Okay It's been a little while since I last updated on my Taiwan holiday. So here's a nice reminder of how amazing Taiwan looks:

On our second day with Taiwan Holidays we headed up the mountains to Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區). This is one of the "eight wonders of Taiwan" and an area known for cypress trees, sakura, high mountain tea and the girls of Alishan. I remember the song "Ālǐshān de gūniang" or "The Girls of Alisan" was a popular song my parents would sign with friends over some alcohol and karaoke and a song I frequently heard at every Chinese culture type event! "The Girls of Alisan" refer to the beauty of the girls in the aboriginal tribe living in Alishan; their beauty attributed to the clean water and environment. 

We made a quick pit stop for some fuel and I picked up some grilled sweet potato before ascending the mountain.       

 

I love roasted sweet potato. Fond memories of travelling Beijing with my cousin while holding a hot sweet potato for warmth compels me to buy sweet potato everywhere I go. I bought a small container this time as this sweet potato was roasted with some sugar syrup. It made it sticky and gooey but I felt it didn't really need that added sweetness! The sweet potato would've been beautiful on its own!

One of the biggest issues in Taiwan is the amount of typhoons and earthquakes that affect the little island. We luckily didn't go during typhoon season but we saw many of the effects. This picture is of a landslide that occurred a few months ago where a large amount of the mountain was sliced away by the landslides, destroying many houses along the way. The grey bits are concrete used to seal up the dirt so the mountain won't degrade further. You might be able to spot two little spots on top of the grey patch. Those are two aboriginal people paving the concrete! Apparently their feet are more flat, making them agile on slopes. They're doing it with no safety equipment whatsoever!
 
And up the mountains we go.....          Look at the magnificence of these tall straight trees!
At one of the lookouts. Look at that view! We don't have enough mountain ranges in Australia to get views like this!   This is Formosa oolong tea. Oolong is probably my favourite type of tea. It's a semi oxidised tea so a bit like halfway between green tea and black tea. The place where I came from in China, is a oolong tea growing area so I have had oolong tea for many many years. These days I drink mostly green tea as my green tea comes in the ease of a tea bag (Oh laziness...)!

We taste tested two types of oolong tea, both grown in the mountains of Alishan. The demonstration lady asked us to taste one type of tea and asked us what it reminded us of. It had a fragrance like milk! She explained that the expired yoghurts from the supermarkets are collected and used as a type of fertiliser for the tea trees and the tea takes on that milky flavour! It was fascinating and a nice cup of tea during winter was what my tired legs needed.

These are charcoal peanuts. they look very strange and inedible but they are far from that!! The peanuts are coated in the black charcoal and are addictively crunchy and delicious. I still haven't figured out if it's safe to eat charcoal but I bought five packets of these back home with me.....

After our trekking morning and afternoon we re-boarded the bus and went to Kaohsiung 高雄: The largest municipality in Taiwan.

This is a view of some city lights at Love River. Our tour guide explained it was called the Love River as years ago it was a popular place to commit suicide if two lovers were forbidden to marry by their parents. Despite it's morbid origin, we could see the river really lived up to the name. There were couples everywhere! The river used to be a major eye and nose sore as it used to be the dumping ground for human, agricultural and industrial waste. It wasn't until the last couple of decades that they have been treating the sewage and cleaning up the once smelly river. Now the river is lined with cute cafes, trees and rows of bikes for hire. Needless to say it was a popular date spot and we saw many many couples taking romantic strolls.
 
A view of Kaohsiung city from the Former British Consulate at Takao. You can see the Tuntex Sky Tower in the skyline (The tallest skyscraper in Taiwan before Taipei 101 was completed).

Ok you've probably had enough sightseeing now and am wondering about the food! Of course this is a blog about food and nutrition so I'm pleased to say we visited Liuhe Night Markets (六合夜市). One of the largest night markets in Taiwan. This place was insanely packed!

I mean look at that crowd around the entrance! Before my trip to Taiwan, night markets was one of the top things I wanted to visit. Markets full of food and cheap shopping? Of course I'm excited! Night markets are very popular in Asia and especially in Taiwan where it is a must visit on every tourist's list. It often involves hawkers selling all sorts of food, drinks, electronics, clothes, shoes, handicraft and animals outside. This market is open 5pm-5am!

Our first stop was grilled abalone mushrooms. These are giant abalone mushrooms brushed in a soy type sauce and grilled on a stick. They also had smaller, deep fried mushrooms that were also delicious.

