《吴希素营养师专栏》农历年健康小秘诀

新年期间有不少精致 及传统的节日美食吸引我们的食慾。要在中国新年时节的饮食上轻松过关就要稍作筹谋了。以下有8个小秘诀，助你能在新春期间也能维持健 康：

* 从全盒内挑选些低脂 ﹑低糖和低盐的健康小吃﹐例如果乾﹐杏脯﹐无盐果子等

* 控制份量: 品嚐不同款式的菜，可是不要太过开怀大吃 ，过量的品嚐会失去控制﹐每款浅嚐一口就足够了。

* 改良煮食方式: 预备丰富佳肴的时候，不妨试用比较低油低脂的煮食方式﹐例如蒸或烤焗。

* 拉上补下: 吃了一顿丰富的佳肴，下一餐就要以清淡的食物为主来让肠胃休息，以 “ 取 ” 和 “ 舍 ” 来达到吸收不过量的目标。

* 多吃高纤维食物: 菜肴内多放蔬菜﹐用膳时多吃蔬菜。蔬菜纤维成份高﹐不但容易有饱足感﹐对大肠也有清扫的作用。

* 避免吃得太多: 尽量少吃肉食﹐多喝水。多吃水果也能帮助避免吃得过饱。

* 只吃七分饱: 七分饱应该是每一餐的标准。

* 不要吸收超过 100 卡路里 - 要减重的朋友要紧记每天小吃的摄取量不要超过 100 卡路里。

Healthy Eating Tips for Lunar New Year

With all the festive foods around, how do we stay controlled and still be a healthy-eater? Here are 8 helpful tips (8 is always a lucky number and it symbolizes wealth):

* Look for healthy alternatives: replace some of the high fat and sugary (empty calorie) items from your “Tray of Togetherness” with some healthy snacks choices such as: rice crackers, dried fruits such as apricots, wolfberries, cranberries, dates, blueberries; UNSALTED nuts such as almonds, walnuts etc which will provide more fiber, calcium, DHA.

* Portion Control: since dried fruits still are concentrated in sugar and all nuts and seeds are high in fat, for those who have high blood sugar and needs to control their weight, portion control is utmost important. For example, limit yourself to only one to two tablespoon of melon seeds or nuts a day.

* Modify food preparations: when preparing the turnip cake, try to replace the traditional preserved meat and sausage with Chinese mushroom, dried scallops and dried baby shrimps to lower the saturated fat content. Try steaming the turnip cake instead of pan-frying. For “neen gow”, use microwave to first warm it up and then use non-stick pan to panfry with just 1 teaspoon of oil. Baking is also a good option.

* Compensation: when eating the sticky rice cakes and turnip cakes in between meals as snacks, try to reduce the portions of grains and oilintake in the next meal.

* Go for high Fiber foods: use more high fiber ingredients in the meaty dishes. Ingredients like black fungus, different types of mushrooms, and vegetables. Always start with vegetables.

* Drink lots of liquid: before a big festive meal, always drink enough water, and try to have a fruit before you go to avoid overeating at the meal. For the Chinese, tea drinking is very popular. Not only is tea (without sugar) a healthy beverage, it is also helpful in easing the sensation of greasiness from all the dishes and snacks.

* Save some room: Always eat up to only 70% of fullness.

* 100 kcal rule: If you’re watching your weight, try not to exceed 100 kcal from snacks (candies, sweets, cookies, nuts, seeds, etc) a day.