Many times I've been eating out, especially late at night having a snack with my husband. It is actually an opportunity for the two of us to go 'dating' after coming home from a hard day's work and doing the never ending household chores eventhough the only children I have in the house is my 19 year old son.
Well getting to the point.... can you imagine at 11 pm, there are parents who bring the children, in their pyjamas, out to dinner, or supper, or whatever you may call it. The only eating outlets open during this time in Malaysia are usually the 'mamak' restaurants (indian-muslim outlets) whose main menu would be curries, and oil laden dishes along with rich, spicy beriyani rice or roti canai with plenty of ghee.
I guess five years ago, I wouldn't give it a second thought. But, now that I see more and more Malaysians overweight and their children, as young as three years old, overweight, it has become a major concern, whether anyone is aware of it or not. I heard announced on the radio that 15% of children in the country are overweight.
We are now a fast food community.... fast food meaning on top of the McD's and the BK's and the KFC's, there are the Mamak's which actually tops the list for fast food, available 24 hours a day. Parents just don't have the time to cook and fast foods are the alternative to feed the family. If not eat in, then take away. It's not so much just the food, to add to that, the amount of soft drinks and sugar consumed along with the food.
I know I, myself am the culprit of eating out late. I do make sure though, I still eat my three meals a day and not to exceed my daily 1200 calories to include fiber, nutrients, vegetable protein and all the 8 glasses of water every single day. But this is me. From the looks of it, everyone else just doesn't care. Believe me, I have tried talking to people about it and the reaction I get is, "if I get sick, I'll just deal with it." and the usual, "Still young, so we should enjoy our food now."
But think about the children... If at three years old they are already overweight, imagine when they are 30 years old. And the amount of sugar consumed these days. Malaysia is the no. 1 country with cases of diabetes! If not obesity, you should see the children who are thin, sleepy eyed and lethargic and these are not children of poor families, mind you.
Yesterday morning itself, I saw a parent giving his thin 6 year old son, roti canai for breakfast along with a can of Coke and a whole Mentos pack for 'dessert'.
I know, I know there is no time... The traffic jams, waking up early, getting the kids ready, trying to make it to work on time, the bosses demanding everything yesterday, coming home late, trying to get the household chores done and the house at least decently organised and putting dinner on the table on top of all that? Even super mom would get her cape all torn and tattered at the end of the day after going through all that. I've been there.
So we got to be smart about this. Rather than roti canai or the kids skipping breakfast to have another carbohydrate laden meal at the 10 am recess, wake them up and make them eat cereal and milk (which is still much better than roti canai, or nasi lemak). Toast some bread and spread some tuna over it (just open up a can). In between meals, get your kids to eat fruits; apples, bananas... for fiber and drink plenty of water, and I mean plain water or real fruit juice, not fruit cordials. At least try to balance the effects of all these fast foods with healthy in-betweens. If kids want sweets, or soft drinks or chips or 'jajan' as some may call it, it really means that the body is lacking in nutrients and these junk foods are just a quick fix and not only that, it makes the kids hyperactive. And parents complain their kids won't sit still.
Think about it.....
Well getting to the point.... can you imagine at 11 pm, there are parents who bring the children, in their pyjamas, out to dinner, or supper, or whatever you may call it. The only eating outlets open during this time in Malaysia are usually the 'mamak' restaurants (indian-muslim outlets) whose main menu would be curries, and oil laden dishes along with rich, spicy beriyani rice or roti canai with plenty of ghee.
I guess five years ago, I wouldn't give it a second thought. But, now that I see more and more Malaysians overweight and their children, as young as three years old, overweight, it has become a major concern, whether anyone is aware of it or not. I heard announced on the radio that 15% of children in the country are overweight.
We are now a fast food community.... fast food meaning on top of the McD's and the BK's and the KFC's, there are the Mamak's which actually tops the list for fast food, available 24 hours a day. Parents just don't have the time to cook and fast foods are the alternative to feed the family. If not eat in, then take away. It's not so much just the food, to add to that, the amount of soft drinks and sugar consumed along with the food.
I know I, myself am the culprit of eating out late. I do make sure though, I still eat my three meals a day and not to exceed my daily 1200 calories to include fiber, nutrients, vegetable protein and all the 8 glasses of water every single day. But this is me. From the looks of it, everyone else just doesn't care. Believe me, I have tried talking to people about it and the reaction I get is, "if I get sick, I'll just deal with it." and the usual, "Still young, so we should enjoy our food now."
But think about the children... If at three years old they are already overweight, imagine when they are 30 years old. And the amount of sugar consumed these days. Malaysia is the no. 1 country with cases of diabetes! If not obesity, you should see the children who are thin, sleepy eyed and lethargic and these are not children of poor families, mind you.
Yesterday morning itself, I saw a parent giving his thin 6 year old son, roti canai for breakfast along with a can of Coke and a whole Mentos pack for 'dessert'.
I know, I know there is no time... The traffic jams, waking up early, getting the kids ready, trying to make it to work on time, the bosses demanding everything yesterday, coming home late, trying to get the household chores done and the house at least decently organised and putting dinner on the table on top of all that? Even super mom would get her cape all torn and tattered at the end of the day after going through all that. I've been there.
So we got to be smart about this. Rather than roti canai or the kids skipping breakfast to have another carbohydrate laden meal at the 10 am recess, wake them up and make them eat cereal and milk (which is still much better than roti canai, or nasi lemak). Toast some bread and spread some tuna over it (just open up a can). In between meals, get your kids to eat fruits; apples, bananas... for fiber and drink plenty of water, and I mean plain water or real fruit juice, not fruit cordials. At least try to balance the effects of all these fast foods with healthy in-betweens. If kids want sweets, or soft drinks or chips or 'jajan' as some may call it, it really means that the body is lacking in nutrients and these junk foods are just a quick fix and not only that, it makes the kids hyperactive. And parents complain their kids won't sit still.
Think about it.....
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