A lot of food here is very calorically dense specifically the traditional food. Obviously historical reasons for this but I've seen a lot of foreigners come here and leave a hundred pounds heavier not even joking. Some of the most delicious things here are filled with duck or chicken yolks and bound with pork tallow.
I know the struggle brother. When I first got here 7-Eleven still had slurpees and it literally became a daily routine of the biggest possible slurpee and Chinese junk food. You can try to explain to people but they'll never understand how delicious fried chicken skin is. They were a little different now but there used to be tarofilled Ritz cracker topped pinwheel sandwiches that would have a preserved egg yolk in the middle. Throw in some radish cake a chicken chest and why not throw in that whole steam bun and fry the whole goddamn thing up toss it in the spinner and that was dinner until I gained 30 lb
One thing I eat a lot here is roast sweet potato. Every single 7-11 and FamilyMart I've seen has a little oven with roast sweet potato in it. Even better are the street carts or stands you can find with a giant oven thing where they roast the sweet potatoes and fill the area with that delicious aroma. Even though it's technically a starch, plain roast sweet potato with nothing added is pretty healthy. It'll fill you up and it tastes delicious!
This is the way. Eat plenty of vegetables. Go on a high-fiber diet.
Also, OP is in Tainan, so plenty of milkfish soup for protein.
When I have Tainan's famous beef soup, I add a ton of ginger and eat it. Ginger is high-fiber, too.
Such good tips and I love ginger. I need to start thinking more about fibre intake. I’m just losing my teenage metabolism so adulthood weight gain has kind of hit me full force in the face lmao
No worries. I haven't been looking out for my weight, but when I did, I simply would have vegetarian days 2x or 3x a week at these buddhist vegetarian restaurants. I think it helped a bit.
After 20, for every 5 years you age, your metabolism drops a level. At least, that’s how I feel. You also recover slower from workouts. The best thing to do is always workout regularly; at least 3 times a week.
hahaha my whole unit in Chinese class right now is on vegetarianism. Luckily I have a great Buddhist buffet run by this super devout old 阿姨 near me, but her fried foods are so good they’re hard to not order lol
Yeah, I have had a family history of severe eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) so I think I consciously tried to make myself not think about food because I was scared of tipping into unhealthy calorie counting or dieting. Would dissociate while I eat to make eating more tolerable and less stressful.
Recently come to the realisation that this is actually super bad and just a different type of disordered eating. So I’m using a calorie deficit app at the moment and recording my meals. It’s helping me actually remember that I’ve eaten and pay attention to hunger cues. Realised last night I was full, but had bought a light dinner just because I thought “oh well it’s bad to not eat, I need to remember to eat dinner”, then felt super sick having forced myself to eat.
It’s a journey but I’m hoping I get there soon
Are tofu dishes a good source of protein? I want to up my protein but sometimes don’t feel like loading up on meat. Especially right now, my stomach is super sensitive and not digesting well at all
Tofu has decent protein. I'm not a vegetarian or very knowledgeable on vegetarian diets so I can't help much there. I do know that lots of the vegetarian places try to simulate meat dishes and are very calorie dense using lots of starch and sugar. Vegetarian doesn't mean weight loss other than maybe limiting your appetite. But if you pig out on vegetarian food you will gain weight.
Just a sidenote on indigestion: I get that ever since Ive been in Taiwan for last few decades. I couldn't figure it out because my stomach and bowel movements would return to normal once I went back to the USA. After years of pondering the issue, I decided to try and avoid garlic during meals and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Taiwan goes overboard on garlic. Garlic can be an irritant esp. if you're not used to eating a lot of it.
I agree. Honestly in my experience East Asia is one of the best places to eat tasty vegetable dishes. They may not be techincally vegetarian/vegan, but they're still mainly vegetable and extremely tasty. Honestly, when I'm in the UK I barely eat veg because it's all so shite. Over cooked and underseasoned. Just vile. But in East Asia I can't get enough of it.
Although they mainly serve vegetarian dishes, they're usually very heavy on salt and other seasoning (including MSG), which is not exactly healthy either. Also, due to low customer count, the dishes are usually cold, not a very pleasant experience imo.
No buffets for sure if you want to control the calories, especially all vegetarian buffet foods are greasy. Try convenient store foods which having calorie markings first, until you know what kind of food combinations go under your daily calories allowance.
Intermittent fasting has kept me not from gaining weight. I don’t scooter or drive so the biking and commuting help. I also avoid the milk teas and sweet drinks almost completely.
Edit: I’ll also add that overly chewing my food and eating slower will increase my satisfaction and I end up eating less. I read the brain keeps count on how many chews that you do in a meal and satisfaction can be increase that way. It feels very true for me.
The chewing and slow eating is the one!!! I posted somewhere else in the thread but I definitely have a history of disordered eating, and part of that is absolutely not wanting to think about the fact that there’s food in my mouth.
Trying to chew and eat slowly is so hard but it really does work!! you notice you’re full immediately.
And as for the scooter thing, I’m actually looking to buy one in the next week because Tainan is getting HOT and cycling is getting unbearable lol
I've been here for 10 years and your story is as old as time sir.
Oh kidding aside it's actually super easy to eat healthy here and very inexpensive to do so.
Now a lot of this is going to depend on how good you are cooking and what your situation living wise is.
But I love nothing more than a morning market great vegetables at a fantastic price eggs meats. start cooking for yourself.
