Kate Taylor

3 nights, 2 days, probably the perfect amount of time for us to spend in what can only be described as the hub of continental Asia.

As it was technically the start of our honeymoon we lashed out and stayed at The Marina Bay Sands, I’d heard so much about it and it lived up to expectations. I mean it’s not just a hotel but an entire complex which overlooks Marina Bay and the gardens. Hotel, restaurants, cafes, shopping mall, casino, exhibition centre, it’s all there. And yes the million dollar infinity pool shot was taken, but I preferred admiring all those trying to get the perfect photo, there are photographers employed by the hotel who swim around a take your photo a bit like a theme park ride. Oh, and the wind, no one tells you about that.

But let’s get to the food. Me and my hubby both love Asia, and living in the UK it’s not somewhere (like Europe) you can get to quickly and cheaply, so when we are there we try to experience as much as possible. Saying that, we arrived early evening on our first night after an eight hour flight from Melbourne, so got room service and planned the next two days adventures. Fried rice, mixed dumplings, ginger chicken and two coke zeros – such rock and rollers we are! Singaporean cuisine is a mix of many different cultures so there is plenty of choice.

Day 1

Breakfast was included at Marina Bay Sands, with three restaurants to choose from we started at Rise, aptly named since it opened at 630am and we were there shortly after. Literally everything you can imagine. Eggs, omelettes, fruit, pastries, toast, noodles, soups, dim sum, juices, cereal, yoghurts, coffee, fish, cheese, continental meats I could have sat there all day and continued to eat. But I didn’t. My tactic at these kinds of buffets is to get very small amount of everything I feel like so I don’t feel too full but satisfy the fact I want to try it all! I know noodles at breakfast might seem weird, but not for me. In fact, on the plane to Singapore we both said “now we get to have noodles and rice for breakfast”. Cringe but true.

We planned to skip lunch as we weren’t hungry, until we stumbled across China Town. Food stalls everywhere, as well as jewellery, beauty and travel agents. The food stalls are filled with lots of variety. Bao buns and dumplings as far as the eye can see. Pigs heads, intestines and trotters also on display, which for many of us may seem slightly odd, but it’s great this culture eats the entire animal, something we in the western world should do more of. We throw too much away. Food standards are pretty much non existent but just embrace it, use your head and your gut that’s what its there for, common sense. For lunch we dined on dim sums, a pork and chive bao and beef noodle soup accompanied by two Tiger beers.

My sister in laws friend lived in Singapore for a few years so we had some hot tips from her so headed to Lau pa Sat that evening. A food market in downtown Singapore with an entire street dedicated to satay. All the stalls are in a line and numbered, you just sit outside the one you like best, they bring you a menu and you order. The beer is poured by the Tiger ladies, they come around and you pay them separately. We just went for the basic satay package, chicken, mutton and prawns. Basic but so flavoursome, the prawns are whole so get ready to peel. Useful tip, they don’t give you napkins, but there are ladies walking around and selling them, clever! Be prepared to leave with your clothes smelling of the wonderful barbecues which go all night. It’s totally worth it. And number 7 & 8 are the best satay – and that’s also the name of their stall.

Day 2

Breakfast at Adrift, similar to the day before but a little more, posh shall we say. We again opted for noodles, and an omelette and I also had a poached egg with smoked salmon on half an English muffin. Fruit consumption at breakfast has almost been a daily occurrence and today I tried longans just like lychees with some dragon fruit and watermelon. Eat the rainbow, done.

Lunch was a shared banh mi by the pool, hotel food. Mediocre but better than we both thought.

Our final night we visited Little India. The Tekka Centre there is the food market and we would have eaten here except for the fact we walked into the raw meat and fish entrance and it turned us both off, we just couldn’t get past it. Not to worry though we took a short walk stopped for a beer and discussed our options. We ended up at RW Selmor. Good choice. We started with veggie samosas, I also had a masala tea as the locals were drinking it and I wanted to sample the sweet goodness. We then ordered a plethora of different things, both agreeing the mixed veg curry as the winner. The mutton came in a close second and the cheese prata which came with accompanying dhal was tasty too. That being said, the dishes came out with plastic spoons and it just made me sad. The fact is that whilst we in the UK are doing so much on the single use plastic front, this part of the world isn’t there yet.

Tips for eating on the street: get it out of your head you’ll get sick. Choose places that are busy, that also have locals there too. The level of cleanliness is never going to be what you are used to so don’t compare it. We also took before and during our trip a probiotic, whether or not that helped I don’t know but emerging research suggests it can help. Boots do a pack of 30 for £8.99, do yourself a favour and get some.

Top sights

Gardens by the Bay – you can pay to enter the conservatories but even just wandering round the gardens themselves is truly beautiful.

1Altitude Bar for the view only. It’s the tallest bar in the world, and FYI it’s free entry for women on Wednesdays which as the day we went! The amenities and drinks leave a bit to be desired.

