How many calories are in hawker dishes? I try this AI tool to see if it’s accurate, Lifestyle News

That’s a difference of over 300 kcals. But how do such discrepancies matter?

One key benefit of calorie tracking is that it increases awareness of how many calories you are consuming, Melissa Tay, senior dietitian at National University Hospital’s Department of Dietetics, told AsiaOne.

“It teaches you the proper portion sizes so that you avoid overeating and exceed your calorie requirements,” she said.

According to HealthHub, the average recommended daily calorie intake is 2,200kcals for males, and 1,800kcals for females.

“Based on the self-regulation theory, by monitoring one’s own behaviour and seeing positive results, it motivates one to keep making better choices,” she explained. 

“This creates a virtuous cycle where tracking leads to better decisions and therefore improved health outcomes, which further motivates one to keep tracking.”

Studies show that when a person’s body weight is in an unhealthy range, he or she is at a higher risk of health problems such as high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes among other chronic diseases. The main reason for weight gain is consuming too many calories.

The second meal I logged was something trickier for AI calorie trackers — yong tau foo with assorted ingredients.

While it was unable to distinguish each ingredient and registered them as “yong tau foo assortment”, HawkserSense managed to pick up other “blind spots” such as the sweet sauce, which it warned could contain hidden sugar and oil.

This meal came up as 700 kcals, with a B “Nutri-Grade” rating. 

The same dish was logged as 490 kcals on a generic AI calorie tracker, which detected cheese tofu as “fish cake” and chive dumplings as “stuffed tofu”.

For the third meal, I decided to log the dish that inspired it all — a plate of economy rice.

HawkerSense didn’t manage to register the cereal fish correctly, instead identifying it as fried chicken cutlet. But it got the other two items right: braised tau kee and braised egg.

It also identified the sauce on the white rice and oil absorbed by tau kee.

The calories came up as 835 kcals, with a “Nutri-Grade” C rating.

Lapses like these are no surprise to Qi Han, who described hidden ingredients, such as salt in soup, or submerged ingredients in yong tau foo, as the “toughest challenge”.

“One user also sent me a photo of his yellow sweet potato and showed me how my AI said it was a potato. Tough one!” he admitted.

On a generic AI calorie tracker, the economy rice was logged as a 1,050 kcal “Fried Chicken Rice Box with Braised Egg”, without a clear breakdown of where the calories came from. It also missed out on the gravy and tau kee.

Balanced diet

After using the AI calorie tracking tools, I realised that each of my meals potentially took up over half of the calories I needed for the day. 

Factoring in other beverages, snacks and meals, it was likely that my daily calorie intake exceeded the recommendation of 1,800kcals.

The tools also showed that there was too much fat and sodium in my meals. 

I’m now aware of hidden calories in hawker food, which makes it easier for me to plan more balanced meals.

But what constitutes a balanced meal? 

While consuming the right number of calories is a good first step towards a healthier diet, not all calories are equal.

“Keeping to the calorie count on a diet consisting of only sugary cakes, meat dishes, or a glass of wine is far from ideal. This is because your body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre to function properly,” an article on HealthHub explained.

According to the Health Promotion Board’s My Healthy Plate guidelines, a simple way to achieve a balanced meal is to fill your plate with half a plate of fruits and vegetables, a quarter with wholegrains, and a quarter with lean meat and others. 

https://www.instagram.com/hpbsg/p/DJBCtTetKIN/

Not a standalone solution

According to Melissa, the mismatches in calories tracked are one of the main cons of using such AI tools. 

“There is a risk that the app may incorrectly identify foods or provide wrong nutritional information due to database errors, leading to misleading calorie counts,” she said.

In my opinion, there are improvements to be made regarding the accuracy of both calorie-tracking tools, but HawkerSense appears to be more helpful to the average Singaporean.

Having a tool that understood local food also helped me feel more confident that I was on the right track in my health journey.

On the benefits of localised AI calorie-trackers like HawkerSense, Melissa thinks that it helps people become more aware of their food choices and learn which foods are better for their health. 

“Over time, this builds up knowledge about healthy eating, so individuals may more naturally make better food decisions, building a solid foundation for healthier eating habits in the long run,” she said.

However, it’s important to note that AI calorie tracking tools — no matter how tailored to the needs of an individual or group — isn’t a silver bullet to eating and staying healthy.

While calorie-tracking offers numerous advantages, it achieves maximum effectiveness when integrated with other healthy lifestyle practices such as regular exercise rather than being used as a standalone approach to health improvement, Melissa advised.

“Calorie-tracking serves as a valuable component in the journey towards a healthier lifestyle. 

“It’s essential to remember that developing healthy habits is a gradual process that requires patience and daily commitment, rather than expecting immediate transformation overnight,” the dietitian said.

[[nid:716514]]

carol.ong@asiaone.com