You’re right that the cuisine of China, Korea, and Japan shouldn’t be lumped into one “healthy” category, but they are regionally similar. We create categories like this all the time when discussing food and dieting. “Mediterranean” cuisine comprises at least a few countries in Europe that share a similar staple and cooking methods. Of course, local cultural norms and expectations of what “fat” means can certainly shape the bodies of a certain area; therefore, I’ve decided to use general terms here for “Asia”.The big picture is that Asian cuisine, in its traditional form, promotes a healthier lifestyle than American cuisine. I think we see eye-to-eye on that. 

About whether other Asian countries’ food is healthier than Chinese is very debatable, since there are hidden skeletons in every cuisine’s closet, so to speak. Koreans love fried chicken restaurants, from my experience. And Japanese deep fry their vegetables on occasion. Thais have some tasty deep-fried options as well. All of these countries are consuming more processed foods than ever before, which is common in a western diet.

Oil intake should definitely be limited and there are times when I prefer the Cantonese style “Qing Dan” cooking, which is light in flavor and never spicy. It’s important to note, too, that eating out at a Chinese restaurant is considered “unhealthy” by local standards. Eating out every day is harmful to your health, although most travelers aren’t lucky enough to experience home cooking for most of their journey. 

I don’t know a single Japanese or Korean that isn’t warned before a trip to China to take some extra seasoning or sauce to ameliorate the greasiness/oiliness of the food. Of course, you don’t drink it, we’re not retards, the point is that all the oil they use seeps into the food.

While I can appreciate your personal stance on Eastern cuisine, and I personally largely agree with you it’s erroneous to lump Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cuisine into a “healthy” cuisine as even native Chinese food is incomparably unhealthy especially compared to Japanese food. 

C’mon, we’re Americans… we just invented the Baconator, a sandwich that’s 2,580 calories… just because Chinese cuisine is healthier than American cuisine doesn’t exactly means it’s healthy. It’s a culture that created tea not just for taste but to filter out all the oil they consume for Christ’s sake.

I’m sorry, and I know you’re not claiming to be an expert, but this article just had so many errors. And people on the sidebar saying that oil is healthy… this isn’t exactly extra virgin olive oil, they’re using. People are delusional if they think Chinese food in the Mainland is somehow healthy.