Low-fat lies: Do diet meals work?
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You're listening to Roundtable with myself, He Yang. I'm joined by Yu Shun and Steve Hatherly in the studio. Coming up, you thought grabbing that low-fat meal from the convenience store was a flex. Clean, green, and calorie lean until your genes start feeling tighter. So are these meals actually helping you to slim down or just selling you the illusion of health? And

When was the last time you used a clothes dryer? For most folks in China, it's probably never. Instead, laundry gets a full day soaking up in the sun on the balcony, unlike in many other countries where dryers are part of the laundry washing routine. So what explains the difference? Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.

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For anyone keeping an eye on their weight or focused on staying healthy, grabbing a low-fat diet meal, salad wrap, and yogurt possibly, seems pretty smart. But weeks later, the scale stays the same or even goes up. Hidden calories, sneaky sugars, and misleading portions could be sabotaging your weight loss plan. So...

why don't these meals deliver? Or at least not all the time. So first of all, guys, what's on the menu of diet meals often found in convenience stores? So basically, they are the set meals and ready-to-go boxed meals served in convenience stores. And...

You can imagine like salads, boiled eggs, veggies, and lean wheat wraps or sandwiches or yogurt, as you mentioned, He Yang. Also, there's a quick and varied Oden, if you know that. That's a staple in many Japanese-style convenience stores. It's kind of a hot pot-like dish.

snacks in the cubicles that you always see in Japanese style convenience stores. - It's like a compressed fish cake, I think, which is probably the worst English description for food. - Okay, yeah, different types of a dumpling. - Different types, but that's what we're talking about here, like rectangle shapes, square shapes on a stick. - And then you'll have tofu, konjac noodles, and white radish.

and also bamboo roots, or something like that. Yeah, you'll see these advertisers like low-calorie or high-protein or balanced nutrition or things like that, right? To the customer, it looks like a healthy lunch option. Right, and is it called guandongzhu, which you mentioned there, Yushun. And that is a wonderful alternative for our Chinese diet, right?

Because it's actually warm. It's hot food. It's not like the salad or power bowls or whatever you call them or the sandwiches. Because they're cold and hot.

I like my hot water. Also want my hot meal. Yeah, so that's like a really great hot and low calorie alternative that we were advertised to. But okay. And who do you think are the key or target customers who are buying these things up?

I would say office workers, right? Who are headed out. Maybe they don't have much time during the day, even for lunch. So they'll pop into a convenience store and get one of those to-go meals. Also students who are busy. People who...

might have their weight loss goals too. Might look to these types of meals as an option too. And the appeal for all of those groups, I think, is that they're fast, they're seemingly healthy, you don't need to cook them by yourself, and then you can have them heated up. If they're not hot already, you can have them heated up in the store. And oftentimes you can just eat it right in the store as well. Yeah, and these products usually just have clearly labeled ingredients

ingredients, and some even list their calorie content, making them a popular choice for these people. Okay. And a lot of these meals are labeled as 减脂餐. So a direct translation from Chinese would be a weight loss meal. Oh, they're labeled like that, right? Yeah. And sometimes it's like that. And sometimes it's just perceived healthy meals slash diet meals. And

Do they actually help people lose weight? Actually, you know, let's make an example. One netizen bought a convenience store sandwich labeled as 110 grams, only to find out later that it's 150 grams when weighed on a scale, nearly one third heavier than the stated amount.

And that is why some of these convenience store food or so-called diet food is not that healthy or low calorie because they are offering you more than they actually labeled. And in another case mentioned on... Sorry to stop you for one second. Yeah, this is really interesting. Yeah. I can just picture my dad...

who's been through the tougher times in China, scratching his head, listening to Yushun and go, hold on, young man, that sounds like the best thing ever. I'm actually getting more for my buck? Yeah. That's like a free meal just landed on my lap. And why are people complaining?

Yeah, well, they're complaining about it because of the fact that it is not what the label says it is. I found this to be fascinating and I didn't know about this. So food makers don't check every single item's calories. Instead, they'll weigh groups of products together. And if a group weighs enough, it passes. And if it's too light...

then they have to fix it. So to avoid losing money by making batches that are too light, companies will add a little bit extra to each product, and that's why convenience store foods often have more than what's listed on the package, because it's safer to give too much

than too little. So the calorie count and the weight on the sticker might not be 100% accurate because the food manufacturers intentionally add a little bit extra to avoid selling underweight products. I did not know about that. And I think we have maybe, without knowing...

sort of drummed up enthusiasm for buying up these items because they actually offer a bit more than what you thought you're paying for. Yeah, which sounds like a great thing. But again, we're talking diet conscious here, right? So that's why people might get a little bit

upset about that. And they say that it doesn't mean that the label is way, way, way off, but it's also not perfectly precise either, especially for things like snacks and prepackaged meals or even drinks where small overfills will add up. Right. Could you provide a bit more information on the hidden calories? You know, when...

when these are the things that, well, we thought, okay, the label looks really clean, the ingredients table looks fantastic, but actually there are, you know, these sneaky suckers in there, which are like calorie bombs. Yeah. So basically when, let's say if you want something healthy today, I'm going to go for the convenience store for a bowl of green salad or a bowl of just, you know, chicken with broccoli on the rice.

