Observations In Asia

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I visited Myanmar and some other surrounding countries and just got back.

The people here are much, much smaller than the USA people. Much shorter, thinner. You NEVER see an overweight person except a tourist.

They eat rice, a bit of fish, some chilies. In some parts, soup is the meal, containing rice noodles, chilies, and some protein but not much.

Some veggies but not a lot. Some cooked greens perhaps.

Fruit is very common and ripe. Very small bananas, papayas, always in season. In season mangos, guavas, dragonfruit. It was dragonfruit season so I ate a lot. It has a lot of seeds that you eat, probably contains a lot of PUFAs, but I doubt they are digested.

Also jackfruit which is just starting to be in season. I don't like these at all.

As far as nutrition...

Babies seldom get milk. They breast feed then eat rice gruel. Only in some parts of Myanmar do babies get some evaporated milk with their rice gruel. There is no dairy industry here to speak of.

PUFAs everywhere. Peanut oil is popular, as is sesame oil, and cheap vegetable (soya) oil. But the people don't eat a lot of that. That's used in restaurant food and presumably food served to guests. The typical diet probably isn't swimming in PUFAs. But they do use these oils at home. A little palm oil but not much. I didn't see palm oil plantations anywhere.

EVERYONE sneezes multiple times a day. LOTS of coughing. People don't seem to be the picture of health here.

And TONS of dental problems. Didn't see too many people with good teeth actually.

TL;DR: in Southeast Asia, low protein, moderate PUFAs, low calorie, small people, coughing and sneezing, bad teeth.
 

FredSonoma

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I just returned from a country in Southeast Asia, where I stayed in a metropolitan city. Diet is somewhat similar to what you said, but there was quite a bit of PUFA. No fat people. Everyone seems very calm and no one seems anxious. Never felt so calm in a crowded subway or street as I did there. People seem very lower serotonin (they don't seem to notice you at all, look very calm, but when you do interact with them they are very friendly). Everyone also seems to have strong thyroid function, hand shakes with people all seemed warm. Very little dairy. Noticed considerably more broad, beautifully shaped bone structures than in America. Also many had noticeably beautiful, bright eyes. Don't think that was surgery, they just look very healthy.

They also wear way more clothes. Will be 65 degree F weather and you will see people in thin down jackets. At first I thought maybe they had lower thyroid function / lower body temperature than me. But I think for some reason their base temperature is higher, and they wear more clothes to sustain that. I literally couldn't wear as much clothes as them, as it made me uncomfortable. I think my body cannot get as warm as theirs without feeling uncomfortable for some reason. If I touched any of them, say, on the arm, they feel extremely warm. Also played basketball with a few kids who were just randomly at the park, and they were extremely good. Well coordinated, fast, never looked tired. I think they expected me to beat them because I am tall and American, but they were considerably better than people I play with here.

Only sort of strange thing I notice is that the men don't seem that masculine and the women don't seem that feminine. It almost seems like their bodies are trading thyroid hormone for sex hormones, which I didn't used to think would make sense. But I wonder if it is just low serotonin behavior, that they are so calm that the males don't exhibit outwards displays of aggression and the women don't exhibit outward displays of sexuality. Not sure though.
 
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InChristAlone

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Thats interesting thanks for sharing! We have Burma refugees here and my husband has many of them where he works. He says they are very good people. And yes short!
 

Pet Peeve

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I noticed an incredible amount of thinning hair in Beijing, both men and women.

I never saw such a prevalence of arcus senilis as in Sri Lanka. People were polite, but a lot of aggression and bitterness under the surface. Their diet is mainly coconut milk and vegetables.
 
OP
ecstatichamster
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They also wear way more clothes. Will be 65 degree F weather and you will see people in thin down jackets. At first I thought maybe they had lower thyroid function / lower body temperature than me. But I think for some reason their base temperature is higher, and they wear more clothes to sustain that. I literally couldn't wear as much clothes as them, as it made me uncomfortable. I think my body cannot get as warm as theirs without feeling uncomfortable for some reason.

Yes I found the same thing. They wore jackets in what would be considered normal "shirt sleeve" weather.

Also agree about the feminine/masculine...
 

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