut-off point for overweight, Asian countries tend to adopt a lower value because Asians have a significantly higher percentage of body fat for the same BMI when compared to Caucasian populations.
[/quote]
Ah, that special Asian redesign of health measurements… sigh

[quote]Said Chiou: “Westerners used to call us the sick man of East Asia. Now, we’re fast becoming the fat man of Asia.”

[/quote]
:wall: Not this again!

[quote]Eating habits aside, the exercise rate in Taiwan is among the lowest in Asia. Only 31 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women exercise at least three times a week.

[/quote]
Finally, the real culprit is nailed at the end and given less space than any of them other reasons.

In the US it’s “only” 69% of adults who are overweight or obese. Read about it here: theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

IMO, and generally speaking, asian people have narrower bone structure, so they appear thinner than western people. Having said that, I think that their metabolism is cranked up or something like that, because I know of some cases that can eat lots and lots of food and still be thin as a wire. Not many cases like that, though.

About that behaviour that milkalex said… traditionally, in Spain, the fat kids were considered “cute”, mainly because after the civil war in 1936-39, everyone looked like a twig, and the few who were “fat” were proof of that family’s wealth or simply the ability to feed the children. After the 60’s, when european countries began to invest on factories in Spain, people had more money, they could eat better, and they kept the trend, so most of the people that didn’t do physical labour were overweight or obese. Most grandmas for my generation always overfed their grandsons and granddaughters, simply because “they had to eat” (I know about that, on my first college year, I ate at my grandma’s, and she overfed me badly… I gained about 20 Kg in 9 months… terrible, really).

Before coming to Taiwan, I worked in Spain as a Safety&Health manager for a construction company, and I saw some of the company workers to gain 10-15 Kg in summer, when they had one month of vacation. When they came back to work, their bosses pushed them to work hard, so they lost that weight in another month or two. But the point is, even when they didn’t have to work, they kept eating just the same. Men (and women) are creatures of habit.

When you are hard-wired to eat as much as you can by your parents and grandparents, you keep doing so even if it’s unhealthy. You have to ignore that need. And that’s very, VERY difficult. I’ve been trying for years now, and it’s very difficult to make all the “bacon belt” to go away…

Its definitely skinny fat. I see very few women (and men) sweat at the gym. Before kids, my bmi was 15 and i worked out up to my seventh month with my first. I went back to working out at eight weeks post partum after my third and last kid, who is three months now.

Theres not a lot of cardio going on here, and its cardio that sheds fat.

[quote=“914”]Its definitely skinny fat. I see very few women (and men) sweat at the gym. Before kids, my bmi was 15 and i worked out up to my seventh month with my first. I went back to working out at eight weeks post partum after my third and last kid, who is three months now.

Theres not a lot of cardio going on here, and its cardio that sheds fat.[/quote]

Well, I agree on the skinny fat part, at least. We get lots of Taiwanese that have so little muscle that even simple movements are hard for them to execute. I tried to teach 3 TV station workers in their early 20’s (all men) some basic fitness moves a few weeks ago and they couldn’t do any of them. My 40 year old wife could out lift and outrun them in anything because she works out hard and regularly. Many of the Taiwanese we see have very soft, doughy bodies and these young guys were no exception. The havoc that will wreck on their health is enormous but they were totally clueless.

It’s a myth that cardio efficiently burns fat, even though it’s technically correct. The problems are many but cardio does nothing to increase lean mass – muscle that is needed to burn calories and insure quality of movement. Also by relying on cardio alone, you’ll have to do a ton of it to burn calories. It’s not really the most efficient way to do it.

Absolutely. It’s possibly more accurate to say that hard work burns fat - or rather, makes sure you don’t store it in the first place.

I have personally found one, and only one way of getting rid of bodyfat (carbohydrate restriction) but that’s beside the point: anyone who spends their days doing strenuous manual labour is less likely to get fat in the first place, whatever they eat. It’s simplistic to say that’s because they’re “burning calories” - that’s just the reductionist, pseudoscientific view that results in people driving to the gym, doing the hamster-on-a-wheel thing for a couple of hours, and driving home again. Humans muscles need to be used, and ‘modern’ lifestyles don’t allow us to do that.

[quote=“finley”]
Absolutely. It’s possibly more accurate to say that hard work burns fat - or rather, makes sure you don’t store it in the first place.

