Do you think Chinese food is more/less healthier than your own country

[grawrt]

The best way to stay healthy is to cook for yourself. You're right that fast food in China is healthier (because of the more veggie options) and cheaper but you have to remember that it's cheap for us because our exchange rate is higher.

 

I just thought I'd mention what I had for today at the canteen. for 7 rmb I got a plate of rice, spinach, broccoli, and tofu in red sauce. Everything was relatively salty. The tofu was very salty, I'm glad I told her to put just a little, the spinach was also salty but not nearly as salty as the tofu, and the broccoli was least salty. At the cheaper canteen I usually only spend 2-4 rmb for two vegetable dishes and rice, but these dishes are usually heavy in oil, or have that clear thickish sauce.

 

I feel a lot more unhealthy in China because of the excessive salts, and oils. But then again, back home my dad or I used to cook dinner (using real vegetables, not ketchup or mustard).

[Guest realmayo]

It seems like their aren't many healthy snacks in China

 

Yes, they've become more like the US etc. Snacks are just greed anyway.

 

I feel a lot more unhealthy in China because of the excessive salts, and oils

 

It's possible that the salt and oil isn't actually excessive and therefore isn't unhealthy, but it seems that way because you don't eat much salt or oil normally.

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

Don't tell me working-class people aka 美国的老百姓 can't afford to spend 200 dollars a week on healthy food.

 

Hell no they can't, not even close.

 

The median PERSONAL income in the US for people over 25 is about 32,000, not including taxes. So take home pay in that bracket is gonna be around 26,000. I'll give you a break down of what a single person in that income range can expect to live like per month. These are basically mandatory outlays.

 

Transportation: $500 (This is a fairly reliable used car with insurance and fuel costs included)

 

Rent: $750 (This is a 2 bedroom apartment split with a roommate, and this includes utilities like electricity and water, etc. Location is decent, not in a high-crime area, but probably a 30 minute-1 hour commute to work during traffic)

 

Telecommunications: $100 (this is an internet connection and cell phone service)

 

Health insurance: $150? (hard to say, healthcare reform has created a lot of changes)

 

This gives you $666.66 per month to spend on food, clothing, social activities, car repairs, etc. This doesnt include things like student loans because I assume graduates are making above the median, though this is definitely not often the case. At the same time, this median income stat includes all people over 25, so the amount would be substantially less for someone with no degree.

 

If you eat at home 90% of the time, you can eat reasonably healthy, but by no means can you eat the highest quality food. Not only that, but you are one problem away from not being able to pay rent. This assumes you have ZERO money avaiable for savings. You are living paycheck to paycheck.

 

In China, if I made 15,000 kuai per month teaching English in a city like Shenyang, for instance, I could expect to have my OWN apartment for well under 2000 kuai, and that is a good location. After taxes, I'd have around 10,000 kuai per month left to spend on the rest of what I just laid out. I wouldn't need a car, and virtually everything else is cheaper. Overall, much easier to live a healthy lifestyle in China than in the  US.

 

 

Your city was designed to foster the automobile industry and the oil industry

 

I'll go a step further and say that the US is a fascist oligopoly in which all major industries (many border on being classified as cartels), have a stranglehold on the market and prevent any major changes to the way of life in the US. It is incredbly hard to live efficiently, by design.

[Angelina]

 

 

I'll go a step further and say that the US is a fascist oligopoly in which all major industries (many border on being classified as cartels), have a stranglehold on the market and prevent any major changes to the way of life in the US. It is incredbly hard to live efficiently, by design.

 

and China is not?

[ablindwatchmaker]

One more thing I should point out about the perceptions people have of Americans based on what they've seen abroad.

 

The vast majority of Americans you meet abroad, in terms of class background, are very well off. Their parents are probably in the top 5% or higher of the income bracket here. Ask the average American student studying in China what his or her parents do, and I bet they are professionals. Warehouse worker, secretary, electrician, retail worker, will virtually never be the response. They are as far from the average American as you can possibly get. I actually think generalizations are often useful, but this is a very select population. The same is true of foreigners I meet here in the states.

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

and China is not?

 

China has serious corruption as well. No arguments there.

[grawrt]

 

Warehouse worker, secretary, electrician, retail worker, will virtually never be the response

 

I think this is a broad generalization. My mom is a secretary and my dad is a handiman.

 

It's not that traveling to China is impossible for average Americans, but just that Americans in general do not travel as much as lets say Brits, or anyone from Europe.

[Johnny20270]

It's not that traveling to China is impossible for Americans, but just that Americans in general do not travel as much as lets say Brits, or anyone from Europe.

 

 

Its a lot easier for Europeans to travel of course because of reasons such as  ...

 

(1) Cheap flights

(2) easy to go somewhere for a weekend

(3) vast range of very differing countries, cultures, history, languages, food, landscape (e.g Iceland, Norway) on our door step etc

(4) no need for visa / same currency (EU zone)

(5) Within many countries culture to travel abroad

(6) Own countries limited range of services / offerings. i.e. not a whole of of beaches worth talking about in UK, nor skiing resorts, compared to say California. We have to travel

 

(having written that I rate Canada and parts of USA as fantastic places!)

[ChTTay]

Yes, they've become more like the US etc. Snacks are just greed anyway.

 

 

The US at least has access to healthy snacks and food. Much like China, part of the problem in the U.S is educating children, their parents and people in general to make the right food choices. Healthier food choices.

