Interview with Celebrity Diet Expert Linda Yo

Linda was born and raised in China and has been living in the USA since her early twenties. Linda kindly gave us the opportunity to learn more about her life adjusting to American culture and how to stay slim the easy way.

Q: When you came to this country with your parents, did you encounter a culture shock?

Linda: Actually, I didn’t come with my parents. They were still in Asia. They sent me to study at a college in Virginia. I didn’t really encounter a culture shock because I was an avid reader. I had been reading western novels and nonfiction books since I was 12 years old so I was familiar with American culture.

Q: How did the American lifestyle affect you as a person and of course your eating habits?

Linda: I had always loved eating. In Asia, I would eat 4 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and several snacks in between meals but I never became fat. I thought I had skinny genes. But when I came to the US, I gained 25 lbs in 3 months. In Asia, we ate rice with every meal and we rarely ate butter, cheese and creamy sauces. When I moved to the US, I rarely ate rice and I ate foods that were high in saturated fat. I became fat very quickly.

Q: Do you believe that Asians are starting to eat the same way as Americans and is the waistline increasing in Asian countries?

Linda: In the past 20 years, KFC, Pizza Hut & Mac Donald’s have expanded aggressively in Asia. Most young people, the kids & teenagers in Asia prefer American foods than their traditional foods and they are getting fatter. Most adults who still prefer their traditional food stay slim.

Q: Why did you decide to write a book about Asian Slim Secrets? Do you believe the Asian way of eating is easier to adjust to than perhaps other diets such as Atkins or the Hollywood Diet?

Linda: After I gained 25 lbs, I struggled with my own weight for 2 years. I read about a dozen diet books; I tried diet pills, fat reducing crème, diet tea, Slim Fast and failed at every method. Then I realized that when I was in Asia I ate a lot & stayed slim. When I traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore & Japan, I saw that people ate out 3-5 times a day & they were slim. That’s when I realized I needed to return to my traditional diet, and I lost the 25 lbs easily without dieting or excessive exercise. I was amazed by the results so I spent the next 18 years researching why Asian foods keep us slim. I took courses to become a certified weight consultant because I wanted to write a book which combines the eastern philosophy of eating with modern science. I wrote the book because even though there are thousands of diet books out there, most methods are too hard to implement. Asian Slim Secrets is not a diet. People can still eat all their favorite foods but I teach them to combine low calorie density foods, which are foods that make us full with little calories, with high density foods, which are fattening foods. That way we can still enjoy fatty food but we have better self control because we combine them with healthy foods.

Q: In your opinion are Asians more active than their American counterparts? How important is exercise to you?

Linda: In Japan & Singapore, most people walk to the subway stations. However, when I was in Jakarta, I never walk on the street because it was too polluted. I had to drive around with closed windows. The air was filled with dirty gas residue from leaded gasoline. When I was in Asia, I was not active at all because, just like most upper middle class families, we had maids who took care of the baby and cleaned the house.

When I did the research for my book, I wanted to write a chapter about exercise, so I took classes to become a personal trainer. So actually I am also a certified personal trainer, but I don’t like to exercise. I just chose the most effective exercises and do it for 5 minutes a day.

Q: Is exercise an important part of your diet?

Linda: As we age, we lose muscles. Muscles consume a lot of calories, so if we lose them, we lose the ability to burn a lot of calories and our overall metabolism will slow down. If we want to stay slim for life, we have to at least maintain our muscles. I teach people simple exercises that they can do in 5-10 minutes a day to strengthen their muscles.

Q: What is the secret of the Asian diet and how does this diet set itself apart from other diets?

Linda: Asian foods are large in volume (water content), fiber & resistant starch. Our cooking method is very low in saturated fat. With my method, people can easily combine healthy Asian foods & their favorite foods so they won’t have food cravings or food restrictions; rather they will learn to combine healthy foods with fatty foods so they can stay full & satisfied with less amount of fat.

Q: Are you considering opening your own weight loss company like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers?

Linda: There are so many men, women & families that have suffered because of obesity related problems. It’s a worldwide epidemic. Yet, actually there is a simple solution. It breaks my heart when I see people struggling with their weight. When I was nine months pregnant, I felt heavy & tired all the time. I can’t imagine carrying an extra 30, 40 or 100 lbs on me all the time. I am determined to get my message out. People have suffered unnecessarily for too long. Whatever method I can use to spread my message, whether it’s opening a weight loss company to volunteering to community program, I consider every option. It feels great to make changes in people’s life.

Q: Today we focus a lot on carbohydrates and starchy foods, which is supposed to be bad for you, but Asian cuisine is built on these types of foods mainly because of the rice. How do you justify the rice in your diet?

Linda: In the past 15 years, America has embraced the low carb diet. It’s a controversial diet, most nutritionists are against it but since it’s controversial, the media cover the diet all the time. Since it’s in the media all the time, the public embrace it and some experts make a lot of profit by selling the protein bars & shakes. The American Dietetic Association had issued warnings and diet reviews where they warn the public & reviewed the popular low carb diet as a fad diet. Yet, it will take a while for the public to unlearn what was thought to be a healthy diet method.

