According to the Workers’ Party member of parliament Jamus Lim, when we think about leading a healthy lifestyle, many would spontaneously head out to the gym or the park to exercise, but what we eat does play a part too.
“Many folks instinctively think about #HealthySG in terms of exercise and fitness. While working out is undoubtedly an important contributor to wellness, so is diet. When we first transitioned away from routinely cooking meat at home, Mom used to wonder where we could get our protein from,” posted Lim on Facebook after his family had a gathering to celebrate his sister’s birthday.
The Sengkang GRC MP explained that while he does consume meat during special occasions, he found that reducing its intake has resulted in a ‘net positive for his well-being.’ Growing up, his family gets their share of protein from a mix of eggs, fish, and legumes.
So when his sister returned to Singapore recently, it was an exceptional meal for Lim as he whipped up a dinner which consists of meat for everyone to enjoy.
“Since she’s an irredeemable meatlover, I ended up introducing some small pieces of cured pork: guanciale (the jowl, often used here in char siew) and pancetta (belly, which we use for tau yew bak or siu yok),” added Lim.
His post attracted some comments, including one from a netizen named ‘Helping Chan’ who said that more than a decade ago he decided to forgo meat from his daily diet.
“In 2009 when I turned 40, I finally embarked on a meat-refrain diet that started brewing since 2006!! Took me that long to act, I regret! Though there were limited choices, the decision to buy what food to feed myself was easy, difficult was the people (gossip, nosey, ignorance, etc.!!)”
Another Facebook user Jia Min Phua commented, “Well said, agree 100%! That’s how we eat at home too and I sincerely felt like instead of having posters on spotting diseases, we can do well to educate how to truly be healthy starting from food and movement, having accessibility to such options will greatly improve the health of the nation. It warms my heart that a leader of our country believes in the same.”
/TISG
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