This is a man making us an oyster omelette. This is a widely popular dish in Taiwan which consists of small oysters in an egg omelette. This one was sadly disappointing as they didn't give us many oysters and they bulked up the omelette with lettuce!

I didn't take many other photos as night markets also involve strolling and eating and buying too much food at once and not having any hands to hold a camera....

Truth be told, this was probably my least favourite night market. It was just so crowded! The problem with going on tours is you have a time limit at each location. For this market we had 2hrs which isn't nearly enough! The lines on some of the stalls were insanely long. Our tour guide said to go to any place that had a long line as Taiwanese people love to line up for good food! I lined up for one store and it was so long I gave up and then proceeded to have lost the rest of my family. I ended up spending the remaining 15mins looking for my parents! I guess that could be a reason why I didn't enjoy this market!

There is one must try food though! Papaya milk tea. There is a store called Zheng's old brand papaya milk that has a really long line. It serves up amazing papaya milk tea that's endorsed by the president of Taiwan. Best drink of the trip, truly. This is a blog I came across when researching Taiwan and there's a lot of good photos and food recommendations for Liuhe Night market (as well as other places in Taiwan.)    

Next up: The day I got really ill in Taiwan.... or I might just skip to the amazing Taroko Gorge photos ;)

It's been over 3 weeks since I've been back from Taiwan and I'm still dreaming about the extraordinary mountains and hot springs. Sifting through my photos makes me sigh and want to plan another trip! Taiwan was amazing. From the friendly people to the unexpected abundance of organic food, I fell in love with it the moment I was handed delicious food on the tour bus (Way to my heart is obviously through my stomach!)

Our first meal was soy milk and a fan tuan (literal translation: rice ball) to have on the bus. As our schedule was quite packed, our tour guide arranged for a local shop to make warm fresh organic soy milk. This stuff tasted nothing like what we get from the supermarket and taste requires getting used to! It was made with organic soy beans and no added sugar, no preservatives. Nothing but soy beans and water.


This is a fan tuan after I've taken a big bite out of it. It's packed full of you tiao (Chinese doughnut), pork floss, picked vegetables and egg wrapped in rice. A little bit like a sushi. It's a popular breakfast or snack food in Taiwan and parts of China and is really a flavour and texture explosion in your mouth! The crunchy you tiao, fluffy pork floss and another type of crunch from the pickled vegetables paired lovely with the soft warm rice.

Our first stop was Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Yuchi, Nantou (Central Taiwan). This is the largest body of water in Taiwan and was so named because the east side is shaped like the sun and the west side shaped like the moon (though I could not see this...)  


Doesn't it just look breathtaking? The water was very very blue and sparkled under the sunlight. The mountains all around was a sight you can not see in Australia!

We walked around the lake for a little while then checked out some of the shops nearby. I don't know if it's just tourist areas but everywhere we went that had food, we could try before we buy! Our whole tour group pounced on a little fruit store selling the freshest looking fruit!


We bought some pink guava, star fruit and persimmons for a morning tea snack under the Taiwan sun. Taiwan fruit is amazing. Truly amazing. 


Look at how many varieties of banana there were!


 Our next stop was Wen Wu Temple (文武廟) which was also right by the lake. One distinguishing feature of almost all temples is how many steps they have! This is just the first set of steps! I think I got to the second set of steps and then collapsed onto some big marble chairs and waiting until everyone had regrouped.


If you have never visited a Chinese temple you really should, regardless of your religious beliefs. The architecture is amazing. Everything is hand carved and hand painted. The marble carvings tell stories and are so intricate you're left scratching your head as to how it is possible. It is definitely a feast for your eyes! This blogger has some more close up pictures. 


After the exhausting walks around the temple our tour guide got us each a Tea egg. This is such a popular snack in China as well as Taiwan that it's even sold in 7Eleven! It's made by cooking an egg in tea and various spices then cracking the shell (without peeling) and returning it to the water to seep in the flavour of the tea and spices. It may smell medicinal but it's amazing, trust me.   

It seems like we've been eating non stop but we were off to lunch next!


As we had such a big group in our tour a lot of the dining places were larger restaurants or hotel dining rooms. Our lunch that day was in the Einhan Resort dining room which had this amazing view of Sun Moon Lake. 


 Everyone was quite hungry, after not sitting down for a proper meal all day. I had a hard time trying to take photos as all the food was to be shared and I was a little embarrassed to stop people from eating so I could take a good photo! This is a local fresh fish and it was delicious!