Sentosa is Singapore’s theme park on its own island, aimed at families you can climb to the top of the Merlion and walk to the southernmost point of continental Asia. Get the cable car over and then if you get the monorail back you don’t have to pay. Well I think you are supposed to, but we just sneaked out! The cable car also goes over to Mount Faber Park which is lovely to walk around.

Marina Bay Sands – if you aren’t staying there then still visit, and go to the top for a drink. Only guests can swim.

Hawker food centres are great if you are into food, find one and just wander round. You’ll get bowls of noodles for a couple of quid.

Have a Singapore Sling at Raffles, it was closed for refurb when we were there so I ended up having mine in Malaysia so no recommendations there.

Also be prepared for just how many oil tankers there are on the sea and horizon and the humidity to hit you like a brick. Permanent sweaty clothes.

It’s something I hear all the time, “yeah but they are just as bad as sugar aren’t they?” Not entirely no. There is usually a point made about them being artificial, or full of chemicals or that they can cause you to gain weight. Lots of things are artificial, everything is made up of chemicals and in most cases there are many other factors that impact our weight before sweeteners, however we are pretty hung up on how apparently harmful they actually are.

Low calorie sweeteners come in many forms, aspartame, saccharin and stevia are probably the ones most people have heard before. All are around 200 -300 times sweeter than sugar itself, aspartame and saccharin are artificially produced and stevia comes from a plant originating from South America (it still does undergo a small amount of processing though). These and many others are used to sweeten products, namely soft drinks but also cakes and often protein bars which we see becoming more mainstream in individual diets. They are a calorie free solution to food and drinks which are usually very low in physical nutritional quality. Not only that, low calorie sweeteners don’t have the detrimental effect on our teeth that sugar does.

Like most things in life, nothing is straightforward so here goes, keeping it short and sweet (excuse the terrible pun).

Harmful to human health? The research currently says no. If that’s all you needed to know you can stop reading now, but I’ve broken down the science a little bit further for those avid readers.

Without a doubt there have been many studies on low calorie sweeteners with the majority of them, in animals. And there’s the first point to reference, animal studies can’t be applied to humans, we are different species. The studies which started the concern were published in the 1970s and linked the high doses fed to rats with the development of bladder cancer₍₂₎. This has since shown to be incorrect as rats have an increased risk of developing bladder cancer due to their physiology. What is also important to note here is studies in animals are usually conducted where the sweeteners are given at an almost toxic level, far higher than we would ever consume. Only very small quantities of sweeteners are consumed in human diets, as an example around 1/10g is used in place of 35 grams of sugar, which is roughly the amount you’d find in a can of CocaCola_(1).

For any items to enter the food chain, they have to be certified as safe by the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) – which might I add could potentially change in March 2019 due to Brexit so an update will follow then if it’s needed. They must be safe for human consumption and have maximum limits set for products and ingredients based on average consumption.

There is however, emerging research on low calorie sweeteners in the area of gut health and their potential role in altering our gut microbiota (that’s all the bacteria that make up our gut and help us to stay healthy). Again, the research has been completed in mice and shows that low calorie sweeteners can disrupt the gut microbiota and result in impaired glucose tolerance – which means the body’s ability to regulate glucose (sugar) _(3). But until this can be show in humans, we just need to keep an eye on this one.

They can help those trying to lose weight reduce their calorie consumption. However, this only works if the individual is educated in their food choices. It doesn’t mean it can be replaced with something else high in calories at another point during the day.

There is no evidence to suggest they impact dental health. Sugar sweetened drinks and other items such as cakes and biscuits high in refined sugar in the UK are contributing to the 45,000 multiple teeth extractions in under 18-year olds which were carried out in England and Wales in the last year ₍₄₎. No further comment needed there.

All of the above taken into account we are still a way off the public perception of artificial sweeteners changing. There is still very much a body of thought out there which deems them to be socially unacceptable. When in reality for almost a third of adults who significantly need to reduce their energy intake to lose weight they shouldn’t be.

So in short, as part of a balanced food and beverage intake then I have no issue with my clients consuming products which contain them. If it helps support their long term goal of losing weight then that’s a positive step. If consumption is in excess then this could pose health risks, (but too much kale would also do that) by excess this would mean litres and litres of diet fizzy drinks per day, sweeteners in tea and coffee and a couple of protein bars too. And finally it’s very important not to get into the reward mindset of “well that had no calories so I can have something else instead”. If you are hungry eat, if you aren’t try not to.

And on the horizon for the UK food industry – with calorie reduction being implemented by the UK government are we likely to see more artificial sweeteners in our food products?

References:

1. Evaluating research by understanding the metabolic fate of difference low calorie sweeteners – Dr Berna Magnuson (Canada) – International Sweeteners Association Conference 2018
2. MD Reuber. Carcinogenicity of saccharin. 1978 Environmental Health Perspectives Aug; 25: 173–200.
3. Nettleton JE, Reimer RA, Shearer J. Reshaping the gut microbiota: Impact of low calorie sweeteners and the link to insulin resistance? 2016. Physiology & Behavior. Oct 1;164(Pt B):488-493.
4. Local Government Association, December 2018. https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/180-operations-day-remove-rotten-teeth-children,