Why Some Ethnic Groups Battle Weight and Others Don’t

Noom’s mobile app is downloaded in literally every country in the world, providing a truly global view of how cultures eat and what their most popular and caloric foods are as an ethnic group. 

Under their analysis, Noom’s data scientists crunched the daily food logs of more than 42 million people around the world. 

They separated for the most calorie dense foods and categorized these foods by country and language. Their data identified the most popular and unhealthy food groups by culture, along with the top-10 countries that log the most unhealthy foods in their meals.

Noom’s data reinforces some of the biggest global stereotypes about Americans. 

As a whole, Americans love butter, bacon, French fries, cheddar cheese and eat the most unhealthy meals, according to Noom’s proprietary food database.

Here’s a list of the top-10 countries that log the most unhealthy food, along with their most popular and high calorie dense foods.

1) USA – butter, peanut butter, bacon, cheddar cheese, French fries, fried eggs, whole milk, full-fat cheese, almonds and sugar.

2) Spain – beer, aceite de Oliva, white bread, butter, Leche Entera, fried potatoes

3) Germany – butter, Marmelade, Käse, Nutella, Frischkäse, Salami

4) Canada – butter, peanut butter, cheddar cheese, bacon, French fries.

5) Korea –spicy rice cake, coffee mix, soju, pork belly, spicy stir-fried pork, ramen

6) Austria – butter, marmalade, Käse, schokolade, beer, milch, nutella

7) China – butter, marmalade, Schokolade, Käse, Pommes Frites

8) United Kingdom – butter, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried eggs, chocolate, peanut butter

9) Australia – butter, whole milk, bacon, full-fat cheese, sugar, almonds, peanut butter

10) India – almonds, whole milk, coconut chutney, butter, sugar, fried fish.

Many people don’t realize popular foods from their cultures lead to slow weight gain.

A study published in last month’s British Medical Journal Open Diabetes Research & Care took a closer look at how mindfulness of diet provides better long-term success when it comes to weight loss management.

The BMJ study by Dr. Andreas Michelides, Chief of Psychology with Noom, followed 43 overweight or obese adult participants with a diagnosis of pre-diabetes who signed up to receive the 24-week Noom program, which provides human coaching through a strictly mobile platform.

The study found mindfulness – like logging food, weighing yourself everyday and positive reinforcement- led 64 percent of the participants using Noom to lose more than 5 percent of their body weight. Even more impressive, they kept it off for more than 6 months. 

“Being more involved and mindful around eating and exercise is an important part of achieving weight-loss success,” said Dr. Michelides. ““The brain is the reason why weight-loss is either successful or unsuccessful. It’s where all your unhealthy habits live and also where your motivation is formed.”

You can learn more about the weight loss program at Noom.com.