there is a dietician on here (pretty much uploading her stuff from tiktok) that talked about what you can add to food you like rather than forbidding the food. It's been a really good rule to eating better for me. I hope that concept helps you as well.
11:56 "Stop thinking in restriction, and start thinking in addition." You have no idea how much this phrase is helping me, it can be used on pretty much all walks of life.
My goal this year is to simply add more vegetables to our meals. I've been making the meals we love already, but adding veggies as a side. Hot dogs with mac and cheese? Add some green beans. Quesadillas with beef? Add some broccoli cooked in taco seasoning. It's something really simply that I feel like everyone does, but I'm trying my best!
Same. My way of doing it is eating a salad a day as either lunch or dinner. I always keep my fridge stocked with ready to use bags of salad greens and vegetables, and some kind of protein like stir fried chicken or soy eggs so that I can make the salad quickly. I'm able to follow the one salad a day rule on most days unless I'm in a hurry in which case, I resort to ordering in or eating unhealthy foods like instant noodles.
I've started adding sauerkraut to my sandwiches and other places where it wouldn't be a huge flavor change, for the addition of gut healthy fermented vegetables in the meals I'm already going to consume anyways.
it's not going to make you healthier. if you eat quesadillas with beef or burgers or hot dogs, simply adding broccoli or any other vegetable won't make you leaner and certainly won't make you healthier.
@@szczurex9221 it will bulk up the meal in a healthy way, so you will feel fuller without consuming too much unhealthy stuff. So yes it does make your meal healthy.
@@MinSugaCheonjae didn't you read what he has said? he said that he would it the same and just add veggies. paradoxically he will gain more weight just by adding vegetables
This guy is so nice. He seems such a good person, i just love how he turns awkwardness into humour. This video is so comforting. I hope he'll get through anything he's going through
Thank you for being so vulnerable with us! I also struggle with body image and weight, and I think that these are some great tips/guidelines. I just wanted to say that no carbs are empty carbs! Enjoy your cheerios : )
I get why people don't like subbing tofu for meat. I think that's a misuse of tofu. I'm Chinese, and there are tofu dishes that are designed with tofu in mind. We don't just sub tofu for meat, because the texture and flavor just do not work. I highly recommend y'all try Asian tofu dishes and you'll see what I mean. Korean tofu stew, mapo tofu (which is Chinese but also eaten in Japan), agadashi tofu, any Chinese claypot tofu stews etc, these are all dishes that account for the texture and flavor of tofu. Please stop subbing it as a meat. Centuries of culinary traditions from Shaolin monks, there are plenty of wonderful ways to cook tofu. It was never meant to be a meat substitute. For the Chinese vegetarians, there are actually a number of faux meat items made from soy, but they are not tofu. "Vegetarian chicken" is a specific soy product, which is its own dish. There's also vegetarian ham, which has a meat like texture. That isn't tofu either, it's made to mimic meat. So even the people who invented and ate tofu for centuries would never just use tofu as if it is meat. That's why it tastes bad when Westerners use tofu this way.
I love this point! One slight exception is you can mash up tofu with taco seasoning and fry it up for tacos tho. It’s not the same but I like it almost as much as ground Turkey or beef.
Agreed! Dubu Jorim is one of my absolute favourite Korean tofu dishes (I learnt how to make it from Maangchi’s TH-cam video). It’s not pretending to be anything it’s not, it’s simple to make and incredibly enjoyable!
It isn’t just westerners that use tofu as a meat substitute. It’s pretty common to use tofu as a meat substitute all around. I love tofu btw and I love it in the traditional tofu-focused dishes and as a meat substitute 🤣
I love that more and more people are becoming aware of the damage diet culture is doing to our relationship with food and our bodies. I also love your openness and vulnerability, mate. Thanks for the video.
Amazing video Kevin. Ever since I found your channel you've been my favourite cooking youtuber on the platform. Your recipes are easy, healthy, cheap and most importantly, delicious. I also really like this more personal and meaningful style of video, keep it up!
Thanks for the video Kev. I really like your approach to this topic. I’ve worked hard towards the same viewpoint. I still try to stuff my food with veggies, but I’ve stopped shying away from carbs.
One of the best cooking TH-camrs I've ever had the pleasure of finding. Thank you for making videos like this. I love seeing your channel grow into something completely unique from everything else on the platform.
I grew up in a house that boiled the vegetables till they were soggy messes and then smothered them in butter. I have to force myself to remember to include them in dishes, because it helps me feel better when I eat a wider variety of foods. This year started out with me making a chicken gnocchi dish with cream sauce and spinach, not a health food at all but it was my first time using chicken thighs, gnocchi and spinach in a recipe rather than just eating something from a restaurant. It turned out.... different than the original recipe i followed because i had to use frozen spinach, but i think it was BETTER. The spinach was tiny pieces when i thawed it and then added it to the dish. It didn't have a leaf texture to throw me off and incorporated into the sauce really well. My biggest hurdle for vegetables is texture that isn't familiar. If you're like this, I have found that changing that texture is pretty easy. Roast vegetables, puree them, steam and then chop, whatever. It's much easier to get used to them when they mimic textures i'm used to. (For example at about 10:45 in this video I might puree the vegetable base. Whatever you can do to allow you to enjoy a variety of foods.) The coolest thing about the last recipe is you can make that ahead and reheat it all week or even freeze it. How easy is it to take a portion out that's been thawed and just re-fry it.
I live in India and I cannot fathom the food that you described. My mother used to put so much spices, butter, fried vegetables and many other things and made it almost perfect. I still try my best to recreate what my mom makes but I put some twist in it. I always use room temperature spinach, though after hearing what you said about frozen spinach having a lack of texture would probably help me if i was to make food for the family.
@@Aurora-bv1ys Oh indian spices, how I miss being able to get ahold of them regularly. There are so many amazing flavors you can make... As for the spinach, it also costs 3x more here in January compared to frozen spinach. i don't recommend it anywhere you aren't cooking it though and if you're following a recipe you may have to adjust water or other ingredients
I really wish creators would stop accepting sponsorships from the scummy company BetterHelp. Like at least look at what they've done before accepting their sponsorship because they sold millions of their users’ private information and had a huge lawsuit with it. I don't understand why people forget this but it's important when you have such a huge audience.
Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. It really helps to reach this video out to people who have similar experiences with dieting and their self image. Thinking of it in additions really helps shift the perspective of dieting. One thing I wanted to mention, mostly for anyone reading this comment is that not all fats are unhealthy. Fats like olive oil, yoghurt, and the natural fats in nuts, fish, and avocado are all great for your body and brain (of course, the biggest problem is that most of these ingredients are pretty expensive). The calorie count in a dish isn't everything after all.
Biggest gamechanger for us has been ditching that awful store bread and making my own. Found a simple no kneed recipe, I slowly make it during the day around my other obligations, lasts us days in the bread box and is ABSOLUTELY delicious! And most import you don't get that awful bloated "did I just eat a bunch of air?" feeling, you just feel full and happy with a slice or two
I'm a male recovering from annorexia and exercise addiction and share the same struggles brother. Thanks for this intro and keep up the good fight man.🤘
I loved this video on so many levels. I have struggled with anorexia and orthorexia for two decades and your channel is one of the only safe ones for me. This made me love and appreciate you even more. Thank you for sharing all of this with the world. ❤
I love this! My goal this year is to just be healthier. In general. I'm not too focused on weight loss because honestly I know the weight will come off if I eat better and increase my activity. But mainly I really want to create a better relationship with food and incorporate more vegetables into my diet. I'd love to see more recipes. I found them very helpful. I also appreciate your transparency and vulnerability about your experience. I don't spend much time on TH-cam but you're one of the few accounts I enjoy watching regularly.
weight won't come off bcs of simply eating better foods. it's all about calorie deficit! You can eat healthy and gain weight, same for eating junk food and losing it.
I love how positive your content has been lately. You seem much more comfy with sharing your thoughts and vulnerabilities, which creates a much healthier community space. I am really happy for you. Thanks and take care.
I've noticed this attitude around eating healthy where it really aims to be self punishing? Like that boiled chicken and rice. Kwoowk here made it into a healthy delicious stirfry. I like making soup and rice dishes, turn that broccoli and chicken into a green Thai curry coconut soup (so easy to make!) and have a side of rice with it. If you want to turn your eating habits in a different direction, don't deny yourself flavour and enjoyment. Don't make food a punishment. Try making it into a new fun thing to integrate into your lifestyle. I really like what Kwoowk did with the cheerios. I know people who get so hard on themselves that, if they don't want to be sad from denying something they want for breakfast, then they'd rather not eat. Curating a happy and healthy relationship with food is so important. Thank you for this video.
If you want to reduce salt but not flavour, you can substitute some of it with cooking grade Potassium Chloride, it's basically the same but your body doesn't get it as much and can handle it better as far as I'm aware. Please correct me if I'm wrong
NoSalt(R) brand seasoning is mostly potassium chloride. They do say to check with your doctor, I guess to avoid getting your sodium-potassium balance out of whack in the other direction?
I appreciate Kwook being open about a topic we all struggle with and talking about things candidly. For starters, I just want to say that self love is key to health. The study of epigenetics has revealed that DNA expression is a major factor in your well being. Negative emotions toward oneself can actually turn genes on or off and that can lead to disease. So we must love ourselves first and foremost regardless of the shape and size we are at a given moment in time. So love yourself and know by simply doing so your heart and your body will be healthier by doing so. There is a lot of bs sales and marketing out there. So much of what is promoted as healthy is actually just a corporate campaign for profit. What’s healthy versus not is also going to be different for every individual. One diet does not fit all and the same diet is not going to be right all the time for even one person. Your bodies needs will change and fluctuate depending on the demands you are under and life circumstances. The quality of food, how you source it is important. For instance, eating local is really good for you as it builds immunity to pathogens in your area as the food shares your environment. Ie local honey can help w pollen allergies. But also, like foods grown in pesticides, gmo, factory farm raised animals will have an impact on your body. Pasture raised animals and animal products will be much more nutritious than factory farmed and the animals will live better lives. How the animals are slaughtered also effects the stress hormones found in the meat. Kosher and halal meat has been found to be better in this regard as it is done to cause the least suffering to the animal. Some people might prefer to be vegan but animals can suffer from industrial agriculture when pesticides and herbicides are used and soy is the largest mono crop in the Americas contributing to ecosystem destruction and toxic runoff polluting waterways and natural habitats. Being mindful of how we source our soy and vegetables is just as important as how we source our meat. Farmed fish is another detrimental thing for our wild environment and wild animals and wild caught, line caught fish is always going to have less impact and will be healthier for you as the risk of disease is higher w farm raised fish. Further, gmo is not equivalent to non-gmo. This is been a controversial topic but it’s not controversial. It’s pretty straight forward. Most gmo crops are modified to be round up resistant. Round up is an herbicide that contains glyphosate a well known carcinogenic. The gmo crops are heavily sprayed with glyphosate and the plants lacking the gmo traits die but the glyphosate makes it into our bodies, our waterways and even our rain. This is not healthy. There is also scientific research that has proven that gmo food makes our bodies increase the uptake of formaldehyde while down regulating glutathione. Glutathione is one of the most highly sold supplements bc of the importance of having glutathione in our bodies. Best to avoid foods that harm you. Organic is better than conventional but big corporate organic is not better than local food that has best practices but isn’t certified organic to keep the cost of food production low. Our micro biome is really important to health. Some bacteria make us absorb more calories while others make us absorb less. Fermented foods, prebiotics to feed probiotics all play a role in weight gain and loss. Without exercise or movement your diet matters little. Movement is the fountain of youth. Sleep, meditation, diet and exercises all combined matter but social connections are the biggest factor in good health and longevity. Love yourself, love others, be mindful of what you put in your body but don’t stress about it so much that you don’t enjoy life. I eat clean, organic, pesticide and gmo free foods so that my body is resilient enough to enjoy junk foods or be able to handle less than healthy foods.
I love your whole vibe, my guy. Your whole persona is so cool. Your message and the things you do amaze me. Thank you. Also, YOU BAD NAUGHTY BOY! (2:27). I am so trying the Mango Coke.
