The "myth" that Asian girls are naturally slim

This is one of my number one pet peeves.  It's NOT TRUE (I am a walking example of this, I have struggled with weight since oh you know, birth).

Females in Asia are consistently pressured via media, parents, men, etc to stay skinny.  Celebrities usually weigh less than 100 lbs and a size L in Korea is the same as a women's size 7/8 in the USA.  Diet products and plastic surgery abound.  The social stigmatization of girls who are "fat" is brutal; therefore Asian women starve and purge their way to thinness.

If you want further proof, look at Korean adoptees in the USA.  It's all about WHERE you are, not ethnicity.

Although I'm not asian, I too have suffered from family members who care too much about my apperance. I never understood it. As long as I'm healthy, what does it matter what number is on the scale? I've never been obese (or even near obesity), and I certainly haven't had any problems finding men who like me (this is a big thing for my grandma--me having the perfect husband). It just seems like some people have too much free time on their hands, that they sit and worry about my height, weight, or potential suiters. Aren't there bigger problems in the world (and in your own life) than your daughter being 5 pounds overweight?

--just my 2 cents

Well, when I visited China two summers ago to stay with my grandparents, I lost weight. Not because of the pressure or anything, but the culture. People walk everywhere! And the food they eat is healthier. Even the desserts aren't anything as sweet as American cakes & cookies & stuff. I think most Asians aren't overweight partly because of genetics and partly because of lifestyle. It's not a coincidence that obesity rates have risen along with McDonald's franchises in Asia.

My grandma is STILL worried about her weight at the age of 76!  Talk about insane, but she came to america when she was about 20, at the same time america was also very into slimness. 

Im only 1/4 asian but I, my mother who is 1/2 and all my family who is one or the other DO NOT have some sort of miracle gene.  My grandma stays thin by eating REALLY healthy.  Her diet is based on veggies!  grains (rice) and meat come second!  But yes when she starts packing on a few, she starves herself to this day.

I have lived in Japan for 9 years and I can say that the majority of Japanese women do not have an eating disorder, and they are certainly not on meth (even Sudafed is banned here).
From my long experience of observing Japanese people and teaching yoga here in Tokyo I will give you some reasons why I believe Japanese people are thinner than people in Western countries in general- some are positive and some are negative.
1. Smaller portions. The plates are smaller, the cups are smaller. If you go to a cafe here you will find the sandwiches and cakes to be quite tiny- not the doorsteps you get in Australia or the US for example. There is no "super-sizing" of fast food- the extra- large here looks like the small or medium serving in the US, and servings of food in people's homes are similar. I went to the States for the first time a few years ago and couldn't believe the huge sizes of plates and cups and all the high-cal add ons like bacon bits and cheese sauce that you could order at restaurants. Even salads were high cal.
2. Less meat/ dairy/ fatty foods/ sugar eaten. Meat is expensive here. When people do eat red meat rather than fish, it tends to be quite a small amount. They didn't eat dairy until Japan was opened to the west less than 200 years ago and many people still don't like it. People tend to drink green tea, barley tea or oolong tea rather than sodas. I don't believe these teas have any magical weight loss powers, they are just zero cal so don't cause you to gain weight. Breakfast in Japan is a small bowl of rice, some miso soup and a piece of fish, or toast, an egg and salad. No sugary cereals or huge piles of pancakes.
3. In the cities most people don't own cars and have to walk everywhere- from their house to the station, from the station at the other end to work, back again at the end of the day can add up to several miles walked in a day easily. Instead of driving to the supermarket people walk or cycle, then carry the bags home, then they have to go again 2 or 3 days later because you can only buy a couple of days worth at a time. Another few miles a week there.
4. A lot of pressure on women to stay slim. All the infomercials for diet products show women who are already a perfectly healthy weight obsessing because they need to lose 5 pounds. Not all Japanese buy into this of course and as a people they love their food.
5. No social taboos on commenting on other people's bodies. If you have gained weight or have a pimple, you can be sure that someone will let you know.
6. Interestingly stress does not seem to cause people in Japan to gain weight. I have heard people from other countries say they gained weight because of stress. People here regularly work 16 hour days, face 90 minute commutes on horribly crowded trains, and in general lead quite stressful lives. This does not lead to weight gain for most however.
So basically Asian people in general and Japanese people in particular are slimmer because of a combination of the above factors, plus they do tend towards a small build- narrow hips, small boobs, flat butt.
Americans, Australians etc did not used to be so large and that was mostly because their lifestyles were closer to that of the Japanese people today- more walking, smaller portions, less soda, less processed fatty food, less meat.
Long post but I had to counter the idea that slim Asian people are mostly anorexic or meth-heads...

Sorry there are no paragraph breaks in the post above- makes it hard to read. There were the first time I posted it but when I edited it for spelling and re-posted it all the paragraph breaks were gone.

Maybe the mods can tell us why this happens?

