Seafood and squatting: the lifestyle of Vietnam

After an incredible, three-week trip exploring Vietnam and Cambodia, it’s wonderful to be home, despite the drop in temperature. Both countries are well worth a visit if you’re looking to expand your horizons on a completely different type of holiday. The lifestyle is very laid back: our guide told us locals call it ‘rubber time’ as time stretches here. No one is ever in a hurry.

The pollution in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi must be off the scale as everyone has a motorbike which caries the whole family plus anything from a mattress to the weekly vegetable shop. And you take your life in your hands to cross the road! But their diet is really healthy, focusing on seafood, rice and tofu with lots of herbs, and they all floor sit from the youngest to the elderly.

As you know I always encourage floor sitting for those who don’t have replacement joints. It’s not something we in the West find easy, but we can make it easier for ourselves by ‘bolstering up’ our bodies, using props such as a small cushion until our joints and ligaments have adjusted. It’s never too late to start. Perhaps we could start a new trend and invite all our friends and family to floor sit with us.

You can purchase a small floor-sitting cushion like this one for around £20.00 Ask me if you want to know more.

The most functional movement we need is to be able to squat. But we can’t go from upright to squatting without preparing our bodies: to start, try sitting on a small stool (something smaller than you sit on now). Then gradually reduce the height of the stool. This will take time as your body has adapted over a lifetime and is the product of your past lifestyle. But it is worth taking the time now to improve your health for the future!