Do Foreigners in The Philippines Age Poorly Too?

[Will N. Dowd]

I'm sure almost everyone here agrees that most Filipinos age poorly due to various conditions such as poverty, sun exposure, poor diet, stress, genes, etc. They look pretty poor by 20 even and by 30 most of the beauty they had from just being young has vanished. So I was thinking to myself what about foreigners living there? Most will obviously have it better than the locals, with more money, better genes, and hopefully better food, but it's certainly a concern. I see a lot of foreigners eating at the same fast food crap restaurants as the locals. That Dru guy from soyummykaya.com is perfect example, the food he eats is a vicious cycle of the Filipino franchises of the typical American fast food restaurants, like McDonalds, KFC, Wendys and Taco Bell.

You can stay out of the sun like I do with an umbrella, and cook your own healthy food as I do too, but you can't change the air, climate, water, or environment, and they might negatively impact your health and appearance if you live there a lot. All the sex is good for you, and supposedly makes people look younger, so that might be a positive, but the negatives might out weigh the positives when it comes to health and your appearance as you age. Most foreigners I see here are older and look pretty run down, but who knows if that happened before they came here. Anyways, I'm curious if this is an issue with others or just a thought with no proof.

[chanta76]

You know Will I think sometimes you lack real intelligence. Ask yourself this why do Philippines age badly? I mean Asian people supposedly age better then western people. Just look at the Japanese or Korean people. Diet and lifestyle plays a BIG role. The Philippines is poor country and I imagine that plays a big factor plus the pollution and stress of poverty. Poor people age faster because of poor lifestyle.

Westerns expats in the Philippines probably overmonger which leads to quick aging process and yes oversex does that. Every seen that over sex slut every town has? She f***s everyone but looks older for her age..because of too much of anything is not good.

Sometimes I think you lack common sense.

[Rock]

I have noticed some of the upper middle class people and above here in Metro Manila age well. So many look quite good into their 40s at least. I'm not sure why. Perhaps some have more NE Asian and/or Spanish blood OR they have a much healthier lifestyle OR combination of these factors.

[MarcosZeitola]

Filipino people come in many shapes, sizes and racial backgrounds. All of them, regardless of racial background, have more or less the same life expectancy as is common their standard of living and their social class. A Chinese Filipino who enjoys his late night karaoke sessions, has the stress of keeping his side-woman and wife happy at the same time, who enjoys a good drink and a smoke and has to navigate dangerous traffic daily... has the same chances of suffering a fatal heart attack at sixty as a Malay Filipino or a Moro who has the same lifestyle.

Now if a white man would emulate this lifestyle, breathe the same air, eat the same food... just how many more years do you think his "great genes" would buy him? My guess is, not that many.

If your life consists of heavy drinking, your life philosophy is "work hard, play hard" and you enjoy all the finer things in life to the max, and then some, what do you expect? My wife has two living grandfathers. One of them was driver and one of them a construction foreman. The driver was an irresponsible man, who would go on week-long drinking binges, who slept around, who has mistresses and who disregarded his health. Now, in his late seventies, he has been paralyzed by a stroke for some fifteen years and is in terrible health.

Her other grandfather, the foreman, was a man of discipline who kept himself in shape, who worked hard and did not party. He was, and remains, a faithful husband. Now this grandfather, in his late sixties, is in excellent shape, muscular, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. He still has a six-pack! Dude is fitter then me. He drinks gin in the evening, works during the day from morning to dark. His energy is inspiring. Both men belong to the same race, but aged very differently.

Lifestyle is EVERYTHING. Few men get to live like Winston Churchill and still make it to ninety the way he did.

[Rock]

Filipino people come in many shapes, sizes and racial backgrounds. All of them, regardless of racial background, have more or less the same life expectancy as is common their standard of living and their social class. A Chinese Filipino who enjoys his late night karaoke sessions, has the stress of keeping his side-woman and wife happy at the same time, who enjoys a good drink and a smoke and has to navigate dangerous traffic daily... has the same chances of suffering a fatal heart attack at sixty as a Malay Filipino or a Moro who has the same lifestyle.

Now if a white man would emulate this lifestyle, breathe the same air, eat the same food... just how many more years do you think his "great genes" would buy him? My guess is, not that many.