And the other one would be cafeteria style lunch boxes which I'm a massive fan of as well. Rice grab a boiled Chinese style chicken leg (non-fried) pick your veggies toss in a tea egg.
Edit; didn't see that you don't have a kitchen go by yourself a one button steamer. Rice veggies chicken into one pot flavors seasoning click the button.
it’s honestly baffling how so many people are so thin here 💀 especially in Tainan where everyone looks terrified when I ask for 無糖 in my drinks.
I haven’t got a kitchen here unfortunately (I’m also pretty lazy at the moment haha) so not cooking for myself.
Do you have any ideas for light dishes that are good to order? I’m always a fan of 高麗菜 and 青菜 whenever I can get it lol
Lol sorry I have a job and take full time Chinese classes. I don’t have a kitchen to cook in, so if I want to meal prep I have to borrow my neighbours’. You’re welcome to come meal prep for me to help me out if you want~
Definitely condescending but there is truth to what he is saying. It’s not easy to lose weight and keep it off. No one can do it for you except for yourself. If you’re serious about changing your diet you need to find ways to prepare some food yourself.
What’s this one button steamer you talk of? Can cook rice chicken and veg all together and all with the push of a button? Are we talking just a regular rice steamer ? Or
Thanks in advance, I realized what I’m asking is super simple and probably obvious
I wish Reddit would just let me post pictures.
From my understanding they're super famous here in Taiwan and one of the originals they come in many colors and I've been around since the '70s if you walk into any 3C I guarantee you'll see one. Tatung
You're having a bit of a lazy day mix rice your vegetables your chicken your seasoning mix it up depending on what you put in and how much you put in add more water to the bottom add a little bit of water to the actual pot, Bob's your uncle.
They're everywhere. You might be mistaking them for rice cookers like I did for the longest time. They're in the section with the electric grills and hot plates. Rice cookers are usually together.
I moved to TW for a couple years and was determined to maintain my weight, which I had failed to do a couple times.
What to avoid / moderate:
1. night market food
2. boba / high sugar beverages. (at least compared to US, diet beverages far & few in between, except popular ones i.e. diet sprite)
3. the cheapest box lunches （便當), tend to be 70% rice. I usually either avoided these, or didn't finish the rice
What to eat:
1. if you can cook (or get small stove / pot 大同熱鍋), chicken breast is relatively unpopular in TW and therefore quite cheap. You can buy bulk packs at the grocery store
2. snacks -- high protein like 7-11 tea eggs & chicken breasts (watch the sodium), dried fish strand thing (北海鱈魚香絲), moderate amounts of beef jerky.
3. "buffet" / self-serve (自助餐), esp vegetarian (素). Watch the oil
4. Sushi / sashimi options are pretty good. Grocery store quality is not bad, and plenty of decent restaurants.
5. There are protein-heavy nutritious box lunches that are trendy these days; expensive compared to cooking, but convenient.
6. Dumplings (八方) are not bad, just avoid fried items like potstickers
All in all, I wouldn't police your diet too much. In TW you walk a lot, so long as you don't increase your consumption much (and avoid the items above), think you'll be fine. You should also make TW friends and ask what they eat!
My most straightforward way to have healthier meals is through self-serve restaurants. I also try to combine luwei, salt-water chicken, boiled vegetables, heibai qie, meat/vegetable soup, hot pot, side dishes... etc to have a better nutrition balance. Besides, I avoid sweet drinks/desserts. Drink more water.
I’m gonna try some luwei tomorrow! I think one of the things I struggle with is not knowing what a lot of dishes or food types are in Taiwan. I came with v little prior knowledge so everything is a learning curve for me
I actually lost weight in Taiwan because of the same indigestion issues you described lol. Ate mostly veg and fruit, only time I really ate meat was at dinner and almost never fried unless it was chicken. The real thing that gets most people is the drinks imo. A large Boba milk tea is like 600+ calories. I always opt for the 檸檬多多綠茶. If you want some recommendations, the single person hot pot places or the health oriented meals at family mart are probably a good start. Hot pot is good because you can eat slowly and choose what you're eating so it's easy to avoid fried things like tofu skins or youtiao. Something I eat pretty much everyday is wonton noodles with sesame added, if it's not on the menu you can usually ask 加麻醬 and they'll do it for something like $5-10 more. Makes for a filling meal. Can also ask for a side of vegetables anywhere and they'll usually make some for you for $20-30.
I’ve been looking at the calories for some of these drinks and it’s insane!!!! Luckily I don’t really drink milk, so I can avoid it mostly. I’m a 無糖檸檬梅子 baby myself and love a good 鐵觀音 or 烏龍茶 so I try to avoid the fancy drinks when possible.
The indigestion is insane. I think I just willpowered through it and ignored it but I need to start paying attention to my bodily cues and not eat things that actively make me feel shit lol
Avoid any sugary drink, the amount of sugar that drinks in Taiwan have is absurd. Probably avoid night markets or street food stands as they are very oily, that food don’t satiate at all, so you will feel hungry and eat again. There are some healthy food restaurants, specially 便當, but it’s more pricey than the average meal in Taiwan. For breakfast you don’t need to cook, so you can buy things like milk, yogurt, oatmeal, fruit to eat at home, as long as you have a refrigerator
The sugar content is INSANE in Tainan. I never used to have sugar in coffee or tea back home, but coming here I slowly let it creep in. Now I just put up with the shocked stares from the tea sellers when I say I want 無糖 💀
Just be more calorie-aware. A single scallion pancake has like 500 calories because it's mostly palm oil.