I have personally found one, and only one way of getting rid of bodyfat (carbohydrate restriction) but that’s beside the point: anyone who spends their days doing strenuous manual labour is less likely to get fat in the first place, whatever they eat. It’s simplistic to say that’s because they’re “burning calories” - that’s just the reductionist, pseudoscientific view that results in people driving to the gym, doing the hamster-on-a-wheel thing for a couple of hours, and driving home again. Humans muscles need to be used, and ‘modern’ lifestyles don’t allow us to do that.[/quote]

It depends on what you do, and don’t forget that too much protein takes a toll on your kidneys … a balanced diet is the best, combined with excercise (cardio and power). And it doesn’t need to be complicated and/or in a gym! At home you can do a lot and if you live close to the mountains it’s even easier and needs only 45 min a day, tops. If you like a gym, go for it, if you like to play badminton or another ‘team’ sport, go for it.

The biggest point is ‘restricting’ the calories you eat … they have to reflect your daily need. No matter if they come from protein or carbs or fat … or the time of day. Preferably, they need to be spread over the day. My diet, carbs in the morning, mixed (crabs-protein) for lunch and mostly protein at night, not too late tho. Fat is spread out during the day.

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Youre the expert, Formosa Fitness! I am just making an observation that in the gym, i dont see much cardio going on. I see a lot of walking on the treadmill watching soap operas and news shows, because its too hot to walk outside. Of course there are a lot of other factors to shed fat, i wont argue that, including breastfeeding, pumping, limiting caloric intake, cutting down carbs, diet, lifestyle changes.

I wonder if the weather and air quality also play a small role in people not wanting to be active? It affects me, thats for sure. Of course, it could also be the work hours. By the time ppl get home, theyre too tired to exercise.

[quote=“914”]Youre the expert, Formosa Fitness! I am just making an observation that in the gym, I don’t see much cardio going on. I see a lot of walking on the treadmill watching soap operas and news shows, because its too hot to walk outside. Of course there are a lot of other factors to shed fat, i wont argue that, including breastfeeding, pumping, limiting caloric intake, cutting down carbs, diet, lifestyle changes.

I wonder if the weather and air quality also play a small role in people not wanting to be active? It affects me, thats for sure. Of course, it could also be the work hours. By the time people get home, theyre too tired to exercise.[/quote]

Walking (brisk) is cardio!

[quote=“Belgian Pie”][quote=“finley”]
Absolutely. It’s possibly more accurate to say that hard work burns fat - or rather, makes sure you don’t store it in the first place.

I have personally found one, and only one way of getting rid of bodyfat (carbohydrate restriction) but that’s beside the point: anyone who spends their days doing strenuous manual labour is less likely to get fat in the first place, whatever they eat. It’s simplistic to say that’s because they’re “burning calories” - that’s just the reductionist, pseudoscientific view that results in people driving to the gym, doing the hamster-on-a-wheel thing for a couple of hours, and driving home again. Humans muscles need to be used, and ‘modern’ lifestyles don’t allow us to do that.[/quote]

I wasn’t suggesting people ought to live on carbohydrate-restricted diets - quite the opposite. I was simply pointing out that if you live a sedentary lifestyle, it’s the only thing that “works”. It is, however, no substitute for an active lifestyle and a balanced diet (as you said). It’s just a useful emergency fix.

A 45 min. brisk uphill/downhill walk where you take your heart rate to around 120-140 BPM ( for some it’s already slightly running) followed by 15 minutes power, crunches, push-ups, sit-ups will do wonders.

Even at a steeper downhill you use more energy than just on the flat.

The guys are often a lot heavier than they look. You’d be surprised at the number of 100kg+ guys you meet who disguise the weight amazingly well on such a small natural frame.

I find the figures difficult to believe with the women, though. They are generally tiny.

BMI can be a poor indicator for how fat a person is. When i started school here my health check said i was moderately obese. After that i gained a couple of kilos and found out i had 11% body fat. Not exactly impressive, but far from obese.

Actually there’s no scientific evidence of that. It’s an old wives tale perpetuated by vegan groups.

Actually the thermic effect of protein synthesis is about 20-25% of the calories burned.http://www.jacn.org/content/23/5/373.full
In other words, you burn 20-25% of protein calories just by digesting it, much more than carbs. And fat seems to have no thermic effect. That means you can eat more protein calories for a lower caloric cost. So if you eat 1000 calories of protein, you’ll likely only absorb 800 calories from it. Pretty cool, eh?

Yeah, you don’t see much of anything going on, do you? Most of the gyms here seem to be places for unemployed people to hang out in. That’s one reason why at Formosa Fitness we don’t have chairs. :smiley:

Yeah, BMI is a poor way to measure fitness as this GIF shows:

But let’s be honest and admit there aren’t too many Taiwanese that look like the left!

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