Hey, just want to let you know that I used to hate cooking - it was just neccesary neverending evil I had to go through just to give my body some food. But once I discovered your videos and how much colourful even a simple meal can be and how much you were enjoying mixing all those flavours, I started to experiment more and after a year and a half of trying multiple simple recipes I actually enjoy cooking. I even came up with some amazing ideas and recipes on my own! Also I used to not like vegetables in meals, but not I love them! So thank you so much! :)
In the midst of the chaos around the topic of "healthy eating" this is a very refreshing video. If not the one of the best takes on "healthy eating" in the whole sea of TH-cam. LOVE IT!!
Kevin I can’t describe how thankful I am for you touching this taboo topic, which it shouldn’t be… I’ve been through this myself so I get you. I’m sure I saw some Albert Heijn grocery shopping bags so I wondered where you live, the Netherlands or Belgium? I’m Belgian myself… Please keep making awesome content ❤
I resonate with this so much. I too had an eating disorder and am currently the heaviest I’ve ever been. But I am learning about balance and figuring out what is sustainable for my eating lifestyle. Best wishes for your happiness and health journey too!
thank you for talking abt your issues with food, ive been trying to get better lately and i really enjoy watching your films and trying out recipes :-) keep up the good work!!
Really nice video with a lot of useful information and ideas ❤ using the fiber rich alternatives (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas etc) might help to stay full for longer 😊
One of the best tricks I've found for healthy burgers is to add minced mushrooms (I use baby bellas) to your ground beef. The flavor is good, mushrooms are healthy, and it keeps the burgers juicy. Most people will never know that they're there.
I love everything about this. I'm trying to cook everything I've been neglecting in my freezer so tomorrow it's shrimp with pasta and alll the veggies. Happy new year!
Thank you for making your video's. Ive been thinking about a way to inform and stimulate my friends, family and patients (im a doctor) to eat healthy and i think im going to share this video to help them on their way. I think its a very important message you are sharing: dont restrict yourself too much, just find a way to make every meal a little more healthy and enjoyable.
These are great tips! I've been trying to add more veggies to my diet instead of worrying about taking things out of the roster, and it's so good. Once I discovered I can quickly turn frozen or fresh broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, or kale etc into a crunchy snack in the air fryer, I've been having more veggie snacks and sides.
This video was weirdly therapeutic to watch-thanks for sharing your journey with us all, the dishes look great but you look even better! Love your growth here ❤
Thank you for sharing! So many people struggle with this and openness helps (me) so much! I love your cooking vids, they give me so much inspiration and help me to love food again too❤
Im being real here when I say that I think you look good dude im in the same place as you so I understand though. When I look at other people I can find people that are skinny or chubby attractive but for myself I see my love handles and my inner thigh and i get angry with myself even though if I saw it on another person Id think they look fine and that its a completely healthy amount of fat. What's helped me is to focus less on aesthetics and more on strength when I workout, and to talk to my friends about my body image issues bc they help me feel better.
I just wanted to say that I really love your videos. They honestly make me feel so happy and warm, especially when I’m having a bad day. Your humor is hilarious and reminds me of my friends. Your videos bring a splash of wholesomeness to my day and I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you Kevin
When we're talking about calories, a lot of people promote the idea that if you don't work them off they'll just never be used up - which just isn't the case. Your body can burn up to 10% of the calories you ingest just trying to digest what you just ate. Couple that with just simply LIVING (EVERYTHING you do burns calories, including just moving around the house and blinking) and you don't have to worry about calories and fat until you're old enough or otherwise have to worry about a slow metabolism. Basically, so long as you don't overeat and don't absolutely bathe your food in lard to the point that every bite makes fat run down your chin, you don't usually have to make a particular effort to live healthy. Your body is doing it for you. Going to work, to the store, hanging out with friends (if you have any) or just taking a walk, moving around the house for any reason and taking your time to chew almost guarantees that your health won't get impacted at all. You'd have to absolutely stuff your face every meal and regularly eat copious amounts of snacks while not moving almost at all to gain any sort of serious weight. Hell, I don't move around a lot thanks to living basically right next to my college right now, I only go out to go to the store which is a 40 minute walk there and back at most (not including walking around the store). Yet not only have I not gained weight, I've actually lost it, and I haven't been doing any sort of 'healthy meal" bullshit - at least none of the crap most advisors and trainers give you. I know what's healthy from just living my life, seeing my mom cook and aspiring to be at least half as good at cooking as she is. And you know what that means for me? Just make lots of different foods with lots of variety. Your body will do the rest. You can have some fried rice one day, a goulash the next day, then maybe a soup and a steak with some baked potatoes the day after that, then maybe beans, then maybe you go out to a local kebab place, maybe after that you decide you're just gonna have toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner, some other day you might just decide "Fuck recipes, I'm just gonna toss shit in a pot". There are so many meals you can make for yourself that don't even take long if you know what you're doing - and if you don't, that's what recipes are for! The world of healthy eating isn't bland food where every single nutritional value is measured by the fucking atom. It's just normal, tasty food with lots of variety. That means no eating the same shit every day and no eating obscene amounts of grease - but that's IT. Go fuckin wild and bon appetit.
with oil, I noticed that using only a little when frying is awesome because you can put a little on top of what you made later. Especially olive oil is just a little better for you when not heated. And trust me a bowl of pasta or risotto or mediterranean stew topped with really good olive oil is just... something. Feels really luxurious.
such good content bro thanks for sharing your journey and tips with us! :) really heartwarming. glad youre at where you are now in your relationship with food
I'll never get tired of hearing "cook it till it's cooked" ❤ And Kevin, do yourself a favor and do some research on fat as a calorie provider. It keeps your blood sugar level low and yourself full (and satisfied) for longer. Just watch out for the good oils. You're using olive oil, which is actually mega healthy.
To be honest if you need soda just drink regular sugar soda or try and kick the habit. I feel like reducing the sugar in other places in your diet and drinking a regular soda is going to be better for you than the heavily processed sweeteners. Drinking calories is how they fatten up livestock before they get sold at auction, once I learned that I try to stick to water, and almost never drink fruit juice.
Trying plant-based protein meals made cooking more interesting for me… Rather than feeling like every meal had to include chicken I started including more beans, nuts, seeds, eggs, tofu in my diet. Seeing what recipes exist with this in mind has helped. I was totally doing the boring chicken salads and poached breast before, so can relate to this.