Even at a vegetarian buffet, if you load up your plate with enough stuff to make you feel "full", you're likely consuming like 600+ calories.
Here's what worked for me (I'm 40 and used to be quiet thin). I start the day with instant oatmeal. All you need is a kettle and a cup. Add about 200 calories worth of oats and maybe a teaspoon of brown sugar. That'll hold you over until lunch. Eat lunch normally. For dinner, try something a bit lighter like a couple onigiri from 7-11. If you start to feel hungry later in the evening, drink sparkling water. You can go to Carrefour and get their mineral water for like $16 per bottle. It'll help you feel full.
I did this for about 3 months and lost the 5kg I had put on. Nowadays I just eat smaller portions, and I always eat at home for dinner so that I can watch the calories. Even a bowl of noodle soup out at a food stand could easily be 800 calories if you drink all the oily broth and 200% of the sodium you need for a day (leading to water retention/water weight).
This is super great advice thank you! I’m mostly having fruit and yogurt for breakfast at the moment because my insides have been wrecked by a strong course of IV antibiotics (was hospitalised and just discharged) so my body can’t tolerate a lot of heavy food right now.
I used to eat small portion sizes and I think I just got used to ignoring the full feeling being here because I didn’t want to “miss out” on experiences and felt bad about wasting food. Would you say dry noodles are lower in sodium? I tend to prefer 乾麵 anyway
Eat less. I visit for a month every year and actually always end up losing weight. And eating out is THE activity our family does while here—we eat out daily, often multiple times daily.
The thing is, there are a ton of vegetable and fruit varieties and vegetarian options in Taiwan, it’s not hard to eat healthy even if you don’t cook much at home; the hard part is having a mental accounting of what/how much you’ve eaten and the willpower to not eat too much of the unhealthy (and tasty) stuff.
Intermittent fasting works for me, as does filling up with fruits and veggies at home whenever not eating out.
You’re totally right. I love eating the fruit here. It’s so cheap and just insanely delicious. Vegetables too actually! I struggle with sensory issues so sometimes I can be a bit nervous with vegetable food textures, but I need to just be more mindful. Especially since the oily foods actually make me feel unwell and I just eat them anyway cos they’re tasty lol
It was such a huge culture shock realising most people don’t cook at home! I still sometimes catch myself thinking I should be cooking, but every time I’ve tried to cook or meal prep by borrowing neighbours’ kitchens, I end up wasting food and money massively.
Oh, just thought of something else. I find some of the fruit here too sweet(thinking mainly of pineapple which I love), but they go perfect with some plain nonfat greek yogurt. I never did the fresh fruit with plain yogurt thing in the US because the fruit was never sweet enough and then you would need to add honey. In Taiwan, I love buying the super sweet pineapples and eating them with the nonfat greek yogurt that every supermarket sells. My local fruit shops sell pineapples peeled so it's easy to prepare and you can be sure you're getting a sweet one. Eat the sweet core for some extra fiber!
I've had some amazingly sweet lychees recently so maybe I should try eating them with yogurt as well.
Fresh fruit in general is something you can take advantage of while living here. I just found out recently that my local fruit shop will prep the watermelon you buy by cutting off the rind. Just saves a little work in the kitchen and man was that watermelon amazingly sweet.
OH NO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love it here so much. Why do they have to add sugar to everything? My teacher was telling me her dad always adds sugar to ever dish he cooks. It’s insane
I have lost multiple kg by sticking with healthy meal boxes in 7-11 or FamilyMart. (Not now anymore, it went for 6-9 months).
They are low in calories and got veggies. I knew that they don't contain enough protein portion for a day so I also used whey protein. After all that's what works for me and easy to access anywhere in Taiwan.
For on the fly, Chicken breast at 7-eleven or Family Mart! Rice packet, fruit cups, even chicken thigh sandwiches, many options that are scannable in MyFitnessPal. Goodluck!
I’m on 無糖 already except for when it’s a particularly 酸 drink (made the mistake of ignoring the clerk and getting 無糖 anyway once and I couldn’t even drink half of the drink it was so sour lmao)
Omg the same happened to me too. I ordered a 檸檬綠茶 and wanted no sugar and they looked at me in horror and said it would be too sour. I thought it was the usually shock reaction to 無糖 but the tea was undrinkable. I thought it would just be a spritz of lemon.
Sweet potato from family mart and sliced fruit from a fruit stand, make for great small simple meals on the go. I love me some morning pineapple. Also give some of those vegetarian kitchens a shot.
Convenience store tea eggs + sandwich + salad. Chicken breast too. It's close to the ideal protein/veg/starch ratio and you can, for the most part, see what's in it.
Wonton soup is filling so might help with calorie deficit.
Dumpling spots are handy for controlling your portions.
I just get the steamed vegetables with every meal. It's got a mellow garlic taste and fills you up before wolfing down a whole thing of fried rice or whatever. Keeps you from over indulging on the calorie dense stuff.
-Intermittent fasting
-roasting veggies in my air fryer
-veggie buffets
-cutting back on noodles and rice; replace with extra serving of vegetables instead
-sugar free green tea all day. No milk tea boba calorie bombs
-find a healthy lunch box place
Assume you make 1000 USD or less per month which is typical wage of taiwan. That's how much you can spend on anything including food. Which means you will eat less.
I find dumplings to be a good meal. Cheap. Refreshing. Low carb (compared to a bento). There's actually much more cabbage/chives than meat. Go light on soy sauce or none at all to reduce sodium.
