How does The Traditional Asian Diet work?
It depends – there isn’t one Asian diet. Working with the Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition, Health, and Environment, Oldways, a nonprofit food think tank in Boston, developed a consumer-friendly Asian diet pyramid that revolves around daily consumption of rice, noodles, breads, millet, corn and other whole grains, along with fruits, veggies, legumes, seeds, nuts and vegetable oils. Fish and shellfish (or dairy) are optional each day, and you can have eggs, poultry and something sweet once a week. Red meat is allowed once a month. The pyramid also calls for six glasses of water or tea each day; sake, wine, and beer are OK in moderation. Remember to stay physically active, and you’re set.
Examples of Asian diet veggies and tubers include: bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, bitter melon, bok choy, carrots, eggplant, galangal, leeks, sweet potatoes, taro root, turnips, and yams. Fruits range from apricots, coconut, and mangoes, to rambutan and tangerines. Oldways suggests getting your grains by focusing on barley, dumplings, naan, buckwheat, rice, and noodles (such as soba, somen, rice, and udon). Examples of fish and seafood are abalone, clams, cockles, eel, mussels, and octopus. And don’t forget herbs and spices like amchoor, basil, clove, masala, mint, turmeric, curry leaves, and fennel.
Because this is an eating pattern – not a structured diet plan – you’re on your own to figure out how many calories you should eat to lose or maintain your weight, what you’ll do to stay active, and how you’ll shape your Asian menu.
The Asian diet’s geographical base is broad, spanning Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, among other countries. Each Asian region has its own distinct flavors and cooking styles, but they all share one food in common: rice. It’s a widespread staple, though it’s prepared and eaten differently from place to place. It’s used, for example, as a main ingredient in treats like cake and candy, fermented to make wine or beer, and offered to the Gods to ensure a good harvest.
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