As someone who has gone through a 30kg weight loss a couple of times. You are right, food must be fun but that really is not enough. For me, the trick is how you eat then when you eat, and later how you burn and when you burn. Reasonable calorie intake that is not boring, intermittent fasting, high-intensity training for 3/4 days a week around 20 mins. The easiest thing to drop out of the previous list was exercise but the next thing to skip was having a tight window of food intake. Then one of the most important things for me to control the calorie intake without missing fats too much was having a rich taste profile with spiciness. Good luck with your journey of weight loss.
It's majestic my friend. In my opinion, we really need to think about food that way. You should enjoy your food and mostly get nutrients with it. Food is fuel and satisfaction in both ways. I've been cooking for about 5 years now, and last few years healthy food like this became huge improvement to me. Honestly, with this nutrition I have became more emotionally stable. I hope you'll be fine Kevin. Realise, you're not alone and you inspire people with your personality. Greetings from Kazakhstan, friend
The biggest thing to consider with a lifestyle change is that you have to enjoy the food you eat and the exercise you do! It needs to be sustainable and enjoyable for anyone to stick with it
Man thank you for the video but did you know that if you add the salt during the cooking/preparation process the taste of the salt will blend in and you won't feel it so you will add too much salt just to taste the little touch of saltiness. The problem is that salt is responsible of weight gain (more that you thing and more than a calories intake) because it causes water retention and you can easily gain 2-4kg of weight per week just with water retention and think that you eat too much but when you stop eating as much as before you lose only 200-500 grams of weight because you still eat too much salt. If you add the salt once the cooking/preparation process is done then you will need less salt (50-80% less) than what you would usually use so you won't gain weight or significantly less than what you would if you added the salt during the cooking. Also drink a lot (A LOOOOT) of water 2-4L and it will help you to lose the weight due to water retention if you eat too much salt (more water in means more water out and you won't keep it in your body like excessive weight : the more salt you eat the more water you must drink) Can you like and pin my comment so people can see it and hopefully it can help them thought the weight loss process. Btw this advice doesn't apply for athletes because you already lose a lot of water and salt during your sport sessions (you can lose up to 2-5 grams of salt and 3kg of water per hour of training during summer sessions). PS: I'm a qualified coach but if you have something to add, tell me in the comments.
Bro I totally understand u... used to be a competitive powerlifter.... Afterwards I started to cook prosesionally and over time became just a guy who lifts "semi competitive weights"(now I am like 230D 200S and 130B 4 those who r interested)
Thanks I really appreciate videos like this. It shows that even the people we admire struggle and are just trying hard. Which is really admirable. P.S. If you want to lose weight but dislike excersizing just take an hour everyday and walk. It helps with fitness and mental health, especially if you do it outside.:D
This video was so helpful for me on so many levels. But the vegetarian Hungarian goulash really hit home for me because I grew up eating the beef version and have been looking for an alternative for ages!
The way I see it, we're all one of a kind. Different metabolism, hormones, activity level etc. Some can eat a jar of Nutella a week, while others gain even while eating rabbit food. Thin is not necessarily healthy and plump is not necessarily unhealthy. You need to find out what works for you.
Watching your videos helped with my relationship with food. I used to also have an unhealthy relationship with food. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us ❤ love from Trinidad 🇹🇹
I have the same approach to planning what I want to eat :D as in, "do I want pasta? I just had rice yesterday, so maybe noodles?" and then picking a protein and the veggies around it. I also feel like, since we all have to eat to live, it's better to enjoy the meals you eat instead of eating something bland you hate. That way you're feeding yourself but you're also not miserable about it.
Increase protein and reduce carbs, avoid sugars. Pretty simple while still tasty. Protein's are very healthy, both meaty and vegetarian ones. And yes, veggies🥦
Just a warning about better help, they can sell kinda a lot of your data. If it’s your only option for therapy maybe it’s worth it but it’s something people should know.
"Stop thinking in restrictions, start thinking in additions"
Boom, that blow my mind. That's exactly what I needed to understand right now.
Thanks! ❤
there is a dietician on here (pretty much uploading her stuff from tiktok) that talked about what you can add to food you like rather than forbidding the food. It's been a really good rule to eating better for me. I hope that concept helps you as well.
@@Avrysatosare you talking about Kylie? she's amazing
well its wrong tho
@@marvin2678 you are really just one big ol' ray of sunshine aren't you?
11:56 "Stop thinking in restriction, and start thinking in addition."
You have no idea how much this phrase is helping me, it can be used on pretty much all walks of life.
hs wrong tho
My goal this year is to simply add more vegetables to our meals. I've been making the meals we love already, but adding veggies as a side. Hot dogs with mac and cheese? Add some green beans. Quesadillas with beef? Add some broccoli cooked in taco seasoning. It's something really simply that I feel like everyone does, but I'm trying my best!
Same. My way of doing it is eating a salad a day as either lunch or dinner. I always keep my fridge stocked with ready to use bags of salad greens and vegetables, and some kind of protein like stir fried chicken or soy eggs so that I can make the salad quickly. I'm able to follow the one salad a day rule on most days unless I'm in a hurry in which case, I resort to ordering in or eating unhealthy foods like instant noodles.
I've started adding sauerkraut to my sandwiches and other places where it wouldn't be a huge flavor change, for the addition of gut healthy fermented vegetables in the meals I'm already going to consume anyways.
it's not going to make you healthier. if you eat quesadillas with beef or burgers or hot dogs, simply adding broccoli or any other vegetable won't make you leaner and certainly won't make you healthier.
@@szczurex9221 it will bulk up the meal in a healthy way, so you will feel fuller without consuming too much unhealthy stuff. So yes it does make your meal healthy.
@@MinSugaCheonjae didn't you read what he has said? he said that he would it the same and just add veggies. paradoxically he will gain more weight just by adding vegetables
This guy is so nice. He seems such a good person, i just love how he turns awkwardness into humour. This video is so comforting. I hope he'll get through anything he's going through
Thank you for being so vulnerable with us! I also struggle with body image and weight, and I think that these are some great tips/guidelines. I just wanted to say that no carbs are empty carbs! Enjoy your cheerios : )
I get why people don't like subbing tofu for meat. I think that's a misuse of tofu.
I'm Chinese, and there are tofu dishes that are designed with tofu in mind. We don't just sub tofu for meat, because the texture and flavor just do not work.
