Eating and drinking during Tet holiday: Notes for people with chronic diseases

In addition to a reasonable diet, to have a satisfactory Tet, people with chronic diseases should pay attention to maintaining a physical exercise regimen...

People with chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, overweight and obesity, etc., if their diet is not reasonable during Tet, can affect their health or make their condition worse.

Know how to balance your diet

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, during Tet holidays, the number of patients with chronic diseases who have to be hospitalized often shows signs of increasing because their diet and rest are disrupted, along with lack of exercise, leading to an unbalanced diet and declining health.

Everyone should know how to balance their diet during Tet (Illustration photo)

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lam advises that people with high blood fat and diabetes should pay attention to abstaining from and limiting foods rich in energy, starch, sugar and fat... because these foods can easily increase blood sugar and blood fat. They should limit eating grilled, fried foods, animal fat, and should know how to balance between fat, rice flour and green vegetables...

“During Tet, every family usually has traditional spring rolls, banh chung, gio cha, cakes, candies, and sweet fruits… If you eat a lot while being sedentary, people with lipid disorders and high blood fat can easily become overweight, obese, and have high blood fat. We must know that even tenderloin meat contains up to 7% fat. And foods rich in cholesterol such as animal organs include: heart, liver, testicles, intestines…

People with high blood pressure and gout should avoid fatty meats, limit salty foods (pickled vegetables, salted meat and fish) and limit alcohol. In particular, people with gout should eat less seafood and red meat…”, Ms. Lam emphasized.

Ensure food safety and maintain exercise

For people with chronic diseases, food preparation to balance the daily diet is very important. In which, choosing diverse foods, balancing animal and plant sources and paying attention to sugar, salt, cholesterol and reducing fat content. Cooked food should not be left for a long time, especially green vegetables, because after 2 hours, cooked vegetables are at risk of bacterial contamination, losing all vitamins and only fiber.

“Reducing the amount of fat, such as adding just enough oil for frying at one time and then throwing it away, should not be a pity, because if the excess oil is reheated, it will increase the production of isomerized fat, affecting cardiovascular health, causing high blood fat. In addition, during Tet, you should not make a lot of food, which is both greasy and not good for your health.

Because food that has been refrigerated for a long time, when heated repeatedly, is transformed from regular fat to trans fat, which is not only unappetizing but also loses nutrients. Eating too much will cause high blood fat. If heated in a microwave, the food will be denatured by heat, the protein will become a bonded form, causing indigestion and difficulty in absorption," Ms. Lam further analyzed.

Besides, during Tet, we should not store a lot of food. With a normal refrigerator, frozen storage can only be guaranteed for 5-7 days. Divide food into small packages for each meal, avoid storing a whole kilo because each time you take out food to defrost and cook, the food will lose nutrients and easily become contaminated.

In addition to a reasonable diet, to have a satisfactory Tet, people with chronic diseases should pay attention to maintaining a sports and exercise regimen, doing light exercise to avoid being overweight and having high blood fat such as cycling, walking, badminton, group exercise, housework... at least 1 hour/day./.

According to VOV