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Last night at the Beijing Bookworm, British author Lorraine Clissold gave a brief talk on her new book, Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories.  Something of a riposte to international bestseller Why French Women Don’t Get Fat, this awkwardly titled book joins the growing literature on how traditional cuisines are better than dieting fads.

So just what is healthy about Chinese food?  While it has a reputation for being greasy and fattening in the West, the orange chicken and “beef and broccoli in brown sauce” of Chinese take-away is definitely not part of a traditional Chinese diet.  Instead, Chinese cuisine incorporates a more holistic approach that does away with counting calories and guilt for having ingested too many calories.  One startling fact stood out in her talk–the Chinese actually eat 30% more than Americans, yet remain 20% lighter–something that is supported in The China Study.

While much of the lecture was undoubtedly old news for anyone who was brought up in a Chinese family or just plain common sense, here are some of the more memorable points that Clissold made in her talk on why how their traditional cuisine keeps the Chinese thin:

1.  Strong cultural and culinary identities.  Traditional cuisines pass on the collected food wisdom of a culture from generation to generation, and China is no different.  As scientists begin to learn more about nutrition and how nutrients work in tandem with each other, much of what is passed on in Chinese cuisine is backed up by modern nutrition.   The Chinese also talk about food as being determinative of a regional identity–like the strereotype of Sichuan people having fiery tempers because of all the spicy food they eat.  By way of contrast, in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan makes the point that because Americans do not have a unifying food culture, Americans tend to be particularly vulnerable to savvy food marketers and diet fads (think Atkins, South Beach diet, etc).

2.  Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables! Chinese cuisines tend to make vegetables the star of the show, with meat as a flavouring or compliment. Part of this is because of historical patterns of consumption, until very recently the average Chinese person simply could not afford vast amounts of meat.  Contrast this to an American or British diet which relegates vegetables to limp supporting roles for meat.

3.   Balance is key. Clissold invokes the Chinese concepts of yin and yang. A properly balanced meal includes both yin foods (cooling foods) like cucumbers and lettuce and yang foods (heating foods) like spicy foods and meats.  If you eat too much of either one, then your body will become unbalanced. The Chinese way of eating family-style with shared plates also allow for greater opportunities to balance yin and yang versus a Western-style one-plate meal.

4.  Eat with all five flavors in mind.  On a related note, the five flavors are bitter, sweet, pungent, salty, and sour.  Each of these flavors addresses a specific part of the body.  For instance, a bitter food like bitter melon feeds the heart, while a sour food will nourish the liver.  Again, balance is important–if you eat too much of one flavor then you are only feeding one part of the body.

5.  Eat until you are full, and enjoy your meal.   This seems like a no-brainer, but Clissold is specifically addressing the different attitudes that Chinese and Americans and the British have regarding food.  While Americans and the British food cultures often incorporate guilt and unhealthy cycles of binging and purging, Chinese people just plain enjoy their food.  They talk about food all the time, and a common Chinese greeting is “Have you eaten yet?”  Make eating a pleasurable activity, instead of one that induces guilt.

The end message is that it’s not about dieting, because there is no quick fix to losing weight, but about a lifestyle that is balanced and about pleasure.  It’s not very different from the conclusions made in Why French Women Don’t Get Fat or in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

The Independent also took a look at Clissold’s book and asked two nutritionists to examine some of its claims.

One irony is that China itself is moving away from its tranditional diet.  As China becomes more industrialized, obesity, cancer and diabetes–the diseases of the Western world–are also on the rise.

Fiona Lee is a freelance writer/marketer/blogger based in Beijing.  She loves MSG and misses good old-fashioned American-style Chinese food. She blogs at quirkyBeijing.