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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Asian Power Lunches
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:59:13 PM)
iet is an area of life in which Asian Americans were once thought to enjoy the pole position. Simply put, Asian foods have been seen as less fattening, less carcinogenic and more nutritious. Since the late sixties Asian staples like tofu, rice, fish and sprouts have been canonized as virtuous alternatives to beef, cheese, white bread and overdressed salads.
In an age when obesity is pandemic and fatty foods have taken on the sinister overtones once associated with dioxin and lead, even the old saw about being hungry an hour later came to sound like a ringing endorsement of Asian restaurants. Indeed, Americans often enter them with the solemn, almost reverent air of terminal patients seeking a cure. Chopsticks are wielded like syringes. Special requests pertaining to MSG, brown rice and animal fats are passed back to the kitchen like prescriptions.
Best Asian power lunches?
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But are Asian meals really E-tickets for gluttons?
A calories-be-damned American-style workaday lunch might consist of two pieces of fried chicken (500 calories and 35 grams of fat), mashed potatoes with gravy (280 cals., 10 grams), 4 ounces of cole slaw (90 calories, 4 grams) and coke (175 calories). Or it might be a personal deep-dish pan pizza with the works (1,000 calories, 57 gr. fat) and a soda (175 calories).
A damn-the-calories Asian lunch might consist of 10 ounces of boolgoki (650 calories, 30 gr. fat), bowl of short-grain white rice (270 calories), side dishes of pickled vegetables, egg and fish (about 150 calories, 5 gr. fat), bowl of radish soup (40 calories, 2 gr.) and a cup of corn tea (3 calories). An alternative might be a 3-item combo platter of, say, 5 ounces of pepper chicken (250 calories, 11 gr.), 6 ounces of country-style tofu (230 calories, 12 gr.), 8 ounces of fried rice (310 calories, 8 gr.), a fortune cookie (25 cals.) and tea (0 cals.).
In our examples, the Asian lunches contain 35% less fat and 14% fewer calories.
Once upon a time that would have been enough to win raves from nutritionists. No more. The onus is shifting from calories and fat to glycemic index (GI). High GI foods are those that break down rapidly into blood sugar. Under the GI regime, Asian cuisine is suspect because of its reliance on white rice. Despite being a fat-free complex carbohydrate, it metabolizes rather quickly into glucose. A jump in blood sugar levels triggers a surge of insulin, a hormone that tells cells to soak up excess glucose for conversion into glycogen, the precursor to fat. For this reason, high GI foods are now being blamed for obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.
The GI of white rice is as high as that of white bread and donuts, making it an even more potent insulin trigger than baked potatoes, whole wheat bread, most kinds of bagels or even angel food cake. The answer, exhort nutritionists, is to eat more hi-fiber carbohydrates like brown rice and barley, both of which also contain an abundance of the B-complex vitamins lacking in traditional Asian diets. Unfortunately, most people find these substitutes to be as appetizing as bran flakes. Some experts even urge salvation in high-protein-low-carbo diets, precisely the regimen we've been shooed away from the last four decades.
Are we holding our breaths waiting for resolution of the carbs-vs-protein debate?
Hardly. We turn instead to a huge panel of experts who have dedicated their mealtimes to clinically testing every Asian dish from daengjang-chigae to thom yum goong. That would be you.
What are your favorite Asian power lunches, the dishes that may not satisfy the ascendant nutritional dogma but do satisfy your tastebuds and, what's more, leave you feeling juiced and beatific.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
TK CHANG,
You have a good point in stating that Asian foods lack the nutrients needed for building muscles. It is even more evident when you compare the size of Northern Chinese to Southern Chinese.
Northern Chinese, who are mostly meat eaters due to the colder weather are 3-4 inches taller on average and tend to have more muscles even with the lack of food up there. So when you see a tall Chinese man, he would most likely come from the North side of Asia.
I hear you, TK.
Friday, November 08, 2002 at 14:18:05 (PST)
[68.96.110.59]
If you've read any books on working out and weight lifting (which I have been,) then you would have known that gaining 5-lbs per month is about right. And the weight I've been gaining comes from "quality" muscles, meaning they are MUSCLES and NOT fat. Since I've been gaining weight 5-lbs per month, my body fat has actually dropped from 8% to 7%, so that's QUALITY weight gain.
RIGHT amounts of protein is healthy for your body. I measure my daily intake of protein, so I'm sure my protein and carb intake is at a healthy level. However, right now my daily protein intake is so much HIGHER than what a regular Asian diet could have provided. Is that unhealthy? By the way, I had been losing hairs when I was eating Asian foods daily, which were low in protein (well, low in everything.) I went to see a hair transplant specialist (who had a medical degree in PhD,) and he gave me that my reason for my hair loss: I WAS NOT HAVING ENOUGH PROTEIN. Since I've switched over to a non-Asian diet, I've actually stopped losing hair.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, I can actually FEEL that I am eating healthier.
Now, I'm obsessed with gaining muscles (I am what people call a "hard gainer".) So I've been voraciously reading books on NUTRITIONS and DIETS in order to maximize my gain. I've been doing my research (and I have a specialized degree in a research field,) so I know quite a bit what's good for my body and what's not. As for you, you really need to read something about nutrions before you give out health and diet advice. Please do NOT let your bias clouds your judgement and the advices you give out (e.g., Asian foods are good, American foods are bad, our foods are superior than theirs... geez.)
