Spring Festival is the most important holiday of the year, and the New Year's Eve dinner is the most significant and lively moment for every family. It's a desire for many to enjoy the meal happily and healthily. As people's living standards improve, the standard of New Year's Eve dinners has risen year after year. Nowadays, more and more people prefer to hold their New Year's Eve dinners in restaurants. On one hand, they can enjoy a variety of delicious cuisines; on the other, it saves the family from the trouble of cooking. Although most restaurants have thoughtfully set up combo meals, their nutritional value is often unsatisfactory. Therefore, learning some tips for ordering dishes and avoiding "pitfalls" becomes especially important.
Mistake 1: Drinking Sweet Beverages Before the Meal
At some point, various sweet drinks became an indispensable choice after guests are seated. Especially for children, who cannot drink alcohol, parents often let them indulge in drinks like Coke and Sprite. However, carbonated beverages not only have extremely low nutritional value but can also hinder the digestive absorption of food. In comparison, pure fruit and vegetable juices, and fresh soy milk are good choices. Plain yogurt is also beneficial for those who drink alcohol. Some restaurants make their own fruit, corn, or pumpkin juices, which are fresh in taste and stylish in style, and are well worth trying.
Mistake 2: Cold Dishes with Meat and Fish as the Main Focus
During a feast, it's inevitable to order a few cold dishes to whet the appetite. Cold dishes have less oil, with both meat and vegetable options. If more light vegetarian dishes were ordered, it could balance the problems of excessive oil and protein in the main courses. However, most diners habitually order cold meat dishes like marinated beef, which causes the cold dishes to lose their role in balancing nutrition and exacerbates the problem of excess protein. A better choice is to focus on vegetarian dishes such as raw vegetable salads, vegetable dips with sauce, starchy foods (like buckwheat noodles, fern root noodles), root and stem vegetables (like lotus root, Chinese yam), and fruit salads, paired with one or two low-fat meat, fish, and bean products. Starting the meal with these refreshing dishes can ensure the intake of dietary fiber and potassium and magnesium, and avoid the waste of protein used as energy.
Mistake 3: Heavy Use of Cooking Oil and Strong Seasoning
Many northern residents prefer strongly flavored dishes, thinking that this is more satisfying. However, a good meal should have a mix of salty and bland, sour and spicy flavors to avoid overwhelming the taste buds. Furthermore, heavily seasoned cooking often masks the smell of stale ingredients and a poor texture, so restaurants often enthusiastically encourage diners to order such dishes. When ordering, you should appropriately order some lightly seasoned dishes, such as those prepared by steaming, blanching, or stewing. Two or three heavily flavored dishes are enough for satisfaction, paired with one or two sour and spicy or fresh and sour dishes to refresh the palate. This way, the flavors are highlighted, complemented, and lingering, creating a rich taste without being too greasy.
Mistake 4: Too Much Seafood
Some diners especially love river and seafood products, feeling that only eating these makes a banquet seem high-class. In fact, although aquatic products are nutritious and delicious, they are also "hotspots" for pollution. The characteristic of aquatic products is that they concentrate heavy metals. If the proportion of seafood and fish dishes on a table is too high, the total intake will inevitably be large, increasing the risk of pollutant levels exceeding standards. This not only increases the body's detoxification burden but in severe cases can even lead to poisoning. It is recommended to limit the number of aquatic product dishes to 1-3 per meal, and control the intake to no more than 200 grams per meal.
Mistake 5: No Vegetables, Fungi, or Seaweed
A major harm of banquets is the severe imbalance between animal and plant-based foods. When a large amount of protein is consumed in a single meal and cannot be fully utilized by the body, it is broken down for energy, producing nitrogenous waste that burdens the liver and kidneys and disrupts acid-base balance. During the festival, you should choose high-end vegetarian foods that are eaten less often on normal days, such as fungi, high-end new vegetables, health nuts, and algae, tubers, and other vegetables with health benefits. These vegetarian dishes can promote health, reduce the burden on the digestive system, and kill two birds with one stone. At the same time, they also highlight the diner's health awareness and fashionable taste.
Mistake 6: Drinking Salty Soup After the Meal
It's said that "drinking soup before a meal makes you more beautiful," but northern banquets rarely see appetizing soups; instead, oily and salty soups are served during and after the meal. In fact, a rich banquet is not suitable for drinking a large amount of thick soup afterwards. This is because the many dishes have already provided a great deal of salt and fat, which is a heavy burden on the body; drinking more soup will inevitably increase salt and calories, which is not beneficial to health. Drinking a little soup before the meal can reduce food intake, which is beneficial for those who want to lose weight. After the meal or during the meal, it is more suitable to eat congee made from grains and beans, or simply use fragrant tea to cleanse the palate.
Mistake 7: Eating Only Dishes, Not Staple Food
There is now an unwritten rule at banquets: eat only dishes, not staple food, and only think about ordering主食 (staple food) after being full from alcohol and dishes. However, eating a large amount of food rich in protein but lacking carbohydrates on an empty stomach is not only bad for digestion, but the protein is also wasted and produces waste. From a nutritional and health perspective, if you are not drinking alcohol, it's a good idea to have a small bowl of rice or congee before the meal. This can not only reduce protein waste but also alleviate the problem of greasy food harming the stomach. Including some starchy ingredients in the cold dishes can also alleviate these problems to some extent.
Mistake 8: Crispy Snacks as a Substitute for Staple Food
Currently, most restaurants have introduced various fancy staple foods, such as crispy snacks, fried rice, flaky pancakes, and fried pastries, to replace rice and noodles, making the menu appear rich and trendy. These fancy staple foods are much higher in oil and fat than rice and noodles, especially crispy snacks and flaky pancakes, which can have over 30% fat content and even a high proportion of saturated fat. If they contain vegetable cream and shortening, they can also bring "trans fatty acids" which are extremely detrimental to heart health. Using them to replace traditional staple foods is clearly unwise. After a delicious meal, it's best to drink some light congee, which is good for the stomach and can improve nutritional balance. If you add various coarse grains, tubers, beans, and some health ingredients, it can better show the diner's emphasis on health quality.