Carrots' Waistline Update and Dietary Changes

Back in Feb 2023, I mentioned about my goal to achieve 27 inches waistline. Back then, my waistline was around 27.5 inches. 8 months later at this very moment, my waistline has shrunk to 25 inches! It's quite frustrating because the pair of jeans that I bought last last year is now quite loose around my waist!

I've also made significant dietary changes since the start of the year till now.

Salt Intake

Recently, a news report suggested that 9 in 10 Singaporeans are consuming salt quantities that are above the daily recommended amount of 2000mg. To improve my long term heart health, I've decided to make conscious efforts to cut down on my salt intake with the following dietary habit changes:

• Stop adding soya sauces and chilli sauces to all my meals
• Switch from Himalayan pink salt to Potassium Salt (aka K Salt)

Reduction of Hawker Centre Food

I've also decided to consume more home cooked meals instead of eating hawker centre food.

The biggest change that I've made is cooking and consuming all my dinners at home. The secret of accomplishing this is planning all my dinner meals at the start of the week. For example, this morning, I planned to consume brown rice (with scallops, dried shrimps, wolf berries, red dates) + Miso Soup (with mushrooms, spring onions, seaweed, spinach, Tofu and prawns) for dinner this evening. When I came home from work, this was exactly what I cooked.

Brown Rice

Tofu

Spinach

Prawns

Mushrooms

Spring Onions

Miso Paste

Junk Food

• Stop consuming curry puffs over the weekend. I used to buy a delicious chicken curry puff from a place near my home on Saturday mornings and consume it in the evenings. I rationalised that curry puffs should be healthier than other junk food like potato chips. However, I recently found out that curry puffs may contain trans fat because of the way it's being cooked. That was the signal for me to place curry puffs in my list of banned foods.
• Used Red Grapes and Nuts to substitute junk food whenever I have cravings at home
• Work from home more often to distant myself from the obscene amount of junk food around my workplace

Carbo and Sugar Intake

• In the past, I used to consume wholemeal bread in the morning. In the afternoons, I usually consume a pastry bun that is filled with either cheese or red bean paste. For the past 6 months, I've stopped consuming bread or pastry buns.
• I've significantly reduce my consumption of white rice. Most of the rice that I consumed is either Brown Rice, Cauliflower Rice, Red Rice or Olive Vegetable Rice. 

Caffeine Intake

I've reduced my coffee intake significantly and substituted it with tea. I used to drink 2 cups of coffee every weekday and a cup every weekend. As of today, I've not consumed a single cup of coffee for more than 1 week. I read that caffeine puts a lot of strain a person's kidneys. I addition, I wanted to improve my quality of sleep. Hence my decision to reduce my caffeine consumption.

Once again my goal is to be as healthy as AI Carrots!!!!