A Guide to Making Healthier Choices When Eating Out in Singapore
Singapore's hawker stalls and food courts are renowned for their delectable offerings that can tantalize anyone's taste buds. However, with so many options available, it's easy to make hasty decisions that can leave you feeling guilty about your food choices later. To make healthier choices, consider all of your options and take time to choose wisely. Start by checking out stalls near your home or workplace that offer healthier options. By planning ahead and making informed decisions, you can enjoy a delicious and guilt-free meal every time you dine out.
Here are the top 6 tips that you can follow to make healthier choices when eating out:
1. Plan ahead to make better decisions
When dining out at your favorite restaurants or coffee shops, take a few minutes to peruse their menus in advance. You can easily do that by going through their website or finding their menus on Google Maps. This proactive approach will allow you to make informed decisions and steer clear of unhealthy food choices.
By choosing dishes that align with your health goals, you can savour your meal without any guilt or regret. Additionally, be mindful of portion sizes to avoid overeating and consuming unnecessary calories.
Opting for smaller portions or sharing dishes with friends can help you strike a balance between enjoyment and health. With a bit of planning and conscious effort, you can enjoy a delicious meal while still prioritizing your well-being
2. Incorporating a variety of vegetables into your meals
To meet your daily vegetable and fiber intake, it's a good idea to ask for extra veggies when eating out. Following the My Healthy Plate method by HPB, try to fill half of your plate with non-starchy veggies like green cabbage, bok choy, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant, onions, and tomatoes. Aim for 2-3 servings of veggies per day to meet your quota.
When ordering your favourite economy rice, choose at least one dark green leafy vegetable such as spinach, chye sim, or kangkong, and one colorful vegetable commonly found in Singapore's hawker food outlets or food courts. This allows you to benefit from a variety of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Let me give you 2 more examples that might help you to choose your dish wisely.
If you are planning for Char kway teow you can ask for more bean sprouts(although this dish is not that healthy for a regular one) and you can compensate for the fibre in your meal by eating it with 1 Steamed/stir-fried veggies as a side dish.
Also, if you are looking for thunder tea rice, you can fulfil your quota of veggies per meal as brown rice is topped with different cubes of veggies and is served with healthy greeny mint soup.
3. Choose Healthier Cooking Methods
When browsing menus, avoid deep-fried or cream-based dishes, which are often high in calories, and check ingredients for unhealthy additions that could contribute to weight gain and other health problems.
Opt for grilled meats, mustard instead of mayonnaise, and cooking methods such as baking, braising, grilling, boiling, and steaming to reduce saturated fat intake. Look for meals with lower sugar, salt, saturated fat, and calorie levels.
Fun Fact: Do you know that a deep-fried chicken vs the same portion of grilled chicken can be 2 times the amount of calories and 5 times the amount of fat?!
Consider choosing a healthier alternative to the classic Singaporean chicken rice by swapping the high-fat version for plain rice and steamed chicken without the skin.
You can request the vendor to add more cups of bean sprouts and add some extra pieces of cucumber and other veggies alongside the plate when it's served.
4. Portion Control
Practice portion control to maintain your weight. Avoid eating excessive portions or in huge amounts. Rather than taking what is served onto the plate, you can ask the staff or food vendor to serve you less. Or you can pack half a portion of your plate to eat for later.
No need to finish the plate if you are full. Also, just don't focus on food if you are bored or even under stress at work because it might force you to make unhealthy food choices. Instead, you can try for a walk, talk to your favorite ones, read a journal, listen to music, and do an activity that gives you a dopamine boost. Also, eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.
For example, if you are looking for an oyster omelette make sure you can share your plate with colleagues to reduce the portion of your intake or
if you have Singaporean chili crab you can share it with your friends to have portion control. Also, make sure to drink water before meals and eat with a fork to reduce the sizes and increase the timings to have the fullness signal reach your brain.
5. Limit Food High in Salt & Sugar
Opt for clear-based soup noodles instead of fried or dry ones. When it comes to sliced fish bee hoon soup, it's best to avoid finishing the entire bowl as it may contain high levels of MSG and salt. You can request the seller to add more vegetables to the dish. Try not to consume too many soups or meals with salty sauces like soy, fish, or oyster sauce. Even for popular dishes like Hokkien mee and Lontong with Sayur Lodeh, try not to finish the gravies and eat moderately by going easy on the side servings of chili paste and other sauces.