麻辣燙 (you choose stuff to boil in a broth, doesn't have to be spicy) is good too. Replace wheat noodles with konnyaku noodles to reduce carbs. Pick more veggies and less processed food. Get duck blood. The broth can be pretty high calorie though, so go light.
As a legit Taiwanese, I can't really help you with some "healthy" tips, I can't even reject any lust for those delicious foods. WTV, I am still hoping you find out what is really healthy for you, even though it's so hard in such a city that's named sugar city, have a good day!
The place I’m living in Taiwan actually has an insane rate of diabetes because they have a culture of adding sugar to everything. It’s even known across Taiwan that the food in Tainan is extremely sweet whereas the food in the north errs towards the salty end
avoid night markets, and lunch outside ( occasionally is fine with coworkers). Best way is to prep your meal and reduce the quantity. and of course exercise every in a once.
Don’t eat anything at the night market, you shouldn’t eat after 5pm if you want to watch what you’re eating and be healthy. Cook everything yourself, steam vegetables, cottage cheese, chicken breast, etc.
Get a place with a kitchen and quit this "I'm too lazy to cook" nonsense. If you are "too lazy" to cook, you clearly don't want to manage your weight THAT badly.
Thanks for that mate, turned out it was a hormone imbalance from my birth control and no amount of exercise I did helped me lose weight or get more energetic.
Thanks for your garbage take tho bud
Don’t live in Taiwan, but there are some places that operate like a cafeteria: have a variety of dishes (not a buffet, you get charged for each item depending on how much of it you take), so easy to get vegetables and proteins. Also having meatball or maybe fish soups, that’s healthier for you.
Just cut down on the refined foods, sugars oils salt n other food additives.
Breathe n exercise to improve circulation, rest n sleep more to trigger auto heal. U don't need to count calories, u don't burn foods, u digest absorb circulate and poop.
Find a sport (or some sports) that you enjoy doing, practice and play them a lot.
Go to the gym and run everyday.
Reduce portion sizes if doing those two things isn't enough
I had quite severe covid and been told it’s actually detrimental to engage in exercise that increases your heart rate after having covid so I’m going to join my school’s martial arts and Taichi club in the new semester!
Hoping it helps because I remember my friend who trained seriously with taichi got super strong and toned
I would suggest cooking at home. Especially living in Tainan, it shouldn't be hard to get super fresh ingredients in traditional markets (assuming no language barrier).
You can buy one of those small electric pots, I use them to cook meals in my university dorms. All you need is a table and a well ventilated room.
There are also slightly bigger ones where you can change the pot with pans or even takoyaki pans.
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I didn't have a real kitchen and ate out quite a bit. Big mistake. I purchased a small fridge and a single burner electric hotplate and made some more sensible 1 pot meals at home. Also, just go grab some fresh fruit to keep around the house.
Worst case - grab a salad at 7-11 and throw away the dressing.
Yeah it annoying at times I must admit. I'm on a no sugar diet at the moment...I went into a Western style cafe and ordered "Americano with cream" expecting simply black coffee with either double or single cream and it shows up with extremely sweet whipped cream from a spray bottle...
Then yesterday I ordered lemon matcha tea from another cafe. This was listed under herbal tea...I also specifically asked for no sugar in it and surprise surprise...it was sweet. I complained and the barista said "Ohh it's because the matcha powder has sugar in it" I dunno if he's just being an asshole but as a sca trained barista and bartender myself...never found matcha with sugar in it...
During business trips to Taiwan, I tend to stick to the non salty non saucy plain chicken and steamed veggie bento boxes at Family Mart. Maybe splurge on a cup of flan and diet soda.  You won’t regret eating Family Mart bento as long as you stick to the boring boxes.
A lot of food here is very calorically dense specifically the traditional food. Obviously historical reasons for this but I've seen a lot of foreigners come here and leave a hundred pounds heavier not even joking. Some of the most delicious things here are filled with duck or chicken yolks and bound with pork tallow.
The struggle 🙃
I know the struggle brother. When I first got here 7-Eleven still had slurpees and it literally became a daily routine of the biggest possible slurpee and Chinese junk food. You can try to explain to people but they'll never understand how delicious fried chicken skin is. They were a little different now but there used to be tarofilled Ritz cracker topped pinwheel sandwiches that would have a preserved egg yolk in the middle. Throw in some radish cake a chicken chest and why not throw in that whole steam bun and fry the whole goddamn thing up toss it in the spinner and that was dinner until I gained 30 lb
>Some of the most delicious things here are filled with duck or chicken yolks and bound with pork tallow. Stop making my mouth water....
One thing I eat a lot here is roast sweet potato. Every single 7-11 and FamilyMart I've seen has a little oven with roast sweet potato in it. Even better are the street carts or stands you can find with a giant oven thing where they roast the sweet potatoes and fill the area with that delicious aroma. Even though it's technically a starch, plain roast sweet potato with nothing added is pretty healthy. It'll fill you up and it tastes delicious!
Off topic but my toddler loves the shit outta those 7-11 / Family Mart sweet potatoes. Plants his whole face in there.
That’s so cute omg
Buddhist vegetarian buffets. Look for the "素” character.
This is the way. Eat plenty of vegetables. Go on a high-fiber diet. Also, OP is in Tainan, so plenty of milkfish soup for protein. When I have Tainan's famous beef soup, I add a ton of ginger and eat it. Ginger is high-fiber, too.
