Here is a list of food that nutritionists recommend for the holidays

During the holidays, there are always some people who are already on their way home, while others are still worrying about what gifts to bring for their families.

Don’t worry, this article has compiled a list of 10 essential healthy items for the Chinese New Year. Use this list as a reference to prepare them for your family members in need!

Kitchen essentials

It's time for the kitchen masters to show their skills. When cooking dishes, pay attention to the taste as well as health.

-Olive oil, perilla oil, flaxseed oil:

Many home kitchens are stocked with oils rich in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and peanut oil. [1] Excessive intake of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet can promote inflammation in the body, so it is important to consciously increase the intake of vegetable oils rich in n-9 and n-3 fatty acids, such as olive oil rich in n-9, and flaxseed oil and perilla oil rich in n-3. [1]

Olive oil can be used for stir-frying or cold dishes, while flaxseed oil and perilla oil are suitable for cold dishes or drizzling a few drops after making soup.

This not only helps improve the fatty acid ratio and anti-inflammation, but is also more beneficial to cardiovascular health.

-Low sodium and high potassium salt:

Dishes during the New Year holidays are generally heavy in flavor and contain a high amount of salt. A high-salt diet is not only not conducive to blood pressure control, but also increases the risk of osteoporosis and stomach problems.

You can replace the table salt in the kitchen with low-sodium high-potassium salt. This salt uses part of potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. The saltiness is almost the same as ordinary table salt, does not affect the taste, and has good compliance. When buying, pay attention to whether it is iodized and buy it as needed.

For people who usually eat a lot of salt, have a strong taste, and have high blood pressure, they can use low-sodium, high-potassium salt instead of ordinary table salt, and the price is not high. However, people who work in high temperatures, do heavy manual labor, some people with kidney disease, and patients with uremia should be cautious when eating it.

Healthy Drinks

During the New Year holidays, people tend to eat greasy food, so they will prepare some drinks to "relieve the greasiness". Compared with sugary drinks and beer, healthy drinks are more recommended.

-Sugar-free yogurt:

Yogurt can not only relieve the greasy feeling after eating a lot of fish and meat, but also supplement calcium and protein, and provide the human body with probiotics that are beneficial to the intestines. However, you should choose sugar-free yogurt in the refrigerator, which can better preserve the activity of probiotics. Don't buy milk drinks and fruit yogurt, which often have a high sugar content.

In addition to sugar-free yogurt, pure milk is also recommended.

-Plant milk:

For people who are lactose intolerant and cannot drink pure milk, in addition to drinking lactose-free milk, they can also drink plant milk, such as soy milk.

- Sugar-free cola:

Many people like to drink carbonated drinks. It is recommended to choose sugar-free drinks. Many dishes during the Spring Festival contain a lot of sugar, such as sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pork, and candied sweet potatoes. Eating too much sugar can not only easily lead to tooth decay, but also increase the risk of obesity and gout. Choosing sugar-free drinks can help you better control your sugar intake.

-Black Coffee:

Many of us are coffee addicts and must have a cup every day. If you really want to drink coffee, choose pure black coffee instead of instant coffee (coffee companion) that contains sugar and non-dairy creamer.

In addition, according to the recommendations of the "Scientific Consensus on Coffee and Health" jointly released by five institutions including the Nutrition and Health Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food Hygiene Branch of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association: The average adult should control caffeine intake within 400 mg per day, which is equivalent to no more than 4 cups of pure coffee (150 ml/cup), or no more than 5 small packets of 1.8~2g instant coffee (pure black coffee).

Healthy Snacks

When friends and family gather together to chat, snacks are indispensable to adjust the atmosphere. For the sake of each other's health, it is best to choose some relatively healthy snacks.

- Freeze-dried fruits and vegetables:

There are two types of dried fruits and vegetables on the market, fried and freeze-dried. Fried fruits and vegetables not only lose a lot of nutrients, but also have problems such as high oil and high salt. The oil, salt and sugar content of the Spring Festival diet is prone to exceed the standard, so fried fruits and vegetables are obviously not recommended.

Therefore, freeze-dried fruits and vegetables are more recommended. Not only are the calories, fat, and sugar content lower than fried fruits and vegetables, but they can also retain more heat-sensitive and easily oxidized nutrients, reduce the loss of volatile aromatic substances, retain more of the flavor of the ingredients themselves, and taste better.

-Original nuts: "Chatting and eating melon seeds" is a common scene during the Spring Festival. As the conversation goes on, the "hill of melon seed shells" gets higher and higher. However, it is best to choose original flavored melon seeds when buying melon seeds, because the salt content of spiced melon seeds, salt-baked melon seeds, sea salt melon seeds, etc. is not low, and the various salty flavors will cover up the strange smell of moldy melon seeds. Moldy melon seeds may contain aflatoxin, and eating them often will increase the risk of liver cancer.

Not only melon seeds, but other nuts should also be selected in their original flavor! For example, cashews, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts...

Special reminder: Do not feed whole nuts to babies to avoid choking.

- Low-salt cheese: Cheese is also a good snack. It can not only relieve the loneliness of your mouth, but also is a good helper for calcium supplementation. However, most cheeses have a high salt content. When buying, you must read the nutrition label and choose low-salt cheese with low sodium content and high calcium content, such as the one in the picture below.

▲Photo: A certain brand of cheese

-Dark chocolate: Compared to candy, dark chocolate is a good snack. The main component of pure dark chocolate is cocoa butter, which contains polyphenols, has antioxidant effects and is beneficial for preventing cardiovascular disease. [2] If you really can't stand the bitterness of 100% dark chocolate, you can try dark chocolate with a total cocoa solids content of 70% to 75%.

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

Summarize:

These are the 10 health foods that I recommend you to stock up on. Even during the Chinese New Year, don’t forget to protect your body and welcome the new year in good health!

References:

[1] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents[M]. People's Medical Publishing House. 2022

[2] Yuan Han, Ma Yue, Li Shuangshi. GC-MS Identification Analysis and Application of Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Butter Substitutes[J]. Food and Fermentation Industries, 2012, 38(08): 178-181. DOI: 10.13995/j.cnki.11-1802/ts.2012.08.011.