Eating is a favourite pastime of many Singaporeans and eating out is a guilty pleasure of ours. For the working Singaporean, lunch is usually eaten out. And even though the health conscious ones would choose fish soup and Yong Tau Fu over the pork lard filled Char Kway Teow, bringing your own home-cooked food to work is still the best option. And you will see why after I share the 5 main reasons that had motivated me to cook my own lunches.
1. Less Intake Of Unwanted Chemicals And Additives
The key to a healthy diet is to eat well and there is no better way to be doing so than to be your own chef. You have full control over your menu and you can start making healthy options such as substituting table salt for Himalaya pink salt. Personally, I do not use any salt for seasoning in my cooking at all. Cooking your own food puts you in control and eliminates the chance of your food containing an ingredient that could cause you an allergy or to fall really ill.
2. Practice Good Hygiene In Food Preparation
We all know that there could also be lapses in hygiene when it comes to how the food is being cleaned and prepared in a hawker centre or even a food court. You might recall the incident where a food stall attendant was caught washing her shoes in the sink or when a four-year-old child unfortunately passed away after eating tainted food at a food court. All these worries are eliminated because when you are the one preparing your own food, you will make sure that everything is done right.
3. Making healthy choices, Lower Calories
Since you are whipping your own meal, you would tend to select the healthy food items such as greens and lean meat. I have been cooking my lunches for more than three months and it has motivated me to eat healthy. The organic section is one of my favorites when it comes to selecting greens to balance my meals. If you are one of those calorie-counters then cooking your own food allow you to control the amount of calories that goes into your meal. The chances of me heading to a fast food restaurant is also much lower since I pack my own lunch, there is no reason to be buying food outside now.
4. Control Your Portion
Unlike eateries that can sometimes serve up too big a portion, you are able to control the portion of each meal to ensure that you do not overeat. Portion control helps reduce overeating, which is one of the major reasons behind obesity, high cholesterol and other health problems.
5. Saving Money
Eating out is not a cheap option, especially if you are working in the Central Business District area. Ever since I have started cooking and bringing my own lunches to work, I have noticed a huge drop in my daily expenditure. This money saved could be better spent on other things such as a well-deserved vacation.