With the rise of meal delivery services in Singapore like Grabfood, and Foodpanda, you have to know what it’s doing to your health. Having one or two meals delivered is one thing. If however, you have all your meals delivered every day, that’s another matter. Read on, to find out how using meal delivery services can have detrimental effects on your health, slowly but surely.
1. Easier access to high calorie meals
These days, meal delivery services in Singapore provide more options than just energy-dense fast foods. However, that does not mean they’re healthier. With easy access to tasty options like fish and chips, laksa, or gourmet burgers with add-on desserts, you may end up consuming even more calories than just a Fillet-o-fish!
Fast food meals are high in calories, but studies have found fast-casual (e.g. Nandos, Shake Shack) or restaurant meals to contain as many or more calories than traditional fast food. This could be due to high-fat cooking methods such as deep frying (duck fat fries anyone?) as well as larger portion sizes.
2. Encourages a sedentary lifestyle
In the past, our ancestors had to grow their own food through very labour-intensive methods—tilling soil and watering plants, milking cows and feeding chicken. Then, we were able to buy produce from farmers and supermarkets, but still had to put in a bit of effort to chop meat, slice vegetables, or knead bread. Over time, food became ready-to-purchase from food joints and restaurants, and the whole process of creating your own food was eliminated. In today’s world, meal delivery services bring you food with just a click of a few buttons as you laze on your couch.
Look at the drastic reduction in the amount of physical activity required to get food on your plate today! It’s no wonder that rates of obesity and disease are rising all over the world. If you think about it, a large part of our weight and state of health these days is not solely because of what we’re eating, but how much (less) we’re moving.
For expert, evidence-based advice on how you can optimise your exercise program for health and performance, check out this post.
3. Temptation of larger portion sizes
Delivery fees and promotional prices are a driving factor behind why we order more than we need. It’s human nature to want to get the best deal. “Why not spend another $10 to get more food and free delivery?”, “Why not pay another $2 for a bowl of mushroom soup?” In the immediate moment, it feels like you’ve scored a deal. In actual fact, at the end of the day, you would’ve spent more in absolute cash, and probably consumed more calories than you needed.
There was a time where I succumbed to such deals when I was a university student. But having seen one patient after another with lifestyle diseases from overeating, I’ve come to a realisation. You may be saving a couple of dollars here and there, but with time and age, that may translate to hundreds and thousands of dollars (or even your life) spent from illness and disease that sets in because of poor eating habits.
Meal delivery services in Singapore can lead to negative health outcomes, but...
Having said all that, it’s not all doom and gloom when using meal delivery services in Singapore. I like to highlight problems, but I always provide solutions. Head over to my other post here to find out how you can make use of meal delivery services in Singapore, while still ensuring healthy choices for you and your family.
