Fast food goes healthy

Recently, social media's obsession with the Poké bowl shows no signs of slowing down.

Poké Bowl contains high protein, carbohydrate and fibre

When the clock strikes 12, the traffic will be hectic and the fast-food restaurants will full of white and blue collars. There will be a long queue because some are suffering from altophobia, the difficulty in making a decision.

The 60-minutes lunch break includes the time they leave office, the time they get stuck in the traffic, they look for a car park, queuing up to make an order, and the time they travel back to the office, which leaves them with 30-minutes to finish their bowl.

To solve altophobia and the time constraint for lunch at the same time to have a healthy eating habit, healthy gourmet lunchbox would be an ideal meal for them.

According to the news from Medical News Today, there are thousands of diets, included for weight loss, weight gain, lowering cholesterol and so on.

There are nine most popular diets rated by experts in 2017 such as Atkins diet, The Zone diet, Ketogenic diet, Vegetarian diet, Vegan diet, Weight Watchers diet, South Beach diet, Raw food diet and the Mediterranean diet.

Each of the diet plans focuses on different nutrition. For example, the Atkins diet focuses on controlling the levels of insulin through a low-carbohydrate diet while the Ketogenic diet, also known as Keto diet, focuses on reducing carbohydrate intake and increase the intake of fats.

These diet plans brought the trend of people to come out with their own healthy diet recipe included healthy gourmet lunchbox and the latest food trend, Poké bowl.

Poké bowl, gotta eat'em all

Penang Poké bowl supplier Janice Looi, 19, said, Poké bowl is originated from Hawaii. In Hawaiian, poke means to slice or cut and refers to chunks of raw, marinated fish, usually tuna, which is then tossed with rice and topped with healthy vegetables and sauces.

"It is a new trend of healthy fast food that is also suitable for vegetarian because the meat can be replaced with tofu or avocado.

"Each Poké bowl will starts with rice as the base, mixed with the dressing sauces, topped with vegetables, seasonings and the protein, such as raw salmon, tuna or cooked chicken," Ms Janice said.

She said not only the food is healthy, but the homemade low-calories sauces are also suitable for those who visit the fitness centre and people who are on a diet.

"The founder of Tummy Bowl was a western cuisine chef. He had tried fishbowl, a kind of food similar to Poké bowl in Kuala Lumpur, but none of the sauce satisfied his tastebuds.

"He did research, travelled to Hawaii just to come out with the recipes of homemade low-calories sauces for the customers," she said.

Besides, the customers can also create their own bowl with the menu form they provided.

MyPlate concept Malaysia

Idealite nutritionist Lee Jyy Ni, 28, said Poké bowl’s design is based on the MyPlate concept (Suku-suku separuh) that recommended by the Ministry of Health.

“Generally, it is made up of one carbohydrate base such as pasta, rice or potato, one protein such as fish, meat, chicken or tofu, one vegetable and one fatty acid and sauces.

“To decrease the risk being obesity, people should opt for nutrient-dense food such as low fat, low sugar, low salt, low to moderate carbohydrate, high fibre, high vitamin and minerals,” Ms Lee said.

She said this is a new kind of healthy fast food similar to a gourmet healthy lunchbox, it is served in a short timeframe and the portion of Poké bowl is big with balanced nutrition.

“As for those who always work out at fitness centre, they can go for this latest healthy fast food, Poké bowl because it contains high protein that the bodybuilders need,” she said.

DIY your Poké bowl

Accountant Celine Choong Fui Lin, 22, makes and brings her own healthy gourmet lunchboxes and Poké bowls to the workplace every day since her university.

“I prefer to cook on myself because I can know what the ingredients and the nutrition of the dishes are.

“For example, chicken breast wraps and hard-boiled eggs are high in protein and with lesser calories, it can make you full,” Ms Celine said.

She said she always gets YouTube tutorial video as a guideline for her to make the healthy lunchbox or Poké bowl.

“Nowadays, most teenagers do not really concern the nutrition of their meals because they like foods that satisfied their cravings and most of the foods are high in calories and sugar.

“Once in a while is not an issue, but if they keep on have oily, salty and sugary foods in long term, they might have the health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and kidney failure,” she said.