I highly recommend y'all try Asian tofu dishes and you'll see what I mean. Korean tofu stew, mapo tofu (which is Chinese but also eaten in Japan), agadashi tofu, any Chinese claypot tofu stews etc, these are all dishes that account for the texture and flavor of tofu.
Please stop subbing it as a meat.
Centuries of culinary traditions from Shaolin monks, there are plenty of wonderful ways to cook tofu. It was never meant to be a meat substitute.
For the Chinese vegetarians, there are actually a number of faux meat items made from soy, but they are not tofu. "Vegetarian chicken" is a specific soy product, which is its own dish. There's also vegetarian ham, which has a meat like texture. That isn't tofu either, it's made to mimic meat.
So even the people who invented and ate tofu for centuries would never just use tofu as if it is meat. That's why it tastes bad when Westerners use tofu this way.
I love this point!
One slight exception is you can mash up tofu with taco seasoning and fry it up for tacos tho. It’s not the same but I like it almost as much as ground Turkey or beef.
I hate recipes that sub tofu for meat too. It's always far superior in Asian dishes
Agreed! Dubu Jorim is one of my absolute favourite Korean tofu dishes (I learnt how to make it from Maangchi’s TH-cam video). It’s not pretending to be anything it’s not, it’s simple to make and incredibly enjoyable!
It isn’t just westerners that use tofu as a meat substitute. It’s pretty common to use tofu as a meat substitute all around. I love tofu btw and I love it in the traditional tofu-focused dishes and as a meat substitute 🤣
But as a disclaimer, if one is on a diet, maybe one should stay away from mapo tofu? Or at least be extremely mindful of portions.
man, your videos really helped me in my recovery from eating disorder, i started enjoying food and cooking again, thank you so much!!
I love that more and more people are becoming aware of the damage diet culture is doing to our relationship with food and our bodies. I also love your openness and vulnerability, mate. Thanks for the video.
Amazing video Kevin. Ever since I found your channel you've been my favourite cooking youtuber on the platform. Your recipes are easy, healthy, cheap and most importantly, delicious. I also really like this more personal and meaningful style of video, keep it up!
Thanks for the video Kev.
I really like your approach to this topic. I’ve worked hard towards the same viewpoint. I still try to stuff my food with veggies, but I’ve stopped shying away from carbs.
Great! Carbs is super important but, like the rest, needs to be balanced.
@@emmaeriksson7155 agree, carbs shouldn't be viewed as the bad macronutrient lol our bodies need it for energy
most people eat too many carbs
@@marvin2678 False. A lot of people eat too many calories, but carbs aren't the bad guy you want to make them out to be.
One of the best cooking TH-camrs I've ever had the pleasure of finding. Thank you for making videos like this. I love seeing your channel grow into something completely unique from everything else on the platform.
I find you extremely attractive but more importantly I can see that you have a kind soul and care deeply for the people around you
I grew up in a house that boiled the vegetables till they were soggy messes and then smothered them in butter. I have to force myself to remember to include them in dishes, because it helps me feel better when I eat a wider variety of foods. This year started out with me making a chicken gnocchi dish with cream sauce and spinach, not a health food at all but it was my first time using chicken thighs, gnocchi and spinach in a recipe rather than just eating something from a restaurant. It turned out.... different than the original recipe i followed because i had to use frozen spinach, but i think it was BETTER. The spinach was tiny pieces when i thawed it and then added it to the dish. It didn't have a leaf texture to throw me off and incorporated into the sauce really well.
My biggest hurdle for vegetables is texture that isn't familiar. If you're like this, I have found that changing that texture is pretty easy. Roast vegetables, puree them, steam and then chop, whatever. It's much easier to get used to them when they mimic textures i'm used to. (For example at about 10:45 in this video I might puree the vegetable base. Whatever you can do to allow you to enjoy a variety of foods.)
The coolest thing about the last recipe is you can make that ahead and reheat it all week or even freeze it. How easy is it to take a portion out that's been thawed and just re-fry it.
Are you german by any chance?
@@gigimarie41 Nope! US. But I've heard the boil them till they have no flavor thing happened all over north america and various parts of europe.
I live in India and I cannot fathom the food that you described. My mother used to put so much spices, butter, fried vegetables and many other things and made it almost perfect. I still try my best to recreate what my mom makes but I put some twist in it. I always use room temperature spinach, though after hearing what you said about frozen spinach having a lack of texture would probably help me if i was to make food for the family.
@@Aurora-bv1ys Oh indian spices, how I miss being able to get ahold of them regularly. There are so many amazing flavors you can make...
As for the spinach, it also costs 3x more here in January compared to frozen spinach. i don't recommend it anywhere you aren't cooking it though and if you're following a recipe you may have to adjust water or other ingredients
@@Avrysatos not really a thing in europe...
I really wish creators would stop accepting sponsorships from the scummy company BetterHelp. Like at least look at what they've done before accepting their sponsorship because they sold millions of their users’ private information and had a huge lawsuit with it. I don't understand why people forget this but it's important when you have such a huge audience.
Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. It really helps to reach this video out to people who have similar experiences with dieting and their self image. Thinking of it in additions really helps shift the perspective of dieting.
One thing I wanted to mention, mostly for anyone reading this comment is that not all fats are unhealthy. Fats like olive oil, yoghurt, and the natural fats in nuts, fish, and avocado are all great for your body and brain (of course, the biggest problem is that most of these ingredients are pretty expensive). The calorie count in a dish isn't everything after all.
Biggest gamechanger for us has been ditching that awful store bread and making my own. Found a simple no kneed recipe, I slowly make it during the day around my other obligations, lasts us days in the bread box and is ABSOLUTELY delicious! And most import you don't get that awful bloated "did I just eat a bunch of air?" feeling, you just feel full and happy with a slice or two
That sounds lovely, do you mind sharing the recipe?
Please share the recipe 🥹
Also here for the recipe! (:
share the recipe please :)
Do you know where you got the recipe?
I'm a male recovering from annorexia and exercise addiction and share the same struggles brother. Thanks for this intro and keep up the good fight man.🤘
I loved this video on so many levels. I have struggled with anorexia and orthorexia for two decades and your channel is one of the only safe ones for me. This made me love and appreciate you even more. Thank you for sharing all of this with the world. ❤
I love this! My goal this year is to just be healthier. In general. I'm not too focused on weight loss because honestly I know the weight will come off if I eat better and increase my activity. But mainly I really want to create a better relationship with food and incorporate more vegetables into my diet. I'd love to see more recipes. I found them very helpful.