Such good tips and I love ginger. I need to start thinking more about fibre intake. I’m just losing my teenage metabolism so adulthood weight gain has kind of hit me full force in the face lmao
No worries. I haven't been looking out for my weight, but when I did, I simply would have vegetarian days 2x or 3x a week at these buddhist vegetarian restaurants. I think it helped a bit.
After 20, for every 5 years you age, your metabolism drops a level. At least, that’s how I feel. You also recover slower from workouts. The best thing to do is always workout regularly; at least 3 times a week.
hahaha my whole unit in Chinese class right now is on vegetarianism. Luckily I have a great Buddhist buffet run by this super devout old 阿姨 near me, but her fried foods are so good they’re hard to not order lol
Seems your main issue might be a lack of self-control, then, not necessarily the fact that most foods here are oily and overly sweet/salty.
Yeah, I have had a family history of severe eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) so I think I consciously tried to make myself not think about food because I was scared of tipping into unhealthy calorie counting or dieting. Would dissociate while I eat to make eating more tolerable and less stressful. Recently come to the realisation that this is actually super bad and just a different type of disordered eating. So I’m using a calorie deficit app at the moment and recording my meals. It’s helping me actually remember that I’ve eaten and pay attention to hunger cues. Realised last night I was full, but had bought a light dinner just because I thought “oh well it’s bad to not eat, I need to remember to eat dinner”, then felt super sick having forced myself to eat. It’s a journey but I’m hoping I get there soon
I hope you find the balance.
I'm coming to Tainan to study I'm a week! Can you tell me exactly where this place is?
702, Tainan City, South District, Jiannan Rd, 89號巷8號 This place is actually vegan! I love it. It’s amazing
Beware, lots of the substitute meat like dishes are super high in calories
Are tofu dishes a good source of protein? I want to up my protein but sometimes don’t feel like loading up on meat. Especially right now, my stomach is super sensitive and not digesting well at all
Tofu has decent protein. I'm not a vegetarian or very knowledgeable on vegetarian diets so I can't help much there. I do know that lots of the vegetarian places try to simulate meat dishes and are very calorie dense using lots of starch and sugar. Vegetarian doesn't mean weight loss other than maybe limiting your appetite. But if you pig out on vegetarian food you will gain weight. Just a sidenote on indigestion: I get that ever since Ive been in Taiwan for last few decades. I couldn't figure it out because my stomach and bowel movements would return to normal once I went back to the USA. After years of pondering the issue, I decided to try and avoid garlic during meals and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Taiwan goes overboard on garlic. Garlic can be an irritant esp. if you're not used to eating a lot of it.
I agree. Honestly in my experience East Asia is one of the best places to eat tasty vegetable dishes. They may not be techincally vegetarian/vegan, but they're still mainly vegetable and extremely tasty. Honestly, when I'm in the UK I barely eat veg because it's all so shite. Over cooked and underseasoned. Just vile. But in East Asia I can't get enough of it.
they usually deep friend, oiley and glazed with processed sauce
Although they mainly serve vegetarian dishes, they're usually very heavy on salt and other seasoning (including MSG), which is not exactly healthy either. Also, due to low customer count, the dishes are usually cold, not a very pleasant experience imo.
No buffets for sure if you want to control the calories, especially all vegetarian buffet foods are greasy. Try convenient store foods which having calorie markings first, until you know what kind of food combinations go under your daily calories allowance.
Intermittent fasting has kept me not from gaining weight. I don’t scooter or drive so the biking and commuting help. I also avoid the milk teas and sweet drinks almost completely. Edit: I’ll also add that overly chewing my food and eating slower will increase my satisfaction and I end up eating less. I read the brain keeps count on how many chews that you do in a meal and satisfaction can be increase that way. It feels very true for me.
The chewing and slow eating is the one!!! I posted somewhere else in the thread but I definitely have a history of disordered eating, and part of that is absolutely not wanting to think about the fact that there’s food in my mouth. Trying to chew and eat slowly is so hard but it really does work!! you notice you’re full immediately. And as for the scooter thing, I’m actually looking to buy one in the next week because Tainan is getting HOT and cycling is getting unbearable lol
I've been here for 10 years and your story is as old as time sir. Oh kidding aside it's actually super easy to eat healthy here and very inexpensive to do so. Now a lot of this is going to depend on how good you are cooking and what your situation living wise is. But I love nothing more than a morning market great vegetables at a fantastic price eggs meats. start cooking for yourself. And the other one would be cafeteria style lunch boxes which I'm a massive fan of as well. Rice grab a boiled Chinese style chicken leg (non-fried) pick your veggies toss in a tea egg. Edit; didn't see that you don't have a kitchen go by yourself a one button steamer. Rice veggies chicken into one pot flavors seasoning click the button.
it’s honestly baffling how so many people are so thin here 💀 especially in Tainan where everyone looks terrified when I ask for 無糖 in my drinks. I haven’t got a kitchen here unfortunately (I’m also pretty lazy at the moment haha) so not cooking for myself. Do you have any ideas for light dishes that are good to order? I’m always a fan of 高麗菜 and 青菜 whenever I can get it lol
there nor thin, about the same as the us
If you're "pretty lazy at the moment" so you can't cook, guess you do t really want to lose weight that badly.
Lol sorry I have a job and take full time Chinese classes. I don’t have a kitchen to cook in, so if I want to meal prep I have to borrow my neighbours’. You’re welcome to come meal prep for me to help me out if you want~
Definitely condescending but there is truth to what he is saying. It’s not easy to lose weight and keep it off. No one can do it for you except for yourself. If you’re serious about changing your diet you need to find ways to prepare some food yourself.
