How come Chinese people eat such a high-carb diet that is centered on rice or noodles yet don't have diabetes?

Chinese people eat rice or some form of carbohydrates in every meal. Western media seems to portray high-carb is fattening and bad, but how come Chinese people who have them as staple foods do not become fat?

There are a couple of things going on here. First, our version of Chinese food is different from what they eat. Take chow mein for instance - saturated in oil, fatty meats, corn starch, and sugar. The Chinese tend to eat just rice, veggies, and lean meats like chicken and fish. Yes the rice has carbs, but it's whole grain and nowhere near the amount of carb that our stuff has. There might also be genetic factors.

Unfortunately, they are starting to pick up our habits and tastes. McDonald's is growing like crazy over there, and more people are driving cars rather than walking or using bicycles like they used to. Here's just one article about the rise in diabetes in children there.

It's not the carbs by themselves, it's the lack of important nutrients. All one needs to do is look at their diet and compare it with ours. Here's a hint... in China, we don't see Kraft, Kellogg's, ConAgra, or any other refined, processed, preserved, packaged, junk food. Instead, we see lots of a wide variety of wholesome natural products, like bean sprouts, soybeans, and many other natural foods with all of their natural nutrients left in place. Plus, there's this little matter of getting out and tending their gardens... physical activity. It's not rocket science, it's common sense.

Its all about moderation no matter what you're taking in. I guarantee you their 'serving sizes' are close to actual sizes and not the supersized portions we have here in the US You can pretty much eat whatever you want and stay healthy, it is the amount you eat that is the most important. I love bread and pasta and such, I just don't sit down to a whole loaf of bread or a whole box of pasta in one sitting.

In Asia diabetes is almost getting to be epidemic, because of less activity and gobs of processed sugary products.Before hard physical labor over at least a 12 hour day 2 or 3 bowls of rice with a little piece of fish , and that was their total diet. The same went for Americans 60 years ago. Very little diabetes then. Now it seems everyone has it.

Good Question, A star is born...

I was married to an Asian lady for over 40 years and their diet isn't all rice and other carbs. That is a stereotype from way back. Their diet of ALL major food groups and ALL in moderation leads them to healthier bodies than most westerners. I never had as healthy a diet before getting married. Lots of really fresh vegetables, meats and fish. Green tea to drink and, oh yeah, we did eat rice every day but, steamed rice, not fried potatoes, or potatoes dripping with butter and sour cream -God, how I love those!

It's not carbs, per se, that make you fat. It's the glycemic load of those carbs. Foods with a high glycemic load cause you to have an insulin spike. Keep eating those kinds of foods, and the cells in your body grow insulin resistant. Therefore, it's harder to break down fat. The answer is to switch to higher quality carbs with a low glycemic load (e.g., whole grains, veggies, etc.).

they get high blood sugar too.