Are you overeating?
I’M seeing a trend with many of my clients who work. Every weekday, they eat all their meals out — from breakfast and lunch and dinner to even supper!
When I ask them why do they do this, the common answer I get is because of (the lack of) time.
They leave very early in the morning to beat the rush hour. And for some, they have no time to cook dinner when they get home at night.
To make it worse, many Malaysians are overeating without realising it. It’s easy to see why a recent United Nation’s study revealed that Malaysians consume an average of 2,910 calories a day.
This is much higher than what the Ministry of Health recommends for the average sedentary woman and man, which is 1,500 calories and 2,000 calories respectively. It’s this intake of excess calories that causes you to gain weight over time.
When you eat out so much, your food choices go into auto mode. You go to eating places that are convenient. You don’t give much thought to the ingredients and how the dishes are prepared or even the portions that are served to you.
For example, you may not know that a plate of rojak pasembor has 752 calories, a plate of chicken biryani has 880 calories, and one small claypot chicken rice has 986 calories.
Even a small Ramly burger, that many of us have as a snack, has 427 calories!
The overeating epidemic does not affect you alone. It has an impact on government spending as well.
According to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit on
Obesity in Asean countries, our government spent RM4.26 billion and RM8.53 billion in 2016 to tackle obesity and weightrelated issues.
In the report, Malaysia recorded a 13.3 per cent obesity and 38.5 per cent overweight prevalence. This puts us as the highest among Asean countries. Our fat intake has also gone up by 80 per cent and sugar increased by 33 per cent.
With a large number of our urban population eating out, coupled with an inactive lifestyle, it’s no surprise to see such a result. Being aware of your calorie intake is important.
Moreover, the ingredients we add to our foods and drinks such as sugar, salt and oils will make the sodium, fat and carbohydrate content go up as well. All these have an impact on diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
According to the 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, one in five Malaysian adults have diabetes, one in three have hypertension and one in two have high blood cholesterol.
Your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are strongly related to your diet and lifestyle practices. Left unmanaged, they can reduce your quality of life and shorten life expectancy.
According to work productivity surveys, lifestyle diseases are the major cause of low worker productivity and absenteeism.
Self-awareness is the first step towards prevention. Here are some things you need to know about the calories that you’re putting into your body every day:
• Every cell in your body needs energy to carry out its various functions and activities. Your body gets the energy it needs from the foods and drinks you choose to consume, and that is known as calories.
The amount of nutrients such as protein, fat and carbohydrate within the food contributes to the calories.
One gramme of protein or carbohydrate gives us four calories each. Fat, on the other, gives us nine calories per gramme.
Depending on the ingredients of the food, the calories can easily add up. For example, a piece of fish is mainly protein. If you steam it, the calories will be low. But if you deep-fry the fish, it will absorb the oil and the calorie content will increase.
• Choose foods that are cooked lightly without using too much fat such as steamed, boiled, braised or baked.
For example a plate of char kway teow (fried) has 719 calories and 39g of fat, but a bowl of Ipoh hor fun (soup) has only 452 calories and 14g of fat. See how much calories and fat you save just by choosing a food that is cooked lighter.
• When you cook at home, you’re more in control of the ingredients you add and how you cook it. But when you eat out, you need to be more prudent in choosing your foods. Look for new favourites the next time you eat out. You just might realise that there are nicer foods you have yet to try.
• Get more active as well, as that will help you burn calories to keep your weight in check. By reducing your calorie intake from the foods you eat, and burning off calories with some added exercise that you enjoy, you will be better at keeping your weight in line.
When it comes to eating healthy and juggling work commitments, change your thinking. Instead of pining for the foods you think you’ll miss, look for other delicious foods that are cooked lighter.
Balance out your food choices for the week, so that you’re not always eating at the same eatery and stuck with those choices alone. By having a wider variety of light foods in your weekly choices, you will be able to keep your weight in check.