Taiwanese food has a huge focus on fresh seafood caught in local areas by local fisherman and it definitely shows in the flavour of the food! 

After stuffing our tummies, we drove to another part of Sun Moon lake so that we could take the cable car to Formosa Aboriginal Culture Village.

The culture village is an amusement park combining both aboriginal culture in one area and an amusement park full of ride in another.

Our tour guide said the whole place was slowly built by one guy passionate about keeping the Aboriginal culture in Taiwan alive. He slowly bought pieces of land and employed mostly aboriginal people to run the place.


Look at the cable cars running from Sun Moon Lake to the village!


The view was breathtaking but I'm scared of heights.... I may have spent a lot of the (very long) ride screaming in fear but I'll save you guys the pictures of that.....  

My parents went to visit the culture village and spent time watching traditional song and dance and learning about the history while my siblings and I ran off to the rides so there isn't many pictures.

By night time I was extremely exhausted. I'd slept less than 2hours in 2 days and was ready to collapse! Dinner was first and I didn't even manage to notice the restaurant name!


More fish!


Dinner was a lovely selection of dishes but the highlight had to be this vegetable hot pot. I don't know how but Taiwan vegetables taste sweeter!

Since dinner refueled me, I managed to convince my mum to wander the streets with me after checking into the hotel. Sadly we took a wrong turn and didn't find the food section of the street markets and ended up clothes shopping instead.

It was an amazing first day introduction to Taiwan's beauty. 

The holiday season is upon us and many may be planning trips away over the Christmas/New Year season. It's easy to start dreaming of all the food and drink 'must haves' in the holiday location and forget about maintaining good eating habits. I will be going away to Taiwan and Hong Kong and I am already searching up all the famous food stalls and restaurants I will be visiting! A day or two of this may be harmless  but mindlessly eating my way through Taiwan and Hong Kong can mean coming back 5kg heavier! With the summer weather in Australia, I can imagine how coming back heavier from a holiday may not be ideal for most! Here at 6 tips on how to keep on top of weight gain during a holiday:

 

 Egg tarts at KFC in Fu Zhou count as food we can't get here =P! 

 
These stairs were a killer but the view at the top was amazing!

 
That's my cousin! We climbed all the way to the top of that tower in this pic! It was -12 degrees in Beijing that day but we braved it to climb a tiny section of the great wall! 

6. Eat your veggies
5 serves of veggies! No exceptions! I try and stick with this even when I'm away as it is a simple thing to do. As I'll be having buffet breakfast every morning I'll be squeezing in my veggie serves first thing in the morning! Mmmmmm roast mushrooms....

Also sticking to the plate model of half a plate full of veggies, 1/4 protein source and 1/4 carbohydrate source is also another way to ensure you're eating a balanced diet. 

Bonus 7! 
Don't feel guilty. A holiday is meant to be enjoyed and I think for most, eating a bit extra is the norm. Despite planning, many factors can still be out of your control. Many people will find themselves putting on a kilo or two during the festive season and this is OK to acknowledge and move on. If your new years resolution is to lose 5kg yet your holiday made you put on 2kg it's easy to feel discouraged, feel it's unachievable and ditch weight loss altogether. But DON'T! Strength is when you persevere despite the set backs!    

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season! I'll be back with lots of photos of yummy food from Taiwan and Hong Kong soon!

Today was hot in Sydney. It's funny how 33 degrees feels soooo hot after winter but it'll soon feel normal once summer sets in. One of my biggest dilemmas during summer is what to have for breakfast (I'm sure this isn't most people's biggest concern but my life kinda just revolves around food....)

Like I've said before, I often value my sleep more than breakfast making so I'm often having breakfast on the go. Normally it includes a piece of toast or some eggs but as the weather warms up I'm getting turned off hot breakfasts. Now I'll always be a tea drinking hot breakfast kind of girl, but I needed to spruce up my breakfast routine during warmer days! I'm not a cereal or muesli and milk type of person so I needed other ideas!

Now hopefully I don't have to tell you all how important it is to have breakfast especially since I recently saw this article in the newspaper. It highlights how skipping breakfast actually primes your brain into seeking out higher calorie unhealthy foods which is why it makes sense that dieters who eat breakfast are often more successful in the long term at keeping weight off.   

So the following will be my top 10 breakfast ideas during summer to start you off feeling cool and ready for the day.