I also appreciate your transparency and vulnerability about your experience. I don't spend much time on TH-cam but you're one of the few accounts I enjoy watching regularly.
Good luck on your food journey!
weight won't come off bcs of simply eating better foods. it's all about calorie deficit! You can eat healthy and gain weight, same for eating junk food and losing it.
I love how positive your content has been lately. You seem much more comfy with sharing your thoughts and vulnerabilities, which creates a much healthier community space. I am really happy for you. Thanks and take care.
I've noticed this attitude around eating healthy where it really aims to be self punishing? Like that boiled chicken and rice. Kwoowk here made it into a healthy delicious stirfry. I like making soup and rice dishes, turn that broccoli and chicken into a green Thai curry coconut soup (so easy to make!) and have a side of rice with it.
If you want to turn your eating habits in a different direction, don't deny yourself flavour and enjoyment. Don't make food a punishment. Try making it into a new fun thing to integrate into your lifestyle.
I really like what Kwoowk did with the cheerios. I know people who get so hard on themselves that, if they don't want to be sad from denying something they want for breakfast, then they'd rather not eat.
Curating a happy and healthy relationship with food is so important. Thank you for this video.
I love your style of video. Tons of good, simple, easy to replicate info and no bullshit. Stay happy man, your content is great and so are you.
If you want to reduce salt but not flavour, you can substitute some of it with cooking grade Potassium Chloride, it's basically the same but your body doesn't get it as much and can handle it better as far as I'm aware.
Please correct me if I'm wrong
NoSalt(R) brand seasoning is mostly potassium chloride. They do say to check with your doctor, I guess to avoid getting your sodium-potassium balance out of whack in the other direction?
But be cautious with high potassium too.. too much potassium in the blood is potentially life-threatening
Great video, positive, honest and thoughtful
Thank you for this ❤
you're beautiful inside and outside...the amount of joy, and smiles you create says so much. thank you!
I appreciate Kwook being open about a topic we all struggle with and talking about things candidly.
For starters, I just want to say that self love is key to health. The study of epigenetics has revealed that DNA expression is a major factor in your well being. Negative emotions toward oneself can actually turn genes on or off and that can lead to disease. So we must love ourselves first and foremost regardless of the shape and size we are at a given moment in time. So love yourself and know by simply doing so your heart and your body will be healthier by doing so.
There is a lot of bs sales and marketing out there. So much of what is promoted as healthy is actually just a corporate campaign for profit. What’s healthy versus not is also going to be different for every individual. One diet does not fit all and the same diet is not going to be right all the time for even one person. Your bodies needs will change and fluctuate depending on the demands you are under and life circumstances.
The quality of food, how you source it is important. For instance, eating local is really good for you as it builds immunity to pathogens in your area as the food shares your environment. Ie local honey can help w pollen allergies. But also, like foods grown in pesticides, gmo, factory farm raised animals will have an impact on your body. Pasture raised animals and animal products will be much more nutritious than factory farmed and the animals will live better lives. How the animals are slaughtered also effects the stress hormones found in the meat. Kosher and halal meat has been found to be better in this regard as it is done to cause the least suffering to the animal. Some people might prefer to be vegan but animals can suffer from industrial agriculture when pesticides and herbicides are used and soy is the largest mono crop in the Americas contributing to ecosystem destruction and toxic runoff polluting waterways and natural habitats. Being mindful of how we source our soy and vegetables is just as important as how we source our meat. Farmed fish is another detrimental thing for our wild environment and wild animals and wild caught, line caught fish is always going to have less impact and will be healthier for you as the risk of disease is higher w farm raised fish.
Further, gmo is not equivalent to non-gmo. This is been a controversial topic but it’s not controversial. It’s pretty straight forward. Most gmo crops are modified to be round up resistant. Round up is an herbicide that contains glyphosate a well known carcinogenic. The gmo crops are heavily sprayed with glyphosate and the plants lacking the gmo traits die but the glyphosate makes it into our bodies, our waterways and even our rain. This is not healthy. There is also scientific research that has proven that gmo food makes our bodies increase the uptake of formaldehyde while down regulating glutathione. Glutathione is one of the most highly sold supplements bc of the importance of having glutathione in our bodies. Best to avoid foods that harm you.
Organic is better than conventional but big corporate organic is not better than local food that has best practices but isn’t certified organic to keep the cost of food production low.
Our micro biome is really important to health. Some bacteria make us absorb more calories while others make us absorb less. Fermented foods, prebiotics to feed probiotics all play a role in weight gain and loss.
Without exercise or movement your diet matters little. Movement is the fountain of youth. Sleep, meditation, diet and exercises all combined matter but social connections are the biggest factor in good health and longevity.
Love yourself, love others, be mindful of what you put in your body but don’t stress about it so much that you don’t enjoy life. I eat clean, organic, pesticide and gmo free foods so that my body is resilient enough to enjoy junk foods or be able to handle less than healthy foods.
I love your whole vibe, my guy. Your whole persona is so cool. Your message and the things you do amaze me. Thank you.
Also, YOU BAD NAUGHTY BOY! (2:27). I am so trying the Mango Coke.
Hey, just want to let you know that I used to hate cooking - it was just neccesary neverending evil I had to go through just to give my body some food. But once I discovered your videos and how much colourful even a simple meal can be and how much you were enjoying mixing all those flavours, I started to experiment more and after a year and a half of trying multiple simple recipes I actually enjoy cooking. I even came up with some amazing ideas and recipes on my own! Also I used to not like vegetables in meals, but not I love them! So thank you so much! :)
In the midst of the chaos around the topic of "healthy eating" this is a very refreshing video. If not the one of the best takes on "healthy eating" in the whole sea of TH-cam. LOVE IT!!
Yes!!!
Bro you moving to westside Gunn was so beautiful to me. Love his music and seeing it in your video brought me joy.
