Every country has their own “signature”. In Asia, not only East Asia whose world-famous specialties such as sushi from Japan, kimchi from South Korea, or dim sum from China, Southeast Asia also has a variety of unique foods that must have a special taste. Southeast Asian cuisine mostly has a slightly spicy flavor with highly authentic spices. And don’t forget, they are well known for their most wanted food in the world, the street food! In this case, Indonesia, or more precisely, Bali, has plenty of street food. Most of them are fried…

You must have often heard that fried foods will have a bad impact for our health. This is not entirely wrong, high fat content in fried foods is the cause. The oil used for frying is included in the source of fat. One teaspoon of oil you use for frying contains about 50 calories. Although it looks a bit, only 50 calories, but it is almost impossible you only consume one teaspoon of oil per day. This makes an excessive consumption of fried food tend to be dangerous for the health.

One of the impact is it can increase the risk of obesity. High-fat foods are usually also high in calories, because 1 gram of fat is equivalent to 9 calories. So, a teaspoon of cooking oil can contribute 45 calories. If you regularly eat fried foods, it’s not impossible that your weight will increase over time. Obesity and obesity are risk factors for most degenerative diseases (such as diabetes, high cholesterol), which means that if your weight is more than normal then your risk for other diseases also increases.

A study was conducted by Leah Cahill, Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, to 100,000 men and women for 25 years. The study found that those who ate fried foods at least once a week had a risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and heart disease. This risk increases with the number of fried foods consumed. In comparison, those who ate fried foods 4-6 times a week had a risk of up to 39% for diabetes compared to those who ate fried foods 1 time a week. While those who ate deep fried food 7 times even more during the week increased the risk of diabetes by 55%.

So, those are the problems. What is the solution then?

We know that we can’t resist it… It is a bit hard to force ourselves to not have a taste the local food. Furthermore, we are traveling. Apart from unseen places, and meeting new people, don’t we love to eat, too? What we know for sure is we must keep our body healthy. So at least, don’t eat deep fried food too much, like every day, moreover, every time. Here are a few tips for you to maintain your nutrition while you can still enjoy your travel.

If you plan to stay for a long period of time, you can try cook for yourself. Therefore, you need to look for a room with a small or sharing kitchen. In the morning, you can always prepare your own food. Not only it’s more efficient, especially to save your budget, but importantly to make you have more control over the quality of the ingredients for your body. For breakfast, you can combine oatmeal and fruits, make fruit salads, smoothies with a blend of vegetables and fruit, milk, or whole wheat bread and honey.

And don’t forget to always drink the fresh water. It is one that should not be abandoned. Adequate intake of enough water every day will keep the body fresh and fit. Water can help the distribution process of nutrients throughout the body. In addition, water also help digestion process so you don’t have to worry about constipation. With enough water consumption, you will feel fresher, and ready to explore your beautiful day. So, remember to always be in control, folks!