Making Healthier Food Choices at Nearby Hawker Centres
What’s there not to love about hawker centre meals in Singapore?
From your favourite nasi padang to char kway teow, people either stop by for a quick lunch bite or even travel far and wide to their favourite hawker stalls to enjoy local delicacies. Lau Pa Sat, Changi Village Hawker Centre Singapore, and East Coast Lagoon Food Village Singapore are constantly bustling.
However, how unhealthy is hawker food?
The majority of meals in hawker centres tend to be high in calories, trans fat, saturated fat, sodium, and even sugar and low in fibre and lean protein. Especially if you are not making any modifications to your meals.
Time for a quick health recap before we move on to some amazing examples of affordable healthy food in Singapore:
Why should we aim to minimise sodium, trans fat and saturated fat?
High sodium content leads to high blood pressure, promotes plaque buildup in blood vessels, and reduces the kidney’s filtering ability (among many other health issues). Here is a systematic review that proves reducing sodium intake will decrease blood pressure on average.
When we reduce sodium we can also consider increasing potassium intake through things like fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and dairy. It is generally challenging to hit our potassium Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) through whole foods so supplementing is usually a decent idea in this case. Most hawker dishes exceed our daily sodium intake (and that is in just 1 meal) so it is crucial to arm ourselves with the right tips and tricks to reduce our intake.
High contents of trans fat increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 28%. RDI for trans fat is 2g/day. What foods are high in trans fat? Hard margarine and deep-fried food like nuggets and puffs. Saturated fat increases blood LDL cholesterol which might lead to cardiovascular disease. When we eat out we are unsure of the oils that are being used in cooking. Hence it is wise to reduce our oil consumption by having deep-fried items only 20% of the time.
On the flip side, a broader range of fruits and vegetables (fibre) eaten has been linked independently to reduced risks of diabetes, cancer, and mortality, as well as enhanced cognitive function.
Having said all of that, we will never advocate for bland, tasteless food in the name of health. Sure it might be challenging to get high-protein hawker food, but with a couple of amendments or swaps, you can definitely still eat out affordably without having to compromise on taste and health. Let’s do it while keeping My Healthy Plate in mind.
Additionally, implementing health promotion initiatives and scheduled lunchtime in the workplace can have several benefits, such as reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity. Eating healthy near your workplace results in increased energy levels, improved mental clarity, better mood, and reduced risk of chronic diseases.
Singapore is renowned for its delicious food options, but it is still possible to find tasty and healthy options around your workplace that are 500 calories or less. One way to identify healthier food choices is to look out for the Healthier Dining Programme (HDP) decal, indicating that the stall offers healthy food options that meet specific nutrition criteria.
Hawker Food under 500 Calories
1. Choose soupy noodles
Opt for clear broth soups with lots of veggies and lean protein, like chicken or shrimp. These make for healthy dinner options. Avoid adding too much soy sauce or high-sodium condiments to your noodles. Use vinegar, lime juice, or chilli flakes instead. A piece of advice, don't finish the soup! Be sure to add enough fish slices (about 100g) to hit your protein goal. We prefer sliced fish to fish ball as it is lean, fresh meat whereas the processed fish ball will be much higher in sodium and lower in protein count.
2. Go for fresh Popiah or Vietnamese spring rolls instead of deep-fried spring rolls
Popiah skin is a great source of vitamins B-9, A, and B-3, and Vietnamese imperial rolls contain ground or chopped meats, seafood, glass noodles, and veggies, making them a nutritious and filling option. These are healthy and refreshing options to eat when you’re eating out in Singapore.
3. Choose your economy rice wisely
Also known as mixed veg rice or nasi campur, most people would think that this is the healthiest option in the hawker centre, but did you know the dishes often contain high levels of sodium?
One serving can contain over 1,000 mg of sodium which means that consuming this type of meal more than once daily could lead to exceeding the daily recommended intake.
4. Choose healthier options
That contain more vegetables, less processed meat and less sauce, and limit your consumption to no more than one serving per day to avoid excessive sodium intake. These are great for low-calorie lunches.
5. Opt for poached chicken and steamed white rice when eating chicken rice
Traditionally, Singaporean chicken rice is made with poached chicken and is served with rice cooked in chicken broth and a side of cucumber slices. The dish is often seasoned with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Ask for more cucumbers, skin removed, add steamed vegetables and reduced sauce/soup to avoid excess sodium intake. We can also swap flavoured/salted rice for plain white rice or brown rice (if available).
6. Malay Noodle Dishes
Mee Soto is another winner for all our halal friendly readers. We know this by now with all our soup dishes, avoid finishing it so you can avoid packing on excess sodium, saturated fat and calories. Another modification if possible is to swap out yellow noodles for bee hoon noodles which will be lower in calories.
