Eating healthy isn’t just for the wealthy – the trick is to eat at home

Are fruits and vegetables too expensive for more than 80% of Malaysians to consume less than the recommended three servings a day? Well, they are – if you are buying them from a restaurant. It's cheaper to buy them from a market and eat them at home. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

A few weeks ago, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin posed Malaysians a question on Twitter: Considering we should eat more healthily, what do you think about restricting the operating hours of Mamak shops?

I was somewhat puzzled by that. Limiting their operating hours won’t make Mamak shops any healthier; it just means you have to tapau (take away) your roti telur and eat it at home. On top of that, many on social media criticised the idea, saying the real problem is that eating healthily is expensive.