Quick asymptotic expansion aided by a variational principle

It is shown how expanding asymptotically a variational functional can yield the asymptotic expansion of its Euler equation. The procedure is simple but novel and requires taking the variation of the expanded functional with respect to the leading order of the originally unknown function, even though the leading order of this function has already been determined in a previous order. An example is worked out that of a large aspect ratio tokamak plasma equilibrium state with relatively strong flows and high plasma beta.