Let’s Get Serious about… Eating!

Let’s be honest here, the truth is always hard to digest, but someone’s got to take the bullets and unveil the hard core truth about our food. As the “mamak” stalls are flourishing like mushrooms after rain, it’s time we take matters into our own hands before our future generation suffer from…*gasp* roti canai  overload…

Seriously: What are we eating?

1.       Burgers made out of a family of cows – A variety of different cows from many different areas can be used in order to produce one ordinary burger patty. This increases the risk of contamination as even just one unhealthy cow within the group may end up causing a large amount of people who eat it to become really ill.

2.      Painted food – The reason that artificial food colourings are used in our food is to make it more appealing to the eye. Apart from these food being those that have questionable nutritional values, these artificial colourings have been suspected to be one of the causes of cancer as well.

3.       Nail dissolving acid – Not to scare you, but the next time you gulp down on your second large cup of gassy drink, just try to remember that the phosphoric acid in it is sOoo acidic that it can dissolve a nail within 4 days.

4.      An average person’s yearly outdoor food intake will contain 12 pubic hairs – Now, I believe that in itself is self explanatory. You know you’ve been to one of those food joints! Let’s try to keep this number low. 

Seriously: What should we be eating?

The fact is that eating healthy is not about trying to stay scarily thin, obeying strict unrealistic (should I say, unMalaysian?) food habits or cutting yourself off the food you love but rather eating everything in moderation, keeping healthy and feeling good and more energize. The key to eating healthy is to “eat smart”. Here are some tips:

1. Think variety – Your body needs more than 30 types of nutrients each day. No single food can supply them all. Therefore, it’s important to eat a variety of different food to ensure that your body can have all that it needs. And no, variety does not mean, Roti Canai, Roti Telur and Roti Mumtaj Naan in one seating.
   
   
2. Eat in smaller portions – One of the reason for overeating is the fact that the size of food servings have balooned in the current times. Try using smaller plates the next time you dine as it is actually a basic psychological need to want more food when you serve on a bigger plate as the plate will seem emptier.
   
   
3. Make sure you eat a rainbow of food – Apart from making your food appear more appertizing and delicious, it is said that each food colour provide different sort of benefits to your body.
   
   
4. Do not ban certain food - Of course, not all food has to be perfect la... Therefore, just because you have a sweet tooth or salty tooth, do not label certain food item as “off limits” because you will only crave for them more. Instead, eat a small portion of them just to satisfy your craving.
   
   
5. Eat slower – Chew your food and eat slowly as it takes a few minutes for your brain to register that you are full. Plus, often times we tend to rush through our meals forgetting to savour and appreciate the deliciousness of it thus, craving for more.