THE classic rule that if you want to eat better, it's best to prepare your own food, no longer applies in 2022 when a wide range of eateries are offering healthy options.
Just name your eating style — vegan, vegerarian, gluten-free, low-carb, plant-based, keto or pescatarian, among others — and you will definitely find a place that prepares food according to your preference.
Restaurants offering healthy food are also aware of portion control so what they serve is usually good for one person. If you can't finish it, most restaurants are happy to help you pack it. Just refrigerate it immediately and you save on your next meal.
I find that eating out, or ordering via delivery, allows me to eat a variety of food items that I cannot necessarily do at home because it's expensive to buy a huge variety of organic ingredients, and I may not be able to finish them in time (since I'm cooking for one).
If you go to your Shopee app (I don't know anyone who doesn't have one), there's a Healthy Living button under ShopeeFood that allows you to browse healthy food outlets in your area.
There is a host of outlets, from juice bars to keto-friendly places for you to try. Here's a review of three healthy places that are available on ShopeeFood.
SALA
Instagram: @sala.kl
Location: Desa Sri Hartamas. Other locations available.
Food: Vegan/ Vegetarian
Rating: ****
Sala holds a reputation as being one of the best plant-based restaurants around and I have to agree. My general take on plant-based food is that it doesn't give me the satiety, so I end up having to eat more.
But Sala nails the taste part to a tee, with a delightful range of plant-based dishes. I ordered the protein packed tacos and was surprised that a meatless creation can be so filling. There are tofu, beans and mushrooms wrapped in soft taco. I love it and it made me want to try similar items.
The nachos is also great and in place of beef and beans, Sala uses beans and mushroom, and the vegetarian version tastes just as great as the meat version. At RM17, this one is very filling. I thought it could pass as a side dish, but I was wrong.
The green juice is too sweet for my liking, though. And at RM18, I think it's very steep.
I like the options at Sala, but I think if ShopeeFood had better food descriptions, then choosing would be more fun.
AGRAIN
Instagram: @agrainmy
Location: Bangsar South. Other locations available.
Food: Build your own or pre-set bowls with meat and meatless options.
Rating: ***
Like many healthy food places, Agrain is all about bowls — a selection of ingredients you can mix and match in your own bowl. There are pre-set bowls or you can build your own, and there are vegan and meat options, depending of what you eat.
I tried the Super Muscle Junkie, but found it to be too bland. There are corn, diced roasted chicken, tortilla chips and vegetables atop a thick bed of greens. I find that the greens are too much and the sauce, too sweet.
But the Ultimate Keto Bowl, with prawns, chicken, aubergine, corn and French beans, is just awesome. It doesn't look like much; the items filled up only one-third of the container, but the meal is very filling.
I will definitely order this one again.
88 KETO
Instagram: @88keto
Location: Bangsar. Other locations available.
Food: Keto-compliant bakes,breads, ice creams and pizza.
Rating: ****
88 Keto started in 2020, when its founder and his mother started their own low-carb, low-sugar journey as a way to keep themselves healthy and lose weight.
The items are keto versions of traditional high-carb food, including ice cream, desserts, bread and pizza (both frozen and hot).
Its pizza base is made from almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, baking powder, eggs and coconut oil. There is the keto margherita pizza and mushroom pizza if you want to have the traditional Italian dish, minus the heavy carb content.
The good thing about buying frozen food is that you can heat up only what you want to eat, preventing you from overeating and saving on your food expenditure.
At the end of the day, if you are looking at losing weight, you still need consistent caloric restriction, immaterial of whatever eating pattern you follow.
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