Thursday, February 14, 2008

Why I Set Up This Food Blog?

Historic Eating Problem
Do you believe a food blog author does not eat? Well, I do eat, but not much. I love eating, but just unable to eat. This problem started bothering me soon after I turned 30. Perhaps due to slow metabolism, but no one could explain the reason. There has been a serious conflict between my natural desire for food and my body’s saying ‘no’. However I have been pleasing my mouth, and ignoring my body’s refusal of food. So my stomach is always full to overload like an airborne balloon. In March 2006, just before I turn 50, I took an important step in my life as to change my eating habit.

Change of Eating Habit
Actually over the past 20 years, doctors, dietitians and friends suggested hundreds of ways to correct my problem. Somehow I found only one way work for me – fasting. At the beginning, I went on a 6-day juice fasting. I lost 6 pounds out of that. Over the course of the next six months, I lost a total of 20 pounds.


Loss Weight As A Result of Intermittent Fasting
After the initial compulsory fasting, I target for one meal a day. I set up a food diary to record my eating history. On average, I skip 18 to 23 meals in a month. In some days, I replace a meal by snacks, a fruit or a glass of juice.

A Food Blog Idea
For someone who is only able to eat one meal a day, every meal is very important in terms of what to eat, where to eat and with whom to eat. This has led to an idea of setting up a food blog to record all my favourite foods. On any day when I am totally unable to eat, I just look at my blog and review my food photos and gain some satisfaction out of them.


A side objective of my blog is that some expact friends told me that they found it difficult to look for Chinese food websites written in English. I have therefore decided to make my blog bilingual and including the restaurant names and how much I spend on each meal just to make additional sense to travelers.

Who Else Wants to Lose Weight the Easy however Scientific Way?

During the course of my intermittent fasting, my colleagues and friends consulted me for weight-losing tips when they noticed the change in my appearance. I can only produce one answer – fasting – intermittent fasting – this is absolutely an easy way of losing weight which is backed up by scientific research.

Please understand…my blog is not to convince you to adapt my way of eating at all. Although I fast most of the time, but if I feel I need food…I eat. Fasting isn't about starving myself and it is out of my natural need for food. Of course this won’t happen overnight. I took time to build up this eating habit. Please don't eat this way until you have a deep understanding of the diet.


There is a book called Eat Stop Eat written by Brad Pilon. I was amazed that his intermittent fasting program is actually what I have been practicing since 2006. If you are interested in the scientific research behind the use of intermittent fasting for weight loss then you should find this book to be both up to date and accurate.

Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional. His graduate studies were about nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss. Click here to check out Eat Stop Eat.


Hong Kong Chinese Food - Intermittent Fasting

38 comments:

Monica Pileggi said...

Hello! I found your blog page today. I am heading to Hong Kong (first time there!) at the end of October. I looked through your blog to get restaurant recommendations but I do not know the locations of the restaurants. I will be staying at the Salisbury YMCA in Kowloon. Could you please tell me which of your recommended restaurants are in that area? I can be reached via email at mjpileggi @comcast.net

Anna said...

Hi Monica

This is the restaurant just right next to your hotel. It is a good place, you must try it.

http://hongkongfoodblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/continuation-of-my-beijing-culinary.html

Anna

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry to hear your condition and hope you will have improved health now onwards. Your food blog is very nice and informative and will be very useful info for me when I intend to visit your country from January 21, 2009 onwards for the CNY holidays. Keep up your efforts.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna. Thanks for your blog, which I just found today. My family and I are headed to HK in April to visit family living in Wanchai (Zenith 2) and look forward to trying some of the places you mentioned.. and I noticed a lot are in Wanchai. We have 2 young children - can you suggest any special places for kids? Thanks for sharing pictures and prices!!

Anna said...

Hello

Welcome to Hong Kong. Zenith is a good and nice new property in Wanchai, quite nearby my house. If you want to go somewhere within walking distance, I have couple of suggestions.
Wesley Hotel (1/F) there is a Banyan Tree Chinese restaurant. The food there is very good and they have a set lunch for four with which you can try a little bit of everything. Being extremely economic in price however good in food and environment, you must try Hoi Tin. Search 'Wesley' and 'Hoi Tin' in my blog and you'll find photos and some ideas for price.
Directions:
Wesley: from Zenith 2, walk towards harbour direction, find Johnston Road (where the trams run), turn left towards Central direction.
Hoi Tin: also from Zenith 2, walk towards harbour direction, find Lockhart Road, turn left towards Central direction. Both are easy to find. Any difficulties, let me know. Your local friends might know these places as well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Anna for your Feb 23 reply and I will definitely try those restaurants out! As we get closer to our vacation, I will try to read through all your summaries and pick some more out to try! I can't wait to eat in Hong Kong!

Unknown said...

Dear Anna,

My name is Rory Boland and I’m editor of About Hong Kong a travel website to Hong Kong and part of the About.com network.