Actually according to WHO (World Health Organization) & the standard guidelines from the USDA, more than 50% of our calories should come from carbohydrates, preferably complex carbohydrates. If you look at the food pyramid, you will see the first category of foods that they suggest us to consume, are grains. For most people, they should eat 6 oz of grains per day. Rice is a complex carbohydrate & what’s so great about steamed rice; it makes us stuffed because of the water content. When you cook rice, you add 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, so 70% of the content is just water and you don’t need to add butter or creamy sauces to the rice to make it taste good.

And scientists have discovered a fiber-like substance in rice which is called resistant starch because it resists digestion and will end up in the restroom. So when people eat foods that are rich in resistant starch, they stay full for a long time, yet they get a discount in calories because our bodies don’t absorb the calories! In fact, it’s the lowest calorie density food, we only get 2-3 calories/g from it, compare to 4 calories from other kinds of carbs, 4 calories from protein & 9 calories from fat.

Q: What are the main food groups in your Asian Diet and what impact does fat have in the diet? Is fat limited to a certain amount?

Linda: Rice as our staple food is the most important food group in our diet, follow by meat, vegetables and fruit. Our cooking method is healthier because we rarely use saturated fats such as butter & cream. For example, our creamy corn soup is thickened with cornstarch & egg which is very low in calories compare to cream. 1 cup of a typical creamy Asian Soup contains 93 calories and 1 gram of fat while 1 cup of a typical western style soup such as Cream of Broccoli contains 200 calories & 12 grams of fat.

Q: What are some of the challenges people face when they start your diet or other diets in general?

Linda: It’s always hard to change our habits. Habits are like gravity, always trying to pull us back. My method is very simple, yet people still have to make small changes to their regular habits.

Q: How much weight can a person lose over a length of six months if they strictly follow your diet?

Linda: Most experts would agree that when people lose 1-2 lbs/week, it’s easier to maintain their weight loss in the long term. So I usually suggest people to make a small change, so they don’t feel they are dieting and they won’t because they learn to prepare delicious healthy recipes in addition to no strict restriction to their favorite foods. It’s reasonable to expect losing 30-50 lbs in 6 months.

Q: What spices do you use to give your recipes the additional touch of excitement?

Linda: Spices bring out flavor without adding fat to the food. I use spices such as turmeric, coriander, cumin, and curry powder to give various tastes to our food.

Q: Meat is always a major issue for people who like to lose weight. Some diets say to avoid meat, others stress eating only chicken and veal. What is your take on it? Should we only eat fish?

Linda: I think the best advice is to follow a balance diet based on the food pyramid and learn the Asian method of cooking because we use less saturated fat. Fish is healthy because it contains very little fat compared to other meats. However, I teach people that they can eat whatever meat they like as long as they balance their meat intake with other healthy foods.

Q: You teach weight loss classes. What is different about your techniques and how would you rate your success? Are your classes only online or do you also offer weight loss classes in a classroom?

Linda: All my students agree that my technique is the easiest to follow because they stay full all the time. If my students follow what I tell them, they definitely lose weight, the success rate would be 100% without question. The biggest challenge is of course not everyone is good in following directions. However, even with my worst students, they found that they stop gaining more weight because occasionally they would do what I tell them to do. I teach weight loss seminars, tele-seminars and an online class.

Q: From your perspective, do men or women lose weight faster? Which gender is most likely to keep it off or maintain the weight loss?

Linda: Men have more muscles so it’s easier for them to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.

Q: Can you describe a success story of one of your clients? How much did the person lose while using your diet program?

Linda: One of my clients is a doctor’s wife. She told me that she had been looking for an ideal diet program for 50 years before she found mine. She has been overweight since she was 12 years old. She joined my weight loss class a week before Thanksgiving. After the holiday parties, a family reunion & a cruise, she lost 30 lbs in 16 weeks and continued to lose weight week after week.

Q: If a person of 600 pounds came to you for help, what advice and suggestions would you give them. How much weight would you recommend they lose over a certain period of time?

Linda: I would recommend that person learn the Asian method of cooking which uses a lot less saturated fat, and reduce drinking sugary drinks. They can easily lose 2-4 pounds a week or 100-200 pounds in a year without ever getting hungry.

Q: Have you ever considered developing your own television show?

Linda: That will be wonderful. Right now, I am utilizing Youtube to get my message across and many people enjoyed the tips & recipes that I gave out.

Q: Would you consider opening your own restaurant?

Linda: No, not right now. It’s too much time consuming, however I might consider a partner who would operate the restaurant based on my expert advice on food and nutrition.

Q: What are your hobbies and interests when you are not working and educating people?

Linda: I love to read and to eat. When I was younger my vision of heaven was a large library inside of an international buffet restaurant. My heaven on earth is my library, my computer for reading ebooks and my kitchen and good restaurants. I pay attention to things that increase my knowledge & things that taste good.

Q: What are three things you can’t live without?

Linda: Books, good food & my family.

Q: Can you give our readers some advise and some helpful tips on maintaining a healthy body?

Linda: Understand about the concept of calorie density, how you can combine low calorie and high calorie food so you can stay full & slim and still be able to enjoy the good things from life such as a piece of cake or chocolate. Get this knowledge & put it into action and you will enjoy great things from life, good food, and a slim & healthy body. I am giving away free chapters of my book, tips & recipes at www.asianslimsecrets.com.