A Game You Play Thrice A Day

When the class looks and feels like somebody's died, it's time for a diversion. Of any kind.

Last week, I stopped the Consumer Buying Behaviour lecture to talk about eating. Not many people know this, but food combinations are important. The kinds of food you mix and match shouldn't be of just any kind.

Most importantly, one shouldn't combine protein with carbohydrates. That's the cardinal rule. Get this right and your life (not to mention your weight) might just change tremendously.

Why not combined these two? Now...hmm...I'm not expert, but I read it's got something to do with digestion. Protein enzymes and carb enzymes cancel each other out i.e. digestion is poor and energy is lost. Result: Fatigue and increased likelihood of disease.

So, what kinds of dishes should you avoid and how can you modify them?

• Chicken rice! - Eat the chicken, leave out the rice, make you eat lots of cucumber and lettuce (because vegetables can be taken at all times)
  
• Burgers! - C'mon, you know these aren't that healthy anyway, skip 'em! Or, if you absolutely have to, call one of those avant-gardish vege burgers or somethin'...
  
• Chow Kuey Teow! - Not really a big deal, just leave out the prawns and cockles! (See? It's not that difficult)
  
• Spaghetti! - Select one of those with only mushrooms and veg, I assure you they still taste bleedin' good
  
• Noodles (wantan, prawn, pork) - now this is a tough one; what I've been doing is avoid these altogether (apart from that occasional moment of weakness, *grin*)...nowadays I take my noodles with bean-sprouts, greens and mushrooms. Alternatively, for wantan noodles, you can skip the noodle and eat the wantan alone
  
• Dim Sum! - tough luck, virtually all the dishes are protein-&-carb combined...in this case you either i. avoid it completely, ii. give your diet a break and go for it (but make sure you eat loads of veg-based stuff) or iii. pick and choose only meat+veg items (which sucks, I know)

But overall treat it like a game you play three times a day. As with all games, you get better with practice and with each success.

And because it's a game, eating becomes more fun and, certainly, more healthy.