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Hongkongers also tend to eat what's in season, eschewing the processed food (see: potato chips) Americans are often fond of. Their obsession with balance in all things means that

overeating (shellfish is the big temptation) is usually swiftly followed by a countermeasure. If you've eaten something deep-fried, for instance (what they call a “dry hot” food),

you're likely to follow it with something “cooling” like ginseng tea to put the brakes on the unhealthy stuff. While these terms have special significance culturally, they also

represent something helpful in terms of their approach to healthy eating: being attuned, dish by dish, to what you're putting in your body and adjusting, plate to plate, to maintain

your health. “We're into maintenance,” my wife, Wendy, says, and that means a tighter focus on diet. Another way Hongkongers avoid the obesity behind so many of Americans’

life-shortening illnesses? Never “supersizing” anything. While McDonald's is still one of Hong Kong's most popular restaurants, the portions there are smaller than in the U.S. A

medium-sized soda at a Hong Kong Golden Arches, for instance, is about 5 ounces smaller than a U.S. medium. Want a free refill? You're out of luck. WALKING, AND MORE WALKING At first

glance it doesn't make sense that Hongkongers would live so long. People work crazy long hours, lead stressful lives in an overpopulated city, live in tiny, cramped flats, and breathe

polluted air that envelops its skyscrapers in a brownish-yellow haze. But as it turns out, living in congested quarters may be a big advantage because it forces people to get out and walk.

In 2017, Stanford University published a study called the Activity Inequality Project. It analyzed mobile phone data from 111 countries and discovered that Hongkongers topped the list in

walking. The average Hongkonger takes 6,880 steps per day, roughly 2,100 more than the average American. (Not coincidentally, I'm averaging 2,272 fewer steps per day since returning

home in the fall.) They also found more walking correlated with lower obesity rates. Staying cooped up in a tiny flat isn't much fun, so people go outside — to stroll the ubiquitous

shopping malls, walk the numerous hiking trails, eat dim sum with friends, and buy fresh produce at the local market. Few people drive, so most rely on the city's world-class

transportation system, which further increases how much people walk. According to a 2017 study by the American Cancer Society, walking just six hours a week lowers the risk of dying from

cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and cancer. The more one moves, the longer one lives.