A health scare at the start of 2016 made actress Priscelia Chan attempt a gluten-free diet. She shares how the switch transformed her health and wellness with Davelle Lee.
A health scare at the start of 2016 made actress Priscelia Chan attempt a gluten-free diet. She shares how the switch transformed her health and wellness with Davelle Lee.
“I used to eat so much sugar. I could have three to four pieces of cake a week,” says Mediacorp artiste Priscelia Chan, peeling a steamed sweet potato she brought along to our photo call.
“The thing about the glutenfree diet is that you get hungry more frequently, so you have to eat more often,” the petite 38-year-old confesses, before taking a bite out of her starchy snack.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat and related grains, including barley, rye, oat, and all their species and hybrids.
Priscelia started on the diet in January 2016, after a health scare sent her to a dietician, who recommended that she stopped eating gluten and dairy. Her dietician explained that the gluten found in additives used in highly processed food and some dairy products is responsible for inflammation in the body, which can affect everything from the immune system to the gut.
The best route to her recovery – and to boost her overall health – was to replace all sugary, processed foods with nutritious, wholesome alternatives that would clean out her system and reduce inflammation. Simply put: out with the junk and in with the greens. Worried for her health, Priscelia agreed to take the plunge. And it certainly wasn’t a cakewalk. “It was like doing a full detox,” she says.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSED FOOD TRAP
Priscelia and her husband, former actor turned businessman Alan Tern, used to eat out all the time as they were too busy to cook. With her new dietary restrictions, there aren’t many hawker centres and restaurants offering gluten-free options.
“What you will realise is that there’s so much unhealthy, processed food out there that you haven’t been conscious of.”
Technically, most staples used in local dishes like rice, bee hoon and kway teow are gluten-free. Yellow noodles, on the other hand, are not as they are made from wheat flour.
However, to enhance the flavour of dishes, chefs often add highly processed ingredients and condiments like oyster sauce, fish sauce and fermented bean paste that usually contain a gluten additive. This meant Priscelia had to give up almost all of her favourite local food.
“I used to be the kind of girl who ate noodles every day, so it wasn’t easy,” she says. Neither was having to resist her favourite gluten-filled cakes.
And it didn’t help that Priscelia actually started her diet before 2016’s Chinese New Year, with all its tempting goodies. “One of my friends makes very good chocolate cake. When I visited his place back then, I stayed for just an hour. I had to excuse myself because it was too torturous to see the cake but not be able to eat it.”
RECLAIMING CONTROL OF HER DIET
The only way Priscelia could find good, nourishing food that met her dietary restrictions was to prepare it herself.
“Before this, I was pretty experimental with my cooking,” Priscelia says. Like a skilled alchemist in her laboratory, she would mix and match sauces with different ingredients to create flavourful meals. Of course, those sauces are now offlimits, including the ingredient crucial to most Asian dishes – soya sauce, which has fermented wheat.
Priscelia’s pantry and fridge also had to be overhauled. She looked for recipes and stalked the supermarket aisles for gluten-free sauces, as well as grains like buckwheat and quinoa, and more fresh greens. She also discovered the Freedom Foods and Rude Health brands, now her go-tos for gluten-free cereals, granola and other snacks.
JOINING THE CLEANEATING TRIBE
“The great thing is that more and more Singaporeans are picking up on the clean-eating movement,” says Priscelia. In fact, some of her friends had been buying organic produce and gluten-free products long before she started doing so.
“I used to ask them, ‘ Why are you eating rabbit food?’. Now, we compare brands!” she laughs.
Another shocker for her: An allorganic vegetable stall in the wet market she frequents. “There are many choices for people who want to eat better these days,” she says.
Alan cheers her on, but remains unwilling to give up his prata and noodles for her gluten-free drive. “He still has to have his local and Western food.”
ENJOYING THE ORIGINAL TASTE OF FOOD
When we ask Priscelia to share her favourite gluten-free recipe, she expains: “The ideal gluten-free meal shouldn’t involve complicated steps or a long list of ingredients.”
She lists whole foods – like cabbage, broccoli, salmon or chicken breast – and then tells us to steam the vegetables and pan-fry the meat before tossing them with nuts, seeds, and avocado or raw kale, as well as a drizzle of lemon juice, olive oil or vinaigrette, and serving everything on a bed of rice, quinoa or glutenfree pasta.
“You will start to notice how sweet plain, organic carrots really are.” With a cleaner palate, unseasoned food becomes much more enjoyable.
The catch is you have to invest in high-quality produce. According to Priscelia, there’s a noticeable difference in the flavour of organic and non-organic vegetables – the first are undeniably tastier.
Another caveat is you must include many colours in your diet. According to her dietician, the colours of your fruits and vegetables have different health benefits.
Purple cabbage, for example, contains anthocyanin, which has antioxidant properties. Orange foods like pumpkins and sweet potatoes have beta-carotene that boosts the vitamin A level in the body. Greens have cancer-fighting properties.
Priscelia started feeling the benefits of her diet within a month. Her complexion became more radiant. She was also more mentally alert and bursting with energy. Within the next two to three months, she’d lost several kilos and the fat in her tummy seemed to have vanished.
GOING FROM GLUTEN-FREE TO GLUTEN-LITE
After a very fruitful first two months, Priscelia and her dietician decided it was okay to loosen her highly restrictive, gluten-free diet – as long as she continued to minimise her processed food intake. What surprised her was the change to her palate. “My dietician warned me that the things I used to love would taste bad to me. I didn’t believe her until I ate mee pok again and it tasted a little like rubber.” But she still missed cheesecake and sweet treats, so it was a relief to have gluten-rich desserts back on the menu.
She now adheres to a diet that allows her two or three cheat days each week. While she continues to cook her gluten-free meals at home, she also eats out every few days and enjoys a hearty meal with Alan’s family once a week.
“You have to live a little,” says Priscelia. “But eat mindfully.” Her diet has trained her to be selective about the things she puts into her body. Even at photo shoots and publicity events, she is cautious around the buffet table and usually has her lunch box handy.
“Many of us take it for granted until something goes wrong. But what you eat determines your health. I didn’t just switch my diet for my own sake,” Priscelia says with conviction. “I did it for my loved ones.” SH
M.A.D Milk
Priscelia stopped drinking cow’s milk as part of her diet. She now uses M.A.D milk , also known as macadamia, almond and date milk, as a tasty, nutrient-rich substitute, which she adds to her morning coffee. Here’s how to make it:
Serves 3
Ingredients
¼ cup raw macadamia nuts
½ cup raw almonds
6 pitted dates Water
Directions
1 When you’re ready to make the milk, place the raw almonds in a bowl and add enough boiling water to cover them. Set aside for 1min.
2 Drain the water, allow the almonds to cool or rinse them with tap water. Then peel the skin off.
3 Add the macadamia nuts, dates and 2½ cups of water to the blanched almonds, cover and leave to soak overnight.
4 Blitz all of the above, including the water, in a blender on high speed for 3-4min or until grainy.
5 Pour the mixture through a coffee sock or cloth strainer into a large bowl, and wring the strainer to squeeze out all the liquid. You can store the “milk” in a jar for three to five days in the refrigerator.
Photography Frenchescar Lim / Art Direction Chelza Pok / Styling Angela Chu / Hair Jenny Lee @Monsoon Novena Square, using Schwarzkopf / Makeup Kenneth Lee, using Chanel Outfit Bally.
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