Confused about what to eat in Dubai? Are multiple choices in Dubai ruining your diet?
Your confusion is understandable, and many struggles with the same.
Dubai hosts people from around the world. That is why it is the perfect place to enjoy world cuisine. The city can definitely spoil you for choices when it comes to food. However, these choices become more challenging when you try to eat healthy or switch to a healthier diet.
Moreover, nutritionists are always changing their minds, and every new research seems to negate previously established truths. People today are unsure about which diet trend to follow as most information available is conflicting in nature. While some nutritionist advises keto meal plan, some suggest intermittent fasting. Even when you are on a healthy diet, you may doubt your choices.
Amusingly, the stress of making better food choices begins at grocery shopping, not in the kitchen. The confusing labels and smartly concealed not-so-healthy ingredients are other problems that add to the stress of eating better.
Local eating habits in Dubai
Dubai Meal Plans vary from home to home and restaurant to restaurant, as multiple nationalities stay in the mega-city. Moreover, everybody loves to follow their food heritage. Dubai can surely brag about serving an array of dishes from around the world. Be it Italian, French, Mediterranean, or a long list of Chinese and Indian cuisines, you can find authentic tastes in Dubai. Eating out is one of the favorite activities in Dubai. Many Emiratis and expats eat out at least once a week and enjoy brunches and late-night dinners, which are popular pastimes on Fridays.
Quick service and casual dining restaurants are popular and cost-effective dining options. Burgers and shawarma wraps are extremely popular, and good dining is often considered a once-in-a-while indulgence.
How to have a healthy diet in Dubai?
Dubai and the UAE have set the goal to make their residents healthy, and it has become a national priority. It is evident by all the fantastic government initiatives, such as the Dubai Fitness Challenge, which attracts over one million Dubai residents. Eating healthy can take a back seat when you have a hectic lifestyle. The busy work schedules and plenty of distractions can derail your healthy eating journey.
- Cook at Home: Cooking at home have multiple health advantages. While the home-cooked food can help you cut the flab effectively, it also gives you complete control over what goes into your body. Home-cooked cuisine made with high-quality ingredients is nearly free of trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and additives. When it comes to nutrition, home-cooked food is simpler and lighter. In addition, instead of frying, you can switch to low-fat cooking methods such as steaming or baking. You could even replace fats with healthier alternatives, such as yogurt instead of sour cream, which not many restaurants do.
Cooking at home allows you to select and experiment with nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Choosing healthier foods can only help you lose weight by lowering your calorie intake.
- Choose a healthy restaurant: Takeaways and restaurant visits are a huge temptation because so many international dishes are accessible at all hours of the day. However, the trend of eating healthy is catching up with many in Dubai. Thus, more restaurants are catering to visitors who want to try new ingredients and healthy twists on traditional dishes. The government of Dubai is promoting a specialized Food Watch app and digital platform that allows citizens to track their food from farm to plate. Around 20,000 restaurants, as well as school cafeterias, have nutritional information available, making healthy eating much easier.
Restaurants provide many meal alternatives, tempting you to pick the tastiest one. After all, who wants steamed vegetables when there are options like French fries with a burger? If you want to achieve your health goals, you must have stronger will-power. Consider healthier alternatives, such as Emirati cuisine, influenced by Arabic, Iranian, and Lebanese cuisine that features grilled meats, lentils, one-pot stews, and salads. You can also try healthier versions of your favorite comfort food.
- Hire a healthy meal delivery service: Most people, especially parents with children or people having exhaustive work schedules, don’t have much spare time to cook at home, specially three times a day. As a result, their health begins to deteriorate as they devote their attention to other things such as jobs, education, side hustles, and watching the latest show on Netflix. However, hiring a meal delivery service in Dubai can help you with your dinner routine. Sometimes even lunch and breakfast.
On regular days not only do you have to cook, but you also have to shop for the ingredients and clean the kitchen afterward. On the other hand, a meal delivery service can provide you with a well-cooked meal at your doorstep. Thus, the most significant advantage of hiring a food delivery service is saving time. When you don’t have to plan your meals for the week, make numerous visits to the supermarket, and spend hours in the kitchen, your mind is relaxed, and you have lesser items on your to-do list. This reduces stress, which benefits your physical and emotional health.
- Follow your Intuition: Everybody knows in their heart what’s good or bad for health. Despite this awareness, people are more confused than ever. Since childhood, all have known the basic principles of healthy eating: eat your vegetables, limit sugar and fried foods, choose whole grains over processed grains, and do not indulge in packaged junk.
If that’s not enough, you get plenty of useful information online from relevant sources. There is widespread consensus there about the fundamentals of eating among nutritionists. As long as you mostly eat whole, minimally processed fruits and vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts, and drink plain water when you feel thirsty, you are eating right.
- Choose local: Experts advise choosing locally grown ingredients over imported and exotic staples. The gut bacteria — the germs that reside in our digestive system and are crucial to maintaining our health are higher in locally grown produce. Therefore, products generated from these natural resources provide nutritive empowerment and encourage healthy bacteria growth, promoting good intestinal health.
The UAE has plenty of good indigenous produce that is offered at all markets as well as your standard chain hypermarkets. The majority of the local produce has higher nutritional value. Experts advise consumers to seek out produce cultivated in the UAE because it is less expensive and priced similarly.
Conclusion
Even though Dubai’s diverse cuisine can put everyone’s good intentions to the test, the city is making efforts to stop the rise in obesity. People are gaining awareness about the side effects of a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating.
There is a growing understanding of healthy living, encouraging more people to choose a healthier lifestyle. However, even if Dubai’s population is aware of healthy eating, their love for eating out and ordering takeouts coupled with long work hours are proving a hindrance to their health goals. However, the city’s menu is now brimming with nutritionally focused food, loved by both people and nutritionists. A growing number of eateries are encouraging customers to make more informed choices about food, backed by government measures to encourage a more open attitude toward food.
The meal delivery services have also become a big relief for people struggling to stay on the fitness track for various reasons. Healthy meal deliveries in Dubai can get all your three meals sorted.
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