Healthier Living In Shanghai

CITY LIVING
FEATURE
Healthier Living
In Shanghai
Nyima Pratten
Cook At Home
After reading our cover story, and deciding that
this city’s tempting pros outway the cons of
potential future health risks, you may want to put
in place a few healthy and positive changes to your
lifestyle. For many expats living in Shanghai, life
revolves around dinners out, ‘business’ drinks and
the more than occasional champagne brunch. There
are many positive ways to improve our quality
of living enabling us to lead a healthy, long life
in the city, and Talk has rounded up a few of our
favourites.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Consider Traditional Chinese Medicine
as a way to stay healthy in China. TCM is
a preventive and healing medical system,
which offers a range of preventive healing
approaches including TCM diet, Taijiquan,
Qigong, acupuncture, massage, cupping and
Gua Sha.
Body And Soul Medical Clinics, a
private medical facility under Chinese law,
was founded in 2004 by German expat,
Doris Rathgeber; a specialist in internal
medicine for Traditional Chinese Medicine
with a mission to "Help people make a
smooth transition into harmonious,
balanced and healthy living".
The Western and Chinese doctors and
therapists at the clinics are experienced
and licensed in Integrative Medicine
which looks at a patient in whole,
including both the body and the soul.
During and after a visit to the clinic,
patients can receive on-going education
and support to implement positive
lifestyle changes such as nutrition, diet
and exercise programmes specifically for
10 TalkMagazine October13
their entire being.
TCM is very much about understanding
the importance of Ying and Yang as well as
the flow of Qi. Rathgeber gave Talk some
suggestions of how to use the methodology
of TCM to lead a healthier life. “Balancing
Yin and Yang means balancing active and
passive phases of the day. We need to
work and rest, do exercise and relax
the body, train the brain and relax it!
We need to sleep sufficiently and early
enough and we need to move the body in
the morning, hours of the new day! In the
morning the body needs a good, healthy
breakfast to fill up the life energy Qi. We
also need to move our bodies a bit to get
this life energy moving and protecting us
from the pathogenic factors that make
us sick! These factors can be caused by
external reasons and by internal emotions.
Shanghai is a loud and very active city. We
need to find space and room for complete
relaxation and mental freedom. As this
does not come easy in Shanghai, we need to
plan these moments actively!” Web: www.tcm-shanghai.com
By cooking for yourself, rather than going
to a restaurant or ordering that all-toeasy takeaway, you can regain control of
the ingredients, seasoning and oils, not
to mention unknown flavourings and
chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides,
ending up in your system. You can also
begin to learn about the power of foods,
herbs and spices on your health and
wellbeing. Of course we all know that it
is important to use fresh ingredients and
whole foods as part of a healthy, balanced
diet but it can be confusing to cook healthy
food for yourself, especially in a foreign
country where you are unfamiliar with the
flavours and cooking methods of seasonal
fruits and vegetables.
One way to educate yourself this month
is to attend Sprout Lifestyle’s Eating
For Health talk series. Host of the event,
Jacqueline Zhan Fraise, certified Nutrition
Consultant, member of American
Nutrition Association and National
Association of Nutrition Professionals,
told Talk, “The goal of this program is to
guide our participants to choose optimal
amounts of macronutrients (proteins, fats
and carbs), micronutrients (vitamins and
minerals), phytonutrients (plant alkaloids
with protective value) and other vital
factors (enzymes, tastes) that can be most
efficiently digested and assimilated by our
body. Proper nutrition is a major form of
health investing. When you eat poor quality
food, you are dipping into the nutrient
reserves in your bones, soft tissues, organs,
glands, skin and hair: you wear the results
of being overdrawn nutritionally and feel
the warning signs of ill health (fatigue, pain
and mood swings). Eating for Health will
be one way to bring us back to optimal
health.”
Kimberly Ashton, co-founder and chief
sprouting officer at Sprout Lifestyle, told
Talk, “It is not actually hard to find healthy
ingredients in
Shanghai. You
have to know where to
look and be willing to
want to look. Shanghai is
becoming healthier with
more options for local and
imported ingredients, from
fresh ones to dried staples. There
are plenty of options from wet markets, to
super markets, online grocery platforms,
organic farms as well as specialised
natural food shops such as Sprout
Lifestyle. Things like quinoa are now
grown in China. We have all the spices we
could want. Super foods are now easier
to get and we have an abundance of fresh
vegetables! There is really no excuse, and
nothing holding you back but yourself.”
Sprout Lifestyle also offers health
coaching, kitchen re-stocking and office
pantry detoxing services along with Ayi
cooking classes. It is a one stop shop to
detoxifying and making positive changes
to your health and wellbeing in the city. As
Sprout Lifestyle’s tagline suggests, “Grow
healthy habits” by making being healthy a
part of your daily routine.
Web: www.sproutlifestyle.com
Vegetarianism
Nutritional Juice Cleanse
With various meat scandals and
the H7N1 outbreak this year, many
Shanghai residents may have already
decided to make the change and
become a vegetarian for health reasons.
Furthermore, becoming a vegetarian
may not only be
beneficial to you
on a personal level
by eating foods
naturally lower in
fat, high in fibre,
free from cholesterol
(research in the past
has also shown that
vegetarianism has
demonstrated its
effectiveness on
preventing heart
diseases, diabetes
and cancer), but also
the environment by
not contributing to the
pollution caused by the
meat industry.
