Job Discussion Forums

[etzelmi2]

From what I've been told (which is probably wrong) Taiwanese food is really high in salt and MSG.

However, in my studies that I've done while getting a B.S. in nutrition, we have found that those in the Asian countries have lower rates of high blood pressure and heart disease.

I will be moving to Taoyuan next month to teach, and was wondering if any of you had any tips about what foods to look for in terms of eating healthy. I've heard the fruit in Taiwan is to die for.

[Dr_Zoidberg]

Yes, what you have been told is wrong. Taiwanese food isn't high in salt and MSG. It's high in salt, MSG and FAT. Pig fat being the favourite.

Taiwanese love their food to be swimming in it. The oilier/ fattier / greasier, the better. I used to marvel watching Taiwanese at Subway ordering a vegetable sandwich and then having the server poor a bucket of oil over it. I would tell them no oil but they would add it anyways without even thinking. That's how conditioned they are. I once held a cooking class and the Taiwanese were amazed that I could cook without using oil of any kind.

My advice is to do your own cooking. Stay away from lunch box places and small local restaurants. And don't listen to people who tell you that the vegetables at these places are OK. They aren't. Yes, they're steamed or boiled, but have a look at the water in the serving tray and you can see big glops of oil swimming around.

Limit your eating out to once per week, or at least try to make healthy choices when you eat out.

The fruit here is good, and you'll be arriving during mango season. Be warned, wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly before eating as farmers dowse them in insecticides.

[Timberdan]

eating out is very unhealthy. As the other poster said, they put lots of fat, salt and msg in their food. I started cooking for myself as a way to avoid such things. For a month i was eating at lunchbox restaurants under the naive impresion that the vegetables would be healthy, but they too are swimming in oil and fat. I very quickly bought my own stove to cook with.

[bentanddisfunctional]

[JDB]

[123Loto]

Sorry guys, the question has to be asked:

What the heck do super-sized westerners have to tell the Taiwanese on how to eat healthily?

[davehb34]

because at least we have the option of eating healthy or not... you can eat at Mcdonalds or a Vegan restaurant if you want. You have a choice. I taught in Vietnam and I faced the same dilemma. I chose to mostly eat out and just work out a lot to balance it out a bit.

[123Loto]

Vietnam is awesome! And their food is terrific!

But c'mon, take a look at the average body shape of a westerner and the average body shape of a Taiwanese person... and try to tell me with a straight face that we should tell them there's too much fat in their food!!!

[brettb]

I would agree with the comments above about the fat, salt and sugar content of foods here.

One of the things that will help you is if you try to increase your activity level. Except for when I use the MRT in Kaohsiung I walk everywhere. However I must admit that public transit expenses can add up, easily reaching NT $1,500 a month.

There are times when I will try to eat only fruit and vegetables for a meal to give my body a bit of a reprieve. It is worth mentioning that I've read some forum posts that suggest that there are a lot of pesticides and herbicides used on produce in Taiwan and so the fruit and veg is not so great for you. Not sure if this is true, if it is then maybe I'm pumping my body full of poisons! Hopefully not.

[nateliu99]

I think there are definitely at least decently healthy options available.

Most of the posters are right when they say a lot of the vegetables are swimming in oil, salt, etc. If you eat cheap night market food all the time, then yes, the options are generally not healthy at all, but you must look for alternatives.

Breakfast: For me, finding a decently healthy and FILLING breakfast can be a challenge. You can stop by a local bakery and get just a piece of bread for like 30-50 ntd and a small tray of fruit for about 30-40 ntd. My friend found a place that mixes a little milk with rice and oatmeal and adds raisins (better than it sounds trust me) and I have started getting that. I've also gone to 711 and gotten the little non fried chicken sandwich, which doesn't seem too bad, just 200 something calories

Lunch: Mostly I eat the school lunch, get the vegetarian option and load up on the vegetables. Earlier in the year, the veggies were too oily and salty, but the school did a survey, and afterwards now the veggies are a lot better. Fresh, but not as oily, salty, and as a result not as tasty, but i'd rather go for healthier.

Dinner: The most challenging of course is dinner. I found a buddhist vegetarian buffet place near where I live, I can usually eat there for about 150 ntd and get quite full. There vegetables are not swimming in oil or salt, and you can tell because they don't really taste great. A little low key and bland as generally healthy food does. Sometimes I just get some dumplings, non fried, but boiled, cabbage or leek dumplings. And for dinner, I always supplement it with an entire papaya (for health and fiber) and other fresh fruits. I found a place at the night market that you just load up one huge container with all the vegetables you can fit for 100 ntd, and they add just a little sauce and not that much oil (i've watched them make it) and they give it to you, rice and soup are free.

I think convenience stores offer generally, if not healthy, then HEALTHIER options then night market food. Their box lunches seem pretty basic and not all that oily. Their sushi trays are pretty tasteless and healthy.

I think there are definitely healthy options, you just have to really REALLY search for them and make a conscious effort to choose health over taste on a daily basis.

[123Loto]

There ya go - definitely healthy food options if you want to go looking for them... wanted to add another place to your list "Sushi Express"... any other places?

Isn't this a bit the same as back home - if you eat out every day you're gonna struggle to get healthy food in you... make your own and you should be ok. E.g. What's wrong with cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch?

Still, I remember the day I was staring at yet another pagan dan bing swimming in oil and thinking, "What's up with these people - it's like their nutrition is in the 1950s..." followed quickly by: "Wait a second, my fellow countrymen are now fatter than any group of humans in the history of our species... best not point the finger here!"

Seems Taiwan is a lot easier to live in now than even ten years ago - I remember struggling to find a cup of coffee anywhere near my house... and listening to the "old-timers" tell stories of how tough it was ten years before that!

[nateliu99]

Just ate today at The Breeze, second floor of Taipei Main Station, the TRA part of Taipei Main Station

They have a vegetarian place called, I think, Minder Vegetarian (?), I think that is the name

But it was good, i ate a hefty amount for only 120 ntd, and all the vegetables seemed really low grease. Unfortunately, had some ice cream afterwards, so it wasn't a completely healthy meal

[yamahuh]

Market near my place sells trays of Sashimi (sp ?) for 150 or 200 $NT depending on which size you want. The Wasabi blows my socks off it's so strong - I love it - Awesomely tasty and pretty damn healthy too....

Vietnamese spring rolls (vegetarian ones with Lemon grass and shrimp) are wonderful and of course there's always boiled dumplings instead of fried; fresh veg (wash before eating) and fruit - glorious, glorious fruit...

[123Loto]

Yum!!!

How about WonTon Soup?

Any more?

[angeldog]

This site is good:
http://www.happycow.net/asia/taiwan/