Kevin I can’t describe how thankful I am for you touching this taboo topic, which it shouldn’t be… I’ve been through this myself so I get you. I’m sure I saw some Albert Heijn grocery shopping bags so I wondered where you live, the Netherlands or Belgium? I’m Belgian myself… Please keep making awesome content ❤
Subscribed to your channel because of the positive vibes you put out.
What a great attitude!
I resonate with this so much. I too had an eating disorder and am currently the heaviest I’ve ever been. But I am learning about balance and figuring out what is sustainable for my eating lifestyle. Best wishes for your happiness and health journey too!
thank you for talking abt your issues with food, ive been trying to get better lately and i really enjoy watching your films and trying out recipes :-) keep up the good work!!
Really nice video with a lot of useful information and ideas ❤ using the fiber rich alternatives (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas etc) might help to stay full for longer 😊
One of the best tricks I've found for healthy burgers is to add minced mushrooms (I use baby bellas) to your ground beef. The flavor is good, mushrooms are healthy, and it keeps the burgers juicy. Most people will never know that they're there.
I love everything about this. I'm trying to cook everything I've been neglecting in my freezer so tomorrow it's shrimp with pasta and alll the veggies. Happy new year!
Dude your channel is awesome & I love the setup at your place!
love that you made this, thank you!
Might be my favorite food/cooking video ever. Thank you for putting yourself out there!
Thank you for making your video's. Ive been thinking about a way to inform and stimulate my friends, family and patients (im a doctor) to eat healthy and i think im going to share this video to help them on their way. I think its a very important message you are sharing: dont restrict yourself too much, just find a way to make every meal a little more healthy and enjoyable.
These are great tips! I've been trying to add more veggies to my diet instead of worrying about taking things out of the roster, and it's so good. Once I discovered I can quickly turn frozen or fresh broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, or kale etc into a crunchy snack in the air fryer, I've been having more veggie snacks and sides.
This video was weirdly therapeutic to watch-thanks for sharing your journey with us all, the dishes look great but you look even better! Love your growth here ❤
Thank you for sharing! So many people struggle with this and openness helps (me) so much! I love your cooking vids, they give me so much inspiration and help me to love food again too❤
0:20, Good that you said this! I'm sure it helped a lot of those with these kind of issues out!
Great sense of humour. Turned yr average food vid into something worth watching. Subscribed!
Please make more videos cause your attitude with food is so needed.!! ❤❤❤
This video makes me feel safe here .I appreciate that❤thank you for sharing
Pasta makes Kwook happy. Kwook makes me happy😂
Im being real here when I say that I think you look good dude
im in the same place as you so I understand though. When I look at other people I can find people that are skinny or chubby attractive but for myself I see my love handles and my inner thigh and i get angry with myself even though if I saw it on another person Id think they look fine and that its a completely healthy amount of fat. What's helped me is to focus less on aesthetics and more on strength when I workout, and to talk to my friends about my body image issues bc they help me feel better.
Terrific advice! Ways to add nutrition that keeps you satisfied without feeling denied. Has worked for me since I went to a nutritionist years ago
So, your cook book arrived yesterday. Dude, I love it! Thanks for being you, my guy. Love from Canada 🇨🇦
This is easily the best video you have put out
thank you for being so honest in this video about your own relationship with food and body image!
I really appreciate and agree with you Kwok. I make my own food and it’s healthy. Food should be a blessing, not a curse
You are a fantastic human being. I love your videos. Thank you for making youtube a better place.
2:15
Whenever I think of soulless bodybuilder meals I think of Jay Cutler saying “I don’t like anything” in the most depressing way possible 😂
I just wanted to say that I really love your videos. They honestly make me feel so happy and warm, especially when I’m having a bad day. Your humor is hilarious and reminds me of my friends. Your videos bring a splash of wholesomeness to my day and I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you Kevin
I know it's such a simple thing but adding a content warning for talking about eating disorders is such a sweet thing to do ty Kev ❤️
I love your honesty, I truly appreciate you and this video, thank you Kevin
I'm trying to do a new dish every week, but not so much products available around. You don't use a fancy stuff, which i appreciate!
I like his videos bcz whatever he makes can be actually done at home by home cooks or anyone in general
I saw a quote that said, 'We used to eating so unhealthy that eating health is called diet'
"Sometimes I struggle generally with everything."
Felt that in my soul
This struggle with nutritious food is real, so glad you've worked this out so well, and make it simple as well!
Thank you for being so transparent
That burger and carrot fries blows the Five Guys stuff out of the wawter. This is great and you are great!
When we're talking about calories, a lot of people promote the idea that if you don't work them off they'll just never be used up - which just isn't the case. Your body can burn up to 10% of the calories you ingest just trying to digest what you just ate. Couple that with just simply LIVING (EVERYTHING you do burns calories, including just moving around the house and blinking) and you don't have to worry about calories and fat until you're old enough or otherwise have to worry about a slow metabolism.
Basically, so long as you don't overeat and don't absolutely bathe your food in lard to the point that every bite makes fat run down your chin, you don't usually have to make a particular effort to live healthy. Your body is doing it for you. Going to work, to the store, hanging out with friends (if you have any) or just taking a walk, moving around the house for any reason and taking your time to chew almost guarantees that your health won't get impacted at all. You'd have to absolutely stuff your face every meal and regularly eat copious amounts of snacks while not moving almost at all to gain any sort of serious weight. Hell, I don't move around a lot thanks to living basically right next to my college right now, I only go out to go to the store which is a 40 minute walk there and back at most (not including walking around the store). Yet not only have I not gained weight, I've actually lost it, and I haven't been doing any sort of 'healthy meal" bullshit - at least none of the crap most advisors and trainers give you. I know what's healthy from just living my life, seeing my mom cook and aspiring to be at least half as good at cooking as she is. And you know what that means for me?
Just make lots of different foods with lots of variety. Your body will do the rest. You can have some fried rice one day, a goulash the next day, then maybe a soup and a steak with some baked potatoes the day after that, then maybe beans, then maybe you go out to a local kebab place, maybe after that you decide you're just gonna have toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner, some other day you might just decide "Fuck recipes, I'm just gonna toss shit in a pot". There are so many meals you can make for yourself that don't even take long if you know what you're doing - and if you don't, that's what recipes are for! The world of healthy eating isn't bland food where every single nutritional value is measured by the fucking atom. It's just normal, tasty food with lots of variety. That means no eating the same shit every day and no eating obscene amounts of grease - but that's IT. Go fuckin wild and bon appetit.
