Japanese Diet & Whole30

[questioning]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section - I didn't see a 'general questions' section.

I've been hearing a lot about the Whole30 lifestyle from several people around me. Most of them have praised the diet, so I've become interested.

There's only one lingering question I have. It's not meant to be an antagonistic question - just generally looking for an opinion on it.

From what I understand, whole30 is supposed to not just help with weight, but overall health in general (such as preventing cancer, diabetes, etc.). I understand there are many factors that go into an overall population's health, not just diet. However I'm still curious why some populations that include a very large portion of carbohydrates and soy-based foods in their diet, such as the Japanese with their very high per-capita white rice consumption, show some of the lowest cancer/disease rates and highest average life expectancies?

From what I understand of the whole30 diet, nearly all traditional Japanese food would be cut out, correct?

[kayell]

Fish both raw and cooked, pork, chicken, shellfish, eggs, seaweed, mushrooms, mass quantities of vegetables, pickled veg, sweet potatoes = traditional Japanese foods. Rice and soy (far less tofu than you think) also, but probably less than you imagine, at least in the traditional diet. In the current Japanese diet, processed crap is becoming standard. See Pocky Sticks. URG

+ Lifestyle is major contributor to health. Close family ties, high value placed on elders, etc.

Health of Japanese with rice as the grain in diet is relatively superior compared to diet of westerners with wheat as the grain. I doubt many here would argue that rice is better than wheat, but neither is better than meat, fish and vegetables. Comparing grain based to grain based diets tells you nothing about grain based compared to W30/paleo diet.

The only way to determine how it compares for YOU (and that's what matters) is to give it a 30 day trial and find out. 30 days to find out valuable info (either way) = easy.

[Renee Lee]

The Paleo diet is carbohydrate-agnostic. We don't care what percentage of your calories comes from carbohydrates. We just care about the SOURCE of those carbohydrates. The Kitavan's (one of the last remaining hunter-gatherers still around) traditional diet is 70% carbohydrates, the majority of that comes from starchy tubers and fruit, and they are amazingly healthy (even while most of the population are chain smokers, ftr).

Yes, the traditional diet of Japan involves a lot of rice and soy. a) the soy is FERMENTED, which neutralizes a lot of the negative properties of soy. b ) Yes, rice is the least problematic of the grain family, but it is still problematic. The phytic acid content contributes to the body's inability to absorb minerals essential for bone health, like calcium and magnesium. Interestingly enough, the Okinawan's traditional diet does NOT depend on rice as a staple (everything else is pretty much the same), and Okinawans, on average, are taller than the Japanese.

So what's this all mean? Fermented soy and rice are "less bad" than unfermented soy and gluten grains, for example, but they still do not fulfill the requirements for food that makes you MORE healthy.

Does that help?

[questioning]

This helps a lot, thanks!