If your life consists of heavy drinking, your life philosophy is "work hard, play hard" and you enjoy all the finer things in life to the max, and then some, what do you expect? My wife has two living grandfathers. One of them was driver and one of them a construction foreman. The driver was an irresponsible man, who would go on week-long drinking binges, who slept around, who has mistresses and who disregarded his health. Now, in his late seventies, he has been paralyzed by a stroke for some fifteen years and is in terrible health.

Her other grandfather, the foreman, was a man of discipline who kept himself in shape, who worked hard and did not party. He was, and remains, a faithful husband. Now this grandfather, in his late sixties, is in excellent shape, muscular, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. He still has a six-pack! Dude is fitter then me. He drinks gin in the evening, works during the day from morning to dark. His energy is inspiring. Both men belong to the same race, but aged very differently.

Lifestyle is EVERYTHING. Few men get to live like Winston Churchill and still make it to ninety the way he did.

I think Will is referring more to looking old earlier. There are racial and ethnic differences which have huge impact. I've been to some very poor countries in sub-saharan Africa and Caribbean. Depending partly on tribe and ethnicity, some of these people age remarkably well. I saw women over 50 with near flawless faces and still very intact sexy bodies in spite of living in a very harsh environment with high sun exposure.

Asians are generally more delicate. Sun can make a huge difference to how old a woman looks. In Thailand, they've learned to cover up. Even construction workers there often cover their faces with cloth and many people living rural lifestyle in the provinces take steps to minimize sun exposure and develop good habits which help them look younger as they get older. Of course lighter skin in Asia is a status and class indicator too, especially in mixed SE Asian countries.

[Adama]

Filipino people come in many shapes, sizes and racial backgrounds. All of them, regardless of racial background, have more or less the same life expectancy as is common their standard of living and their social class. A Chinese Filipino who enjoys his late night karaoke sessions, has the stress of keeping his side-woman and wife happy at the same time, who enjoys a good drink and a smoke and has to navigate dangerous traffic daily... has the same chances of suffering a fatal heart attack at sixty as a Malay Filipino or a Moro who has the same lifestyle.

Now if a white man would emulate this lifestyle, breathe the same air, eat the same food... just how many more years do you think his "great genes" would buy him? My guess is, not that many.

If your life consists of heavy drinking, your life philosophy is "work hard, play hard" and you enjoy all the finer things in life to the max, and then some, what do you expect? My wife has two living grandfathers. One of them was driver and one of them a construction foreman. The driver was an irresponsible man, who would go on week-long drinking binges, who slept around, who has mistresses and who disregarded his health. Now, in his late seventies, he has been paralyzed by a stroke for some fifteen years and is in terrible health.

Her other grandfather, the foreman, was a man of discipline who kept himself in shape, who worked hard and did not party. He was, and remains, a faithful husband. Now this grandfather, in his late sixties, is in excellent shape, muscular, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. He still has a six-pack! Dude is fitter then me. He drinks gin in the evening, works during the day from morning to dark. His energy is inspiring. Both men belong to the same race, but aged very differently.

Lifestyle is EVERYTHING. Few men get to live like Winston Churchill and still make it to ninety the way he did.

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

[Mr S]

I have noticed some of the upper middle class people and above here in Metro Manila age well. So many look quite good into their 40s at least. I'm not sure why. Perhaps some have more NE Asian and/or Spanish blood OR they have a much healthier lifestyle OR combination of these factors.

http://www.belomed.com/

[Mr S]

I've been living in metro Manila since 2003 and I can honestly say the pollution and daily wear and tear of commuting is probably the worst thing that's causing aging in my body. The food and weather as well don't help but I don't eat out much and monitor what kinds of food I eat. I'd say I've aged better than average for someone my age but would probably look better if I wasn't living in such a toxic environment. The air pollution is the worst and I know it's affected my health and energy levels as I feel different when I visit other smaller cities in the country. If you don't eat healthy, get enough sleep, exercise and eliminate vices like alcohol and smoking then you will noticeably age rapidly starting in your 30's. I've stemmed the worst parts of aging for the most part but have had to change my lifestyle considerably to do it and most guys probably aren't willing to do what I did so that's why many middle aged and about expats look like shit. It becomes too much effort to stay healthy and decent looking and they just give up and let everything go. Since women are easier to get here and they aren't as picky many men end up not caring how sloppy they look. They still think they can pull in the babes!