I admit: Asian foods are certainly delicious and hard to resist. I had to go through a difficult mental battle in order to give up eating Asian foods dialy. But the fact remains: Asian foods are just NOT too nutritious. For example: Americans usually eat their vegetables RAW (with dressing,) which is actually the BEST way to eat vegetables. Do you know how much nutrients Asians lose by stir frying and cooking and overcooking their vegetables? Do you know fried rice is mostly EMPTY calories? Stir frying is perhaps the most common way to cook Asian food, and I can tell you stir frying is also one of the most unhealthy way to cook foods.
Also, if you are into weight lifting and building a sexy body, there is NO WAY you can get all your daily requirement of protein from foods. You have to use protein powders and supplements. If you are into bodybuilding (not professionally), you need at least 300g of protein daily just to break even (and that's about the average for most serious gym goers.) Do you know how much FOODS you have to eat in order to get that much protein?
300g of Protein is Equal to:
50 oz of canned tuna, or
38oz of chicken breast (that equals about seven 6-oz breasts)
43oz of lean ground beef (about 2.7 pounds of meat).
50 large whole eggs (oh yeah, and that's with 250g of saturated fat!)
100 egg whites!!!
Give me a break. No normal people can eat that much food.
T'K Chang
t_k_chang@yahoo.com
Thursday, November 07, 2002 at 21:30:06 (PST)
[207.167.96.143]
T'K Chang,
It's not my business, but your weight gains are scaring me. Five pounds in a month? There's no way that kind of gain is quality muscle and even less way that can be good for your health. I'm really concerned about your kidneys and heart. Trying to metabolize that much raw protein and calories day after day could do some serious damage. I would also worry about the increased odds of developing cancers.
Me, I have fish, chicken, meat and/or eggs for breakfast and lunch but little or none for dinner. That gives my digestive system and kidneys a break while giving me all the protein I need for energy and bodybuilding during the day.
Proud 2 b Azn (AM) has an aggressive but more sensible approach to nutrition and bodybuilding. By the way, chicks have told me that they are repulsed by guys with bulky extreme-V torsos, especially if they come with normal legs. I have a V too, but it's tapered more gracefully and my six-pack ripples every time I take a breath. Can you dig it?
DDL
Tuesday, November 05, 2002 at 10:44:34 (PST)
[12.36.118.87]
T'K Chang,
It's true that Asian foods don't contain as much protein as American diets. Honestly though...you don't need to shovel down large quantities of beef and egg whites to get your protein. In fact in the long run that would worse for your health. To much protein isn't good for you. Even if your working out you should stick with the right portions for your body. I'd consult a nutritionist if you want to get serious about it.
I've found that a lot of it is from how you work out as well. I'd say I'm bigger then your average Asian guy. I work out 2-3 hours a day. I'm not a juice monkey. I don't take protein powders or anything along those lines. When I'm trying to gain mass I do heavy weight with typically 6-8 reps...but I practically kill myself with the last rep. I'll do chest and arms one day...then shoulders and triceps the next...then back and legs the last day...take a day off and start the cycle over again. I'll do 5-6 (depending on the muscle group) excersises of 3 sets each for every muscle group with at most a couple minutes between each set. Typically every 6 months i'll take a week off from working out...during that time I usually gain a lot of muscle because of the rest. I find a lot of it depends on your body type as well though...
DDL,
"the chicks mostly like the lean ripped look much better than that piano mover type physique"
It really depends on muscle proportions and how you carry that muscle as well. Personally, I don't typically have problems with getting looks and stares. From the women that I've talked to they don't like guys who are skinny and really ripped but they don't like guys that are excessively bulky either. They usually like something in between.
Proud 2 b Azn (AM)
Monday, November 04, 2002 at 22:37:45 (PST)
[64.228.63.173]
By the way, I don't want to be just lean and ripped. I aim to to be BIG and MUSCULAR and have a V-SHAPE PHYSIQUE (with all the packed ads and good stuff.)
I know, I'm just vain! :P
T'K Chang
Monday, November 04, 2002 at 21:21:06 (PST)
[207.167.96.14]
EGG WHITE is actually the best source of protein. Eating eggs in large quantity is not exactly the typical Asian diet.
The best source of complex protein is COTTAGE CHEESE. Asians do not eat cheese (not in our custom, anyway.) Nowadays, I eat cottage cheese many times every day just so I can get good protein.
I also supplement my diet with WHEY PROTEIN POWDER and meal supplements. I also use CREATINE powders.
I've already substituted white rice with BROWN RICE. I only eat WHOLE WHEAT pastas and breads.
Also, I eat POTATOES--LOTS OF 'EM! In fact, nowadays I eat more potatoes than rice. Potatoes are the best source of healthy carbs. Now, we all know that the typical Asian does not eat too much potatoes.
For chickens, I eat only thighs and breasts. They are high in protein. I eat Salmon and Tuna because they are source of protein, creatine, and all sorts of good acids.
Let just face it: Asian foods taste yummy, but they are just not good for building bodies. When I first started lifting weights, I continued to eat Asian foods daily. I was able to tone the muscle I was gaining mass VERY SLOWLY (about 1-2 pounds every other months or so.) It's only AFTER I had adjusted my diet that I was able to gain an average 5 pounds of pure muscles per month. I had to give up Asian foods and switch over to a more "American" diet. Now I eat 5 meals and 2 supplements a day. I carefully keep track of the calories, protein, carbs, and fat for every thing I eat.
Now, I still love Asian foods (and country French and Mediterranean.) But I know those foods just don't provide the nutritions, proteins, creatine, amino acids, and all the other good stuff I need to build mass. Nowadays, I only eat traditional good-tasting Asian foods on Sunday--that's my day off from working out!
T'K Chang
Monday, November 04, 2002 at 21:17:36 (PST)
[207.167.96.14]
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