​How can there be anything more precious in life than life itself?

​How can there be anything more precious in life than life itself?
我们的生命中还会有什么比生命还重要的呢？

Should the love for Bak Chor Mee, Char Beehoon, Hokkien Mee, Mee Pok or any other 'tradtional' Singapore foods that we've grown up with be more precious than life itself?

Last week was a mixed week for me in my clinic (http://drchantathon.com) where I see mainly patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension etc and where I prescribe them with specific changes to their dietary habits to control their conditions.

There was this diabetic patient, who was able to follow a gradual but systematic prescribed changes to his dietary habit over a period of 2 months, and lost more than 10kg and 10cm off his waist and bringing his blood sugar and cholesterol under control in the process. We, the patient, my wife who assist me in coaching the patient in the dietary change and I, were so happy. 

Then on the other hand there was this other diabetic patient who came to see me, whose blood sugar was out of control and whose kidneys and eyes were slowly but surely failing as a result, who was struggling to change her diet, especially her love for the Singapore's traditional hawker noodles dishes which she must have every morning even though she cld see it was severely affecting her blood sugar control. 

Food is an integral part of our lives, not just for sustenance, but as an integral part of our traditions and culture. But should we allow ourselves to be so chained by our love of traditional foods, palate hardwired by decades of enjoying them, that we are not able to change even when facing health crisis that requires us to change how we eat. 

We should move from a desire to 'Love Food, Enjoy Life' to an attitude of 'Love Life, Enjoy Food'

Nothing should be more precious in Life than Life itself, not even foods that we have grown up with, grown to love and grown to find comfort in.

We can start with being more open to challenge our palates with new foods made with better/healthier ingredients cooked in healthier ways that are not like the favourite hawker/traditional foods that we are used to or grown up with. 

Many people, including good friends, think I am silly to even try to challenge and change people's palate at my restaurant The Bento People​ , as the way I cook in my restaurant is the same as I would cook at home for my family, as far as possible, I would 不煎，不炒，不炸 and 不用糖， 不用油，不用加工淀粉。