 

Snacks are not necessarily as a result of greed. There is a fair amount of diet (for gaining weight, losing it, and/or healthy living) advice showing 6 smaller 'meals' are better than 3 big ones. However, when you actually look at what the 'meals' are they insert between traditional lunch and dinner, they are pretty much just healthy snacks. Lots of nuts, dried fruits, fresh fruit, whole wheats etc

 

Also, often snacks are useful to maintain energy levels throughout the day. They have to be the right snacks. This is where my students and their parents get lost. Eating a big bag of crisps might be "delicious" and make the child happy in the short term but they'll be hungry again soon enough (and reaching for the biscuits). The amount of addiditives, sugars, salts etc also won't be doing them any good either.

 

There some interesting stories out there about a few American schools who implemented a healthy menu and the effects it had on their students behaviour and performance. This is once students and parents got over the fact they couldn't get burgers and fries at school.

[Angelina]

Let's save the children hahaha 

 

It's so sad. ChTTay, try to talk to the parents. 

 

They don't know what they are doing. 

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

I think this is a broad generalization

It is, and I'm glad that you don't fit the typical profile because it means more average folks are making it out there, but I stand by my claim that this is the exception. There are always exceptions, but I'm talking about general patterns.

 

I'm also not making any value judgements. Most of the other Americans I've met in China are cool. If every American in China were a millionaire, it would not be a negative thing. Thats great, everyone should go to China. I was just pointing out that people in China should not assume the Americans they meet in China are representative, becasue they most certianly are not. In my study abroad program, I can guarantee that the average parental income was way above the American average.

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

The US at least has access to healthy snacks and food

 

America has an incredibly sophisticated and diverse consumer market, at all levels. One of the things I like about the states, when I have money, is the amount of variety. If you are rich especially, the United States  can be an awesome place to live.

[Guest realmayo]

often snacks are useful to maintain energy levels throughout the day

 

I'd say that if people ate proper meals they wouldn't be hungry and wouldn't need snacks. I think snacks are mostly a result of marketing. Even worse when they're described as 'treats' and yet bought almost daily.

 

I admit, I'm coming at this from a non-conventional point of view, which is low-carb high-fat, no sugar and trying to avoid processed food. I'm sure I'm wrong, to a certain extent, but do think I might be 'righter' than the conventional point of view which replaces the fat everyone used to eat 50+ years ago with sugar.

[ChTTay]

There's no way to settle this. .. but I am definitely right

 

Angelina, this isn't a Chinese problem. It's largely a world problem. A big fat world problem.

[Silent]

 

 

 In the US, you absolutely cannot find reasonably priced food that is good for you.

Don't know how true this is. I assume for some regions it will be true as specially in smaller towns only a couple of the more mainstream options tend to be available. In a way it's self imposed, the US is a market economy so if there's real demand and commercially viable it should be available. But if 90% percent prefers the greasy unhealthy stuff and/or people insist on convenience and don't want to make a detour for their food the commercial viability for alternatives may be an issue.

[hedwards]

@grawrt, we don't get vacation time in the US. Most European countries mandate that workers be given paid time off. In the US, even if you do have vacation time, chances are that you can't use it because you're competing to get ahead with people that don't take time off.

 

In fact, only 2 of my jobs in the US came with any paid time off and even then they found out how to claw it all back.

 

It's not that we don't want to travel, it's just that we can't typically afford to. We're a rich nation on paper, but virtually all of that money goes to the wealthy, most Americans just don't have the kind of disposable income that people think we have.

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

most Americans just don't have the kind of disposable income that people think we have.

Yep. My earlier post discusses this. People don't realize what America actually is. We have legal bribery, not even behind closed doors, and the industries that are supposed to be regulated actually write the legislation, openly. We just have a higher standard of living and are much better at manipulating the population. Our democracy, to the extent that it exists, can only affect social policy. Anything with an economic dimension is forever outside of our control.

[grawrt]

 

@grawrt, we don't get vacation time in the US. Most European countries mandate that workers be given paid time off. In the US, even if you do have vacation time, chances are that you can't use it because you're competing to get ahead with people that don't take time off.

 

In fact, only 2 of my jobs in the US came with any paid time off and even then they found out how to claw it all back.

 

It's not that we don't want to travel, it's just that we can't typically afford to. We're a rich nation on paper, but virtually all of that money goes to the wealthy, most Americans just don't have the kind of disposable income that people think we have.

 

 

wow really? I never worked before so I don't have any experience with this, just that of my parents and people in my family. They all have vacation time but then jobs from a few generations ago are perhaps different from present day?

[hedwards]

@Grawrt, it's gotten a lot worse over the last 30 years. The basic pay hasn't kept pace with inflation as companies rushed to outsource as many jobs as possible. The jobs that couldn't be outsourced are increasingly being given to people that are imported to do the work because the companies refuse to hire Americans to do the work.

 

Every time we sign one of those stupid free trade agreements, the ability of the people that actually support the parasites to make a living takes a hit, and the only people really making any money are quite wealthy. The last few years have been particularly bad as the wealthy got to keep nearly all of the gains.

 

But, there's a ton of people making minimum wage with no paid vacation, sick leave or holidays and barely enough money to cover the cost of living.

 

And I don't expect to ever get a proper retirement in the US. Companies don't do pensions any more either. There's a few that offer them, but they're very much in the minority.

[ablindwatchmaker]

 

even if you do have vacation time, chances are that you can't use it because you're competing to get ahead with people that don't take time off.

 

For most positions in which having a degree is necessary, 1-2 weeks of paid vacation is the norm. The problem is that the higher up the totem pole you go, the less likely it is that you can actually use it because you are competing with others and constantly stressed out. At my old company, the people in upper level management, right below the executive officers, would split their vacations up in 3 and 4 day increments and try to time it according to the holiday schedule. In 3 years at that company, I never saw anyone use more than a week at a time, and that was uncommon.