Food & Wellness

At Motherearthisland.com we have such a strong passion for food. We love learning how to cook new and exciting meals. Inspiration from cooking shows and competitions are wonderful, like the MasterChef program! Food is one of our best pleasures. Health and wellness are important tenets of living your best life, and as the saying goes: you are what you eat – but even after that you still have to cover other topics for health and wellbeing to be actualized with your full potential. We really wanted to integrate more features and information into the website that would inspire our customers to continue the journey of self-care, but there are already many toggles we placed for you to explore – so for now our data is incapsulated within this blog. There are several websites that provide tips to eating better, exercising more often and to grow your self-love. For example, please look at: Thrive Magazine, Mind Body Green, You Aligned, Taste of Home and the Asian Food Network!

If you know of other websites that are more focused on local cuisine and wellness, please send us the details so we can also share as positive and uplifting online resources.  Recently, we have been searching for the best wellness retreats around the region. They can be expensive, but one or two weeks or even one month at a sanctuary can be developmentally astounding. Please share your knowledge with us. We would love to know the best wellness retreats you have enjoyed experiencing. Do not forget, June 14^th is the annual Global Wellness Day! So on that note, here is one wellness holiday located in each of the ASEAN countries and China: vipassana meditation in Indonesia @Vipassana Indonesia, holistic yoga and wellness in Cambodia @Hariharalaya, Tai Chi in China @Tai Chi China, yoga in Thailand @Wild Rose Yoga, detox and wellness in Vietnam @Alba Wellness Valley, medical wellness in the Philippines @The Farm, spa and healing in Malaysia @Pangkor Laut Resort, sport and wellness in Brunei @The Empire Brunei, spiritual retreat in Laos @La Folie Sala, sustainability and wellbeing in Myanmar @Samahita Retreat, and reiki training and healing in Singapore @Reiki Glow.

You must love yourself first to be a responsible adult, no matter what your story is.  Knowing what food is right for you is part of the challenge. So many of us eat fast food, processed food, and sometimes too much food. We are often guilty of shovelling a dessert or two into our mouths after a delicious healthy meal. It’s a way to balance out our healthy lifestyles, right?  I grew up with having a dessert after every meal and it’s taken me many years to wean myself off the sugar rush. Fizzy drinks are still difficult to remove from diets, especially in hot climates where a rush of caffeine or sugar or both is an easy way to shock your system into activation mode. Eating fruit is supposed to be a decent replacement for processed sugar but chocolate is next level in satiation compared to fruit. Although if your dark chocolate is 70% cacao it is super healthy for you, so knowing your body and what works for is key.

Healthy food in Southeast Asia is so very plentiful. A lot of the issues of severe obesity, and the overweight epidemic seems to be more of a western problem. Something about living in North America, and the drive of the capitalist machine, somehow manifests in the minds of so many citizens that gluttonous consumption is a part of life – like hot dog eating competitions. Burp. Acid reflux, heart burn, kidney stones, and other medical conditions that result from eating way too much garbage food does not impact people of Asia as much. But it is on the way as more young people choose a hamburger over a balanced meal of sautéed vegetables and a protein with rice.

We feel sad when people in the West are subjected to so much more chemicals and toxins in their food. Many would prefer to have simple, clean and healthy diets, but the control of nutrients is often out of their hands and in the hands of corporations – who are in it for money – which means food is made for a taste explosion of refined sugar and salt, and not so much about long term health benefits like extending your telomeres.

The Mediterranean diet is a recent fad that has taken the world, as there are many blue zones in southern Europe – but – there are also many zones in Asia too. Food that is grown locally and food that has been consumed by your ancestors is inherently better for your digestion, mind and body. Alternatively, food that purports health benefits but is sourced from 10,000km away is generally less good for you as a rule of thumb. Why? Because of the onslaught of preservatives and genetic manipulation that has been administered for extending the product’s shelf life means it’s a lot less natural, and if its less natural your body must battle the ingredients by storing the food as fat or rejecting it.

The healthy food you ate when you grew up is better for you. Your body knows how to digest it all better, just like your ancestors did!  The food from your ethnicity of origin will often be your most favourite and delicious comfort food – and most trusted.

We at MEIC feel happy when we look at the list of delicious and fresh regional fruits and vegetables. Each country has a multitude of culinary delights. There are some beneficial staples in many Southeast Asian pantries that can be used across ASEAN borders in combination with local spices and herbs. For example: lemon grass, bitter melon, lotus root, pomelo, fermented soya beans, limes, fish sauce, peanuts, durian, chilli peppers, tamarind, bok choy, rice wine, seaweed etc. We are excited to cook after listing these ingredient!. There are so many more in a variety of delicious mouthwatering healthy combinations.

We really hope you aspire to eating better and consider wellness routines to be a part of your daily life.

Thank you, A. Brown