You may think that it
would be hard to become a
vegetarian in China but Annie
Chen, project manager of the
Shanghai Veggie Club and a vegan
chef, told Talk that Shanghai is the
easiest city in China in which to become
a vegetarian. Chen went on to extol the
benefits of vegetarianism. “First of all,
you will be more energetic, and probably
lose a few pounds more easily if you're
overweight. Secondly, by making this
choice, you're no longer contributing
to the pollution imposed by the meat
industry, not to mention the land resource
and water as well. It takes much less
It can be challenging to eat healthily in
Shanghai. However, completing a nutritional
juice cleanse can help you focus on what you
are putting into your body so
that you can begin to
eat more deliberately
to improve your diet
and food choices.
After cleansing,
you may also find
that your palate
is much more
sensitive and
your stomach
won’t want heavy oily
foods, leaving you to
eating lighter and
cleaner food thereby
maintaining a healthy
lifestyle. A nutritional
juice cleanse can be a convenient way to
increase your vegetable and whole foods
intake thus improving the quality of what you
eat. A juice cleanse is not a drastic way to lose
weight and shouldn't be viewed as such. A
cleanse should be packed with nutrients from
fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts to nourish
your body.
A new cleansing company on the scene
in Shanghai is VCLEANSE who aim to
make cleansing in the city as simple and
straight-forward as possible. VCLEANSE will
arrange delivery of the juices directly to you
anywhere in the city (including Minhang and
Chongming Island), and provide customer
support to answer any questions that might
arise during a cleansing. VCLEANSE pride
themselves on using imported grade A quality
fruits, premium whole raw nuts and source
organically whenever possible. The juice
cleanse programme is developed by a team
energy to produce the same amount of
calories that come from plants than from
animals. Thirdly, of course, you no longer
face the dilemma of trying to love animals
but killing them for food, because you will
get enough and even better nutrition from
plant food alone!”
If you are thinking about making a
change and becoming a vegetarian, or
if you already are one, why not join the
Shanghai Veggie Group for support,
encouragement and information on
nutrition, tips on the best vegetarian
restaurants and supermarkets as well
as invitations to social events with
likeminded people. It is important
to educate yourself whilst making
this lifestyle change in order to avoid
becoming an unhealthy vegetarian. It may
take a while to break the meat-eating habit
but in time, if you desire, you will be able
to lead a meat free life. After all, we are in
the best country in the world to benefit
from superb tofu dishes!
Web: www.shanghaivegetarians.com
of nutritionists and food scientists to ensure
that the juices are well-balanced and have a
low glycemic index. They are also pressed
using a state of the art hydraulic cold-press,
which extracts 50-100% more nutrients than
centrifugal or other home juicers.
Cleanses can attract a lot of bad press so
Talk spoke to Tian Tian Mayimin, founder of
VCLEANSE. “The purpose of VCLEANSE
is to allow you to remove all of the junk from
what you are putting into your body and
instead, replace it with the freshest of fruits and
vegetables that provide more nutrients than
you’ll usually be able to consume. For instance,
one bottle of our Green Juice contains more
than 1 kg of vegetables and fruits! We have a
variety of other juices and nutmilks that provide
a hefty dose of nutrition while allowing people
to eat very light and clean, thus leading to many
of the benefits of cleansing.”
If you don’t think you can hack the three
or five day full cleanse programmes, it is
possible to replace just one meal a day with
a cold-pressed juice, or to reserve one day
a week for cleansing. For the elderly, young
children, pregnant women or nursing
mothers, cold-pressed juices and proteinfilled nutmilks are suggested as a nutritional
supplement rather than in cleanse form.
Web: www.vcleanse.com
Advertorial
Champagne Sunday Brunch Reaches New
Realms of Indulgence and Sophistication with
the Revitalised Waldorf Champagne Brunch at
Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund
C
hampagne Sunday Brunch with friends and family
is the epitome of decadent weekend pleasure.
Waldorf Astoria Shanghai has elevated this
cherished occasion to a new realm of sophistication by
combining two of the Bund’s most coveted venues to share
the ultimate Sunday Brunch journey.
On Sundays, it begins at 11am in the legendary Long Bar.
Brunch guests can congregate in this much-loved heritage
venue to savour freshly shucked oysters from the marble
Oyster Bar and flutes of Perrier-Jouët Champagne. After
the Long Bar, the gourmet journey continues to the Grand
Brasserie from midday. In this opulent modern style setting,
diners will enjoy a sumptuous array of dishes by Waldorf ’s
Master Chef, presented at dynamic open kitchen stations. To
accompany the fine cuisines, a Jazz Trio will serenade diners
with soothing harmonies. On the last Sunday of each month, Grand Brasserie
presents the most exclusive brunch experience in the city. A
mouthwatering spread of the finest imported oysters, lobster,
shrimps, caviar, Scottish smoked salmon and many more
alongside with signature dishes paired with Perrier-Jouët
“Belle Époque 2004” served by a dedicated butler. Brunch is priced at RMB 888 per person + 15%
surcharge, including free flowing Perrier-Jouët
champagne, a selection of fine red and white wines,
fresh juices and soft drinks. The Belle Époque Brunch is
priced at RMB 3,988 per person + 15%
surcharge. All prices include dining at
both outlets featured in The Waldorf
Astoria Sunday Brunch Tour. For reservations, please call +86 21 6322
9988 or email [email protected]
www.waldorfastoriashanghai.com
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