What should you pay attention to in your diet during the Spring Festival?
The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday. During this time, meals are typically rich in meat and fish. So, what should you be mindful of when eating during the Spring Festival? How should you structure your diet? Let's find out below.
1. Eat light and less greasy, with a balanced diet.
Excessively "rich" nutrition has led to a noticeable increase in the incidence of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases. Holiday activity levels are often lower than on workdays, and people tend to sleep in. It's common for people to gain a few pounds during the long holiday. Therefore, it's best to adjust your diet, making it lighter than usual to reduce fat buildup.
2. Vegetables are better than medicine.
The holiday dinner table is laden with abundant dishes, with meat and fish at every meal. However, people often feel fatigued and lethargic, with bloated stomachs. At this point, cutting back on rich foods and eating more vegetables can resolve the physical crisis. Fresh vegetables are alkaline foods. They are not only rich in fiber, which helps cut through grease, maintain normal gastrointestinal motility, and prevent constipation, but they can also neutralize excess acidic substances in the body, meeting the needs of human metabolism.
3. Fruits are essential.
The irregular diet during the holidays can easily lead to "internal heat" and constipation. Eating more fruit can have excellent effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, and moistening the intestines. It can also regulate and improve the body's metabolic functions, prevent various diseases, and enhance health. However, note that the digestion time and process for fruits and vegetables are different. They should be eaten separately; otherwise, the enzymes in the fruit can cause the fiber in vegetables to decompose, making it unabsorbable by the stomach and intestines.
4. Don't forget your staple foods.
During the Spring Festival, many people are used to eating more dishes and less, or even no, staple food. This is not advisable. Grains are the primary source of carbohydrates. They participate in the metabolic process of fats and proteins, ensuring their complete oxidation, reducing the formation of toxic substances, and providing dietary fiber for the body. Therefore, while enjoying delicious dishes, you should avoid eating them without limit and leave some appetite for staple foods.
5. It's better to eat a little less than to make your stomach uncomfortable.
Family gatherings and banquets are often lavish. The abundance of dishes and the constant urging from others can stimulate the appetite to the point of overeating, causing gastrointestinal discomfort or even digestive system diseases. This can range from minor issues like indigestion, diarrhea, and hiccups with acid reflux, to life-threatening acute pancreatitis. The best prevention is self-control.
6. Alcohol harms the liver and the body; excessive drinking harms yourself and others.
Alcohol consumption should be limited, and this principle should also be followed during holidays. Excessive alcohol can damage the liver, brain, nervous system, and digestive system. At the same time, the social harms of drinking are also prominent, such as traffic and public safety incidents caused by drunk driving.
7. Pay attention to food hygiene; stay clean and fresh to avoid illness.
Food hygiene is extremely important and is the most crucial point to avoid food poisoning. The best meals are those cooked and eaten immediately. Use fresh ingredients and consume them right away without storing. Special attention should be paid to: never eating uncooked cured meat products or cold appetizers; food taken from the refrigerator must be thoroughly reheated before eating; raw vegetables must be washed clean; and during food preparation, always keep raw and cooked foods separate.
8. Promote individual servings at gatherings; use serving chopsticks and spoons.
Many diseases are transmitted through the digestive tract. Chopsticks going in and out of everyone's mouths and dishes can spread diseases. No one wants to get sick after a happy banquet, so promoting individual servings is a measure to maintain good health. The simplest and most feasible way is to provide serving chopsticks and spoons on the table to prevent personal utensils from entering the shared dishes.
9. Eat on time, don't get distracted by play; maintain a regular diet.
Another thing to note about the New Year's diet is to eat at regular times. Don't let play and sleep disrupt your normal eating patterns, as this can cause the stomach to be unable to adapt and lead to digestive disorders. Every holiday and the period immediately following it, some people suffer from indigestion and physical exhaustion—their vacation ends up making them sick. A significant number of these cases are caused by improper diet.
10. Be careful of spoilage in canned food.
If a can is overfilled and not properly vented, it can cause a physical bulge in the lid. If the food inside is highly acidic, it can corrode the inner wall of the iron can, causing a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen gas and leads to hydrogen bulging. If the sterilization process during production is not strict, bacteria can grow inside, decomposing the food and producing gases like hydrogen and sulfur dioxide, causing a spoilage bulge in the lid. This is the most serious situation: food spoilage. Therefore, if there is a sour or foul smell after opening the can, it must not be eaten.
11. Be careful of the charred parts of dried meat.
Meat is rich in protein. The process of making dried meat involves roasting it until it's charred and fragrant. When meat is charred, its high-molecular-weight proteins break down into low-molecular-weight amino acids. These amino acids can then recombine to form chemical substances that may cause mutations in the human body, affecting health.
Furthermore, the fat in meat cannot be completely burned. Charred dried meat can produce carcinogenic substances. Therefore, when buying or eating dried meat, avoid the charred parts.
12. Be careful that some roasted seeds are high in salt.
Seeds are a common New Year's snack. Roasted soy sauce seeds, roasted sunflower seeds, etc., contain a lot of salt and are high in calories. It is recommended that you replace them with roasted pumpkin seeds, which are healthier and can help lower blood pressure. However, they should also be eaten in moderation.
13. Be careful when storing leftover dishes.
During the family reunion dinner, some families cook extra food to "have a surplus for the new year," ensuring they won't worry about food and drink the following year. Even without this tradition, many families cook a lavish feast on this day, leaving many leftovers. How should these dishes be handled?
The most convenient way to handle leftover food is to put it in the refrigerator. When storing leftovers, do not place them in aluminum containers or pots. Aluminum is a very chemically active metal that oxidizes easily in the air, forming a thin film of aluminum oxide on its surface. This film is insoluble in water but can dissolve in acidic or alkaline solutions. Salt can also damage the aluminum oxide. If salty dishes or soups are stored in aluminum containers for a long time, a chemical reaction will occur, producing aluminum compounds that can have adverse effects on the body.
14. Be careful of overeating, which can lead to stomach problems.
The feasting during the Spring Festival can easily lead to overeating. The digestive organs operate on a certain rhythm. When you eat, the stomach, small intestine, gallbladder, and pancreas secrete various digestive juices to help the body absorb nutrients from food. If you suddenly eat too much or drink too much, more digestive juices are needed for digestion. However, the amount of digestive juice secretion has a limit. Additionally, an overly full stomach makes gastrointestinal motility difficult, affecting normal digestive function. In severe cases, this can lead to acute pancreatitis, gastroenteritis, or stomach ulcers.