That chicken and rice meal really looks delicious but sadly rn your recipe website you put into the description is down :(
with oil, I noticed that using only a little when frying is awesome because you can put a little on top of what you made later. Especially olive oil is just a little better for you when not heated. And trust me a bowl of pasta or risotto or mediterranean stew topped with really good olive oil is just... something. Feels really luxurious.
such good content bro thanks for sharing your journey and tips with us! :) really heartwarming. glad youre at where you are now in your relationship with food
I'll never get tired of hearing "cook it till it's cooked" ❤
And Kevin, do yourself a favor and do some research on fat as a calorie provider. It keeps your blood sugar level low and yourself full (and satisfied) for longer. Just watch out for the good oils. You're using olive oil, which is actually mega healthy.
To be honest if you need soda just drink regular sugar soda or try and kick the habit. I feel like reducing the sugar in other places in your diet and drinking a regular soda is going to be better for you than the heavily processed sweeteners. Drinking calories is how they fatten up livestock before they get sold at auction, once I learned that I try to stick to water, and almost never drink fruit juice.
This was super useful and authentic! I think this might be my favorite of yours
You have single handedly sparked my interest and joy for cooking
Trying plant-based protein meals made cooking more interesting for me… Rather than feeling like every meal had to include chicken I started including more beans, nuts, seeds, eggs, tofu in my diet. Seeing what recipes exist with this in mind has helped. I was totally doing the boring chicken salads and poached breast before, so can relate to this.
As someone who has gone through a 30kg weight loss a couple of times. You are right, food must be fun but that really is not enough. For me, the trick is how you eat then when you eat, and later how you burn and when you burn. Reasonable calorie intake that is not boring, intermittent fasting, high-intensity training for 3/4 days a week around 20 mins. The easiest thing to drop out of the previous list was exercise but the next thing to skip was having a tight window of food intake. Then one of the most important things for me to control the calorie intake without missing fats too much was having a rich taste profile with spiciness. Good luck with your journey of weight loss.
Bro that mango cola desert lol.... definitely need to try that.
hey dude this is perfect, i got diagnosed with prediabetes two weeks ago and ive been looking to up my cooking game.
Loved the video
thanks for the warning❤️
It's majestic my friend. In my opinion, we really need to think about food that way. You should enjoy your food and mostly get nutrients with it. Food is fuel and satisfaction in both ways. I've been cooking for about 5 years now, and last few years healthy food like this became huge improvement to me. Honestly, with this nutrition I have became more emotionally stable. I hope you'll be fine Kevin. Realise, you're not alone and you inspire people with your personality. Greetings from Kazakhstan, friend
10:22 unexpected westside gunn interlude
The biggest thing to consider with a lifestyle change is that you have to enjoy the food you eat and the exercise you do! It needs to be sustainable and enjoyable for anyone to stick with it
Man thank you for the video but did you know that if you add the salt during the cooking/preparation process the taste of the salt will blend in and you won't feel it so you will add too much salt just to taste the little touch of saltiness. The problem is that salt is responsible of weight gain (more that you thing and more than a calories intake) because it causes water retention and you can easily gain 2-4kg of weight per week just with water retention and think that you eat too much but when you stop eating as much as before you lose only 200-500 grams of weight because you still eat too much salt.
If you add the salt once the cooking/preparation process is done then you will need less salt (50-80% less) than what you would usually use so you won't gain weight or significantly less than what you would if you added the salt during the cooking. Also drink a lot (A LOOOOT) of water 2-4L and it will help you to lose the weight due to water retention if you eat too much salt (more water in means more water out and you won't keep it in your body like excessive weight : the more salt you eat the more water you must drink)
Can you like and pin my comment so people can see it and hopefully it can help them thought the weight loss process. Btw this advice doesn't apply for athletes because you already lose a lot of water and salt during your sport sessions (you can lose up to 2-5 grams of salt and 3kg of water per hour of training during summer sessions).
PS: I'm a qualified coach but if you have something to add, tell me in the comments.
Last time, you mispronounsed something in Hungarian, but you said Gulyás (Goulash) rigth, so now I'm really happy. Nice video
Love your videos. Stay like you are.
Thank you for sharing your struggles with diet culture and negative body image. It’s such an important topic!
Bro I totally understand u... used to be a competitive powerlifter.... Afterwards I started to cook prosesionally and over time became just a guy who lifts "semi competitive weights"(now I am like 230D 200S and 130B 4 those who r interested)
Really identify with how the food and self relationship gets warped. You are not alone! I have such difficulties balancing happiness with health.
As an English as a second language teacher I would like to say that your English is awesome
Thanks I really appreciate videos like this. It shows that even the people we admire struggle and are just trying hard. Which is really admirable.
P.S. If you want to lose weight but dislike excersizing just take an hour everyday and walk. It helps with fitness and mental health, especially if you do it outside.:D
Always ate/drank the frozen mango/coke zero separate but never thought of it together! Thanks for the video, very comfy self love + foody vibes
This video was so helpful for me on so many levels. But the vegetarian Hungarian goulash really hit home for me because I grew up eating the beef version and have been looking for an alternative for ages!
The way I see it, we're all one of a kind. Different metabolism, hormones, activity level etc. Some can eat a jar of Nutella a week, while others gain even while eating rabbit food. Thin is not necessarily healthy and plump is not necessarily unhealthy. You need to find out what works for you.
Watching your videos helped with my relationship with food. I used to also have an unhealthy relationship with food. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us ❤ love from Trinidad 🇹🇹
I have the same approach to planning what I want to eat :D as in, "do I want pasta? I just had rice yesterday, so maybe noodles?" and then picking a protein and the veggies around it. I also feel like, since we all have to eat to live, it's better to enjoy the meals you eat instead of eating something bland you hate. That way you're feeding yourself but you're also not miserable about it.
Increase protein and reduce carbs, avoid sugars. Pretty simple while still tasty. Protein's are very healthy, both meaty and vegetarian ones. And yes, veggies🥦
Just a warning about better help, they can sell kinda a lot of your data. If it’s your only option for therapy maybe it’s worth it but it’s something people should know.
This is the type of food video we need more 😊
by far the best cooking contant creator in youtube