One way to get healthier: Eat like a goat
Munch, crunch, munch. One of the snacks I eat at work is not exactly quiet, though I try to keep the noise down.
It’s not salty, crispy potato chips.
Every day, I bring in a bag of raw celery. In China, qincai is not uncommon, but it’s almost always cooked. So, I get strange looks. The rare colleague who has tried it has politely avoided making a face.
Perhaps they think I have goat in my family tree.
While raw celery may seem like a strange snack, it is undeniable that eating more unprocessed food is healthy.
While I’m not vegan, I have made big changes in my eating that, paired with exercise, have enabled me to
This Day, That Year
ItemfromJuly12,1999,in ChinaDaily:Chinawilltrain morepeopleinbusiness skillstocopewiththe challengesposedbythe rapidlydevelopingknowledge-basedeconomy.
Chinahasjust9,000MBA graduates,whereastheUnitedStatestrains70,000studentseachyear.
The Master of Business Administration program was introduced in China in 1991. Now there are more than 230 courses offering MBA degrees. drop more than 20 kilograms over a year’s time. I feel better, though I needed a new wardrobe.
This is relevant to China because as my host country has gotten richer, it is experiencing the same weighty problems as my native country, the United States. This means it faces the same higher risk of serious health problems and death from cardiovascular problems, cancer and other maladies.
But while I’ve noticed that the worst problem in my home country occurs in poorer populations — it can be costlier to buy and prepare healthy food — the opposite is true here.
As trendy convenience foods such as pizza and sugary drinks have become popular among higher-income city-dwellers, they also are spending more time on sedentary activities such as video games.
What’s especially worrisome is that these trends are hitting young people the
By the end of last year, China had 258,000 MBA graduates, according to the Ministry of Education.
In 2002, executive MBA programs were introduced in the country by institutions such as Fudan University and Peking University. Currently, 64 Chinese universities are authorized by the ministry to offer EMBA programs.
EMBA courses have come under tighter regulations since last year when the China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee announced all Chinese hardest. While lauding China for remarkable progress in child nutrition, the World Food Programme also noted last year: “Overweight and obesity are becoming prominent in cities, and gradually appearing in rural areas: 23 percent of boys and 14 percent of girls under 20 were now found to be overweight or obese.”
Problems aggravated by obesity, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, can go undetected, doing serious health damage.
As The Guardian noted recently, “The central government has brandished a plan called Healthy China 2030, with the aim of making China healthy again in the next 13 years.” The report noted that the plan includes “the introduction of health education into the school curriculum and promoting ‘health as habit’ ”.
These are positive steps, especially when combined with promotion of sports such as soccer in schools. EMBA applicants will be required to take the national postgraduate entrance examination.
Tuition fees for all MBA programs will be collected in strict accordance with regulations, according to the new rules.
But it also comes down to personal choices. I’ve seen my younger colleagues struggling to eat healthy. It takes time to shop for and prepare good food, and packaged, ready-to-eat healthy food can be expensive. Most people are very busy, and unhealthy fast food is the ultimate in convenience.
I’m not unsympathetic — I struggle with the time thing myself. I weigh a lot of my food and track it on an application. But it gets easier as it becomes a habit.
Instead of being overwhelmed, start simple with better choices, like smaller portions. Drink water or tea. Take the stairs. Make it a habit. The “future you” will thank you.
Contact the writer at matthewprichard@ chinadaily.com.cn
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It is not the first time that the government has tightened EMBA regulations.
In 2014, the central government banned officials and executives of Stateowned enterprises from pursuing expensive EMBA courses.