Healthier Food Choices

As mentioned before in one of my previous post, Singapore is a multiracial society with people from different culture living together in harmony. Hence, people in Singapore enjoy a great variety of food which each culture has to offer. However, are we choosing the correct healthier food alternatives? The Health Promotion Board authority has been helping by allowing this symbol to be indicated on food products which are deemed as healthier food choice.

An ex-colleague of mine, like most Singaporeans believe in the myth that western food constitute everything fried and therefore unhealthy to consume often. I shall prove this myth wrong in the following dish.

This is a dish which is served in one of the famous western food chain restaurants here. It consists of tenderly grilled chicken breast meat topped with creamy, flavorful Victoria sauce, served with seasonal vegetables and fries. Perhaps replacing the fries with mashed potatoes would make this dish a more healthier choice. Certainly, this dish dispel the myth that western food constitute everything fried which most Singaporeans think so. I believe this myth exist due to the fact that most western food stalls in hawker centres or coffeeshops serve all fried items. There are in fact healthier alternatives like salads and sandwiches for western food. In fact, I think generally western food are healthier than our local food. Do you think a plate of nasi lemak, char kuay teow or roti prata is healthier than a plate of seafood or chicken pasta?

The point which I want to conclude is that regardless of the type of food, there are always the healthy and unhealthy side.

Here are some characteristics which I noticed for various type of food.

Chinese (China, Hong Kong and perhaps Taiwan) food are generally very oily and high in cholesterol as the Chinese people eat practically almost everything such as pig internal organs. When I visited Hong Kong many years ago, the Omelette which is served in restaurant contains more oil than our local fried chicken and I could feel the oil gushing into my mouth for every bite. Despite that, it wasn't oily enough that their locals need to dip their food into oil to enhance the flavour.

Japanese food seem healthy as most dishes are raw or steamed instead of fried and the ingredients are mostly healthy too, However, the monosodium glutamate level is quite high especially in the soup.

Malay and Indian food consist of mostly fried items and generally spicy. The usage of coconut in cooking thee dishes also constitute to high cholesterol. 

As far as I can remember from a health advertisement, here are some examples of choosing healthier alternatives for breakfast.

Chinese
Congee instead of Fried Carrot Cake

Western
Oats instead of American Breakfast (Ham, Egg, Sausages)

Malay
Mee Siam instead of  Nasi Lemak

Indian
Chappati instead of Roti Prata

If you aren't food conscious, perhaps you should start choosing healthier alternatives today as diet plays an important factor in your health.