How to enjoy delicious Tet (Lunar New Year) dishes without worrying about gaining weight.

Important habits

The Lunar New Year is also a time when feasts are more frequent, leading us to eat more. This excess energy is converted into stored fat under the skin, resulting in rapid weight gain.

In addition, many people tend to be less active during holidays. Reduced physical activity is equivalent to burning fewer calories daily, leading to increased fat accumulation.

According to experts, maintaining a balanced diet during the Lunar New Year holiday is very important.

According to Dr. Truong Hong Son, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, maintaining a balanced diet during Tet (Lunar New Year) is very important. Therefore, everyone should maintain the following eating habits to minimize the risk of weight gain:

- You should eat regularly and on time for your meals, maintaining the habit of eating meals at the same time each day. This is a good way to avoid overeating, because when you miss a meal, you tend to eat more at the next meal to satisfy your hunger.

- Eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and eat until you are no longer hungry but feel comfortably full, avoiding overeating. Increase your intake of healthy foods such as lean meats, fresh fruits, green vegetables, and whole grains rich in fiber. Add healthy fats from sources like avocados and nuts such as almonds, cashews, and walnuts to your diet.

- During a meal, you should eat vegetables first, then other food items, and finally rice.

- Limit your consumption of animal-derived foods high in cholesterol (fatty meat, lard, butter, animal organs, etc.). Limit fried foods, as high temperatures can destroy unsaturated fatty acids.

- Limit salty foods: When preparing traditional Tet dishes, consider using less salt and less fish sauce or soy sauce for dipping.

- Limit foods and drinks with added sugar. These include cakes, candies, jams, soft drinks, and dishes that contain a lot of added sugar during cooking, etc.

- Limit alcohol, beer, tobacco, and stimulants.

Furthermore, Dr. Son stated that studies show that if you stop exercising, your body will weaken after a few weeks. Therefore, the correct approach is to maintain moderate exercise during holidays instead of stopping completely.

People can choose forms of exercise such as outdoor workouts if the weather is nice. If the weather is not favorable, you can exercise indoors with on-the-spot exercises, squats, planks, Tai Chi, yoga, sit-ups, etc.

If you're busy during Tet, you can break up your workouts, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon, avoiding exercising on an empty stomach or immediately after eating… make sure each session lasts 30 minutes. Or you should take advantage of opportunities to exercise whenever possible, such as doing housework, cooking, cleaning…

Secrets to eating banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) without gaining weight.

To enjoy sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng) during Tet without gaining weight, nutritionist Truong Hong Son advises against eating fried sticky rice cakes because they tend to accumulate a lot of fat. Eating too much can cause bloating, indigestion, and lead to rapid weight gain.

Fried sticky rice cakes should be avoided to prevent the accumulation of excess fat.

To reduce the calorie intake from sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng), you should only eat them for breakfast or lunch. After eating, increased physical activity will help burn off some of the fat in the cake. Avoid eating sticky rice cakes for dinner as they can cause bloating, indigestion, and insomnia. Each time you eat, limit yourself to about 100g of the cake, which is about 1/10 of a whole sticky rice cake.

If you've already eaten banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake), you shouldn't eat other starchy foods like rice, sticky rice, or bread. Consuming too much starch in one meal can lead to weight gain and obesity.

Eating sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng) usually makes you feel very full. Therefore, you shouldn't eat too much of it, as it's not good for your digestive system. Especially during Tet (Vietnamese New Year), if you don't want to gain weight, you should avoid foods high in fat and oil.

Eating banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) with green vegetables is an excellent source of fiber, which helps the digestive system function better. You can eat banh chung with pickled vegetables like pickled onions and cucumbers; however, these foods are not suitable for people with kidney disease, diabetes, etc.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/cach-thuong-thuc-mon-ngon-ngay-tet-ma-khong-so-tang-can-192240212071924538.htm