But, of course, it sounds very healthy and low-calorie, but after a detailed breakdown of all of these maybe sandwiches, you may discover that even without accounting for the calories in the salad dressing, a sandwich labeled as maybe 150 kilocalorie actually contains over 230 kilocalorie, while a salad with maybe creamy dressing ends up being 500-plus calories. Yeah.

And maybe different types of dressing can give you even more of your calories intake. So that means for those relying on convenience store meals, they may be consuming nearly 50% more calories per meal than they think. It's so not fair. But yet it also kind of makes sense, right? We see as human beings, we see a label that says low fat. And we think, woohoo, diet, diet.

Not necessarily. It just means there's low fat. But what about the sugar that's inside, right? Low fat does not equal no sugar. So there's all these other types of...

if you want to call them tricks or ways to promote products in a healthy way when maybe overall it's not so much. Yeah, and a few weeks back or a couple of months back possibly, we talked about temple foods on this show, how it's becoming something that is popular among also young people. And young people sometimes flock to these temples not only for food,

you know, the spiritual aspect of things, but for the lean foods that are presented there. And apparently there are some hidden calorie bombs there too. Oh yeah. So imagine, and as we discussed about it,

It's served in temples, are typically vegetarian food and made with simple ingredients like rice paired with a few seasonal fresh vegetables or just soup and noodles. And there are no complex seasonings, right? No artificial flavoring. It's what you might call a humble, honest meal. But...

Imagine they are just staple food and maybe you are eating a staple food with another staple food, which means you're taking a lot of carbs. Carbohydrates. Yes. And then it can maybe transfer to or just...

Getting to more sugar in your body and then- Or oil. Yes. Right, oil. Do you know how many calories are in one tablespoon of olive oil? I have no idea. Olive oil is quite healthy. It's good for you. But you can't drink it. I suppose you could. I don't know. But one tablespoon, according to the internet, is 119 calories.

That's a lot. Two tablespoons, that's half a meal almost, isn't it, in terms of the calorie count? Yeah, so calories can come from many different sources, and those can add up quite quickly. Yeah, and also it's probably not all that useful if we're completely fixated on the number of calories or the number of –

What was the other thing you mentioned just now? The oils. The oils, you know, like our lives should not be dictated by numbers. I mean, OK, well, that's just what I think. But what do you guys think? How can we keep our weight in check without falling into these traps? Read the labels as annoying as that can be and time consuming and difficult to see, but

The labels are so small, and I have to use my smartphone camera, take a picture, and then zoom in on it to see the labels because the print is so small sometimes. But if you really want to know what's inside the food that you're eating, then that's a good way to go about it. They say, too, that when you're trying to eat healthy with these salads and wraps and these –

lighter meals, you're missing out on proteins and you are missing out on carbs, then it could cause you to eat more because you get hungrier faster. But again, that's a what if situation. That's a could possibly maybe situation. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. There's tons of diet advice out there. But I think the point here is just read the label so you know what's inside. My biggest takeaway from this chat today is about the overweightness of the packages and stuff. I

I had no idea about that, but it absolutely makes sense from their point of view. And also maybe be conscious of what you are intaking and use portion control as your primary tool. You know, since most foods are just heavier than labeled, as we're discussing it, a 30 to 50 percent calorie buffer. And make that in your mind if it says like 300 calories.

estimate as closer to 400 to 450. Make that assumption. Also, this is always the advice, right? They say eat slower. Have you ever heard about this, that

your full 20 minutes before your brain knows you're full. You've heard that before, right? And I thought, oh, is that just a myth? I looked it up, and this is from Live Science, and this is what they say. Yeah, it actually does take, on average, 20 minutes for your body to send signals to your brain to indicate that you've had enough to eat, that you're full. Of course, that's going to depend on your...

diet and things like that your your typical eating habits there are other factors but just generally speaking the advice is take the time to eat your food chew your food swallow your food slowly and then you'll realize that you're full when you're actually full that actually leads to I think another thing that I read before stay always stay a little bit hungry and

Of course, both. And Polish? Yes. Both psychologically and physically. But now we're talking about physically. So stay a little bit hungry. Sounds like good business advice, too. Yeah. No matter. It's like after a meal or just before bed, it can help your maybe stomach to digest better. I'm never going to do that. I can't. Burn more of your fat in your body, maybe. I'm not saying it's bad advice. I just can't follow it. Yeah.

Yep. Build your diet in a healthy way. You have to eat something of everything, right? Don't just cut out your grains and carbs and also protein. That's really important. And in our Chinese diet, sometimes we eat way too many carbs. For example, I'm

I'm going to reference my dad. My dad's like the fourth person on today's roundtable. You get references throughout the show. I think he's representative of a lot of older folks in China, maybe particularly northerners. OK, my dad treats potatoes as a vegetable.

Potatoes are a vegetable. Okay. I mean, as a leafy vegetable. Like he's eating a salad or something. And I'm like, dad, no, there's a lot of carbs in there.

