How to Eat to Protect Your Stomach During a Healthy New Year
Introduction: The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday, commonly known as the New Year. It's a time for family and friends to gather, and eating becomes the main event. This often puts a heavy burden on the stomach. So, how can you eat in a way that protects your stomach during the New Year? Here are a few tips to help you, and we wish you a healthy and happy New Year.
How to Eat to Protect Your Stomach During a Healthy New Year
I. Wage a "Stomach Protection Battle" During the Spring Festival
Generally, the gastroenterology departments of hospitals are always crowded after every Spring Festival. Most patients feel discomfort in their stomachs, some experience stomach pain, and others may have symptoms like nausea, bloating, belching, or "heartburn." So, what causes these symptoms? Gastroenterology experts explain that the real culprit behind these symptoms is excess stomach acid.
II. Eat a Nutritious Diet During the New Year
Chicken, fish, shrimp, crab... High-protein, high-fat dishes are the mainstays of the Spring Festival feast. Coupled with frequent drinking or neglecting food hygiene, your body can become overwhelmed during the holiday. Therefore, it's important for everyone to pay attention to food safety, avoid overeating, and prevent adverse consequences such as high blood lipids and sudden weight gain.
III. Don't Snack Carelessly
During the Spring Festival, most households are stocked with a variety of candies, melon seeds, peanuts, and other snacks, either for entertaining guests or for personal enjoyment. Additionally, it's natural to snack while watching TV, playing cards, or chatting. As a result, people often consume several or even ten times more candies and melon seeds during the holiday than they normally would. The sugar and flavorings in these snacks, while making them more delicious, can easily lead to a dry mouth and tongue, irritability, and even unexplained anger when consumed in excess. If children show these symptoms, parents should have them stop eating sweets and flavored fruits immediately.
To ensure a wonderful holiday, in addition to gathering with family and friends, it's also crucial to take care of your body. Only with a healthy body can you fully enjoy the holiday. For this reason, nutritionists and gastroenterology experts have offered several suggestions for protecting your stomach during the Spring Festival holiday:
1. First, pay attention to your diet and master the right amount and degree. According to Chinese tradition, the Spring Festival is the biggest holiday of the year, when every household feasts on rich foods. However, you must not be tempted by the delicious spread. Remember, moderation is best for your digestive system; otherwise, the effects will be counterproductive.
2. Reasonably arrange your schedule. During the Spring Festival golden week, there are many gatherings with family and friends, which can easily disrupt your daily routine. This can be harmful to everyone's stomach and intestines. Therefore, it's particularly important to arrange your schedule reasonably and try to maintain a regular life pattern.>>> How to Eat Hot Pot Healthier During New Year's Gatherings
3. For those traveling, a reasonable itinerary is also important. Always pay attention to temperature changes in different places to protect your stomach. Here's a small tip: taking a hot bath at night can boost blood circulation and wash away the fatigue from days of holiday activities.
4. If you experience the symptoms of excess stomach acid mentioned earlier, don't panic too much. You can use appropriate medications, such as Losec, to inhibit stomach acid secretion, and it is essential to see a doctor.
IV. Vegetables Are Essential
Family dinner tables are becoming more and more abundant, and during the Spring Festival, meals are almost inseparable from meat and fish. However, people often feel tired, lethargic, and experience bloating. In fact, eating more vegetables can help alleviate these physical problems.
Fresh vegetables are alkaline foods. They are not only rich in fiber but can also neutralize excess acid in the body and maintain the body's metabolic needs. The fiber in vegetables can counteract greasiness, maintain normal gastrointestinal peristalsis, and prevent constipation. For example: radishes, celery, chili peppers, etc. Of course, there are many other types of vegetables, each with its own effect of reducing greasiness and aiding digestion. Therefore, people should try to eat a wide variety and not be picky.
V. Fruits Can Prevent Disease
While enjoying delicious food during the Spring Festival, don't neglect the fruits around you. They can regulate and improve the body's metabolic functions, prevent various diseases, and enhance health. For example, apples are rich in various vitamins and minerals, and have effects such as quenching thirst, nourishing the brain and blood, calming the mind, treating chronic diarrhea, and aiding weight loss. Pears are rich in sugar, vitamins, minerals, and pectin. They are cool in nature and have effects of lowering blood pressure, resolving phlegm, moisturizing dryness, and promoting fluid production. Elderly people with coughs and excess phlegm should eat more of them.
In a normal person's stomach and duodenum, the aggressive force of gastric acid on the mucosa and the defensive force of the mucosa itself reach a dynamic balance, so the gastric mucosa is not damaged. However, when this balance is disrupted, the stomach can become ill. Excess stomach acid causes acidic substances to continuously erode the gastric mucosa, leading to bloating and symptoms such as indigestion and loss of appetite. It is understood that more than 60% of stomach diseases are caused by abnormal secretion of stomach acid. Therefore, if you feel some "acid reflux" or a "sour" sensation in your stomach, you can first take some medication to control stomach acid secretion, such as Losec, to relieve the discomfort.