I have two close Asian friends, both girls. One is Korean but was adopted into a very American family...from the time she was 10 to about 14 she was a bit chubby, but not much. Now, she's thin...but athletically thin, and she does eat.  My other friend is Vietnamese, her mother was born in Vietnam while her father (I think?) was born here. She's about 5'2'' and just around 100 lbs...and she's always talking about food, or commenting about how skinny someone is, or how someone shouldn't be wearing the clothes they are because they are bigger. At lunch she doesn't eat much, just munches occasionally off other people's plates, and get full off 1/2 a bottle of water. I joked around with her once and said, 'feed her! all her parents give her is rice for dinner' and she laughed and all, but at the same time said, 'yeah, basically' Portion size I think is a big deal, and since my Vietnamese friend doesn't seem to eat much in the first place, her stomach is probably pretty small.

I am 130-ish now, undertherainbow! I was having anorexia back when I was 14 years old.. and when I started college in California, people still say: No, u are not fat! And I gained weight because I ate more than just vegetables and fruit. I guess I am a living proof of starvation mode

My ex had a very young, and people tell me attractive, Korean girlfriend who was as tall as he is and strong, and she'd knock him around!  The Japanese American side of my family is very trim and slim.  The other half of my relatives, in the Philippines, were very fat last time I saw them, and completely lacking in muscle tone.  In the US when people say "Asian" they are referring to the orient, right?  But in the UK "Asian" includes Indians, which is accurate.  What about Pacific Islanders?  No one's accused Samoans as being tiny. :)

I agree with nancy 1967 - in the UK we do refer to Indian's, Bangladeshi's etc as bieng "Asians" as well. Last year I went to Bangladesh for my brothers wedding and they have the exact same mindframe and belief that being super skinny is beautiful. 

I am a UK size 8 (considered to be quite small over here) but when I was in Bangladesh I was made to feel as though I was obese! No clothes would fit me and everywhere I went people just looked me up and down. Even my cousins who live there were horrible because I wasn't a size 0 and therefore I wasn't beautiful. They completely screwed me up mentally and I've only just got myself back on track (only took a year!).

Looking back, they are just a bunch of malnutritioned mini's and I can't compete with that. I'd rather eat healthily and be healthy than starve myself to be one of them.

"lol. well america does have really shitty food.

it's much easier to stay in shape in china since most people bike everywhere nearby. or take a taxi to further locations and walk the rest of the way.

also, american fast food is just starting to develop in china. i think my aunt said burger king just appeared... or it's not there yet... something like that. i just know it's def not as bad as it is here."

What a completely uneducated statement to make. America does not have "shitty" food. By direct comparison to China, where you are taking on a serious heath risk just by drinking tap water, let alone all of the counterfeit bottled water, American food quality is far superior to what is available in that patently corrupt food distribution system. If it so bad here, go to China and enjoy your entrée of risk.

Ok, rangerx3x, I think that statement offended you too much. I don't think anyone was implying that all of american food is shitty. If you go to a five star resturant, you get small portions of food that I would never call "shitty". But the food that most of america eats, the "fast food", is pretty bad for you. Think of the food that was invented here in America, most of it is unhealthy (as in, fried in oil). If unhealthy=shitty, then of course, American food is both. Consider japanese food in contrast--sushi is healthy, and therefore not shitty. 

I agree :)  Asian girls are NOT NATUALLY THIN!  It's also fact that our food contains lots of fat. (Japanese is probably healthier but Thai and Chinese are definitely pretty greasy!)

I was 125 lbs, 5'4" and when I visited my family back home, they told me that I was overweight! *sigh*  They just used to see me skinny when I used to live in my country. 

Here're some of the reasons why I think some Asian girls are thin:
1. The weather is HOT.  Sweat all the time!
2. They don't have car and Bus/Subway are major transportable.  Must walk to the bus top/train station and running (chasing) after them all the time. (Walk/Run a lot on daily basis)
3. Diet pills, surgery, etc.

I don't know if FOOD is a part of what make them thin though.  For example, THAI and CHINESE are pretty greasy (and DELICIOUS!)  It's so true that they have lower BMI but higher FAT. (just like me ;)

And...there're a lot of FAT women in Asian countries too.

merika, Americanized Chinese and Thai food are greesy... but not the authentic stuff.

Anywho.... I think I'd lose weight in Japan. Whenever I watch Iron Chef I'm amazed at the food. It's a lot of fish and veggies, complimented by rice. The other night I was wacthing and this guy had made a broth with cod roe, red snapper, and some lobster shells and they went bonkers over it! Their "desert" was a small rice ball mixed with cod roe and topped with the broth from before. Again, the judges loved it.

You don?t really have to live in Japan for that stuff though. I eat sushi several times a week, and my refrigerator currently contains soy beans and seaweed salad. In fact, I rarely eat fast food, just because I have so many other options available to me. Although today, I am planning on eating a vegetable pizza with extra mushrooms. =]  

I myself is from China and I've been here in Canada for just two years.

I weighed 125 lbs when I first came here (and I was considered overweight a little bit back at home), and now 160 lbs!! In just two years!!!

So I don't think it's a genetic thing. It's more because of different lifestyles and food.

ying hit it on the head

its really simple; the food is different and the lifestyle is different(i.e. not car based). Im sure there is a certain cultural standard as well, but our lifestyle is the overwhelming culprit.

