Healthy Snacks in Singapore Great for Those With Chronic Conditions
Takeaways
A "healthier" snack for you should fulfill 3 criteria: 1) lower in fat and sugar, 2) high in protein, and 3) high in fiber.
You could up the health factor for various common snacks in Singapore by making certain tweaks or replacements.
Examples include swapping milo for milo gao kosong; sugar crackers for high fiber crackers; white bread with kaya for wholemeal bread with unsweetened peanut butter or tuna; and potato chips for vegetable chips.
Beyond choosing healthier snack options, consuming an overall balanced diet is crucial if you wish to achieve good chronic disease control.
In the first episode of NOVI Health’s vlog, we sat down with our resident Senior Dietitian Ruth Ho, and Preventive Medicine Specialist, Dr Kyle Tan to discuss a question that has been widely asked by our patients: What snacks can you buy from the supermarket that is good for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol?
They look at common snacks in Singapore like potato chips, biscuits, and ice cream, and suggest some healthier alternatives that are available in the supermarket for people with these chronic health conditions.
Along with the recommendations, they also explain why snacking can cause suboptimal control of these conditions and the factors to consider when choosing a snack.
*Disclaimer: This article is NOT a paid advertisement. NOVI did not receive any form of remuneration from any brands mentioned in this article. Advice provided is based on the nutritional content of the products as stated in their nutritional content labels.
Dr Kyle Tan and Ruth reviewing common snacks in Singapore and the healthier alternatives you can find in the supermarkets in Singapore.
As Dr Kyle, and Senior Dietitian Ruth explained, when it comes to choosing healthier snacks, don’t just look for those with lower calories from fat and sugar.
Everything that you consume, be it snacks or main meals, should come together to provide you with the nutrients that you need.
This means that as much as possible, you should choose snacks that also contain essential nutrients such as protein and fibre.
In addition to contributing to your daily nutrition requirements, these snacks have the benefits of keeping you fuller longer, and don't cause blood glucose levels to spike as quickly.
Common snacks in Singapore and their alternatives
Here are the items covered in the video, along with additional suggestions for alternatives.
Common snack 1: Milo with sugar crackers
Alternatives: Milo Gao Kosong with high fibre crackers.
Milo Gao Kosong contains less sugar compared with the normal Milo. To make it even better, consider using less powder and add fresh milk to the drink to give it a boost in protein content.
The fibre in high fibre crackers can help keep blood sugar levels more stable and keeps you feeling full longer.
Some good options include Ryvita, Wasa Crispy Rye Bread, Jacobs Hi Fibre Cream Crackers, Ceres Organics Brown Rice Cakes.
Common snack 2: White bread with kaya
Alternatives: Wholemeal bread with unsweetened peanut butter or tuna
Wholemeal bread is not only a good source of fibre, but is also higher in vitamins and has a lower glycemic index (GI) compared to white bread. This means that it can keep you feeling fuller longer and keeps your blood sugar levels more stable. When consuming bread for a snack, try to keep to 1 - 2 slices of bread.
Instead of kaya, butter or jam, choose peanut butter for its higher protein and healthy fat (unsaturated fat) content. Make sure to choose peanut butter with no added sugar or salt if possible. Examples include Adams natural peanut butter, Mayver’s peanut butter, and Mother Nature natural peanut butter. These 3 brands have peanut butter options that contain 1g or less of sugar per serving.
Tuna is also a good choice to go with the bread. Tuna is high in protein, keeping you full for a longer period of time. There is a whole variety to choose from, and the healthier ones include tuna in water as well as olive oil.
Common snack 3: Potato chips
Alternatives: Vegetable chips/ crisps, and nuts.
Potato chips are chock-full of calories, salt, and unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fat). One medium-size bag of potato chips contains over 400 calories, which is almost equivalent to one meal.
If you are looking for a crunch, healthier options include vegetable chips, which are higher in fiber and lower in calories. Fried with less oil, they are lower in fat and sodium than regular potato chips. Note that these options, while being a better option compared to regular potato chips, still do not contain many essential nutrients and should therefore be consumed sparingly. As much as possible, keep it to 1 - 2 handfuls when consuming these items.
Examples of vegetable chips include: Hey! Broccoli/ Okra chips, Calbee harvest snaps baked pea crisps, Take Root kale chips.
Nuts and seeds are rich sources of protein, fibre, and healthy fats. But because they are high in calories (due to their fat content), it is best to eat just 1 handful at a time. You can also mix in other healthy snack options like fruits or unsweetened yogurt. Choose options such as baked almonds, cashews, or walnut with no added salt or sugar.
Common snack 4: Ice cream
Alternatives: Unsweetened yogurt with fruits, Sugar-free ice cream
Unsweetened yogurt can give you a refreshing chill on hot humid days while avoiding a high-calorie content. To give the yogurt a boost in taste, consider adding in fresh fruits such as berries. Fruits are rich sources of fibre, vitamins, and minerals while yogurt is a good source of calcium and probiotics (good bacteria that keeps our gut healthy).
Examples of yogurt include Farmers Union greek style yogurt, Marigold low-fat unsweetened yogurt, Paul’s natural set yogurt.
If you are craving ice cream, consider going for the sugar-free options. Sugar-free ice creams rely on sugar and milk substitutes to reduce their impact on blood sugar levels. However, it is important to consider the fact that such sweets still tend to be high in calories, and should be eaten in moderation.
Examples of sugar-free ice creams include: Camaca musang king gelato, Calli earl grey teh ice cream, Callery’s Belgian dark chocolate ice cream
Common snack 5: Cup noodles and instant noodles
Alternatives: Consume in moderation!
While being a convenient snack option, cup noodles contain a high amount of sodium and saturated fats. A single cup contains about 300 calories and so should be consumed sparingly.
Since there isn’t really an alternative that can be directly compared with cup noodles, we would recommend choosing the other snack options mentioned above, or if you really want to have it, consider drinking less soup or adding less of the flavouring/ oil.
If you are craving the taste of instant noodles, you can also consider having the instant noodle as part of a meal rather than a snack. Add other ingredients such as vegetables, minced meat, and egg to your cup of noodles so that you can get more protein, fibre, and vitamins out of it!
Overall balance is key
Snacking is just one part of the equation. To achieve good chronic disease control, it is important to have a balanced overall diet. The key concepts for a more balanced diet are the same as in snacking. The fundamentals lie in choosing foods that are less processed, provides the nutrition and minerals that you need, and not loading your body with more calories than it needs in a day.
We hope that on top of walking away with new snack ideas, the above recommendations can help you get a better understanding of how to pick out healthier food options as part of an overall balanced diet.
At NOVI, we believe that a proper understanding of nutrition can go a long way in helping people achieve better control of chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. That’s why we work extra hard to produce content to spread the knowledge.
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