Causes of malnutrition
The traditional Lunar New Year is a time for family reunions, meeting friends, and countless other social gatherings.
Tet is also a story about money in the truest sense. The wealthy buy branches of apricot blossoms and kumquats, while those who are a little less fortunate still buy marigolds and gladioli. During Tet, people mainly visit each other and exchange New Year's greetings, so no one wants their home to look simple and sloppy.
As a result, everything rushes in at the end of the year. Tet (Lunar New Year) feels like a frantic rush, sometimes right up until midnight. Therefore, Tet can sometimes become a burden for each family.
In fact, there's something more fundamental that people don't realize, which can significantly diminish the joy of Tet and add to the burden of the holiday. That is, overeating during Tet – eating a lot without ensuring adequate nutrition.
The New Year is a time to clean up the messes of the old year, but Tet (Lunar New Year) brings with it many other kinds of chaos. Daily routines are disrupted, people may stay up late and wake up later than usual, meals overlap, and it's often convenient to visit relatives during Tet, so eating schedules are very irregular.
Remember to drink water regularly, as frequent travel and the cold, dry weather during Tet can easily dehydrate you. Dehydration and sluggish eating habits during Tet can lead to constipation afterward, and nobody wants to feel sluggish and have too many toxins at the beginning of the year.
Constantly consuming sweets, candies, and melon seeds diminishes appetite for main meals. The body is continuously supplied with carbohydrates, leading to lethargy, imbalance, and occasional unexplained drops in blood sugar.
The numerous year-end parties, with their similar dishes and excessive meat and fish, leave the body feeling heavy and sluggish because the digestive system has been working continuously all day.
The Lunar New Year holiday is usually a time when all buying and selling activities come to a halt. People develop the habit of stocking up on food for the few days of the holiday to ensure their families always have enough to eat.
To preserve food for a long time, proper storage methods are necessary, which is why interesting and unique dishes like jam, pickled vegetables, cured meat, sticky rice cake (bánh tét), beef sausage (chả bò), and braised pork (thịt kho tàu) have been created. These dishes can be stored for extended periods thanks to the sugar and salt used to inhibit bacteria in the food.
However, excessive and continuous consumption of sweets and candies during Tet (Lunar New Year) is the biggest cause of a double whammy: loss of appetite, weight gain, and severe micronutrient deficiencies. The pressure of returning to work after Tet with depleted nutrition and low spirits is an alarming reality for many people.
Therefore, try to limit the amount of traditional New Year's sweets and preserves. In the offering tray, add some more nutritious foods such as nuts: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, dried fruits like raisins and jackfruit, and low-sugar preserves like grapefruit peel... to create a more balanced New Year's offering tray, giving both hosts and guests more choices.
How to choose foods to maintain balance.
Eating processed foods continuously during Tet (Lunar New Year) leads to serious nutritional imbalances. Therefore, try to have one fresh, delicious meal each day, perhaps in the evening, after all the day's activities are over.
A nutritious meal for Tet includes fresh meat and fish (which can be frozen), a variety of colorful green vegetables, and some root vegetables like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins. Vegetables harvested in the spring, especially cruciferous vegetables, are very nutritious due to their longer growing time and less susceptibility to pests and diseases compared to summer.
We have a tradition of eating banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) and pickled vegetables (dua mon) - which is also a good habit. Pickled vegetables, or pickled onions, are a method of fermenting vegetables such as carrots, onions, and shallots... similar to pickled cabbage, and are very good for the digestive system. Pickled vegetables can provide beneficial bacteria and balance out factors that disrupt the gut balance such as alcohol, beer, and sweets.
Sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng and bánh tét) are made with a lot of glutinous rice and have a high glycemic index, making them easy to eat and causing bloating. Therefore, eating them with pickled vegetables is a good combination, making them easier to digest. Hence the saying: "Fatty meat, pickled onions, red couplets / Tall pole, firecrackers, green sticky rice cakes."
To reduce the burden on your digestive system, you can practice intermittent fasting during the Lunar New Year holidays. Try to finish your dinner the night before as early as possible before bedtime, then gradually postpone breakfast until almost noon, extending the fasting period from the previous night. Instead of three main meals, you might only have two main meals and other snacks or treats during the holiday.
This active and planned fasting will give your body a chance to rest, increase metabolism, and burn excess body fat. You can also use coconut oil or sesame oil to supplement your energy throughout the day.
Let's celebrate Tet in a relaxed, fulfilling, yet fresh way, instead of repeating the same old routines year after year! Paying more attention to our Tet eating habits will help us have a truly joyful and energetic holiday!
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/an-gi-cho-tet-dung-ue-oai-3147839.html
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