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Livin' La Vida LOHAS

Are you a LOHAS consumer? Do you even know what LOHAS means? If, like me, you’re an expatriate who has lived in Beijing for quite a few years, the chances are that this latest eco-trend may have passed you by unnoticed. I’ve always considered myself a relatively “green” person—recycling paper, using energy saving light bulbs and so on—yet until this year I had never consciously engaged in a “Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability.”

It’s not clear how far LOHAS has penetrated Chinese society, where food and health have been closely associated for millennia. Looking around the streets of Beijing, the answer for the most part would have to be not much. However, dig a little deeper, and there are signs that lifestyles of health and sustainability are becoming trendier, especially among those with high incomes. In Chinese, LOHAS roughly translates to le huo zu, or “happy living set,” and there are certainly increasing numbers of Beijingers who are starting to treat their bodies, if not the environment, as blissful temples.

Of course, LOHAS is a fuzzy concept, interpreted by different people in different ways. If you want to calculate your own LOHAS rating, then you first need to ask yourself a couple of basic questions. Firstly, how active are you in caring for the environment and practicing sustainability? Secondly, are you looking out for your mind and body as much as you could?

Living in China, it can be tempting to dismiss environmental protection as a waste of time. After all, what can one person do in the face of the world’s largest carbon emissions, serious pollution problems and rampant urbanization? Is it really going to make a difference if I make sure to switch off all the lights in my apartment or take my empty beer bottles back to the corner shop? It’s quite demoralizing when I plug in my energy saving light bulb and look out the window at twenty storeys of blazing neon across the street.

Conversely, a lifestyle based on sustainability needn’t be a chore, and usually makes financial sense. Keeping an eye on water and electricity use saves money. Using a bike saves money. Recycling glass bottles saves money. Refusing to buy shark’s fin soup saves money. Taking your own bag to the supermarket saves money (sometimes). Of course, there’s always something more that we can do, but starting small is the best first step.  

The other issue is health, and this is something that takes a conscious effort to look out for in Beijing too. Not to be overly negative, but unhealthy practices surround us everywhere with widespread smoking of high-tar cigarettes, poor diets, lungsful of noxious air, stressful taxi rides, little or no exercise. However, with the right attitude and a large dollop of willpower, it’s not difficult to lead a healthy lifestyle in the Chinese capital.

Diet and exercise are of paramount importance. You don’t have to buy organic products to lead a healthy lifestyle. The small grocery shop in my apartment complex is a godsend, stocking everything from tofu to olive oil to watermelon. And, because all the meat is of a processed, packaged variety, I just don’t eat it. Cornflakes, tuna salad and soy milk banana smoothies have sustained me for days on end.

When I do summon up the energy to go shopping, the new supermarket on Jingshun Lu called Lohao City is conveniently close, stocking everything from home-made tofu to freshly made honey and delicious organic muesli. True, my shopping bill is usually three times as much as in my local supermarket, but it’s worth the investment. If you’ve ever eaten fresh honey on toast made with Lohao City’s bread you’ll know what I’m talking about.

As a journalist performing daily interviews, getting around Beijing has the potential to be a major headache, and there is no simple solution. I love cycling, and will cycle anywhere time allowing. Yes, I frequently pass through clouds of exhaust gases so thick you could cut them with a knife, but I try to keep to quieter roads and avoid busy traffic times as much as possible. The subway is sometimes an option, and the new lines under construction should make underground travel a lot more feasible.

Having a bike also means healthy weekend escapes are a possibility. Once you’ve traversed the suburban sprawl, there is some great countryside around Beijing, perfect for cycling, hiking and taking a break from urban pressures. Together with squash, indoor climbing and trips to the gym, cycling is the foundation of my attempt to be a good Lohasian.

So, where exactly am I on the LOHAS scale? If 0 is a profligate, polluting couch potato consuming three bottles of vodka and 40 Hongtashan cigarettes a day, and 10 is a fervent eco-warrior living in a wind-powered commune eating tofu and fresh vegetables, then I guess I’m about a 6. Like my old teacher used to say, there’s always room for improvement, but it’s a whole lot better than doing nothing.