[davewe]

Whenever I travel in the Philippines I get asked my age. People seem genuinely surprised when I tell them, though I have always thought it was BS, sort of like how all Westerners are called guapo by the girls.

But on this trip Janet and I got to talking to a 50-something woman that she has known since childhood. The woman asked my age and as always seem surprised. I laughed and thanked her for the compliment but told her I assumed it was based on the character of Filipinas to admire Americans. The woman took me seriously and answered finally saying, "You must understand, Dave, that most Filipino men your age look 80."

In addition to the other factors already mentioned, the truth is that most Filipinos work hard and have a genuinely hard life - that ages anyone.

[WorldTraveler]

I realize now that most times that I visit the Philippines and stay in a city, I get an upper respiratory infection. Sometimes as bad as the flu with fever and bed ridden. I also get eye infections from the pollution. I don't think I could ever live in a major city in the Philippines long term without getting sick.

[Rock]

I think maybe the accelerated aging is more of a province and squatter area thing. In Makati, I've seen plenty of men and women in their late 30s through 60s who I would say age more gracefully than their white counterparts in North America. Few anecdotes:

- Ava Paige who used to post here occasionally had a Pinoy mom and dad both in 40s who looked quite youthful and attractive IMO. Good body shapes, not over or underweight, full heads of dark hair, no wrinkles, and both healthy and attractive to boot. They had the aging signs more like mid 30s white people in USA.

- I have another Pinay friend who is 34 now and smooth light perfect skin on her face, neck, hands, elbows, arms and legs. She does not appear to have visibly aged at all from her early 20s other than putting on a bit of chub.

- Another Pinay I know now (who Winston met) has a dad in mid 40s who again has no wrinkles and is in healthy shape.

I see plenty of these types of people in areas of Metro Manila and sometimes when you see them eating as a family, you can gauge the age of the elder ones relative to others in the group and then assess how well or poorly they've aged. NE Asians and to some extent even Malays generally don't wrinkle as much or get as heavy as Germanic or even some Latin whites unless relative environmental differences are too extreme in favor or the whites. So, when I go deeper into the provinces, I'm sometimes introduced to elderly looking and weathered local people who are say just in early 40s territory and 30 somethings with very haggard or wrinkled skin.

Once Filipinos achieve a certain quality of life (in spite of awful pollution) within their country, they often age better some ways than even first world white people. But the harsh sun and chronic poverty in provincial Philippines takes a big toll on health and appearance of many of those who spend their whole lives there.

[Jonny Law]

-Bullshit-
White fuckers here in SE Asia Thailand and Phillipines lose wight and look better than they did in the US of Gay.

[Winston]

It seems like it, yeah. When I first came to Philippines in 2006, everyone said I looked younger than my age. Then in 2010, people started saying I looked older than my age. Yikes. Sure the pollution and dirty environment there is not good for your health. But also, people usually latch onto the ways of the culture/society they are in, energy wise as well. We all do this instinctively, even if we don't know it. This is why in Taiwan, even the white foreigners here tend to be closed, reserved and not that open, because they adapt to that trait in the culture of Taiwan. And in Russia, the foreigners are super open to talking to strangers, because they copy the Russian style of being very open and direct without fear to all strangers. People seem to electromagnetically tune in with their environment, whether they choose to or not.

Therefore, the same may be true for our bodies as well. Mind and body have a connection. So whatever energy we are tuned to, will be reflected in our physical bodies as well.

I cannot prove whether I would have aged badly if I had been in another country though. We can't go back and test that.

Also, I think climates that are hot and humid are not healthy. Food spoils quickly in hot humid climates. But in dry cold climates, food lasts longer. So maybe the same is true for our skin and body? If so, then living in a cold dry climate is better for your skin and health.

But then again, when I came to PI I started mongering a lot, even though I treated each bar girl like a real girlfriend. Like chanta76 said, maybe the sin of mongering ages you faster too. Who knows. I can't think of a biological reason why having lots of sex with multiple partners would age you faster. It seems to be more of a religious concept. Not sure if it can be proven scientifically though.