New Year, New Outlook: Why Aaron Chin and January Are Making Healthier Choices

In this excerpt from our January 2023 cover story, Aaron Chin and January So are doing everything in their power to live life to the fullest

“I had never been hangrier in my life than when I was at that holistic health retreat in Koh Samui,” January So deadpans. Her husband Aaron Chin, sat by her side and nursing his coffee, can’t help but burst into laughter at her blunt declaration. “When Aaron asked if I wanted to try a ‘cleansing’ trip to ‘detox’ in Thailand, a weeklong fasting retreat while at a holiday resort surrounded by hawker stalls wasn’t what I had in mind at all.”

The process, So tells Tatler, was nothing short of harrowing. For the first half of the week at the retreat, not only was she told that they couldn’t eat, but they had to do the occasional, but thorough, cleansing of the colon via an enema.

Chin winces at the memory, admitting even he found it extreme. “You had to use a bucket to relieve yourself after the detox,” he explains, “because whatever excrement you expel will then be examined by medical experts.”

Above Chin and So in Louis Vuitton outfits, Tiffany & Co. Tiffany T earrings, Tiffany Lock bracelets, Schlumberger ring

Working in the entertainment industry, So’s schedule has been dictated by call times; she had grown accustomed to having a scant number of hours to herself, so mealtimes were precious. Breakfast was sacred—to skip the most important meal of the day during the fast was horrifying. “You learn [while filming] that you eat your fill whenever and wherever you could, because with how packed schedules can be, it may be the only meal you … eat,” she says.

Regardless of the positive effects she noticed after the retreat—clearer skin and a sense of rejuvenation—So returned from Koh Samui adamantly opposed to the idea of fasting. Entrepreneur Chin, chortling at his wife as she was recounting the event, says that while she was angry almost every day at the retreat, he was inspired; when he returned home, he downloaded an app that tracks an individual’s optimal fasting periods and tailor-makes programmes that help users build healthy habits according to their daily activities, sleep and nutrition.

“I thought he was just crazy at the time,” So says. “I’d be eating my breakfast and he would just go on these crazy long fasts. I didn’t see the point of it at the time; it wasn’t until this year that I started to learn more about the science of fasting.”

So now uses the app too, and does intermittent fasting (IF) periods of over 20 hours or more. It was the science of it that attracted her, she stresses, not its potential as a weight-loss method.

Chin explains, “The general idea [of IF] is just to limit your eating window so that you don’t build bad habits,” adding that many people eat throughout the day even if they’re not hungry. This, he says, means that “the engine that is your stomach doesn’t get any real rest as it’s always digesting food.

“The way IF works for our bodies is to limit your window of eating time to five or six hours—during that period, you can eat whatever you like. Ideally, you want whole, nutrient-rich foods that are filling and keep your energy levels up throughout the day.”

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Above Valentino outfits, bag

It’s not just their diet that So and Chin have been paying closer attention to. Inspired by their contemplative conversations about making the best of life over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, So and Chin have doubled down on the “health is wealth” attitude.

“I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but a key to sustaining a healthy lifestyle is one’s mindset,” says So. “Think about it—why do we exercise? Why do we eat the nutritious foods? Why do we fast? It’s so we can cultivate habits that allow us to have a better understanding of our bodies, to know what works and what doesn’t.”

As he talks, Chin is twisting a nondescript gold band around his finger; it’s a ring that’s also a smart device that syncs with an app to track activity, biometric signals and quality of sleep which both of them bought to step up their health game.

“When you’re younger, the first thing you think about are these huge milestones in life that mostly revolve around your career journey or materials that represent your successes in life. It’s only later in life that you think about your own mortality,” he says.

“Now that we’re in our thirties, we’re focused on looking to live the best life we can. By exercising, meditating and simply allowing ourselves the time to understand our bodies, we’re aiming to continue our journey, pain-free, until we’re well into our sixties and older.”

Above Chin in Fendi jumper, So in Givenchy dress

Above Brunello Cucinelli outfits, Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger earrings and ring

The journey into bettering their health, So says, strengthened the bond between them as well. “It’s more than just getting healthier together—you grow with this person, you see, because we’re always each other’s biggest cheerleader in the many adventures we go on. Be it individual growth or otherwise, we make it a point to be here for one another’s personal growth. Sometimes, we’re so in sync, it’s terrifying!”

It wasn’t only the pandemic that got the couple thinking more seriously about their lifestyle. In 2016, over dinner in Bali, Chin proposed the idea of going meatless. So agreed, even as she focused on cutting up her fish. The very next day, the two became vegetarians, moving to full-fledged veganism three years later.

It has not been without its struggles: they find it difficult to find ingredients, options when eating out were extremely limited—and it was expensive as well. “We kind of felt like we were getting penalised for going vegan,” Chin half-jokes. “While there are certainly more options now in the market compared to back then, truly vegan-friendly alternatives are still a rare commodity.”

As such, they decided to pivot towards investing in more mindful ventures, including a cinematic feature documentary called Eating Our Way to Extinction and a vegan brand called Pin Xin.

“Over the past few years, I have been making some investment and divestment decisions to prepare for the next phase of my career. As I’m fast approaching my forties, I have decided to focus on building, investing and developing businesses that spur everybody to live life in ways that cause the least possible amount of harm to the planet and all its inhabitants,” says Chin. “While this [damage] isn’t entirely avoidable, because we’re either directly responsible for it or it is done on our behalf, [this attitude] shouldn’t be the only way forward. We should aim to contribute the least amount of harm possible."

To read the rest of the story, grab a copy of the January 2023 issue at newsstands or get the digital copy here.