Fat-Nation

On my recent trip to China I got the opportunity discover their way of living – although very different to us (squat toilets, chop sticks and chicken feet are included in their everyday living) one thing stood out – the only over weight people in China were the western tourist! The over weight Chinese were like an endangered spices – they stood out like dogs balls compared to the rest of the nation, over weight locals would have just blended in on the streets of Australia.

So what do they do so differently to keep that spare tyre off?!

Well throughout the week I began to discover why we as a country are so fat here are a few things I noticed…

1) The whole time I was in China I saw like 5 McDonalds – there was hardly any take away restaurants – there version of ‘take-out’ was lining up for some freshly made dumplings, squid or chicken.

2) It was really hard for us to find somewhere to eat for breakfast – from what I saw they are not big breakfast eaters – there is no sourdough, acai bowls or bacon and eggs – I have read a lot about how breakfast is actually not the most important meal of the day and I believe it.

3) It was not uncommon so see the locals walking around with a plastic bag of boiled eggs. At first I was confused and thought it was so random! Then I saw a family on one of our tours squatting (in perfect form I might add) peeling their eggs and I realised it was a common snack – no processed bars, shakes or chocolates here.

4) We ate out every meal. Almost daily we were told we ordered too much food. We disagreed - the waiter was correct we did order too much food but we still almost ate it all. Portion sizes are a huge factor when it comes to eating healthy we tend to ‘supersize’ without even noticing this only puts pressure on our digestive system and waist line.

5) Water is cheap, if not free. You know when you’re thirsty and you go to the servo and they sting you 4 bucks for a small pump water bottle? You are better off getting the $1 coffee with your fuel. China was the opposite – we were paying $5-7 for coffee and $1 for water. Not only was the water cheap but in public places they also had filtered water with disposable cups for free.

6) On the topic of water – majority carried around drink bottles – our tour guide was sipping all day we asked her what it was she was drinking… it was warm water. In China the thought of cold water makes them cringe, they’ll only drink warm/hot water. This is GREAT for your body and skin – especially your digestive system.

7) Instead of having a fast food store on every corner of every street there was fresh fruit such as watermelon already cut up for convenience for $1-2.

8) Gyms are not a common place like in Australia, which gives you even more reason to believe they have their diets right!

9) Main meals are not fancy or complicated, they were simply noodles or rice serves with greens (kale or bok coy usually) and protein. I say all the time STOP COMPLIATING YOUR MEALS.

10) They eat with chopsticks – although this is a theory I’ve made up – I believe eating with chopsticks will help your weight. Why? Well eating with chopsticks compared to a knife and fork means you cannot shovel the food in a quick, as you’d like. By eating slower it gives our food a chance to hit the stomach, which then signals the brain to tell us we are full. We have all done it before when we eat really fast and it is only 15-20 minutes later when we realise we have eaten too much and we are super full. Eating with chopsticks can help with the problem!


Have we become too westernised with big brands, big food & big stomachs for our own good? Lets bring it back to basics and take a leaf out of the Asian lifestyle to help feel and look healthy.

Stay Strong & Stretch,
Tel X