Anyone who moves/lives/is adopted here is liable to break any sort of 'myth' of any 'culture' being 'skinny' just because the way we eat and move around makes it super simple for us to gain weight and stay chubby.

Its the same as when I was in southern spain...alot of the women had normal healthy figures, and the only ones who were chubbers or fat were some of the mothers who had several kids, and probably didnt bother to try to lose weight at that point. And yet they all drink a ton of booze, cook with tons of olive oil, and always eat white bread and potatoes.

case in point, one summer I worked at an international grocery store and started cooking my own asian styled food (ate out at vietnames restaurants, too) and I lost weight.

It's true, small frames are more common among Asian women than Western women, and I'd say a good percentage of my fellow yellow is 5'3 or shorter.

As for societal pressure to be skinny, I would love to do a study on the effects of Asian living on Westernized Asian females' self-esteem.  I'm fairly sure that if I'm accepted to JET and live in Japan next year, I will develop an eating disorder or the next best thing to it due to feeling ashamed of my large(r) size.  I'm not a beast or anything but I'm not even thin by American standards...

If you want to know the real difference between asian and american diets, check out the recent thread about fructose and the obesity epidemic. Traditional asian diet is high carb/low fat/low fructose with tons of fiber from veggies.

My best friend is Japanese (she's coming to visit me in two weeks- YEAH!! I miss her sooo much!!!). We used to share a house together and pretty much raised our kids together - they are like cousins now. She is very tall by Japanese standards, quite beautiful, and has a gorgeous, thin figure that never changed when she lived here in America.

My friend is quite the chef!! She can cook up a storm - and not just japanese food but italian, french, etc.... plus I taught her several American staples like tacos and chili. I was divorced and her hubby worked long hours as a researcher, so we got in the habit of having dinner together with all five kids. She'd do the cooking. She'd ply me with her food - always numerous dishes - meanwhile, taking only a spoonful of each for herself. No wonder she remained thin!

We're now both over 40 and she was here to visit for my 40th bday, I visited her for her 40th, and we lament about how age makes it harder to maintain your weight. Even though she is back in Japan now, her metabolism is slowing. I still think she looks great though!

My DD's best friend is half Japanese. This kid is a stick - very tall and painfully skinny. But she has no eating disorder. In fact, she has a healthy appetite. She is just very choosy and rarely eats american food - no pizza, tacos, chili for her. She prefers her mom's cooking - veggies, rice, fish, tofu. But she obsesses that she is TOO thin compared to her classmates.

My DD's other best friend is Chinese, and has a cute figure - neither too thin nor too fat. But she obsesses over every last bite, and berates my DD for eating an extra slice of pizza or whatever. This is the kid I worry about - I suspect she may be developing an eating disorder, because when she sleeps over, she politely tells me she's already had dinner, watches us all wistfully and with hunger while we eat, and then once everyone is asleep raids our pantries. We'll find empty food wrappers everywhere weeks later.

Very concerned about that one. I did talk to her mom but her mom thought I was complaining that her DD was impolite - she couldn't see what I was concerned about!

Hah, yo, an Asian right here! xD

Like with several people before me, I totally agree that the underlying factor is really about geography, genetics, and culture. I mean, go to China, and woah - big difference from America to there. They mainly eat rice, rice, and vegetables. They bike or walk everywhere. The average person who lives in China walks/bikes a minimum of 5 miles a day! It's also no wonder the recent world records for oldest person alive go to the Japanese. I mean, they eat way healthier than how we eat here.

Genetics plays a huge role in this, too, methinks. Of course, some Asians will be naturally skinny because their body types and everything are passed down from generation to generation.

Honestly, and to be truthfully honest, I don't see many Asians with eating disorders - could be just me. Surgery - heck, yeah. But disorders? Not really... I've seen more Paris Hilton wannabees starving themselves than Asians - because most Asians stick to their roots and eat healthy foods, instead of converting to our American way of life.

Then again, America has loads of food issues. We're the ones who invented McDonald's - we're the ones who are getting Europe fat, too.

D:

It's sad to talk about these topics, but I think I've put my load of advice here.

ugh. i guess im another teenage stereotype.
im asian and i guess im part of the chaos.

okay im quite small and on the honor roll lol. my parents would kill me if my grades weren't perfect lol. i dont think its because im smarter than everyone else.. its just the work ethic and expectations that push me along. and about the whole weight thing.. everyone in my family is tiny with amazing metabolisms while growing up there. and their cultures are so much more different. i mean shopping there i basically felt obese bc i was a L and like 100 pounds at the time. my mom's side of the family will straight up tell you.. whoa! youre gaining weight! and that started at about what? 5th grade? and people kept telling me that and i had ana athletica and bulemia. [just another teenage stereotype i tell you] and the only reason i did so was bc everyone was like wow! you're slim! and it felt good [for a while] and i was less than 90 pounds. ehh ive made a strong recovery and gained too much back. im making sure to stay on track and do it the right way bc starving myself my whole life for everyone else just isnt going to work.

so im going to get my good grades and keep a healthy body weight and be an asian. ahah. <33