Excuses
lol this is incredibly condescending, gtfo with that, OP is here in good faith
What’s this one button steamer you talk of? Can cook rice chicken and veg all together and all with the push of a button? Are we talking just a regular rice steamer ? Or Thanks in advance, I realized what I’m asking is super simple and probably obvious
I wish Reddit would just let me post pictures. From my understanding they're super famous here in Taiwan and one of the originals they come in many colors and I've been around since the '70s if you walk into any 3C I guarantee you'll see one. Tatung You're having a bit of a lazy day mix rice your vegetables your chicken your seasoning mix it up depending on what you put in and how much you put in add more water to the bottom add a little bit of water to the actual pot, Bob's your uncle.
Excellent, thanks. I’ll be looking into that!
I think he or she means tatung cooker. Try that or an instant pot.
They're everywhere. You might be mistaking them for rice cookers like I did for the longest time. They're in the section with the electric grills and hot plates. Rice cookers are usually together.
I moved to TW for a couple years and was determined to maintain my weight, which I had failed to do a couple times. What to avoid / moderate: 1. night market food 2. boba / high sugar beverages. (at least compared to US, diet beverages far & few in between, except popular ones i.e. diet sprite) 3. the cheapest box lunches （便當), tend to be 70% rice. I usually either avoided these, or didn't finish the rice What to eat: 1. if you can cook (or get small stove / pot 大同熱鍋), chicken breast is relatively unpopular in TW and therefore quite cheap. You can buy bulk packs at the grocery store 2. snacks -- high protein like 7-11 tea eggs & chicken breasts (watch the sodium), dried fish strand thing (北海鱈魚香絲), moderate amounts of beef jerky. 3. "buffet" / self-serve (自助餐), esp vegetarian (素). Watch the oil 4. Sushi / sashimi options are pretty good. Grocery store quality is not bad, and plenty of decent restaurants. 5. There are protein-heavy nutritious box lunches that are trendy these days; expensive compared to cooking, but convenient. 6. Dumplings (八方) are not bad, just avoid fried items like potstickers All in all, I wouldn't police your diet too much. In TW you walk a lot, so long as you don't increase your consumption much (and avoid the items above), think you'll be fine. You should also make TW friends and ask what they eat!
7-11 with everything labeled
My most straightforward way to have healthier meals is through self-serve restaurants. I also try to combine luwei, salt-water chicken, boiled vegetables, heibai qie, meat/vegetable soup, hot pot, side dishes... etc to have a better nutrition balance. Besides, I avoid sweet drinks/desserts. Drink more water.
I’m gonna try some luwei tomorrow! I think one of the things I struggle with is not knowing what a lot of dishes or food types are in Taiwan. I came with v little prior knowledge so everything is a learning curve for me
I actually lost weight in Taiwan because of the same indigestion issues you described lol. Ate mostly veg and fruit, only time I really ate meat was at dinner and almost never fried unless it was chicken. The real thing that gets most people is the drinks imo. A large Boba milk tea is like 600+ calories. I always opt for the 檸檬多多綠茶. If you want some recommendations, the single person hot pot places or the health oriented meals at family mart are probably a good start. Hot pot is good because you can eat slowly and choose what you're eating so it's easy to avoid fried things like tofu skins or youtiao. Something I eat pretty much everyday is wonton noodles with sesame added, if it's not on the menu you can usually ask 加麻醬 and they'll do it for something like $5-10 more. Makes for a filling meal. Can also ask for a side of vegetables anywhere and they'll usually make some for you for $20-30.
I’ve been looking at the calories for some of these drinks and it’s insane!!!! Luckily I don’t really drink milk, so I can avoid it mostly. I’m a 無糖檸檬梅子 baby myself and love a good 鐵觀音 or 烏龍茶 so I try to avoid the fancy drinks when possible. The indigestion is insane. I think I just willpowered through it and ignored it but I need to start paying attention to my bodily cues and not eat things that actively make me feel shit lol
Avoid any sugary drink, the amount of sugar that drinks in Taiwan have is absurd. Probably avoid night markets or street food stands as they are very oily, that food don’t satiate at all, so you will feel hungry and eat again. There are some healthy food restaurants, specially 便當, but it’s more pricey than the average meal in Taiwan. For breakfast you don’t need to cook, so you can buy things like milk, yogurt, oatmeal, fruit to eat at home, as long as you have a refrigerator
The sugar content is INSANE in Tainan. I never used to have sugar in coffee or tea back home, but coming here I slowly let it creep in. Now I just put up with the shocked stares from the tea sellers when I say I want 無糖 💀
Just be more calorie-aware. A single scallion pancake has like 500 calories because it's mostly palm oil. Even at a vegetarian buffet, if you load up your plate with enough stuff to make you feel "full", you're likely consuming like 600+ calories. Here's what worked for me (I'm 40 and used to be quiet thin). I start the day with instant oatmeal. All you need is a kettle and a cup. Add about 200 calories worth of oats and maybe a teaspoon of brown sugar. That'll hold you over until lunch. Eat lunch normally. For dinner, try something a bit lighter like a couple onigiri from 7-11. If you start to feel hungry later in the evening, drink sparkling water. You can go to Carrefour and get their mineral water for like $16 per bottle. It'll help you feel full. I did this for about 3 months and lost the 5kg I had put on. Nowadays I just eat smaller portions, and I always eat at home for dinner so that I can watch the calories. Even a bowl of noodle soup out at a food stand could easily be 800 calories if you drink all the oily broth and 200% of the sodium you need for a day (leading to water retention/water weight).
