Fit to Post Health4 easy steps to start cooking at home
One of my friends has a successful family business. They are distributors of fruits and vegetables in Singapore. I'm happy that they are successful because they do a great job of making sure that their suppliers provide high quality produce for us to eat.
The boss of this company is also a very ethical businessman who tries to see how he can help meet the needs of his clients (restaurants, food retailers, supermarkets, hawkers etc). So sometimes he simply walks around to his customer's location to see what they do with his products.
Unfortunately, he told me that many of them don't actually wash or store the produce as much as he would like. Most notably veggies and chili.
This is a problem for hygiene purposes obviously, but also because there may be pesticide or herbicide residue (brain toxins) on it.
Most of us can't actually tell by taste, if a piece of food has been washed, or if it has a toxic substance on it.
The reason is simply time. Food sellers have to produce multiple kinds of dishes, steaming hot, ready in time for a lunch crowd.
While I'm sure there are excellent food sellers out there, the best way to make money is to make sure taste is great, and food is churned out quickly.
So sometimes other things can be a lower priority.
It is very hard to regulate this, unless we want to spend huge sums of hard-earned tax-payer money (both yours and mine!) on thousands of food police. There are simply diminishing returns to such a policy.
I suggest to all our Genesis Gym clients, that the best way to make sure you are in control of what goes into your mouth, is to make it yourself.
So choosing healthy food court food is the first step, but for those who are ready to take the next step, here are some tips to getting started with healthy cooking in minimal time.
1. Cook in batches. Time: 1 Hour, twice a week.
Cooking 12 meals and freezing them for later use takes about the same time to prepare and wash as cooling one meal. While "that sounds boring", the next best option is to spend far more time cooking if your schedule allows it, or to have a very well informed domestic helper if your budget allows it.
2. Shop in batches. Time: 1 hour, twice a week.
You can tell who is going to be fat by looking at what is in their supermarket baskets. If its cookies, chips and coke, then look slightly up and you are likely to see an unhealthy person. I personally buy meat weekly, and veggies 2x a week. And that is pretty much all that is in my basket.
I also like to go to food wholesalers for great prices on healthy meats. For as little as a $80 minimum purchase, they will deliver to your home. Here are some of them.
3. Get quick recipes. Youtube is full of them! Here is a short list of them. Time: 30 mins/week
4. Get your family on board. It is far harder to eat healthy food when you are the only one doing it. With a supportive community, it is far easier to be successful.
So, this will take about 4-5 hours per week to do. That is more time than going to a fast food drive through, or boiling a packet of instant noodles. But to have a lean body, a focused mind... and to avoid high medical bills, the pain of disease, and the stress of burdening your loved ones. It's a tiny investement.
After all, when we say: "I have no time" for something important, that is the adult equivalent of "the dog ate my homework"!
Coach Jonathan Wong is a respected health professional. He is also the Founder and CEO of Genesis Gym Singapore, which aims to provide the best personal training and fitness services in Singapore.