And then he'll also have another big bowl of rice. Carbs on carbs. Yes, those kind of things. And so also we eat so many noodles and a lot of these staple foods are so delicious. And a lot of like dumplings, fried, all kinds of delicious things that make my mouth water a little bit.

But, you know, just understanding your diet better, I think, is going to be really useful for anybody alive and kicking and hope for a very healthy future. So I think this is something that we can all work on.

Coming up during the later part of the show, let's chat about the simple joy of sunning your duvet and blanket. Because honestly, nothing compares to slipping under covers that smell like sunshine. Stay tuned. Looking for passion? How about fiery debate? Want to hear about current events in China from different perspectives? Then tune in to Roundtable, where East meets West and understanding is the goal. ♪

You're listening to Roundtable with myself, Hei Young. I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yu Shun. All right, quick question. What do you do with your wet laundry? Hang it up on a rack or a two-air dry, like most of us do in the northern part of China, where the air's dry and the sun's generous? Or do you toss it straight into a tumble dryer and let the machine do its thing if you live somewhere with a damper?

Now here's the fun fact. Not every home in China has a dryer. Yep, there's still kind of a rare species around here, especially compared to places where dryers are practically part of the home infrastructure. Please provide us with a quick look at the...

global penetration of dryers? Yeah, this is from, yeah, what a weird topic, but it's actually really interesting. This is from a couple of different research firms, Euromonitor and CICC Global Institute. In the United States, there are approximately 71 dryers per 100 households. That number is quite high. In the UK, France, and Germany, that goes down to around 40 dryers per

100 households. Japan even fewer, 29 dryers per 100 households. And in China almost non-existent, only six dryers per 100 households. In other words, using a dryer or finding a dryer in a Chinese household would be a very difficult thing to do.

Okay, so let's look at those other countries as well as China. Why are they so common in America, for example, and so not common here? Yeah, so in a lot of American communities, drying your clothes outdoors is prohibited. There are some areas of the country that have clothesline bans and violators might have to

This is from a report from the BBC. They said that there are rules imposed by community associations like homeowner associations and also landlords that forbid millions and millions and millions of homeowners from drying their washing outdoors.

The claim here is that it's unsightly, doesn't look nice, right? Could affect property values. If everybody in the community is doing that, it's not good for the aesthetic of the community. And people just don't want to look at other people's underwear hanging on the clothesline, right? But there are states that are fighting back against that. And now I believe there are a certain number of states...

that do allow it. From the BBC from 2010, Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and then fast forward to 2012, 2013, this is from the ABA Journal, 19 states have laws that prevent homeowner associations or other housing entities from banning the use of clotheslines. They call it the right to dry. Oh, yes. Yes.

And also, I think that's just based on different lifestyles and habits, right? Habits vary around the world. And the media reports are saying that many other countries are also not big fans of dryers. For example, Green Living Journal's data shows that dryer usage rates remain very low in countries like Russia, Brazil, and Italy, where traditional methods like line drying are still the norm.

yeah right why why is it though that it's so low here in china because you know i get yeah it is quite high in the united states 71 out of 100 households but i would expect around maybe the uk numbers like around 40 per 100 or 50 per 100 because some people will like it some people won't but here in china it's obviously it's like i said it's almost non-existent why is that the case is it a cost issue a

cultural thing or maybe just the simple idea of why pay for something the sun does for free? Fair. Fair. We have like lawn used to that kind of habit of hanging our clothes or just duvet and blanket and

outside of our door and using the sunshine to dry it and also make it has a smell of sunshine also the mindset of maybe being cost-effective clothes dryers consume a lot of electricity which is which can be quite expensive for when you're paying the electricity right also technical limitations elderly up I mean early dryers were

were like bulky, noisy, maybe damaged clothes and were expensive. And other than that, lifestyle habits, Chinese people are used to drying clothes, as I said, outdoors and believe that naturally dried clothes are healthier and more eco-friendly. And don't get us wrong. It's not like we have all that space to hang all that stuff outdoors. Maybe in certain parts of southern China, sometimes people do that. We're actually in...

All over the country, sometimes people do that. But more commonly for so many of us who live in apartments in China, then usually you have a balcony and it's an indoor balcony with windows. And that's where you can hang your laundry to dry. And also in our culture, it's

A great thing to sun your, how should I put this, the batting, the padding, and the stuffing of your comforter, duvet, blankie kind of thing. And why is that?

Okay. If you put your duvet and your bedding outside. Yeah, it's without the cover. And then it's been seen as, ooh, sun-kissed, and we love it. Yeah, and also you can get rid of all the little mites that might be inside. You can also dry it fully through, right, without having to worry about any dampness if you have...

Particularly if you're using air conditioning in the summertime, right? You're trying to dry your clothes inside. It's just not going to have that same smell and the same cleanliness as drying it outside. And fluffier is always better, of course. And with that, we're signing off. Thank you so much.

Yu Shun and Steve Hatherly for joining the discussion. You can always find us on Apple Podcasts at Roundtable China. And please feel free to join the discussion by sending a voice memo to roundtablepodcasts at qq.com. I'm He Young. We'll see you next time.