7. Thosai instead of Prata
Instead of getting the usual prata, consider swapping it out for an egg thosai with additional 2-3 boiled eggs and a full bowl of sambhar dhal. Dhal will give you a little extra fibre and you will get enough healthy fat and protein from 3-4 eggs. See if you can even order a side dish of pumpkin to add extra fibre in there. (Do not worry, pumpkin is not as high in carbohydrates as other starchy vegetables there and can easily fit in your plate as a source of fibre).
Modifications We Can Make
1. Always order 2 different coloured vegetables as the side dishes
Especially from your nasi padang or cai fun (economy rice) stalls. Research has shown that the different pigments in fruit and vegetables serve different purposes.
For example, red/orange/yellow pigment might help increase HDL cholesterol, while white pigment may help reduce the risk of liver cancer or glycaemic biomarkers. Blue/purple pigment is also known to help reduce your arterial pressure (blood pressure).
Running low on ideas? Here are some of our favourite combinations: carrot + cabbage, eggplant + mushroom, red capsicum + yellow capsicum, spinach + mushroom.
2. Double or triple up on the vegetables in the dish
For example, the cucumber in chicken rice, taugeh in mee soto or cabbage in lontong. Do not be embarrassed to keep asking for more until you are satisfied your plate is closer to looking like My Healthy Plate.
You can always reduce the noodles or rice in your meal to make the overall volume more manageable. If you notice most of our meals look like this: ½ plate of simple carbohydrates (rice/noodles), ¼ plate of fatty meat, and less than ¼ plate of vegetables. Let’s flip that around!
3. Bring your own fruit and vegetables or buy them from the closest supermarket to save money.
We always have a small tupperware with our own fruit and vegetables so we are confident of hitting 25g of fibre per day.
For visualisation purposes, 1 medium apple has 4g of fibre, 1 small pack of blueberries has 3g of fibre, 100g of chickpeas have 7.6g of fibre, 1 large carrot has 3g of fibre and 2 slices of wholemeal bread have about 3.6g of fibre.
4. Add an extra portion of fresh, lean protein to your dishes.
This is an added cost, but we think it is worth the investment. Chicken rice? Extra serving of chicken, halve the rice. Laksa? Add an additional of 2 eggs, totaling to 3 eggs to hit at least 18g of protein from the eggs. The fishcake and fish balls in there will be an added bonus or you can swap it out for chicken breast to reduce sodium.
5. End your meal with fruits
Fruits are a great source of antioxidants and can help protect against cellular damage and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Choosing a slice of fruit for dessert can fulfil your craving for something sweet without the need to consume additional sugars or unhealthy fats that are typically present in conventional desserts. Some common hawker fruits include apples, oranges, pears, mango, papaya, pineapple, dragon fruit, passion fruit, mangosteen, rose apple, and star fruit. These make for healthy breakfast options.
6. Reduce sugary drinks
Does your meal always come with a drink? Unfortunately, many of us tend to pair our meals with beverages such as teh tarik, kopi, milo, or canned drinks, which can significantly contribute to the overall calorie intake. These drinks alone can add an average of 150-250 calories per meal or up to 500-750 calories per day. It's worth considering requesting drinks with reduced sugar content or even opting for sugar-free options. Additionally, if you enjoy bubble tea, you can request for fewer pearls or no “milk".
Fun fact: Did you know that regular bubble milk tea often contains creamer, which is high in sugar and heavily processed compared to fresh milk?
These modifications can be applied to almost any and all dishes. Fried rice, noodle soups, rice dishes, wanton dishes and others.
To assist you in making healthy choices near your workplace, we'd like to provide a list of popular hawker SG foods alongside their respective calorie counts below:
Please note that the recommended calorie intake for women is 1800 kcal per day and for men 2200 kcal per day. These numbers will vary depending on your size, physical activity, and genetics.
To limit your calorie intake while eating hawker centre food during your lunch break, choose healthier options, control your portions, and avoid high-calorie add-ons such as fried toppings or thick sauces. By making these small changes and choosing low-calorie hawker food for weight loss, you can enjoy healthy and delicious meals around your workplace.
We hope you have enjoyed our comprehensive guide to eating healthier at Singapore hawker centres. We tried to include a variety of dishes that are easily available in your local hawker centre. Before you go, do check out our previous blog “10 High Protein Singapore Hawker Meals” which discusses high-protein hawker options when eating out in Singapore. We also have a healthy Singaporean Meal downloadable kit here for you so you can try these tips out and practice healthy eating. It’s FREE!
