(Dan Tri) - During Tet, attending meetings and parties with many attractive traditional dishes makes it difficult for people with chronic diseases to "resolutely" maintain their usual diet.
Dr. Luu Ngan Tam, Head of the Department of Nutrition, Cho Ray Hospital (HCMC), said that for people with chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease or chronic kidney disease, etc., balancing nutrition in the diet plays a very important role.
Specifically, balanced nutrition helps patients improve their health and avoid possible complications.
However, during Tet, attending gatherings and parties with many attractive traditional dishes makes it difficult for patients to "resolutely" maintain their usual diet.
Tet is a time when parties often take place (Illustration: Hoang Le).
Moderate "classic" Tet dishes
According to Dr. Tam, during the traditional Tet holiday, the dishes are essentially not much different from normal days. However, in terms of nutrition, people with special underlying medical conditions, who are required by their treating doctors to eat bland foods and not salty foods, need to pay close attention to some dishes.
Typically, pickled vegetables and pickled cabbage have a very high salt content. Patients can still eat them, but in moderation, to "add flavor" to the happy atmosphere of Tet.
With banh chung and banh tet, depending on taste, some people will make it bland, some will make it quite salty. Those with cardiovascular disease or chronic diseases should eat in moderation to avoid gaining too much weight, because the filling of banh tet and banh chung often has a lot of fatty meat.
"This year, the Tet holiday lasts 9 days. If we eat continuously, it will affect fat metabolism, blood pressure or unwanted weight gain, which will also affect our health," Dr. Tam analyzed.
In particular, for people with diabetes, doctors advise controlling the amount of starch (especially sticky rice, because sticky rice contains more starch than rice), because it will cause blood sugar to increase. People with diabetes should also not use foods and drinks that are high in sugar.
People with diabetes must control the amount of starch they consume during Tet (Illustration: Hoang Le).
Similarly, with dishes like ham and sausage, the salt content is quite high, so patients should only eat in moderation. With braised pork, only eat the lean part, and can eat 1-2 eggs with it...
In particular, patients need to take enough medication and not skip meals. For example, people with diabetes, even if they take blood sugar lowering medication regularly but skip meals, are still at risk of hypoglycemia, leading to dangerous health events.
Pay attention to food storage time, eat lots of green vegetables
During Tet, people with chronic diseases who have to travel a lot should bring with them appropriate supplements for their illness, such as: milk for people with cardiovascular disease; milk and cakes for diabetic patients, or cooked food in boxes.
However, according to nutritionists, if stored at normal temperature, it should not be left for more than 2 hours, because food can easily spoil, accidentally causing food poisoning to the patient.
Nutritionally controlled meals for patients at Cho Ray Hospital (Photo: Hospital).
Another case is when patients go to relatives' or friends' houses to have fun or celebrate Tet, they must also control their nutrition like every day, eat in moderation, and prioritize fresh vegetables.
"People with diabetes should eat vegetables first, then eat banh chung, banh tet or foods high in cholesterol... We should focus on eating lots of fresh vegetables to reduce the risk of metabolic disorders during Tet," Dr. Luu Ngan Tam instructed.
Doctors recommend eating green vegetables before eating protein and starch (Illustration: Tu Anh).
The doctor concluded that people with chronic diseases do not need to be too stressed when eating during Tet. However, as mentioned, dishes need to be used in moderation, changing the way of preparation appropriately so that patients can have a complete and happy spring with their family.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/nhung-mon-an-hap-dan-ngay-tet-can-luu-y-khi-thuong-thuc-20250125113843542.htm
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