Five main rules for a New Year's feast: how to eat and drink without feeling sick?

One of the main signs of the approaching New Year is a rich table . Housewives try to cook as much as possible, following the sign: how you celebrate this holiday is how you will spend the next 12 months. And, of course, everyone wants to surprise guests with something special. But doctors remind: a variety of salads and hot dishes, smoked and pickled foods, desserts,ALCOHOL can be a real test for the body! A hygienist names five main rules for a New Year's feast.

The menu for a festive feast should be thought out in advance to include a rational set of products, notes Elena Chepeleva, a hygienist at the sanitary and epidemiological department of the State Institution "Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Leninsky District of Minsk". She recommends not to serve meats and other dishes that contain a lot of fat and carbohydrates as a main course.

- The thing is that at night the body is not at all set to digest heavy food, - explains Elena Nikolaevna. - Therefore, it is better to give preference to lean beef, veal, chicken or turkey, fish. You should be careful with duck and goose, which are traditional for the Christmas table, but very rich in fat. If you cannot imagine the holiday without this dish, then cook the bird with apples and cereals, which absorb excess fat well. In addition, when you think over the menu, keep in mind that it is better to bake the products, not fry them.

One of the main problems of the New Year's feast from a doctor's point of view is the abundance of fatty, salty, fried, smoked and sweet foods. Although it will be better for the body if you start the festive dinner with a light vegetable salad dressed with vegetable oil. The fiber, which is abundant in such a dish, will not only give a feeling of satiety, but also help in the digestion of heavier dishes. A little trick for those who plan to spend the night from December 31 to January 1 visiting and know for sure that the host will only have mayonnaise salads on the table: take a vegetable salad with you. Firstly, it is not customary to visit empty-handed, and secondly, you will make the festive table more varied.

- As for salad dressings, mayonnaise is considered a classic here , although it is not the best option for such feasts due to its high fat and calorie content. It is better to prepare your own dressing based on vegetable oils - sunflower, olive. However, if you still decide to have a salad with mayonnaise or another sauce, remember: this dish spoils quickly, so you should not keep it on the table for hours, although the New Year's celebration lasts a long time. Store such salads in the refrigerator, - recommends Elena Chepeleva.

For dessert, the DOCTOR advises limiting yourself to fruit. But if you really want something sweet, then choose those made from cottage cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese - they will definitely be light.

Elena Nikolaevna considers this rule to be almost the main one. She emphasizes: under no circumstances should you sit down at the New Year's table hungry!

- You shouldn't wait all day for a festive dinner. Don't skip breakfast, lunch and light snacks! Eat as you would any other day. In this case, the chance of overeating is practically zero, - the doctor explains.

Once you sit down at the table, do not rush to try everything at once. Remember that the feeling of satiety comes in 10-20 minutes. By the way, hostesses can help their guests not to overeat: just put out the prepared dishes in small portions. The fact is that a mountain of salad in a salad bowl motivates those sitting at the table to put it on their plate again and again.

The "one plate rule" works flawlessly on such holidays - you can put any dishes on it, but in small quantities, stretching this portion out over the entire feast.

- Otherwise, the consequences of the holiday can be unpleasant: from a feeling of heaviness and discomfort in the stomach, nausea when overeating to toxic liver damage, pancreatic pathology, cardiovascular disorders and much more, - warns Elena Chepeleva.

The feast should not be postponed until the last hours of the outgoing year. Elena Nikolaevna suggests starting dinner with the main hot dish a little later than the usual time, but before 21:00-22:00. And for the immediate New Year's Eve and the first hours of 2025, it is better to leave only salads, light snacks and desserts.

- Plan your last meal 2-3 hours before bedtime, so it is wiser to sit down to the table earlier on New Year's Eve. In this case, you will not go to bed with a full stomach and will not wake up in the morning feeling that you have eaten too much. This way, the holiday will last longer! - the hygienist notes.

If you cannot refuse alcohol at the festive table, remember: the amount you drink is crucial for your well-being. In addition, it is not recommended to mix different alcoholic drinks - this increases intoxication. Combining grape alcohol ( wine , champagne, cognac) with grain (vodka, whiskey, gin) or cane (tequila, rum, sambuca) in one glass will lead to severe intoxication. Alternating different types of alcoholic drinks is also undesirable. As well as washing down alcohol with sweet soda. In addition, Elena Chepeleva recommends: do not overdo it with toasts!

- The effect of ethanol begins approximately 10-15 minutes after its consumption. Accordingly, the break between toasts should be no less, - she notes.

The doctor also draws attention to the fact that the combination of large amounts of fatty foods and alcohol can lead to an exacerbation of calculous cholecystitis, the development of acute pancreatitis and hepatitis.

- It is also better not to drink large amounts of packaged juices, sweet carbonated drinks and champagne. They significantly increase the level of glucose in the blood and can cause bloating, - Elena Nikolaevna clarifies.

She reminded that alcoholic drinks are high in calories, and sweet ones are twice as high. In addition, alcohol increases appetite, so there is a risk of eating more than desired, without even realizing it.

Those who feel strong enough to abstain from alcohol on New Year's Eve are advised to put unsweetened juices (for example, orange), fruit drinks, still mineral water or strong black tea with SUGAR and lemon on the table. Fans of sweet soda can take on board a simple recipe for its healthier analogue: if you dilute juice with carbonated water, you will get almost the same taste.

Elena Chepeleva recommends preparing just enough treats for the New Year's table so that you won't have to finish them for several days. This is especially true for perishable MEAT, poultry, egg dishes, salads, pates, puddings and creamy sweets.

- The shelf life of cakes and pastries with cream is counted in hours. But by the time it comes to dessert, usually all the guests are full, so its tasting smoothly shifts to January 1. A good alternative to cakes and pastries are chocolates and fruits , - the doctor points out.

If there is something left over from the New Year's table and you are planning to have it for lunch, remember: you need to reheat the dishes very carefully, practically bringing them to a boil. Or better yet, cook the simplest, but freshest.

| Elena Ivashko, newspaper "7 days". Photo from open Internet sources.

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