 1. Fruit smoothie
Slurping down on a homemade smoothie always has me feeling alive on a hot day (but the blender is my least favourite thing to clean up....) My absolute favourite is a blueberry smoothie. All it requires is some frozen blueberries, low fat yoghurt and milk and some ice. Sometimes I like to add a teaspoon of honey but often the fruits are sweet enough. I probably get more calcium into my system during the warmer months as otherwise I love a hot cup of green tea. Be wary of cafe smoothies as often they can be quite large, heavy on the ice cream and full fat dairy. I prefer making my own anyway.

 
 The blueberry smoothie is the purple drink in the background!

2. Yoghurt and Cereal
My second favourite cooling breakfast has to be a nice bowl of yoghurt with some broken up weet-bix and some frozen blueberries. I go through frozen blueberries very quickly during summer and there's always a box in my freezer. I think they are essential! Any type of natural or greek yoghurt goes really well with any type of crunchy cereal.

 

3. Fruit salad 
If you have time chop up some fruit or even do it the night before. It'll be super cool and refreshing and you can even add a dollop of yoghurt on top. If you have more time you can make a fruit and yoghurt parfait just to be a little bit fancy.

 

4. Eggs 
Boil up some eggs the night before and leave it in the fridge. In the morning peel and eat! The sulfur smell may stink up your car or the train but everyone's just jealous that you had breakfast while they didn't ;) If you have time the night before make some frittatas and eat cold the next day. Vegetable frittata's are good as they give you a dose of vegetables before the day's even started.

5. Breakfast muffins 
Now I'm not talking those BIG muffins you can get with your coffee! If you have time over the weekend make up a batch of wholemeal or oat muffins. Keep in the fridge and grab on your way out in the morning. These blueberry and white chocolate ones are pretty tasty! Also shown are some orange and chia seed ones (recipe coming sooooon)



6. Think wholegrain breads 
Instead of toasting my bread I just put some organic peanut butter on it and it's nice and soft rather than crunchy. Also good are wholemeal english muffins or mountain bread wraps. Put an egg with some salad leaves and cheese in a wrap and you've got something neatly packed for one handed eating!

7. Can of baked beans 
This is probably one of my brother's favourite. Nice cold can of baked beans on the weekend with some toast. During winter I like to pour the baked beans into a pan with some herbs and let it simmer. Mmmmmm (See I'm already back to winter breakfasts!)



8. Corn on the cob 
My mum is kind enough to sometimes boil some corn for me in the morning but often it is too hot and it gets left till the next day. So i get a nice cold cob of corn! Delish on their own, high in fibre and of course, a serve of veg!

9. Drink ideas: Cold Milo or Juice 
As I said I'm a hot tea type of person. I drink a LOT of green tea throughout the day. Not just because of the health benefits but because it's so delicious and just warms me up and gets me ready to face anything! However during summer my tea drinking habits make way for cooler drinks. I love a cold glass of low fat milk with a spoonful or milo and other times a small glass of orange juice is also good. I'm not a big proponent of juice as I feel the real fruit is ALWAYS best but somedays it's a nice cold drink to wash down breakfast. Remember though I'm talking a small glass, around 200ml rather than the big Boost juices.

 
This is a new juice that's out from Golden Circle. Pleasant taste with the goodness of probiotics for bowel health.

10. I'm Reeeeeeally in a rush!! 
 If you're looking for packaged foods a cold Up and Go, Belvita biscuits or muesli/nut bar isn't too bad of an option. Of course I always advocate for minimally processed foods but if it's a toss up between nothing and something for breakfast, the something always wins.

As you can see from the list there's a slight trend in terms of what to look out for for breakfast. I always try and add fruits, vegetables, dairy and wholegrains to all my meals, especially breakfast. Look for breakfasts with lots of fibre, protein or both to ensure you feel full for longer. Always choose low GI options for the same reason. You can always mix and match the suggestions I've made. Eg. A cup of milo with a boiled egg and a piece of fruit ensures a good source of protein and fibre but also meets 1 serve of your dairy and fruit requirements for the day!

Let me know below what kind of breakfast you're having! I'll love to have more ideas on what I can make!

When I tell people I'm a dietitian one of the most common things they ask me is "What do you eat?" Or sometimes it's statements like "You must eat real healthy" or "Are you a vegan or vegetarian?"

I always find it very difficult to answer this question as my diet is often quite varied and there's no specific thing I eat that would be different from anyone else; I don't have access to some miracle diet pill or secret diet book!

Often times these conversations occur when I'm eating and almost everyone has the immediate impulse to look at my food and judge me! If I have something society deems to be "unhealthy" I often get the "I can't believe you're eating THAT!"

