It’s hard being an ex-fatty. I am very aware that the weight and size issue is a very sensitive topic for women, and thus making it a point to notice “fat” is a rather awkward experience. Awkward even when you’re not doing it to judge people but to understand the connection between body shape expressions in relation to people’s local diet.
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Over the past few months, I have been in Manila stuffing my face with friends and my father, who are beyond being just foodies. My friends go for volume, and there’s nothing dad looks forward to more than eating good food — Manila is just the culinary sin city that hits all our spots.
From USDA prime rib eyes to chunks and chunks of fatty roasted pork a lá léchon (excuse the fake French on a Spanish word), the Filipino capital is a city that serves lots of saturated fat and refined carbohydrates.
I feel like I’ve piled on 10 tons in a few short days, but while I’m eating to a point of frustrating discomfort, I was also sitting and observing body shapes of people walking by.
In busy Manila, people are bustling around like scattering ants!
The Skinny Fat Syndrome
In an article written by Dr. Mark Hyman, he warns people of the dangers of
skinny fat, because it can lead to health problems like Type 2 diabetes, even if you are in the “healthy” weight range.
What I noticed was lots of women with slim limbs and a very odd phenomenon of bellies that they let hang over their pants without sucking them in. At first, I thought it was just a few ladies, but then after seeing literally thousands of women in Manila, it seems that the belly thing is a very prominent feature of the women who live in this glorious city.
I even got several men to do the observation with me, and it’s been (and I hate to say this but it’s a fact that men find bellies funny on ladies), the guys chuckled, laughed, shook their heads.
Overweight women obviously have a lot going on in the jiggly department, but what’s interesting is a lot of petite, slim Filipinas sporting hanging bellies beneath their clothes. The correct term is called “muffin tops” and it looks kind of like this.
This scene is EVERYWHERE in Manila, like some kind of mini obesity horror movie. It is such a curious phenomenon that I find this to be a very defining feature of Filipina masses.
In Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, you kind of find consistencies overall. Slim women are just slim all over, with flat bellies. Pudgy women are pudgy all over, usually with a wide waist but the hanging muffin toppery? Not a common sight. But “muffin toppery” is a Filipina feature. That’s not to say all Filipina women have them.
The pretty ladies who work in entertainment or casinos obviously have very nice figures, but just in general women who walk around malls and the streets have them.
The Diet Connection
Filipinos eat one of the most unhealthiest diets I’ve ever seen. Fatty pork and meats that are high in saturated fats, high sodium, and lots of chemicals, sugar in their seasoning and drinks. They also do a lot of refined carbs like noodles, rice, and breads. They do lots of processed foods. All you need to do is go to a supermarket here and there would be aisles and aisles of flour-based packaged biscuits, cakes, and canned meats.
But the biggest factor I think is that they don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables. Everything is processed. They don’t pack in stuff that nourishes and rejuvenates their cells. Their diets are full of oxidants, not antioxidants. That’s why cancer rates are very high in the Philippines, but more so, people are getting them and dying at a very young age. Just a few days ago, a friend’s cousin died from colon cancer. He was 27 years old.
I’ll go into more of the diet thing one of these days.
So without interviewing experts and looking at studies and data, my suspicion is that the reason why many Filipinas are overweight, and their skinny women have muffin tops has to do with:-
a) Refined carbs
b) Saturated fat
c) Chemicals and preservatives
d) Sugar (hyperinsulinism)
e) Salt (it preserves whatever is inside your body – think of mummification of your insides!)
Saying that, the celebrities in the Philippines look delish. Here’s Anne Curtis, the half Aussie-Filipina actress, model and VJ who is just about on every magazine cover, billboard ad for SMDCA, and endorsements.
She really needs to share how she eats with the ladies in the Philippines.