I’ve included a link to your blog in my Living and Working in Hong Kong blogroll. The blogroll can be found here http://gohongkong.about.com/od/blogsabouthongkong/Blogs_About_Living_in_Hong_Kong.htm. I think your blog is an excellent resource for people thinking about moving to the city.

I’m writing to you because I hope you might consider including a link from your blog back to my home page. The homepage can be found here http://gohongkong.about.com/. My site is a comprehensive and impartial guide to sightseeing, restaurants, accommodation and shopping in Hong Kong.

As I mentioned above, I think your blog is a great resource for anyone thinking of relocating to the city so I’ll be leaving my link to your blog regardless of whether you link back to me. Still, it would be great if you would.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Rory

Anna said...

Rory

Many thanks for the kind words. You are right, English websites about Hong Kong Chinese food is rare. Many of my blog readers feel the same. I have put up a link to your Hong Kong page. Hope our readers enjoy our sites.

Best, Anna

cactuskit said...

Hi Anna, could you contact me at cactuskit@gmail.com? I'm visiting HK soon and would like to seek your recommendations. Thks. : )

I could return the favour for Singapore good eats.

cactuskit said...

Hi Anna, pls contact me at cactuskit@gmail.com. I'm visiting HK soon and would like to seek your recommendations. I could return the favour when you come to Singapore. : ). Thks.

Anna said...

Hello Singaporean friend,
can you post your question here, so that other readers can share our thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Hello Anna,
I found your blog quite interesting, and the reason for setting up the blog even more interesting. I am curious if you are still doing the fasting diet and eat just one meal a day. Being a person who is on a restricted diet, I know it's very hard to resist the temptation of all the delicious food!

Anna said...

Hi
Yes I'm still doing one meal a day, mainly dinner only. I'm afraid it is difficult for a normal healthy person to understand my life style.

Anonymous said...

HI Anna,
I just found your blog while looking for places to eat in Hong Kong. We are looking for a great dim sum restaurant while we are there that is clean and has great dim sum. Am I right in thinking the Banyan Garden is your favourite? Are there any others that are as good? We love food and I can't wait to look through your blog for other places to eat around Hong Kong. Thanks. Louise

Anna said...

Hi Louise

Banyan Garden is certainly one of my favourite places. Tell me where you are going to stay and I can suggest some nearby dim sum restaurants which are good but not too expensive.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,
Thankyou. We are staying in the Tsim Sha Tsui area we think. Any recommendations would be appreciated. We can't wait to get over there and try different foods. If there is somewhere that you would also recommend for a special night out for my brothers birthday that would be great. We are after Asian food though not Western.
Thanks again.
Louise

Anna said...

Hi Louise
If you are staying at the TST area, I would suggest Star House, just opposite to the Star Ferry. Actually at Star House 2nd-4th Floor, there are three restaurants:

Peking Garden - Peking food - my favourite
Jade Garden - Cantonese food
Gold Island - Chiu Chow food

All three serves good Chinese food with seaview.

As for your brother's birthday dinner, I would recommend a seafood dinner, which is a typical Hong Kong food experience. The Lamma Hilton is really nice but you need to take a 20-min boat ride from Central. Or Sai Hing Restaurant at Sai Kung also produce fresh live seafood at very reasonable price. You can do a keyword search for Lamma Hilton or Sai Hing in my blog and browse through the photos. In terms of environment, I personally would prefer Lamma Hilton.

Enjoy your Hong Kong food trip.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Anna. We will try those.
Louise

Bee Bee said...

Hi Anna
I am visiting HK in Nov 09, staying at Oriental Lander @ TOng Mi Road, Mongkok, can you recommend nice & reasonable foods around that area? Thanks!
P/S Your blog is great!

Anna said...

Hi BB
If you are at the Mongkok area, go to 639 Nathan Road (MTR Mongkok Station) - Grand Tower Plaza - has plenty of restaurants, both Chinese and international. They are not too expensive, I'm sure you'll find something to suite your taste. Also lots of gold jewelry shops around.

Anonymous said...

So, when do you eat? Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner? And what do you eat ?

Anna said...

I take my blog photos while eating. View my blog and you will know what I eat. Mostly lunch or dinner, seldom breakfast.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,

I am going to HK this late Nov with my family including 2 kids aged 7 & 9. We will be staying at Langham Place Hotel in Mongkok.

Hope you can recommend some nice eating places nearby our hotel (within walking distance) for breakfast and dinner. Food we are looking for includes:-

1) cha chan teng breakfast
2) dim sum
3) cantonese rice/ porridge/ noodles
4) dessert stall
5) japanese shabu shabu (which serves sliced pork and chicken as we do not take beef)
6) japanese ramen etc

Hope to hear from you here soon. Thanks in advance.

Regards Jo

Anna said...

Hi Jo
Visit this website to look for what you want:
http://www.openrice.com
You can search by region, type of food and even price.