Avoid certain preserved, cured, or smoked foods like luncheon meat, pickled meats, and salted eggs. Additionally, be mindful of the high salt content in sauces and gravies that may exceed daily dietary guidelines. When ordering, remember to request the vendor/seller to serve you with less of these.
Most adults are recommended to consume about 10 teaspoons of sugar daily, but reducing it to 5 teaspoons can bring many health benefits. When it comes to sugary beverages, Singapore's favorite brown sugar pearl milk tea can be ordered with less or no sugar (Siu dai).
Alternatively, you can have a glass of plain water, which is the best refreshment. When you have sugar cravings, grab a piece of fresh fruit, some berries, or a small bowl of soybean curd (tau huay).
Many people tend to have a beverage with meals or end their meals with dessert. However, most beverages and desserts contain high amounts of sugar, so it's essential to choose them in moderation.
6. Sensible Snacking
Does your office vending machine tempt you during your break time? Or do hawker snacks make your tastebuds tempted for it? Or is your eye sometimes glued to roadside snacks?
Snacking is essential to provide energy, stabilise your blood sugar levels and prevent hunger pangs or growls at the same time it will also help to prevent overindulging in the next meal or main meal.
To avoid the urge and to satisfy hunger pangs try smart options for snacking, you can look out for smart snacks roadside or at hawker stalls by choosing
Low-fat string cheese
A container of hummus, guacamole etc
Fresh fruit such as bananas, apples, oranges or grapes.
Low-fat or Greek Yogurt.
opt for steamed options such as vegetable pau, har gow, chee cheong fun or popiah. Always ask for siu dai to control your sugar intake.
If you are looking for crunchy choose whole meal crackers.
Grab a handful of steamed chickpeas.
A peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread.
A small packet of nuts such as almonds or cashews.
Dark chocolate
Also, the introduction of the new Nutri-Grade mark helps you identify healthier packaged drinks, from Grade A being the lowest in sugar and saturated fat content, to Grade D being the highest. It is mandatory for packaged drinks graded “C” and “D” to be labelled, with drinks graded “D“ due to the higher sugar and saturated fats content.
Some of the healthy packeted snacks that are widely available in Singapore are
Blueberry Goji Coconut Granola
Box Green Subscription Box.
Snack Guru.
Quest Nutrition Protein Chips
Hey! Chips.
Amazin' Graze.
Greenday Singapore.
Naebro.
Since most Singaporeans choose hawker food options or dine at the food court thereby HPB(Health PromotionBoard) identified dishes that provide ≤500 kcal as healthier food options:
Category of Foods
Food options(<500 calories)
Rice-based
Char Siew Rice.
Economic Rice (2 non-fried vegetables)
Hakka Thunder Tea Rice
Noodles based
Ban Mian/U-mian/Mee Hoon Kueh [Soup]
Beef Ball Noodles [Soup/Dry] (Thick Bee Hoon)
Big prawn/ Prawn noodle [Soup/Dry] (Yellow Noodle/Bee Hoon/Kway Teow/Mee Tai Bak/Mee Pok)
Malay Cuisine
Mee Soto
Mee Bakso
Penang Assam Laksa
Indian curry based
Appam (2 pcs) w or w/o Dhal Curry
Chapati (2 pcs) w or w/o Dhal Curry
idli (2 pcs) with Dhal Curry
Snacks
Nyonya Dumpling (1 pcs)
Rice Dumpling (Meat Filling) (1 pc)
Steamed Chee Cheong Fun [plain] (2 rolls)
Source: health hub. sg
Conclusion:
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best. Eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions, and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight is essential. Still, when you go out it's sometimes difficult to maintain and control the temptation for unhealthy snacks, especially highly salty and fatty. Having meals at consistent times is very important to prevent overeating on the next meal.
If you are hungry at a particular time of the day try looking for smart healthier snack options when eating out. Also practice mindful eating to avoid unnecessary unhealthy snacking due to boredom, and stress.
Rate your hunger signals on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being extremely hungry. If the score is 5 or more, it is likely that you are not very hungry. It's important to choose your meals wisely and make informed decisions.