So you guys all know that I'm a huge advocate for healthy eating, but sometimes it's not
the easiest thing especially when you're up and about or when your food options are limited.
So in today's episode, the No Sweat producers have thrown me the challenge of eating healthy
at convenience stores.
So I'm gonna head out to 3 different convenience stores and they're gonna give me a budget
of $10 to spend.
It could be hot meals, it could be snacks or even drinks.
Basically whatever I could fit within my budget.
So I'm really excited for this challenge, I do hope to find some healthy options so
the next time you guys are hungry and go to a convenience store, you'll know what to get.
Alright so I'm at 7-Eleven now, this one looks pretty big so I think my options are gonna
be really great.
What is this?
It's a truffle mushroom pau.
Have you heard of a truffle mushroom pau?
It looks like the head of a mushroom.
You know how some convenience stores have like the healthier stamp?
This doesn't really have them.
This is a no.
I think the fact that it has 1 broccoli floret and 2 carrots inside makes it a bit better
than the rest?
And I also found some Korean bibimbap with a lot of veggies around, so when it comes
to finding that healthier meals, try to find things where you have more veggies inside.
None of these chips are part of the healthy challenge, except for maybe Tao Kae Noi.
Yes it does have the palm oil, the salt and everything but in terms of sugar content,
0 grams of sugar.
Oh my gosh!
Look what I found?
They sell chicken breast in like a packet, that's crazy!
Why have I never seen this before?
This is revolutionary, like literally I'm so curious to see how this tastes like because
this is 150 grams of cooked chicken breast so that's a whole substantial amount of protein for a meal.
I really wanna try this so this is gonna be added to my shopping bag.
Last time when I was doing bodybuilding and I needed to get protein, I had no money for
protein powder, this was my alternative.
It's gonna sound so weird, I used to get HL chocolate milk.
This is like the best kept bodybuilding secret in my opinion.
This is 150 calories but it has 10 grams of protein which is like really high so I would
basically drink this as my post workout shake.
I think I've pretty much busted my budget even though there's so many other healthy
snacks that I'm seeing, like walnuts at 7-Eleven but I'm gonna go pay, and then go and try
these snacks out because I'm so hungry.
So this is everything I've selected from 7-Eleven.
I got the Korean bibimbap, Tao Kae Noi and also pre packed smoked chicken breast.
So I'm not gonna try every single thing but I do want to taste test things that I haven't
tried before like the Korean bibimbap.
The reason why I chose it is because there's a lot of vegetables, but this egg just looks
too perfect to be true.
Feels like very plasticky and very shiny.
There's nothing to scream about but it's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
I mean obviously it's not gonna be as fresh as a bibimbap that you get a food store,
but I can tell that this definitely taste like bibimbap.
And the veggies and stuff don't taste like fake?
Even the egg, even though it looks very plasticky, it doesn't taste artificial?
In general, I think it's okay.
It's not a bad meal.
I think also because a lot of the hot meals I saw just now were very carb heavy and it
had a lot of deep fried meats inside so this was the only one that I saw that had more
veggies, no deep fried items inside, so this was naturally the one that I gravitated towards.
Now, I'm gonna try the pre packed smoked chicken breast.
Now it does feel very tough and hard but I'm excited to taste test this.
Don't mind me, I'm just gonna use my fingers.
This...
is life changing.
This, not only taste, in my opinion, really delicious.
Because it's a smoked chicken breast, it has that smokey, kinda like barbecue-y flavour.
But it's the total high protein snack that I need.
And you know what?
Even on days that I am like too lazy to like meal prep and cook my food, if I could go
down to my 7-Eleven convenience store, I would totally buy this and add this to my meal.
And okay, I know it looks kinda dry and a bit plasticky, and if you're not into chicken
breast you might probably hate everything about it, but just like nutritionally the
fact that I can get chicken breast pre packed like this that just requires me to microwave
it, it's amazing and I wish they had this at supermarkets so that I could get this and
just microwave my chicken breast from now on!
It's so good, I love it!
So I'm at Cheers now, let's see what I can get.