I have been to the Japanese restaurant within Langham Hotel which is quite good and not expensive at all. However don't remember if you do shabo shabo.

Enjoy Hong Kong food!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna!

I will be visiting HK in Dec'10 and will be staying at Citadines Ashley. Will you be able to recommend some good eateries around the area. As we are travelling with a budget, would like to avoid pricy restaurants but would really like to try the delicious chinese food in HK.

Also, would most restaurants offer cheaper prices after 2pm for dim sum or only some limited ones?

Appreciate your kind help, please.

With thanks - WL

Anna said...

Hi
You are at the heart of TST surrounded by a great varieties of restaurants. Unless you go to very high profile restaurants, most dim sum restaurants are cheaper after 2pm or you can go by 11am and leave before 12.30 (it may vary), you will also enjoy discount. Here is a link to look for restaurants around your hotel. Continue refine your search and I'm sure you can find a lot of good and cheap food. Good luck.
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr1.htm?cuisine_id=1004&district_id=2008&price=2&searchSort=4&amenity_id=1005

jade said...

Hi,

I will be visiting HK in early January. As I am diabetic, could you kindly recommend some healthy eats?

Hope to hear from you soon!

Anna said...

Hi Jade
Welcome to Hong Kong. I think this vegetarian dim sum restaurant should be good for you. It's at the HK Park, next to the Tea Museum in Admiralty. A good and healthy place to go, though a little pricy. But the tea is really good. Read my post below:
Vegetarian Dim Sum

KK said...

Hi Monica

I was looking for a cooking recipe (Shoyu Chicken) and found your great page!
I'm living in Switzerland since years, but I'm originally from Hong Kong. Last year, my family decided to return to Hong Kong after 20 years and I'm really happy to found your page.
I'm looking forward to reading more posts of you.

Kind regards from Zurich,
KK

Katy-Mei said...

Hi Anna, my hubby need to loses some weight to have an op for his knee. Reading this blog help me to understand you a bit more and hope it will help him control his eating, he love his food, and he love cooking, he take over my cooking now, Cantonese roast duck and pork better then me! :-) But I'm very worry about his over due belly! Very Interesting blog you have in here, will back for more read in future. Have a lovely Sunday! Mei

Anna said...

Hi Mei
I must say 'weight loss' is the ultimate solution for your hubby's knee problem. Don't hestitate, he must take action immediately. I'm not saying that roast duck and pork is not healthy, in fact, I eat them too, but over eating is the problem. Please try your best to help him control his diet. I don't know how old you are, but age is our greatest ememy. The best way to fight against is to eat well and exercise well. I'm not saying that I'm doing very well in these areas, but at least I'm taking actions. You are welcome to visit my Fasting Blog and get more insights about my 'healthy life'.

Anonymous said...

hi.. anna,
i'm planning to Hongkong this december, 8 days, my friends said it's too long the duration...n your blog gave me some idea.. thanks.


fr, leelee

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,
I will be going to my first HK trip end of this month and will be staying in Mong Kok.

Wish to look a good dim sum place, do you have any shops around the area or nearby a MTR to recommend?

I'm a malaysian chinese who loves dim sum and would be much appreciated if you could recommend me one of the best.

Do you have any recommendations on a MUST TRY place too?

Thanks a lot!

Anna said...

Hi Kenny

Go to the top of my blog (under the header), there are a few articles about eating and visiting Hong Kong. You should be able to find your answers there.

Anna

Joel Chong said...

Hi, Anna,

This is my second time leaving a comment in your blog.

I am a food lover, just like yourself. However, unlike you, I practise less restrain when it comes to eating - which leads me to write to you, this time. I think it is high time that I start to diet. I am beginning to get FAT.

I am enthused at your idea of intermittent fasting and how it has helped you slim down. Please, please, teach me..... I am in serious need of that!

Was it difficult in the beginning? Which meal is the easiest to skip? What was your most difficult thing to overcome?

Please help me.

Anna said...

Hi Joel

The most difficult thing to overcome is myself. Procrastination made me suffered for many years before I really do something to improve my health. Get yourself mentally prepared and fully committed before getting start. You may want to start by skipping breakfast. Or skip one or two meals in a week on an unplanned basis. If that sounds workable, then continue. My fasting blog has more information:
http://go-fasting.blogspot.com

Feel free to email me for further communications.

Jesús Sayols said...

Dear Anna,

As for your "eating" condition, have you ever tried the Paleo diet? I follow this diet and it will be so beneficial for you. Check some information at:

http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/

http://thepaleodiet.com/

I am moving to HK at the end of August. Staying at HKBU for 3 years minimum. So I really would like to know which restaurants offer "clean" food.

Cheers,
Jesus

Unknown said...

Very interesting blog! You must come to Poland. Our cousine is different, but very tasty:) Some of our dishes may be to heavy for you, but our climate is different. Greetings!