It’s no secret that Malaysia is home to delicious food from many different cuisines. More often than not, food is best enjoyed during gatherings with family & friends. If you’re trying to eat heathy and be more conscious about your food choices, it can get a little depressing not being able to enjoy your favourite foods whilst out with your favourite people.
Have you gone to a gathering and ended up having a bowl of salad, while wishing that it was nasi lemak instead?
The good news is that you don’t have to be too hard on yourself! Because there’s still room to enjoy all these foods without going overboard.
Here’s a list of top 5 crowd favourites and some tips to strategically enjoy your food while keeping it healthy-ish during your cheat day!
Nasi lemak (400 calories. Sadly this doesn’t include fried chicken or even sambal sotong)
Nasi lemak will always top the chart as it’s our national dish. We eat nasi lemak for breakfast, lunch and even dinner!
Ways to make it healthy:
Let’s break down the ingredients in it. So there’s there’s rice, sambal, egg, anchovies, peanuts and cucumber.
Opt to cook the anchovies and peanuts in the air fryer, substitute white rice with brown rice and top it up with lots of cucumber!
One method that usually works is to make the portion of your vegetables bigger or equal to your rice portion.
Kuey teow (744 calories)
That springy noodle has always been a crowd’s favourite as it’s a comfort food. Most of the calories not only come from the noodle itself but from the sauces used.
Ways to make it healthy:
- Use coconut oil
- Substitute kuey teow with konjac kuey teow
- Swap your ‘kicap manis’ with the soy sauce from Kikkoman brand as the sugar content is so much lower than the usual soy sauce.
- Instead of using fish balls or chicken balls in it, put real chicken & seafood if you like.
And there you go! You’ve now got a healthier version of your favourite noodle.
Laksa (432 calories)
We do love our noodles, especially in soup. We love our laksa so much, that each state has their own version!
Ways to make it healthy:
When choosing a healthiest laksa, opt for laksa that doesn’t use coconut for their broth, to lessen the calories like laksa Penang!
Konjac laksa can also be eaten with the normal broth, just top it up with lots of salad as the condiments!
Nasi ayam (607 calories)
Good news, although the calories are quite high, it’s really easy to make it healthier!
Ways to make it healthy:
Even if you’re eating out, try to opt for steamed chicken breast with the skin off, go easy with the gravy and request for extra cucumber slices & bean sprouts. They often use chicken fats to cook the rice, so change it to plain rice if you can!
If you’re making it at home, you can even switch it to brown rice and make a vegetable soup instead of plain soup.
Satay (25 calories/stick, without gravy)
The main calories usually don’t come from the satay but mainly from the peanut sauce that we dip it in. To complete the dishes we even eat it with ketupat.
Ways to make it healthy:
Remember, the satay itself is already very flavourful. To cut the calories, leave out the peanut sauce and eat your satay with the onions & cucumber. This way you get to enjoy more satay without feeling guilty!
Eating healthy can be challenging in certain social events or around your friends, so keep in mind moderation is always the key.
You’ll still be able to enjoy our delicacies, all you have to do is make small tweaks and turn them into healthier options! Here’s an additional tip – eat slowly! Research shows that it takes 20 minutes for your brain to realise that your stomach is full.
And remember, one day of overeating won’t take away your gains.