Ah, the food.
We have steamed fish with brown rice.
It's also low in salt.
It looks like chicken, how is this fish?
This does not look like fish at all.
This looks like chicken.
And this was supposed to be like the premium foods but it really kinda looks sketch.
Actually this looks really different from this chicken thing, and I think this is actually
the proper steamed fish with brown rice that is marketed on the label.
But it's funny that they labelled it incorrectly, I don't know.
I think this is the one I'm gonna get.
So I think when you buy stuff, remember to look at what's inside especially if it's the
hot meals or the fresh foods, and don't just look at the labels because you might end up
buying some oily chicken when you should've been getting your fish.
So I am looking at it in terms of what is marketed as like the healthier options also,
so I found this roasted chicken herbs with multigrain sandwich.
This chicken actually looks quite substantial and it has veggies inside which is always
a plus for me.
I'm a long time advocate for like UFC Refresh.
I just really like this and I'm so happy that it's on sale.
But I only have $1.60 left so I have to go for Cocolife which,
I don't wanna say mean things but like they don't get the coconuts from the same place
and I'm a huge coconut water fan.
And I actually tracked down where they get their coconuts from but it's from different
places in Thailand and I can tell you with a lot of confidence that UFC is like a premium
quality coconut.
I'm not sponsored to say this but this and Cocomax are like my 2 favourite coconut waters.
So you see all these yogurts and you'd think that they are like the healthier snack to
take, but the thing is that I don't take like these kind because they are very high in sugar.
Even though they are within my budget.
And it might seem like y'know yogurt, healthier source of protein, even if it has the little
symbol on it.
Turn it around and it says mango in syrup, sugars, thickener, artificial flavouring.
Rule of thumb when it comes to nutrition labels is that I try not to get snacks that are more
than 10 grams of sugar.
These are the things that might not reflect much in like the calorie numbers but if you
looked at the ingredients and like the amount of sugar, it's like...
I found it!
Eggs!
Eggs are just one of the healthiest sources of protein.
Yes I know, this has soy sauce in it, a bit of sodium but it's really high in protein.
If you're super hungry, you want something that has like lower carbs or lower sugar,
then always get an egg and it's just $1 so I'm gonna add this to my mix and I'll have
a full meal.
So this is everything I got from Cheers.
I got the steamed fish with brown rice, the roasted chicken with herbs multigrain sandwich
and also an egg.
This is the steamed fish with brown rice, it actually smells pretty delicious so I just
hope it taste as good as it smells.
However, I just look at the fish and it looks really small.
And a bit slimy, and this sauce looks really oily but I wanna taste this fish and see how good it is.
Honestly, it doesn't taste bad.
I do enjoy the spices that they have added to this sauce which is kinda like a Thai chilli
mixed with a bit of a tangy tomato.
I just feel that the fish, the texture of the fish, feels very rubbery.
Almost unreal, like it doesn't flake like normal fish.
So just overall, it's not very appetising in my opinion.
Would I buy it again? I don't think so.
For $4.50 you can go to a hawker centre and buy a plate of 'Cai Fan' (Mixed Rice).
Okay so I'm not at this place called Ultra Value store and I am a bit nervous because
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna find inside.
It doesn't look like they serve hot meals but at the same time I'm really determined
to find the healthiest snacks.
So my first instinct is to go look for some almonds.
So here are all our nuts.
I love, love, love, love almonds.
Cashews are alright but they are a bit higher in fat content.
And the carb of this is 11 grams, versus the carbs in almonds which is 2.5 grams.
So if you're on a low carb diet, almonds.
Just in general for nuts, try to go for those that are baked or roasted.
Instead of getting those that are smoked or coated in honey or other flavourings because
this has definitely a lot more sodium and a lot more sugar added.
I generally think that anything from a bag is always not the best, or not like the healthiest
but this looks like the healthier option?
And even though it has all these other strange ingredients on it, I am pretty keen to try.
Canned tuna, maybe?
Problem with these tunas is like tuna mayo.
What I'm looking for is tuna in mineral water but they don't have it.