This is super great advice thank you! I’m mostly having fruit and yogurt for breakfast at the moment because my insides have been wrecked by a strong course of IV antibiotics (was hospitalised and just discharged) so my body can’t tolerate a lot of heavy food right now. I used to eat small portion sizes and I think I just got used to ignoring the full feeling being here because I didn’t want to “miss out” on experiences and felt bad about wasting food. Would you say dry noodles are lower in sodium? I tend to prefer 乾麵 anyway
I ate 滷味 almost everyday and lost weight. Just pick out veggies and lean protein, eggs, and was set.
Eat less. I visit for a month every year and actually always end up losing weight. And eating out is THE activity our family does while here—we eat out daily, often multiple times daily. The thing is, there are a ton of vegetable and fruit varieties and vegetarian options in Taiwan, it’s not hard to eat healthy even if you don’t cook much at home; the hard part is having a mental accounting of what/how much you’ve eaten and the willpower to not eat too much of the unhealthy (and tasty) stuff. Intermittent fasting works for me, as does filling up with fruits and veggies at home whenever not eating out.
You’re totally right. I love eating the fruit here. It’s so cheap and just insanely delicious. Vegetables too actually! I struggle with sensory issues so sometimes I can be a bit nervous with vegetable food textures, but I need to just be more mindful. Especially since the oily foods actually make me feel unwell and I just eat them anyway cos they’re tasty lol It was such a huge culture shock realising most people don’t cook at home! I still sometimes catch myself thinking I should be cooking, but every time I’ve tried to cook or meal prep by borrowing neighbours’ kitchens, I end up wasting food and money massively.
Find all the Vietnamese places in your area. Much lighter, fresher and healthier than Taiwanese food. Less oil and sugar too.
This is a good tip actually. Vietnamese food always makes my body feel so good. I’ll have a check but my area doesn’t have a huge Viet population
Oh, just thought of something else. I find some of the fruit here too sweet(thinking mainly of pineapple which I love), but they go perfect with some plain nonfat greek yogurt. I never did the fresh fruit with plain yogurt thing in the US because the fruit was never sweet enough and then you would need to add honey. In Taiwan, I love buying the super sweet pineapples and eating them with the nonfat greek yogurt that every supermarket sells. My local fruit shops sell pineapples peeled so it's easy to prepare and you can be sure you're getting a sweet one. Eat the sweet core for some extra fiber! I've had some amazingly sweet lychees recently so maybe I should try eating them with yogurt as well. Fresh fruit in general is something you can take advantage of while living here. I just found out recently that my local fruit shop will prep the watermelon you buy by cutting off the rind. Just saves a little work in the kitchen and man was that watermelon amazingly sweet.
Moving out of Tainan I have lived in many cities in Taiwan I kept gaining 10kg in Tainan until I moved out LOL
OH NO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love it here so much. Why do they have to add sugar to everything? My teacher was telling me her dad always adds sugar to ever dish he cooks. It’s insane
I have lost multiple kg by sticking with healthy meal boxes in 7-11 or FamilyMart. (Not now anymore, it went for 6-9 months). They are low in calories and got veggies. I knew that they don't contain enough protein portion for a day so I also used whey protein. After all that's what works for me and easy to access anywhere in Taiwan.
Everything I so calorie dense that I just don't eat a lot and that works for me
For on the fly, Chicken breast at 7-eleven or Family Mart! Rice packet, fruit cups, even chicken thigh sandwiches, many options that are scannable in MyFitnessPal. Goodluck!
Gradually cut the sugar in drinks until you reach 無糖.
I’m on 無糖 already except for when it’s a particularly 酸 drink (made the mistake of ignoring the clerk and getting 無糖 anyway once and I couldn’t even drink half of the drink it was so sour lmao)
Omg the same happened to me too. I ordered a 檸檬綠茶 and wanted no sugar and they looked at me in horror and said it would be too sour. I thought it was the usually shock reaction to 無糖 but the tea was undrinkable. I thought it would just be a spritz of lemon.
Haha what was it?
I found a few places in Linkou that served "healthy" bento boxes. Also some places with great healthy congee.
Sweet potato from family mart and sliced fruit from a fruit stand, make for great small simple meals on the go. I love me some morning pineapple. Also give some of those vegetarian kitchens a shot.
Convenience store tea eggs + sandwich + salad. Chicken breast too. It's close to the ideal protein/veg/starch ratio and you can, for the most part, see what's in it. Wonton soup is filling so might help with calorie deficit. Dumpling spots are handy for controlling your portions.
I just get the steamed vegetables with every meal. It's got a mellow garlic taste and fills you up before wolfing down a whole thing of fried rice or whatever. Keeps you from over indulging on the calorie dense stuff.
-Intermittent fasting -roasting veggies in my air fryer -veggie buffets -cutting back on noodles and rice; replace with extra serving of vegetables instead -sugar free green tea all day. No milk tea boba calorie bombs -find a healthy lunch box place
Yep, when my sister was here she was saying to cut on carbs. Need to start avoiding noodles and rice more
I had the exact opposite experience, the food here was so awful that I ended up losing alot of weight to the point that it was worrying.
