Introduction: During the Spring Festival, as we are busy and joyfully celebrating the New Year, don't forget to prevent illness, maintain a reasonable diet, and have a regular routine to stay healthy during the festivities!
Three Health Hurdles to Overcome During the Spring Festival Feast
First Hurdle: Eat in Moderation, Avoid Overindulgence.
The New Year is always the liveliest time. You pick up a chopful, I add a spoonful. With an abundance of delicious dishes, it's hard to stop at 80% full.
Over several consecutive meals, the digestive system is bound to be overburdened, leading to discomfort such as indigestion, chest tightness, shortness of breath, diarrhea, or constipation. In severe cases, it can trigger acute gastroenteritis or even gastric bleeding.
Second Hurdle: Prevent Disease Through Diet, Avoid Excessive Cholesterol.
Fried foods are extremely common during the New Year, and dishes are often cooked with more oil than usual.
People in the north enjoy fried pastries as holiday snacks, while the south often makes fried rice cakes, fried fish, and fried meatballs. Additionally, soups made with meat are always coated with a layer of oil.
This makes it easy for fat and calories in the diet to exceed healthy levels, leading to high cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Third Hurdle: Maintain a Balanced Diet, Avoid an Imbalance Between Meat and Vegetables.
The Spring Festival diet is primarily meat-based, especially livestock, with a smaller proportion of grains and vegetables. In some northern regions, traditionally, vegetables are rarely served at the New Year's Eve dinner.
The result is a severe deficiency in dietary fiber and an excess of fat and protein. Eating too much meat, combined with less exercise, can lead to dry skin, constipation, and even hemorrhoids. It can also overburden the liver and gallbladder, worsening conditions like cholecystitis and hepatitis.
Therefore, the ratio of meat to vegetables in each meal should be controlled between 1:2 and 1:3. Eat more beans and seafood, and replace snacks like melon seeds with yogurt and fruit to clear heat, promote bowel movements, and soothe the throat.
8 Principles for Healthy Eating on the Spring Festival Table
First, Ensure balanced nutrition and avoid an overload of meat and fish. Pay attention to the balance between meat and vegetables, and consume more vegetables, soy products, and fungi to adjust your taste and lower blood sugar and lipids.
Second, You can eat some beef and mutton, but avoid excessive consumption of raw or cold seafood.
Third, Choose dishes cooked by steaming, boiling, or stewing, and avoid fried foods.
Fourth, Choose some whole grain products to achieve a balance of refined and coarse grains, which is beneficial for a reasonable intake of nutrients.
Fifth, Eat in moderation and avoid overeating. If you eat too much, the diaphragm will rise, increasing the burden on the heart.
Sixth, Choose light beverages. Do not drink or drink less sugar-sweetened beverages. You can drink some hawthorn drinks. If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
Seventh, When dining out, pay attention to the dining environment and food hygiene.
Eighth, When ordering food at a restaurant, order an appropriate amount to avoid waste. For leftovers, refrigerate them promptly. The storage time should not be too long; try to finish them the next day after thorough reheating.
Correcting Misconceptions for Scientific and Healthy Eating
As the New Year begins, every household enjoys a lavish family feast. Although most restaurants offer carefully set meal combinations, they may not be nutritionally ideal. Family reunions are important, but health is more important. Learning some tips for ordering can help you avoid "traps".
Misconception 1: Cold Dishes Dominated by Meat and Fish
When feasting, it's common to order a few cold appetizers to whet the appetite. Cold dishes have less oil and can be a mix of meat and vegetables. If more light vegetarian dishes were ordered, they could help balance the excess fat and protein from the main courses.
However, most diners habitually order cold dishes like beef in sauce, which causes the cold dishes to lose their role in balancing nutrition and worsens the problem of excess protein.
Misconception 2: Excessive Oil and Heavy Seasoning in Cooking
When ordering, you should choose some lightly seasoned dishes, such as those prepared by steaming, boiling, or stewing.
Two or three richly flavored dishes are enough for indulgence. Pair them with one or two sour and spicy dishes to refresh the palate. This creates a balanced, rich, and not overly greasy dining experience.
Misconception 3: Too Much Seafood on the Table is Never Enough
Some diners especially love freshwater and seafood products, feeling that only these can make a banquet seem high-end. In fact, although aquatic products are nutritious and delicious, they are also a "high-risk area" for pollution.
The nature of aquatic products is their tendency to concentrate heavy metals. If a meal has a high proportion of seafood and fish dishes, the total intake will be large, increasing the risk of excessive pollutants. This not only加重 the body's detoxification burden but can, in severe cases, lead to poisoning.
It is recommended to control the number of aquatic product dishes to one to three per meal, and the consumption should also be appropriate, with no more than 200 grams per meal.
Misconception 4: Vegetables, Fungi, and Algae are Nowhere to be Seen
A major harm of feasting is the severe imbalance between animal and plant-based foods.
When a large amount of protein is consumed in one meal, it cannot be fully utilized by the body. The excess protein is broken down for energy, producing nitrogenous waste that burdens the liver and kidneys and disrupts the acid-base balance.
During the holidays, choose high-end vegetarian foods that you usually eat less of, such as fungi, premium new vegetables, health nuts, and algae and tubers with health benefits.
These vegetarian foods can promote health and reduce the burden on the digestive system.
Misconception 5: Drinking Salty Soup After the Meal
Drinking a little soup before a meal can reduce food intake, which is beneficial for weight loss. After or between meals, it's more appropriate to eat congee made from grains and beans, or simply have fragrant tea to freshen your breath.
Misconception 6: Eating Only Dishes, Not Grains
There is now an unwritten rule at banquets: you only eat dishes and not rice. Only after you are full of food and drink do you remember to ask about the staple food.
However, consuming large amounts of protein-rich, carbohydrate-poor foods on an empty stomach is not good for digestion. The protein will be wasted and produce waste.
Misconception 7: Crispy Snacks as a Substitute for Staple Food
Various fancy staple foods, such as crispy snacks, fried rice, flaky pancakes, and fried pastries, replace rice and noodles. While fashionable, they contain significantly more fat and oil than rice and noodles. Especially for crispy pastries and flaky pancakes, the oil content can be over 30%, and they may even contain a high proportion of saturated fat.
If they contain vegetable cream and shortening, they also bring "trans fatty acids," which are extremely detrimental to heart health. Using them to replace traditional staple foods is clearly unwise.
Additionally, after a rich meal, it is best to drink some light congee, which is good for the stomach and helps improve nutritional balance.