Okay since I can't find anymore food, I'm gonna look for some sugar-free drinks.
This is so interesting, it's like houjicha.
Okay so there's houjicha and sencha, and I've never seen these products from Pokka before.
Both falls within my budget and I think I'm gonna get 2 of them and try them out because
I've never tried them before.
And I also saw bananas at the front counter, so I think that in terms of a quick energy
burst or a snack, bananas are always my go-to.
I'll get 2 small bananas for it's like 2 for $1.
So this is everything I got from Ultra Value.
I got 2 sugar-free drinks, the houjicha and the sencha.
Baked pea crisps, some roasted almonds and 2 bananas because they were 2 for $1.
So I'm looking at this package and it has all the what I like to call "Healthy Bust Words" on it.
Like 'gluten-free', 'less sodium, less fat, baked not fried'.
So it's definitely marketed as a healthier option targeted to consumers who are a bit
more health conscious, I mean this in comparison to eating a bag of potato chips.
It looks like edamame.
This is really good!
I expected it to be really hard to bite through because whenever I eat freeze dried fruits
it always becomes very hard and difficult to munch.
This is just really crispy.
It has that hint of pea and green which I always love.
I love the taste of veggies, that's my unpopular opinion.
This is delicious.
Even though it's like lower sodium than your normal potato chips, it is still pretty salty
so I couldn't finish the entire bag obviously.
So I wouldn't qualify this as a healthy snack per se because it still has a lot of other
added ingredients like anti caking agent, food acid and stabilisers that make this food
a bit more processed.
But I would say that if you compare this to your potato chips then this is a great alternative.
So the next thing that I'm trying is the houjicha Japanese roasted tea.
This is a 0 calorie drink, no sugar at all.
So I am excited.
This is really pleasant.
So houjicha is actually Japanese green tea but it's been put through a roasting process
which is why it has this almost a bit bitter taste to it.
Like it's really smokey so I actually personally really like it and I would purchase this and
drink it the next time round I see it.
And I also got another one that is sencha which I guess is just a original version of
the Japanese green tea, something like Ayataka.
It's also a 0 calorie drink.
I think it's very light tasting.
If I were to compare this with Ayataka, I think that the Ayataka is a lot better?
Because that one has a stronger tea taste.
So I think that if you're someone who just wants a flavoured drink to go with your meal
or you're someone who just really doesn't like drinking plain water, then go for sugar-free
drinks like sencha, houjicha, oolong tea or even Ayataka because this gives you a bit
of that flavour without having the added calories from the sugar.
I wouldn't say that it was a huge challenge to find healthy snacks.
I also think it depends on what convenience stores you go to and in terms of the outlets
I visited, I would rank 7-Eleven as the best place to find healthier options, followed
by Cheers and then Ultra Value, which was pretty much just snacks and drinks.
I feel that the reason why I'm able to choose the healthier options and be more discerning
as a consumer is because I'm able to read like nutrition labels and ingredients.
And I'm conscious about such things so I think just the more conscious and aware you are
of what goes into your food, which you should be, because you should know what goes into
your body, then I think you'll be just a lot better at choosing the healthier options.
We haven't really gotten into reading nutrition labels in terms of No Sweat yet but comment
down below and let me know if that's something you guys might be interested in me talking about.
And for those of you who don't already know, we just recently launched the No Sweat Fitness App.
There, you'll get personalised training programmes catered to your fitness goals.
In addition to that, you'll get a lot of other perks like one-on-one assessments from me,
so I can give you personalised advice on your fitness progress, access to live chats and
livestream workouts, and you'll even get invites to our exclusive fitness meet-ups.
And in fact, we just had 1 recently, and it was just so amazing to see all of you guys
meeting each other, connecting, and I would love to meet more of you in the future and
build this community in real life, so go and download the No Sweat Fitness App on all your
respective app stores, and you get your first week free.
We have run out of yoga mats but we still have resistance bands in stock.
So if you're looking for a challenging way to add resistance to your whole workouts,
then these are perfect.
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Take care, bye!