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The chance to sample different cuisines from different parts of the world can be as exciting as seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Northern Lights. But nobody wants to come back from a vacation all happy and then cry about not fitting into their clothes. Sometimes, you can’t tell what’s on a menu in a foreign country. Here’s a guide to choose better.

ITALIAN

Order these: Minestrone soup, chicken masala, grilled white meats (like chicken or fish), leafy salads, pasta (in tomato or marinara sauce with little olive oil and no cheese), cappuccino with skimmed milk and fruit sorbets (with no added flavours or syrups).

Skip these: Caeser salad, pasta in alfredo or bolognese sauces (or anything in a white sauce), lasanga, ravioli, cannelloni, fried calamari or anything fried, gelato, tiramisu, anything in `parmigiana’ (it’s loaded with cheese).

CHINESE

Order these: Chicken prawn vegetable suimai, seafood or vegetable cheung fun, prawn chicken vegetable dim sum, steamed bread or mushroom chicken bun, tom yum soup, wanton soup, chicken vegetable noodle soup, steamed rice, soft stewed rice with vegetables, soft stewed noodles, steamed prawns in lemon sauce, steamed fish in soya, ginger and spring onions, chicken prawn exotic vegetables in hunan or oyster sauces.

Skip these: Fried wantons, steamed dim sum in chilli oil, Peking duck, pork bun, salt and pepper fried chilli prawns, fried chilli chicken, sesame prawn toast, Szechwan chicken, chicken fish vegetarian manchurian, spare ribs, kung pao chicken potato, chowmein, lomein, anything with the word `golden’ or `crispy’ in it as that means it is fried.

JAPANESE

Order these: Sushi especially nigiri sushi (rice and seaweed) made with cooked crabs, salmon, bass, yellowtail, tuna, squid, scrambled eggs, tofu or vegetables, sashimi, maki rolls (raw salmon, tuna, squid or prawn) with no cheese, miso soup, oshinko, steamed edamame, teppanyaki dishes (prepared with no oil), sukiyaki dishes (cooked at the table and you can supervise the oil content), okonomiyaki pizza, broiled sea bass (or any fishseafood) with soya or ginger sauce, ocha or green tea, soba noodles.

Skip these: Tempura, dragon rolls, chicken teriyaki, yakitori, fried dumpling or gyoza, ramen noodles, breaded chicken katsu, green asparagus tempura or sautéed with soya butter, foie gras teppanyaki, sake.

MEDITERRANEAN

Order these: Baba ghanoush (without extra olive oil), hummus, tzatziki, Greek salad and horiatiki salads (with reduced feta cheese and dressing on the side), souvlaki, dolmades, keftedes (baked, not fried).

Skip these: Moussaka, pastitsio, spanakopita, deep fried calamari, tiropita, falafels, red pepper feta, saganaki cheese, gyro platter, baklava, baklava cheesecake.

Carry nuts and fresh fruit with you wherever you go, and steal in quick snack breaks which will help keep your blood sugar stable and make you less prone to stuffing yourself with sugary pies. And stay hydrated: the hunger and thirst centres in your brains are so closely located next to each other, sometimes you crave food when all you want is water.

The human digestive system is complicated. It’s designed to masticate, digest, absorb and expel food from our body. Different parts of the body have different jobs cut out, and just like a factory machine, what we consume needs to move at the right speed from one body part to the other. That’s where dietary fibre comes into play. Fibre is to the digestive system what oil is to a machine; without it, everything comes to a grinding -and often painful -halt.

HOW FIBRE HELPS

Your bowels: Let’s start from the bottom. Healthy fibre intake impacts bowel movement the most. A normal-functioning digestive system will produce regular bowel movements that are predictable. The more regular your bowel movements, the slimmer the chance of waste and bacteria build-up inside your body.

Your digestive system: Dietary fibre also helps to keep the rest of the digestive system running and prevents blockages, slow movement of food material, bloating and uneasiness.

Your blood sugar: Dietary fibre is known to slow down the absorption of sugar from food to ensure that it is assimilated far more gradually.When your body is pummelled with high quantities of sugar, it can affect or worsen conditions like diabetes. High fibre foods help your body to balance out so that you don’t suffer from high or low sugar.

Your heart: Fibre helps in stabilising blood pressure, it reduces cholesterol and inflammations in the digestive system, thereby lowering the strain on the heart.

Your weight: High fibre foods make you feel fuller and are often eaten slowly. This helps to control the intake of food, and therefore, your weight.

How do we stock up on fibre?

Fear not.You’re probably having a lot of it already. Fibre is the bulky stuff that your body doesn’t actually absorb and can be either water soluble or insoluble. Both these types are important to let the digestive system run like a Swiss train schedule. Soluble fibres -once dissolved in water -form a kind of gel that slows down the emptying of your stomach, helping you feel full for a while. Sources of soluble fibres are oats, apples, beans, carrots, citrus fruits and peas. Just remember one thing when we talk about getting the benefit of fibre from fruits, we mean whole fruits and not juice made out of them. Juicing removes your fibre intake, which sort of defeats the purpose.

Insoluble fibre is the stuff that promotes the actual movement of food through the system. You can get your fix from servings of whole wheat, nuts, beans, cauliflower and potatoes. Most fruits and vegetables like the ones listed above have both soluble and insoluble fibre, though some are better for you (consult your doctor to know what suits your body).

So, there you have it. Dietary fibre can be found in nearly all healthy food items. It’s important to eat healthy servings to make sure that good digestion becomes a smooth and effortless process.

YOUR TRAVEL MENU

HAVE FIBRES FOR GOOD DIGESTION