A note on food and stuff..
As a number of my friends will testify I have long had a 'thing' for oriental women. Let me tell you, being in China is doing nothing to help me. The Chinese are a very well put together race; everywhere you look there is olive skin, almond eyes, tall delicate bodies, slim well-toned limbs and pert attractive derrieres... And that is just the men! Te-he :).
This is very definitely the land of the pretty people. Obesity is virtually non-existent as far as I can tell and when you do see someone who has had 'more than their share of the pies' they stick out like a beacon. We hit China proper around two weeks ago now and, having adopted a predominantly Chinese style diet since, I am gaining some insight into why this may be the case. For a week or so I have started pretty much every day with a healthy dose of stomach cramps. I am kind of hoping I have an unwanted passenger who will respond to a heavy handed antibiotic hint, cos the alternative is an intolerance of the food. The latter is not inconceivable, however, because Chinese food consists largely of high levels of protein, fat, spice and lashings of MSG. Carbs are something of a rarity. Contrary to the British image of Chinese food, rice is often served here as an optional extra or simply to cleanse the palette at the end of a meal.
Boil this down and you realise that the majority of China is apparently on the Atkins diet, which goes a long way to explaining their slim physiques.
Whether you appreciate Chinese food or not, however, it was with dismay upon entering the main square of Xian that I was greeted by a double whammy of super-sized golden arches. I normally avoid MacDonalds like a particularly virulent plague, it not being my preference to eat cardboard food. I have to hold my hand up, though, and say that for the last two days, in an effort to quell the fire in my gut through the consumption of something bland, I have broken my self imposed embargo and passed within the sphere of the golden M.
MacDonalds' on-going conquest of the civilised world is, I guess unstoppable, and it is inevitable that shortly behind it will follow the inexorable wobble of thousands of cellulite encrusted arses. It is, I think, a tragic indictment that, more than anything else, it may be a fast-food inspired obesity problem that signifies China's arrival as a truly 'developed' nation. Certainly I saw more 'fat kids' within the 100m^2 of Maccer's floor space than I have seen in most of the rest of China. Hmmmm.
For my own part this trip has been a diet revolution. I have spent most of the past year or so before this trip trying in vain to reach 14 and a half stone, a weight that I have not seen since I turned 23, or there abouts. It was with some considerable delight, therefore, that in Lhasa I came across some scales and discovered that since leaving home I have dropped nearly 8 kg, putting me at 88kg for the first time since long ago saying a sad farewell to my teens.
Considering that I have spent the last 5 months more or less stuffing everything I can get my hands on down my throat, sitting inactive on the back of a truck for days at a time, drinking more beer than I have consumed in years, and generally throwing culinary caution to the wind, this result is something of a coup.
Forget Weight Watchers. Join the Exodus diet plan!
As a number of my friends will testify I have long had a 'thing' for oriental women. Let me tell you, being in China is doing nothing to help me. The Chinese are a very well put together race; everywhere you look there is olive skin, almond eyes, tall delicate bodies, slim well-toned limbs and pert attractive derrieres... And that is just the men! Te-he :).
This is very definitely the land of the pretty people. Obesity is virtually non-existent as far as I can tell and when you do see someone who has had 'more than their share of the pies' they stick out like a beacon. We hit China proper around two weeks ago now and, having adopted a predominantly Chinese style diet since, I am gaining some insight into why this may be the case. For a week or so I have started pretty much every day with a healthy dose of stomach cramps. I am kind of hoping I have an unwanted passenger who will respond to a heavy handed antibiotic hint, cos the alternative is an intolerance of the food. The latter is not inconceivable, however, because Chinese food consists largely of high levels of protein, fat, spice and lashings of MSG. Carbs are something of a rarity. Contrary to the British image of Chinese food, rice is often served here as an optional extra or simply to cleanse the palette at the end of a meal.
Boil this down and you realise that the majority of China is apparently on the Atkins diet, which goes a long way to explaining their slim physiques.
Whether you appreciate Chinese food or not, however, it was with dismay upon entering the main square of Xian that I was greeted by a double whammy of super-sized golden arches. I normally avoid MacDonalds like a particularly virulent plague, it not being my preference to eat cardboard food. I have to hold my hand up, though, and say that for the last two days, in an effort to quell the fire in my gut through the consumption of something bland, I have broken my self imposed embargo and passed within the sphere of the golden M.
MacDonalds' on-going conquest of the civilised world is, I guess unstoppable, and it is inevitable that shortly behind it will follow the inexorable wobble of thousands of cellulite encrusted arses. It is, I think, a tragic indictment that, more than anything else, it may be a fast-food inspired obesity problem that signifies China's arrival as a truly 'developed' nation. Certainly I saw more 'fat kids' within the 100m^2 of Maccer's floor space than I have seen in most of the rest of China. Hmmmm.
For my own part this trip has been a diet revolution. I have spent most of the past year or so before this trip trying in vain to reach 14 and a half stone, a weight that I have not seen since I turned 23, or there abouts. It was with some considerable delight, therefore, that in Lhasa I came across some scales and discovered that since leaving home I have dropped nearly 8 kg, putting me at 88kg for the first time since long ago saying a sad farewell to my teens.
Considering that I have spent the last 5 months more or less stuffing everything I can get my hands on down my throat, sitting inactive on the back of a truck for days at a time, drinking more beer than I have consumed in years, and generally throwing culinary caution to the wind, this result is something of a coup.
Forget Weight Watchers. Join the Exodus diet plan!
posted by Al at 11:45 pm
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