Is 'Kimchi' good for dieting?

[Jenny]

These days there are many obese people all over the world. Korea is not an exception. Most elementary school students usually say, "My favorite food is pizza, hamburgers and chicken." They don't exercise after school. Instead they go to a private institute called 'hagwon', grabbing hamburgers. News reports often say that children are getting bigger but slower in action. More than 10% of students in my class are obese. Everyday I can observe what they like to have for lunch because I have responsibility to have students keep order in the classroom as a homeroom teacher. They usually don't like to have vegetables like kimchi. They eat meat.

People say kimchi is a very wonderful food nutritionally. Also, it is a fermentation food and helps us digest well. It is good for digestion and constipation. As a result, we can keep in shape by eating kimchi continuously. I have kimchi almost every meal but I've never looked into that. So I learned about types of kimchi, nutrition of kimchi, other dishes with kimchi and kimjang or kimchi making event. Kimchi is becoming more popular among foreigners, so Korea is exporting Kimchi to many other countries.

Good reasons to lose weight.
It's hard to lose weight in the short run minding about food. As everybody knows it's a life-long challenge. However, losing weight can improve health in many ways. Also, there are many benefits. We feel better with a slim body. We can lower our cholesterol levels and blood pressure by losing weight. That will help blood circulate well in. As a result, we can prevent adult diseases such as diabetes and heart attack. More than anything else, today's students want to look more attractive. That's why they reform their uniforms and even have plastic surgery. As for me, I have lots of belly fat after giving birth last year. I want to lose weight to get more confidence. However, keeping in good shape is not all we have to do to lose weight.

Nutrition of kimchi
Most ingredients in kimchi are low in calories and sugar but contain high amounts of fiber, various vitamins (especially vitamins A and C), and minerals (such as calcium and iron). In addition, the acid is effective for preventing adult diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and even cancers. Not only that, the juice from vegetables and salt in kimchi help intestines keep clean. The fiber in cabbage is not a nutrient, but it allows smooth movement of food through the intestines, and helps prevent constipation and intestine cancer. Red chili peppers and garlic help lower blood cholesterol. Not knowing these benefits, we start to disregard kimchi as there are many kinds of western food.

My episode about kimchi diet
When I was a high school student, I weighed 8kg more than I do now. When I entered the university, I decided to lose weight because I couldn't buy any fancy and pretty clothes. Most of the newfangled clothes in Korea were designed for slim and skinny women. In my case, I carried out both exercise and diet that was basically focused on kimchi. When I planned my diet menu, I was sure to include diverse kinds of kimchi at almost every meal. There are many kinds of kimchi such as Oi Sobagi, Yeolmu Kimchi and Green Onion Kimchi.

I was opposed to skipping meals anyway. Staple foods of the menu were rice and kimchi. I knew the amount of rice shouldn't be over 2/3 of a rice bawl. Above all, patience was important because the effect turned up little by little over 2 months. Of course, it was good to work out, for example, jogging and slight stretching. However, it was considered kimchi was so salty that I had to drink more water in the process of kimchi diet. In conclusion, I lost 10 kg then, so succeeded in kimchi diet.

How to make kimchi
Actually, lots of time and efforts are needed to make kimchi. In Korea, we make kimchi to save food before the severe cold comes up. That is called 'kimjang' - kimchi making event. When I was young, townspeople got together to make kimchi and have some good time as a social gathering. Nowadays, those who have less time to make kimchi usually buy kimchi made by the bucket. Kimchi sold at the market is not made in a clean way. Also we can't trust the ingredients. Now it's time for us to give it a try. How to make kimchi is as follows:

1) Ingredients
Chinese cabbage, salt, red pepper powder, pickles, smashed ginger, smashed garlic, green onions, oyster, pears

2) Recipe
① Cut each cabbage into 2 or 3 pieces.
② Put some salt into water.
③ Soak the cabbages in the salty water for 7-8 hours.
④ Rinse the cabbages in water.
⑤ Drain water from the cabbages.
⑥ To make seasoned paste, mix the red pepper powder with other ingredients.
⑦ Put oysters and diced pears into the paste.
⑧ Put the paste between the cabbage leaves.
⑨ Keep the seasoned cabbages in a big jar or in a kimchi refrigerator.

How we can enjoy kimchi
In order to enjoy kimchi, we have to work on the ways to make dishes with kimchi diversely. Recently, young students don't like kimchi that much. They favor meat and fried food. To make them like kimchi more, we need to develop recipes fusing kimchi with western food. In everyday life, we have kimchi jji-gae and kimchi bu-chim-gae ( kimchi pan cake ).

Conclusion
We, as Koreans, have kimchi at almost every meal. When we realize that our belly fat starts to get bigger, we usually find many other ways to lose weight - eating only one type of food, exercising at a fitness club, jogging on the street. Anxious to lose weight, we need to consider that kimchi is a part of our lives. Cooking kimchi in different ways, we can enjoy eating in every day life. Then, we can succeed in our diets with less stress. Furthermore, we can make our children crazy about kimchi. So, they could develop kimchi into one of the most famous foods in the world.

[Spoon]

I would first like to welcome you to Diet Forum, Jenny, and also to congratulate you on the new addition to your family!! Children are such a wonderful gift!!!

Thank you so much for the wonderful information about Kimchi!! Personally, I am not sure if I have ever eaten it...nor do I recall even seeing it in the grocery store in the US (probably because I was never looking for it! ), but my curiosity may just push me to see if I can find it in my local grocery store. I can't promise I will like it, or even actually buy it, considering I have never been a fan of cabbage, and that is what it sounds like it might taste like...but I will at least take a look. I am more of a spinach girl; it is one of the most healthy foods of the US, and I eat it almost every day. This is wonderful information; please feel free to post more great info like this

Welcome, and we hope to hear more from you soon!!

In good health,
Spoon