How to eat banh chung on Tet holiday for diabetics

Diabetics should only eat banh chung in an amount about the size of a fist for one meal. They should eat vegetables before eating banh chung to avoid increasing blood sugar.

Banh chung and banh tet are traditional Vietnamese cakes during Tet. Banh chung has the aroma of new sticky rice, green beans, onions and pork. Sticky and fragrant banh tet has many fillings such as fatty meat, lean meat, banana, coconut, peanuts, green beans... These two typical cakes have the main ingredient of whole sticky rice, wrapped in banana leaves or dong leaves and boiled for a long time.

Many diabetics like to eat banh chung and banh tet but are worried that the starch and spices will affect their health.

Dr. Truong Thi Vanh Khuyen, Department of Endocrinology - Diabetes, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, noted that diabetics need to control the amount of carbohydrates (starch, sugar) in their diet. If a patient consumes a lot of carbohydrates (the basic ingredient in food that the body uses to create energy), these carbohydrates are converted into sugar and cause hyperglycemia. Carbohydrates are divided into two types: fast-absorbing carbohydrates and slow-absorbing carbohydrates.

Diabetics can eat a handful of banh chung per meal. Photo: Freepik — Diabetics can eat a handful of banh chung for each meal. Photo: *Freepik*

Rice, banh chung, banh tet belong to the group of slow-absorbing carbohydrates. However, if the patient eats more rice, banh chung, banh tet than the doctor's instructions, it will increase blood sugar. If the doctor instructs the patient to eat only one bowl of rice, the carbohydrate energy in rice is equivalent to that in banh chung, banh tet. Patients who want to switch from eating rice to eating banh chung, banh tet should only eat an equivalent amount. If you have eaten banh chung, you should not eat rice that meal.

To enjoy the traditional cake of the Vietnamese New Year, patients can use the hand recipe. Each meal can eat a portion of Banh Chung the size of a hand. If you have eaten Banh Chung, you should not eat rice or other starches in the same meal.

Doctor Khuyen advises diabetics to eat vegetables first, then eat banh chung, banh tet or starch, meat, fish... This method helps blood sugar increase more slowly after eating.

Fast-absorbing carbohydrates are found in ripe fruits, soft drinks, cakes, candies, and jams because they contain glucose and fructose. When choosing foods, patients should follow their doctor's instructions to better control blood sugar.

Doctor Khuyen recommends that diabetics should eat three main meals and limit snacking because most of the cakes and jams during Tet increase blood sugar, so when snacking, pay attention to reducing the amount of starch in the main meal. Do not snack many times a day, do not skip meals, avoid staying up late, and avoid drinking alcohol because it increases blood sugar, affecting the treatment results.

Patients should spend at least 30 minutes a day exercising with simple exercises at home or walking or cycling to help control blood sugar better.

Dinh Tien

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