Eating healthier at hawker centres, Latest Makan News - The New Paper
Makan

Eating healthier at hawker centres

When housewife Angeline Lim orders wonton and fishball noodles at a hawker centre, she always asks for less oil and salt.

Whether the hawker will comply is a “50-50 chance”, says the 52-year-old.

She says: “Some sellers will get angry or treat you rudely as they don’t want to compromise on the taste of their dishes.”

She makes it a point to ask anyway.

Sometimes, asking for healthy options at hawker centres can be seen as being finicky or insulting to the cook – but diners such as Ms Lim are getting more endorsement on their quest for healthy eating.

Last week, during the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appealed to Singaporeans to watch their diets to curb mounting health conditions such as diabetes.

He urged Singaporeans to choose healthier dishes such as yong tau foo or fish soup if they eat out, or healthier alternatives with less oil, sugar and salt that some hawkers offer.

This is in line with measures taken by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) targeting hawkers since December.

For the past three years, it has been running the Healthier Dining Programme, which encourages food-and-beverage businesses to offer healthier dining options.

They can display on their stall front labels such as “Lower in calories” for providing meals up to 500 calories each and “We serve wholegrain options” for incorporating wholegrain noodles, rice and bread in their food.

HPB plans to get four in 10 hawker stalls to sell at least one healthier dish by 2019. The board has identified a list of 63 dishes that tend to be under 500 calories, including beef noodle soup, masala thosai and mee soto.

But the fact remains that most hawker dishes are unhealthy, says Ms Bibi Chia, a principal dietitian at Raffles Diabetes & Endocrine Centre.

She says a healthy meal should contain less than 500 calories, be low in fat, sugar and salt and high in nutrients such as calcium and dietary fibre and minerals such as iron and zinc.

Most hawker dishes do not make the grade as they contain high amounts of fat and salt and little vegetables.

“Char kway teow is cooked the same way as decades ago, even after years of public healthy-eating education,” Ms Chia says.

Diners should take charge of their diets instead of depending on hawkers to change their recipes, she adds.

One way is to plan what you want to eat in advance, which is easy because people are familiar with the food options in the hawker centres near their homes and offices.

“Diners tend to give in to temptation to order something unhealthy when they are hungry,” she says.
One can also eat less by sharing food, especially unhealthy dishes.

“Share a plate of fried noodles with someone and order something healthy, like a bowl of fish soup, to share,” she suggests.

She adds that diners need to be persistent in asking that their food be cooked with less oil and salt and with more greens.

“Just treat it as if you are ordering food in a restaurant, where it is the norm to customise food orders,” she says. “You just have to do it as it is your health you are talking about.”

For diners though, sometimes the mind is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Take finance executive Mohamad Saddiq, 29, who says: “Scraping away the gravy of my beef rendang or having less mee soto gravy is not realistic as the coconut and fat make these dishes delicious.

“It would be like eating a cake without the cream.”

His solution?

“Limit these dishes to two servings a week.”

The Sunday Times takes Ms Chia to Tiong Bahru Food Centre, where she recommends some of the healthier dishes easily found in hawker centres.

Here are six suggestions:

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

ECONOMY RICE

Ordering two types of vegetables and a meat with rice is a good option.

Ensure that half the plate is filled with lightly cooked green vegetables, such as broccoli, and the rice and meat should each take up a quarter of the plate.

Avoid vegetables that tend to be cooked with more fat, such as long beans, which are deep-fried before being cooked in sauces such as chilli paste.

Skip the gravy that comes with meat as it tends to be high in fat and salt.

People tend to consume more rice when there is more gravy. If needed, ask for the gravy to be served on the side to control how much you consume.

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

YONG TAU FOO

Order the soup version as very little oil is added to the dish.

Avoid deep-fried items such as ngoh hiang and beancurd skin, and processed meats such as sausages.

Those with high blood pressure should not drink too much of the soup as it can be high in sodium.

If you order six items, ensure that four of them are vegetables or vegetable-based items such as bittergourd with fish paste.

The other two can be soya bean-based items such as tofu with fish paste.

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

CHAPATI

A serving of chapati contains 143 calories and 5g of fat, less than other Indian flatbreads.

It is also made with whole wheat flour, which has more fibre. Diners can ask for the chapati not to be made with ghee.

Pair the unleavened bread with dhal curry, which is often not cooked with coconut cream and has less saturated fat than regular curry. Dhal is made from lentils, a plant-based protein.

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

MEE SOTO

Mee soto (433 calories a serving) has a lower calorie and fat content compared with mee siam (521 calories) and mee rebus (559 calories).

To make it healthier, remove the skin from the shredded chicken.

Ask for a smaller serving of noodles if you are concerned about your carbohydrate intake – whether for managing diabetes or weight control.

Request more vegetables, such as beansprouts and spring onions, and consume the soup only with the noodles and not on its own.

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

SLICED FISH SOUP

This lean protein dish is low in fat and there is the option of adding vegetables.

Opt for boiled fish instead of deep-fried pieces.

Omit the evaporated milk as it contains three times more fat than full-cream milk.

Do not drink the soup as it can be high in salt.

Keep rice or noodle portions fist-size.

PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES

POPIAH

This low-fat snack is a good way to consume vegetables such as lettuce and turnips.

Ask the hawker to reduce the amount of sweet sauce by two teaspoons.

hawkerfoodhealth