This even happens with my mum. There's been a time where I've bought ice cream and sat outside my own house and eaten it in the car before going in because I didn't want to get judged by my mum. (and also so my siblings didn't steal any!) It's like we're all to have perfect diets and we wouldn't dream of having anything "unhealthy" on our plate. Thing is, I don't think foods can be simply classified as "good" and "bad." Like many things in life, it's all fifty shades of grey. Nutrition is such a complex field that it's difficult to decide how to rate the healthfulness of food.  

What I also think people forget though, and I think I'm speaking for a majority of dietitians here, is:  
We love food!

Why else would we do a degree on nutrition and spend all day talking about it!?

There are so many dietitians I know who would also call themselves foodies and many more who like a bit of dessert (like me!). And yet many look at us like we're food's worst enemy!

I thought to give an idea of what dietitians eat I'll share some photos from the International Congress of Dietetics held last week in Sydney. This was a large 3 day event of workshops and lectures that over 2000 dietitians attended from all over the world and lunch was provided.


Day 1: Clockwise from top: Falafel wrap, carrot cake, wild rice mix salad, egg sandwich on multigrain, green beans and cannelini beans, hainan chicken salad (in the middle)


Day 2: Corned beef, cheese and lettuce grain roll, pumpkin and fetta and strawberries (I think this was my favourite lunch)


Day 3: Chickpea and cous cous salad, chicken and egg wrap, mini eggplant burger, roast beef with tzatziki sauce and potato salad.

Sadly I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the vegetarian options.

Morning and afternoon tea wasn't really provided but as there was an exhibition on as well, free samples were given out. Available everyday was: Chobani and Jalna yoghurt, nuts, fresh fruit, Yakult.

As well as these many stalls had bags of goodies to give away, it was like the Easter show! Other foods of note include: a new Pepsi (coming soon), Grain Waves, meal replacement cookies,Quaker Oat cookies, Sanitarium One Square meal, Optifast, beans and corn mix, Heinze squeeze soup, chocolate paddle pops and much more.


Look at all these things to try!

Although I would eat practically anything, there are a few rules I follow with my day to day eating. 1.

1. Eat breakfast. Breakfast is often my favourite meal on the weekends but during the weekdays I often value my sleep more than a sit down breakfast. However I always make sure I bring something with me before I head out the door as I know skipping breakfast always leads to poor food choices later on in the day. This can be an Up and Go, toast, fruit or yoghurt. 
2. Have 2-3 snacks/day. I always bring my own snacks with me. My body is like clockwork when it comes to eating. I like to eat every 3 hours and sometimes there isn't always food around which is why I bring my own snacks. If I know there will be a fridge I bring some yoghurt but otherwise it'll be fruit, nut bars, nuts, or a homemade cupcake. Eating regularly also stops me from getting ravenously hungry and ending up at a fast food joint simply because it was the closest food avilable.
3. Never eat infront of the TV. Studies have shown those who eat in front of the TV are more likely to be overweight or obese. In my family, dinner is the only meal when we all sit together so the television is always off and we share in conversation. I believe meals should be enjoyed with family and friends rather than with the television. You're more likely to appreciate the meal, eat mindfully and know when you're full. 
4. Be mindful about your food choices. I think food goes beyond calories and nutrients. Food is often associated with emotions and I believe in eating for enjoyment rather than to count calories. We eat foods, not nutrients. I always try to be mindful about my food choices and know that when I choose an indulgent food it is a conscious choice and not something I eat just because it's there. This way I don't end up in a vicious cycle of emotional eating-guilt-more emotional eating.
5. Eat slowly. I'm probably known as one of the slowest eaters amongst my friends. I like to savour my food and chew it properly. At the recent dietetic congress a Japanese study found that fast eating was linked to decrease in diet induced thermogenesis (DIT) (amount of energy needed to process food; low DIT is linked to obesity). Also it takes the body around 20mins before it begins to feel full so if you rush through your meal you're more likely to overeat. I find with slow eating you get more time to appreciate your meal and notice the different flavours, textures, smells more than if you rushed through it.

I take a lot of food photos and post it on my Instagram so if you're curious for more check out my Instagram at nutritionwwendy for more food ideas. And while we're at it, my twitter (@NutritionwWendy) also has a lot of nutrition goodness (incl. latest nutrition research from the congress!). If there's any foods I've made on my Instagram that you'll like the recipe to, let me know via Twitter or Instagram =)