As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat”. The diet is an important role in our daily life. Living in Taiwan, there are various cuisine for food lovers to choose. In fact, one of the most common Taiwanese streetscapes is multifarious restaurant signs. At the same time, you can also find tons of food options in night markets. For example, the most famous combo is bubble tea and fried chicken chop. However, the Taiwanese food culture may have great impact on your body, causing obesity, metabolism, and developmental retardation problems.
 

        The first and most obvious problem is high calories. Generally, Taiwanese cookeries include thickening, deep-frying, and stewing. These cookeries will make the food contain more calories. Besides, most of Taiwanese food contains a large portion of grease, sugar, or salt, which makes it a very unhealthy calories bomb. Take my favorite food near campus for example, each bowl of duck thicken soup contains 700 Kcal, while average men need only 2500 Kcal per day based on calorie calculator. Moreover, people tend to get a cup of beverage, the total amount of calories may exceed the suggested limit. High calories diet can lead to obesity, which can increase the risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack, and stroke. (Renee, n.d)
 

        Secondly, food eating order matters too. On the traditional Taiwanese dining table, there will be rice, vegetable, meat, soup, and fruit. Since I was a kid, I learned I should have rice with vegetable and meat first, then soup, and fruits as the final food to eat. But Xie Ming Zhe, a professor in Taipei Medical University, indicates that the consuming order should be like this: soup first, vegetable and fruits second, protein such as fish, meat, and eggs third, and rice the last (Xie, 2018). The principle of this consuming habit is easy to understand, we should have the food that make you feel satiety the most with less calories first, which prevents people from eating too much. Additionally, this method is better for the metabolism than the old fashion one, and eating less means better control on blood sugar and the absorbency.

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        The third problem appears in the breakfast restaurant, where often are crowded with students before school starts. But if you check the menu, you will soon notice it is mostly occupied with fried food, such as chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and fried chicken chops. These fried foods make the body easier to get inflammation. The drinks can be harmful too. A girl who diagnosed with developmental retardation because she drank black tea with extra sugar frequently (Liu, 2022). Even though drinking sweat tea is not the only cause, high sugar and caffeine are surely involved in this problem.

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        By cautiously choosing what food we should avoid, we will have less chance to get negative impact on our health. It’s not easy to change the consuming habit and avoid unhealthy but delicious food, but at least we can improve it little by little. Next time if you see some appealing delicacies, think about how they will affect your body.

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References

Renee, J. (n.d.). The effects of too many calories. LIVESTRONG.COM. https://www.livestrong.com/article/478687-the-effects-of-too-many-calories/

Xie, M. Z. (謝明哲) (2018, December 11). Log into Facebook. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/262811614586668/photos/a.264475734420256/274749703392859/?type=3&theater