How to eat healthier during the Spring Festival? Experts share health tips with you!

The Spring Festival, as the most important traditional festival of the Chinese nation, carries rich cultural connotations. The New Year’s Eve dinner is not only about filling the stomach, but also a major event that integrates family affection, reunion, blessing and cultural inheritance.

From traditional food with auspicious meanings to the new pursuit of healthy eating, Spring Festival food not only satisfies the taste buds, but also reflects people's yearning for a better life. For families, it is always the happiest time in that cold winter.

Today, let us follow Zhang Haitao, chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology at Hunan Provincial Second People's Hospital (Provincial Brain Hospital), to talk about how to eat healthily during the Spring Festival?

• Avoid overeating: There are abundant foods during the Spring Festival, but you should follow the principle of "not eating too much", and it is best to eat until you are 70% full at each meal. Overeating will increase the risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, pancreatitis and other diseases, and may also cause symptoms such as indigestion. Patients with chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the elderly and children should pay more attention.

• Maintain regular meals: During the holidays, there are more snacks, and stewed dishes and cold dishes often contain high salt content. Pay attention to the intake of snacks and limit excessive intake of oil, salt and sugar. Try to maintain the same eating rhythm and time as usual, follow the principle of three meals a day or small meals, and do not eat too casually.

• Try to drink less or no alcohol: Alcohol is mainly metabolized in the liver. Drinking a lot of alcohol will increase liver pressure. Long-term alcoholism will also increase the risk of liver disease. In particular, do not drink strong alcohol. Pregnant women and children should not drink alcohol. The elderly and patients with chronic diseases such as obesity, blood sugar, blood lipids, blood pressure, and blood uric acid that are not well controlled should also try not to drink alcohol. If you drink alcohol, it is recommended to eat some staple food before drinking to slow down the absorption of alcohol and reduce damage to the gastric mucosa. Try not to drink alcohol with carbonated beverages. Drink more water after drinking to speed up alcohol metabolism.

• Eat more vegetables and fruits: People often do not consume enough vegetables and fruits during the Spring Festival. Vegetables and fruits not only provide a large amount of vitamins and minerals, but also contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ingredients. The content is higher in dark vegetables. The vitamin C, calcium, chlorophyll and polyphenols in them can effectively inhibit the formation of some carcinogens and play an important role in preventing cancer.

Chinese New Year dietary recommendations for special groups:

• Diabetic patients: In addition to following the basic requirements of daily diabetic diet, pay attention to controlling the total amount of food and the order of meals, and eat in the order of vegetables first, then meat, and then staple food to ensure that the dietary energy intake does not exceed the standard.

• Patients with cardiovascular disease: The diet should include “three lows” and “three mores”, i.e. low fat, low salt and low sugar, and eat more vegetables, soy products and fish.

• Patients with gastrointestinal diseases: Choose light foods that are easy to digest, avoid spicy and irritating foods, and avoid overeating to avoid increasing the burden on the stomach and intestines.

• Gout patients: There are "three taboos" and "three mores" in diet. First, avoid drinking broth, liquor and beer; second, avoid eating animal offal and seafood; third, avoid eating beans and their products, and reduce the intake of foods high in purine content; "three mores" refers to drinking more boiled water and milk, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, and eating more cereals.

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Tan Shuangli, Publicity Department, Hunan Second People's Hospital (Provincial Brain Hospital)

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(Edited by Wx)