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The Asian Food Pyramid
What's on the Menu?
Excerpted from Article
By Linda Rath
Date updated: June 26, 2007
Content provided by Revolution Health Group
"...According to Bonnie Liebman, a nutritionist with the nonprofit Center for
Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Washington, D.C., and co-author of a
2007 report on Chinese restaurant food, your lemon chicken is likely loaded with
calories, sodium and saturated fat more than you'd get in three fried
McChicken sandwiches.
Lost in translation
The problem is that true Asian food hasn't translated very well into English.
The basic vocabulary starch, vegetables, protein is the same, but the
proportions and preparations have changed considerably.
As a result, the American versions of lemon chicken and other popular Chinese
dishes like eggplant in garlic sauce and fried rice are almost certainly
saltier, greasier and ultimately far less good for you than their Far East
counterparts.
That's where the Asian food pyramid comes in. A joint venture of the Harvard
School of Public Health, Cornell University and Oldways Preservation Trust, a
Boston-based food issues think tank, this plan reflects an authentic rural Asian
diet, which includes elements of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and other
regional cuisines.
Hundreds of studies, including the highly regarded China-Cornell-Oxford
Project, have shown that Asians who follow this ancient way of eating have some
of the world's lowest rates of heart
disease, obesity and cancer.
Back to basics
The Asian pyramid emphasizes traditional ingredients and is based on the
Chinese principle of fan and t'sai, an expression of balance and harmony in
food. Ideally, foods like rice, noodles or grains (fan) should make up half of
every meal. The other half (t'sai) should be vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and
small amounts of animal protein.
Here's a closer look at the eating plan from bottom to top:
- Rice, noodles, whole grains. Though millet and wheat are eaten in
some parts of Asia, rice is the tie that binds all Asian cuisines. It
accounts for as much as 80 percent of calories in some diets and, along with
other grains, makes up the majority of the pyramid. But many Asian-American
restaurants get these proportions wrong, says registered dietitian Jennifer
Nelson, director of clinical dietetics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minn. "You know the bowls of rice that are supposed to serve a table of
four? In Asia, that amount would feed just one or two people."
- Vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts. Here's where even American-style
Asian food has a chance to shine: bok choy, cabbage, celery, pea pods,
Chinese broccoli, edamame (soybean), cashews and almonds are all delicious
and spectacularly healthful foods that are proven to help ward off heart
disease and some cancers. In Asia, they're eaten with mounds of rice and,
depending on the culture, pungent, spicy or delicate seasonings. But in the
West, nuts and vegetables typically disappear in thick sauces laced with
"artery-popping" amounts of sodium as much as 1½ times your
daily salt allotment, according to the CSPI report. Like salt, monosodium
glutamate (MSG) is used to enhance food's flavor, but it has become so
controversial that many Asian restaurants have stopped using it or will omit
it on request.
- Vegetable oils. The fat content of most Asian-American food can be
astronomical more than in a burger-and-fries meal thanks to
deep-frying and copious amounts of oil used in sautιing, Nelson says. In
Asia, plants oils are used sparingly.
- Fish and dairy. Fish and shellfish like prawns, scallops and crab
can be eaten daily, but because many Asians are lactose-intolerant, dairy
products are almost never used in Far East cooking.
- Eggs, poultry, sweets. Small amounts are suggested once a week.
Fortune cookies? Strictly an American invention.
- Meat. Because of its high-saturated-fat content and its link to
heart disease and some cancers, red meat is traditionally eaten no more than
once a month. "Yet how often do you order crispy beef?" Nelson
asks.
- Tea, beer, wine, sake. Alcohol is allowed in moderation, but green
tea which contains potent antioxidants that can lower cholesterol
levels, fight heart disease, boost immune function and perhaps even destroy
cancer cells can be sipped with every meal.
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