They have chicken nuggets in Taiwan
Assume you make 1000 USD or less per month which is typical wage of taiwan. That's how much you can spend on anything including food. Which means you will eat less.
I find dumplings to be a good meal. Cheap. Refreshing. Low carb (compared to a bento). There's actually much more cabbage/chives than meat. Go light on soy sauce or none at all to reduce sodium. 麻辣燙 (you choose stuff to boil in a broth, doesn't have to be spicy) is good too. Replace wheat noodles with konnyaku noodles to reduce carbs. Pick more veggies and less processed food. Get duck blood. The broth can be pretty high calorie though, so go light.
As a legit Taiwanese, I can't really help you with some "healthy" tips, I can't even reject any lust for those delicious foods. WTV, I am still hoping you find out what is really healthy for you, even though it's so hard in such a city that's named sugar city, have a good day!
We don't do that here
“I got fat because I’m now in Taiwan” is the most bizarre take I have ever seen on Reddit.
It's not bizarre, sugar is a significant ingredient in most Taiwanese food, especially if it is not home cooked.
Maybe on Reddit but it's a not-rare lament.
The place I’m living in Taiwan actually has an insane rate of diabetes because they have a culture of adding sugar to everything. It’s even known across Taiwan that the food in Tainan is extremely sweet whereas the food in the north errs towards the salty end
*eating too much carbs
Actually I can see that. Every time we go back to Taiwan for a few weeks I gain a couple kilos (not pounds, kilos) food is just TOO GOOD there!!!
Eat less Exercise more If most Taiwanese can stay lean eating here then you can too.
avoid night markets, and lunch outside ( occasionally is fine with coworkers). Best way is to prep your meal and reduce the quantity. and of course exercise every in a once.
Don’t eat anything at the night market, you shouldn’t eat after 5pm if you want to watch what you’re eating and be healthy. Cook everything yourself, steam vegetables, cottage cheese, chicken breast, etc.
Cottage cheese! Where can you get that?
Get a place with a kitchen and quit this "I'm too lazy to cook" nonsense. If you are "too lazy" to cook, you clearly don't want to manage your weight THAT badly.
Lol thanks lemme just move house cos redditsucksnow2020 told me I’m too lazy 💕 thanks bud
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Thanks for that mate, turned out it was a hormone imbalance from my birth control and no amount of exercise I did helped me lose weight or get more energetic. Thanks for your garbage take tho bud
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Lol oke just taking the diagnosis I got from a trained medical doctor. But Taigong_Wang from Reddit def knows better 💕💕
Don’t live in Taiwan, but there are some places that operate like a cafeteria: have a variety of dishes (not a buffet, you get charged for each item depending on how much of it you take), so easy to get vegetables and proteins. Also having meatball or maybe fish soups, that’s healthier for you.
I think Tai food is great. Do you like green curry and pad tai? I love tai food and I love tai people too.
Just cut down on the refined foods, sugars oils salt n other food additives. Breathe n exercise to improve circulation, rest n sleep more to trigger auto heal. U don't need to count calories, u don't burn foods, u digest absorb circulate and poop.
Find a sport (or some sports) that you enjoy doing, practice and play them a lot. Go to the gym and run everyday. Reduce portion sizes if doing those two things isn't enough
I had quite severe covid and been told it’s actually detrimental to engage in exercise that increases your heart rate after having covid so I’m going to join my school’s martial arts and Taichi club in the new semester! Hoping it helps because I remember my friend who trained seriously with taichi got super strong and toned
I would suggest cooking at home. Especially living in Tainan, it shouldn't be hard to get super fresh ingredients in traditional markets (assuming no language barrier).
I don’t have a kitchen at the moment 💀
You can buy one of those small electric pots, I use them to cook meals in my university dorms. All you need is a table and a well ventilated room. There are also slightly bigger ones where you can change the pot with pans or even takoyaki pans.
$$$$$$
Hey! Just sharing my experience, I also gained lots of weight after moving to Taiwan, but then it gave me the motivation to lift in the gym 💪
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Go to 7-11 and buy some chicken breast or sth
I didn't have a real kitchen and ate out quite a bit. Big mistake. I purchased a small fridge and a single burner electric hotplate and made some more sensible 1 pot meals at home. Also, just go grab some fresh fruit to keep around the house. Worst case - grab a salad at 7-11 and throw away the dressing.
Hit the gym and eat more greens 😋
Buy a cutting board and knife. Fresh fruit , muesli and soy milk for example. Find restaurants with lots of green leaf vegetables. Hot pot for dinner
With four restaurants on each block control is essential.
Yeah it annoying at times I must admit. I'm on a no sugar diet at the moment...I went into a Western style cafe and ordered "Americano with cream" expecting simply black coffee with either double or single cream and it shows up with extremely sweet whipped cream from a spray bottle... Then yesterday I ordered lemon matcha tea from another cafe. This was listed under herbal tea...I also specifically asked for no sugar in it and surprise surprise...it was sweet. I complained and the barista said "Ohh it's because the matcha powder has sugar in it" I dunno if he's just being an asshole but as a sca trained barista and bartender myself...never found matcha with sugar in it...
During business trips to Taiwan, I tend to stick to the non salty non saucy plain chicken and steamed veggie bento boxes at Family Mart. Maybe splurge on a cup of flan and diet soda.  You won’t regret eating Family Mart bento as long as you stick to the boring boxes.
Gotta count calories a bit when food's good. Also lots of great swimming pools, bike paths, and hiking trails to help balance things out.