I'm living in rural Japan and it's really hard and expensive to get the "quality" carbohydrates as suggested by so many sites. Most fruits are unavailable and those that are available are only sold in season. TO make matters worse, the price is ridiculous. For example, peaches are about $2.00-$3.50 each, depending on the time of summer. After Sept, they aren't available at all. A head of romaine lettuce runs about $2-$4 . Stuff like slow cooked oats, cottage cheese and whatnot just don't exist. Therefore, I end up eating a lot of cabbage based kimchi, seaweed, tofu and soybean salad, and lots of kiwi fruit (these and bananas are the only fruits available year round and for a somewhat reasonable price). The trouble is, I'm not sure of the carb/protein/fat breakdown of a lot of the stuff I'm eating. It:s not listed on any labels, no Japanese person can tell me and I can't find any info on any of the Zone diet sites/programs. Does anyone know where I can get the info?

Hi, Try getting a copy of "The Complete Book of Food Counts" by Corinne T. Netzer. I just looked and it had a page listing nutritional info fo teh most common seaweeds. It has many uncommon foods in it. You can probably order it online easily. SUe

I live in Japan as well. Oatmeal : I eat it every morning. i usually get by with quaker 3 minute oats which they sell everywhere, but occasionally will go to kinokunia in omote sando which has slow cook oats. I also find adding a little museli and fresh fruit adds to the flavor without any kind of sugar needed. I agree, proteins here are easy to come by, but when it comes to carbs, it's hard to keep the gl. load down., whith all the white rice and noodles. also asking a japanese cook to modify the menu is a sin here. I recommend cooking at home as much as possible, broccoli and asparagus here isn't too bad pricewise, and steaming them takes little time. just watch it when you go out, the amount of rice and noodles they try to make you eat is outrageous! i ussually tell them 'gohan hanbun de kudasai' (half rice) which is always still too much. good luck! matt

I was wonderging if there were a university anywhere in the areas where you two are living. If there is a university, might there be a program for nutritionists? Do they have a home economics department? What about hospitals? Do they teach diatetics at the hospitals? I have not been to Japan so cannot answer my own questions. Dieticians and nutritionists in any nation have access to the breakdown of the foods of their people. Once you know the composition of foods, you can do your own block counts. Let me know if you find anything out. I would be interested to know. Benay

I was wonderging if there were a university anywhere in the areas where you two are living. If there is a university, might there be a program for nutritionists? Do they have a home economics department? What about hospitals? Do they teach diatetics at the hospitals? I have not been to Japan so cannot answer my own questions. Dieticians and nutritionists in any nation have access to the breakdown of the foods of their people. Once you know the composition of foods, you can do your own block counts. Let me know if you find anything out. I would be interested to know. Benay