Having a passion for advocating the concepts of “Six Excesses” in Chinese medicine in eating practices and positive mindsets in body image perception to the public, Kwok Ka Po Jojo, a second year Chinese Medicine student, established the Instagram page “Lite.healthsay” in January 2022. In order to accomplish the missions, the page includes various down-to-earth social media content about food choices in restaurants, articles and videos of street interviews concerning the body image of girls. She also collaborated with the HKUMed Student Wellness Team and the Asian Medical Students' Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK) to raise awareness about eating disorders.

Jojo often shares information about food choices in restaurants and articles about body image perception on “Lite.healthsay”.

“After acquiring a considerable amount of knowledge in my academic studies, I’ve realized that some ideas are not compatible with the present eating habits of people in Hong Kong since they often dine outside. This has motivated me to set up ‘Lite.healthsay’ to provide suggestions on food selections in restaurants. More essentially, food brings us happiness which is beneficial to our mental health. So, I’m eager to take up the role in promoting the Chinese medicine concepts and mental wellbeing to people,” said the ambitious girl.

Previous obsessions about body image are also a crucial factor for Jojo to run the social media platform. “As a person who suffered from social anxiety due to criticism of my appearance, I fully understand the girls’ feelings when they’re struggling with their body images which may even lead to eating disorders. Therefore, I’m eager to take the initiative to share my knowledge and experience with other girls that the food they’ve chosen isn’t as unhealthy as they expected,” she uttered.

Jojo and the HKUMed Student Wellness Team co-organized activities to raise awareness about eating disorders.

It has been a remarkable journey for Jojo in revolutionizing the notion of healthy living with the integration of Chinese medicine so far. Nevertheless, she encountered obstacles in popularizing the concept of “Lite.healthsay”. “The awareness of the energy properties of food in Chinese medicine isn’t universal among the public in Hong Kong. People often focus on the calories of food, rather than the distinction of the properties in food, in making food selections. I’m still finding a way to educate them to link up this knowledge with food practices and benefits to health,” Jojo noted.

Jojo has also reaped the benefits of her strenuous efforts in managing “Lite.healthsay”. In terms of personal growth, she highlighted that her self-confidence has been substantially boosted, “I’m thrilled that these Instagram posts have played a crucial role in helping girls with body image issues. This is undoubtedly a strong encouragement for me to continue empowering girls and myself that food brings us happiness.” Managing the Instagram page has also inspired her to further explore her career possibilities. “I recently joined the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge with an aim to transform ‘Lite.healthsay’ into a social enterprise. It is definitely a great opportunity for me to discover an alternative career in this field, or even pursue both Chinese medicine and social enterprise in the future,” Jojo added.

Jojo recently participated in the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge with an aim to transform “Lite.healthsay” into a social enterprise.