Eat healthy during the Spring Festival

There is no need to strictly limit food to break up the lively atmosphere of the New Year, nor can you eat without restraint. As long as you adhere to the three principles of "control the amount first, use combinations to fill up, and do light activities to save the energy", you can eat well without weighing down your body.

I went back to my hometown in Shandong last year to celebrate the Chinese New Year. My mother’s stewed pork knuckles with soy sauce simmered for a whole afternoon. The skin was so chewy and the meat was so oily when I took a bite.

Later, I chatted with Dr. Zhang from the community nutrition department. He said that every year after the Spring Festival, he sees 30% more patients with indigestion and soaring blood pressure and blood sugar than usual. Most of them are like me, staring at the hard vegetables that fit their mouths and showing off. Survey data from the Chinese Nutrition Society in 2023 can also support this: During the Spring Festival, the average daily fat intake of domestic residents is 1.8 times the recommended amount, but dietary fiber is only 40% of the recommended amount. To put it bluntly, they eat more meat and less vegetables, and there is no balance.

There is a lot of quarrel online now about Spring Festival eating, and the two schools of thought are very different. One group says that after working hard for a whole year, aren't they just looking forward to eating some hard dishes that are usually too troublesome to cook in these days? You can’t eat this or touch that. What’s the point of celebrating the New Year? The other group uses calorie calculators and even calculates the calories when eating a sugar orange. They wish that the New Year's Eve dinner would be all boiled vegetables, saying that once you gain weight, you won't be able to lose it back in half a year.

There are two types of people around me. A little while ago, the little Internet operation girl who had a dinner with me believed in the "fasting method before the Spring Festival" on the Internet. For the first three days of the year, she only drank water and ate lettuce leaves. There is also a buddy who loves to play basketball. During the Chinese New Year, he completely relaxed and drank and ate meat. He gained eight pounds of weight in seven days. After he came back, he couldn't even run the ball. After losing weight for two months, he still hasn't returned to his previous weight.

In fact, there is really no need to go to extremes.

Take nuts that everyone is struggling with. Some people say that they are high in calories and should not be touched, while others say that they are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and it is okay to eat more. A registered dietitian friend I know has a very practical way to celebrate the New Year: grab a small handful (about 15g, about 10 almonds or a small handful of melon seeds) in the palm of your hand, eat it while watching the Spring Festival Gala, and push the nut bucket to others after eating. This will satisfy your craving and avoid eating too many calories at once.

There are also elderly people at home. For example, my grandma has high blood pressure. She used to say that "not eating meat during the New Year means not celebrating the New Year." Last year, her blood pressure soared to 160 after eating too much beef with soy sauce. Later, the community doctor gave her a very simple rule: the amount of meat she eats at each meal should be about the same size as her fist, and she should leave two more mouthfuls of green leafy vegetables such as cold spinach and stir-fried cabbage. If she wants to eat sweet steamed pumpkin, she can also eat two pieces, so she doesn't have to completely avoid the food. She followed the instructions this year and her blood pressure was very stable. Yesterday she told me in a video that she had eaten two fried eggs and they were very delicious.

Don’t worry if you have diabetes. Glutinous staple foods such as rice cakes and glutinous rice balls are not completely forbidden. Reduce the amount of white rice you eat that day by half a spoon before eating. Don’t collapse on the sofa and eat melon seeds immediately after eating. Take your children downstairs and play cannonball for five minutes. If you walk around twice, your blood sugar will not be too outrageous. Friends with gout don't need to look at the broth and get greedy. Skip off the thick layer of oil on top and drink half a bowl to satisfy your craving. Just don't drink it every once in a while.

Speaking of it, last year my niece showed off half a basket of sugar oranges during the Chinese New Year. The next day she had blisters at the corners of her mouth and nosebleeds. My sister also complained to me that children nowadays can't control their mouths. In fact, she can't control her mouth, but she didn't give a clear limit. You put a small cartoon plate for her, put seven or eight sugar oranges on it, and tell her that they will be gone today after she eats them, and she won't make a fuss and will eat happily.

The little rules I have set for myself this year are simpler. At every meal, I take two chopsticks to eat green leafy vegetables before touching meat dishes. When relatives try to persuade me to drink or eat, they say, "I just took Cephalosporin and the doctor won't let me eat more." I really don’t feel anxious after eating too much. I go downstairs and walk twice to eliminate the food, and eat more light food the next day to make up for it.

In the end, eating during the Spring Festival is not just about food, it is about the fun of family gathering together. Health is never a hindrance to happiness. It allows you to be down-to-earth and happy throughout the holidays. You don’t have to go to the hospital with stomach discomfort on the second day of the new year. You can still go to work and go to school comfortably after the new year. This is better than anything else.