Amalia Dewi Masyitah

Overweight in America and Korea



America, with 30.6% of its population are obese, is the most obese nation in the world. Whereas Korea, with only 3.2% of population are obese, is the least obese nation according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Many people find it ridiculously amazing how Korean stay slim while American are mostly overweight. Aside from the difference between American and Asian’s hereditary body size, how could such contrast come up in two countries that both advanced and wealthy? It is always their life styles affect their body weight. The behavior of self cooking, the variety and number of their meals, and the frequency of physical activities appear to be the biggest three causes of the difference between American and Korean’s body weight.

In contrast to American women that mostly prepare instant foods and totally rely on microwave, Korean women generally cook by themselves at home. Instead of just heating pizza or chicken soup, Korean women literally cut, chop, kneed, bake, garnish, and all other verbs you might do when you are in the kitchen. American women rarely serve home-made food as they become busier having other activities outside home. However, although nowadays the number of Korean women become career women is increasing, they still cook for their family. You know that when you cook, you can control the quality of your cooking. You prepare the freshest ingredients and watch the use of oil and sugar. While American women just buy some cooked food, it becomes impossible for them to prepare the freshest ingredients or to watch what is in what they eat. They would never notice whether there is too much sugar in the cereal they take for breakfast, or too much oil in the muffin they munch for the lunch. As they consume too much oil and sugar, they become fat and fatter. Those are how the behavior of self cooking affects the weight of American and Korean.

Next, let us compare the variety and number of meals between American and Korean people. American people eat a huge amount of food, but in a small variety. You can see how they eat Big Mac, large French fries, and large coke in McDonalds. Those foods show the new trend of diet exist in America: Size does matter! Eating so much food in small variety absolutely is a bad idea to maintain your body weight. It makes you lack of nutrients because your intake becomes monotonous. Instead, it raises your consumption of carbohydrate as well as fat. It can also make your body metabolism to slow down because it takes more time to digest your food. As a result, your body weight increases. Unlike American people, Korean people have their own way of eating. They eat various foods in small amount. Generally, they have 3-6 kinds of side dishes with one portion of main dish which is rice. Those side dishes are usually a portion of sautèd meat and the remains are vegetables. Their typical vegetable dish is called kimchi, which is fermented vegetable in red pepper paste. Eating a little food in many varieties allows you to keep your weight balance. It enhances your nutrients intake because by eating that way, your body will be able to obtain many kinds of micronutrient from various foods. Eating in small amount allows your body to metabolize food well. It takes less time to digest your meals and it helps you to maintain your weight.

The most considerable aspect of the difference between American and Korean’s body weight is the frequency of their physical activities. American people basically do not really engage in vigorous physical activities. The statistics reveal only 1 of 5 people in America do hard physical activities: defined by sweating and exhausting activities, in a week. Their lack of physical activity may be affected by their view toward instant culture. They want everything to be fast and simple. They do not walk much because they can drive cars. They do not use stairs because they prefer elevators. Many Americans end up spending their spare time watching Glee with a bucket of popcorn and soda rather than doing baseball like their grandparents used to do back then. This laziness is definitely the main reason why they become fat and fatter. Now, let us compare with people in Korea who are physically more active than those who are in America. Korean people generally see physical activities as a way to live longer, which is very important according to East’s point of view. It makes them less reluctant to commit sports. They spend more time walking or riding bicycles than Americans. They even build parks equipped with sport equipments. There are dumbbells, rings to play basketball, skipping ropes, and so on provided there. Not only young people, elder people seem to be as excited as their younger to do sports. Their intensive engagements of physical activities make them less obese than American people due to the fact that by exercising much, there will be more fat and carbohydrate burned. Those different rates of physical activity between American and Korean people have caused the gap between American and Korean’s body weight.

Both America and Korea are now facing trouble due to their people’s being overweight but in different level. Korean is less overweight compared to American. This fact is caused by the dissimilarity of their cooking behavior, the variety and number of meals, and the frequency of their physical activities. In some ways, you can see that Korean has healthier lifestyle than American. That is why it is easier for Korean people to keep their weight balance, while at the same time, lifestyle has also become a problem to American people in order to maintain their body weight.