The Asian 'Secrets' to Healthy Eating

A few Asian countries regularly top the rankings of life expectancy lists. In this video, we'll be revealing their secrets to the world for the first time. Ok fine, not really!

Every culture has its healthy (and unhealthy) ways of doing things — in this video, we talk about some healthy eating habits and wisdom that had been inculcated in us through our parents or our culture.

00:00 Introduction
01:08 Secret #1
02:52 Secret #2
04:54 Secret #3

✦✦✦

🎵 "Rose" by Lukrembo

Disclaimer: Product links may include affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions are our own!

#healthyeating #asianfood

[ThoughtworthyCo]

What's one healthy (or unhealthy, for learning purposes) eating habit that had been passed down to you by your parents or your culture? Share them in the comments 👇

[adityam]

In India we have this philosophy: "If you don't eat food like a medicine, you would soon be eating medicine as food".

[aliasanna]

1. eat until 70-80% full
2. variety of food
3. Worry less

[tokiomitohsaka]

Strongly agree on variety. The more variety in your diet, the less likely you will have some kind of deficiency of some nutrients. This is better than trusting in supplementation as your main source, although it is highly advised to take blood tests and check if you are insufficient or deficient in anything so you could adjust your diet or supplement.

[Anonymous]

1. Tea can substitute soup when eating solid foods.
2. Eat slowly.

Some Chinese wisdom ;)

[rilke]

Being half-Vietnamese and growing up in the U.S., I was confronted with two very different ways of eating. My Vietnamese family would often have vegetables make up the majority of the dishes whereas my American family would rarely ever see vegetables in their dishes.

[anastasia]

dont over eat. eat soup + 3 dishes mainly veggies. Eat well and Dont worry so much.

[catriot]

I grew up in HK, we use Chinese medicines/herbs to make all kinds of soup, chicken, pork bone...etc & eat often, or steam dimsum, rarely having deep fried foods. I guess that's the secret.
Also trying to eat 5 colours of foods every day is good

[risang]

Having variety does help with nutrition and we don't get bored from eating the same foods!

I've gone through a "healthy eating" phase too, and it made my relationship with food become worse. Now i always try to eat different kinds of foods available in Indonesia and there's so much of them😋

[lovechiu]

i’m from hong kong and i think many of our parents taught us to not eat as much highly processed foods, especially not before a meal (so we won’t be full from the processed foods and only be having it occasionally)

[brookbergsma]

As a person with an eating disorder, these are very good tips for improving your relationship with food. Thank you for the lovely advice 🙏🏼

[rosered]

That's so very true! As Canadian Italian, carbs make the most of our meals, and I remember being amazed when I went to China. I don't think I had eaten that healthy in my life 😂 the food was delicious and I love the variety! Great principles to eat by

[SimplySami]

i was blown away seeing the way it’s served all on the table and eating everything like that. that’s game changing bc i usually pile everything onto a plate lol. thank you for this, going to incorporate a lot of these :)

[Marta]

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts!
My paternal grandparents were Latvian (grandma) and Ukrainian (grandpa). My grandma introduced me to combining foods of the world in a way that one would call "fusion" nowadays. She also coked meals the way they were never overdone thus keeping nutrients as much as she could. My grandpa just set an example of enjoying his meals and being grateful to people who prepared them. His favorite praise for a meal was the word "divine" :)

[doraima]

On variety, and also depends most Asian country rely on seafood, chicken, vegetables and fruits. All the cooking styles and portion sizes contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

[TamikaMichelle]

That animation between you and your dad was cute! Its hard keeping these parents alive and well.

[esme_melody]

6:49 this line almost made me cry…i hope one day i can see food as a joyful thing again

[aya-chan]

I'm in that part of Asia where we sometimes eat an abundance of unhealthy food (a lot of fats, oily) and while that is definitely contradicting, we have made it into a very much social thing and there is happiness in socializing, connecting through the foods you enjoy. and my mom always told me no matter how much u feel like not eating, eating is still important.

[rahmioktarinapradita]

In Indonesia, mostly our comfort food contains vegetables, so as other asian country, our guilty pleasure mostly fried food and some of sweets dessert. the variety of healthy foods are most easy to find here, and we always have rice, protein and soup, as we all known as “No Rice No Full”😅

[CrystleDragon]

I would love to do the 80% full tip, but unfortunately, I'm so out of tune with my body that I don't feel hunger often. Which is not ideal, as I can easily overeat or go too long between meals. I think for me, it'd be best to start getting back in touch with my body... Somehow.