Eating healthily

Eating well certainly is not the same as eating healthily. I find it difficult to ‘eat healthily’ even though I am not working now. The temptation is to give up the laborious and boring regime of ‘eating healthily’ in favor of ‘convenient’ food. In Singapore, it is just too convenient for people to eat out such that ‘eating out’ has become a lifestyle or hobby. If Singaporeans become increasingly unhealthy over the years, it probably have to do with the easy accessibility of eateries, making worst by the fact that more those newly established eateries served Western food rather than Chinese food. I still remember when I attended my mother’s funeral two years ago in Malaysia, I had a hard time looking for cooked food stalls even in a decent town.

To eat healthily, one really has to invest time, put in efforts and be disciplined. If I am a full-time worker, it would be an uphill task to adopt the diet regime I am now on. Typically I have to spend half-a-day preparing my daily meals- chop, slice, cut vegetables, meat, making juice, boil herbs, and many rounds of washing. To find outside food that is steamed, boiled or stirred-fry is difficult. More often than not, it is deep-fried, grilled or baked. Even for pastries, they are now usually topped up with cream, sugar, cheese, or chocolate. Plain food is hard to find now as ‘exotic’ food is more in demand.