Healthy eating during festive season
There are certain times of the year that are more difficult than others to stick to healthy eating, and the Christmas season also called festive is certainly no exception. The season is characterised with so many celebrations such as wedding, house warming, birthdays, Christmas Carol and other forms of party especially in Nigeria where a […]
There are certain times of the year that are more difficult than others to stick to healthy eating, and the Christmas season also called festive is certainly no exception. The season is characterised with so many celebrations such as wedding, house warming, birthdays, Christmas Carol and other forms of party especially in Nigeria where a whole lot is celebrated with lots of food to eat and drink.
While we cannot always escape the temptations and cannot always keep ourselves from being surrounded by unhealthy choices, we must understand that a healthy diet helps to maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, micronutrients, and adequate calories.
Food poison skyrockets during the festive season because of the way people consume all manner of food and drink in the spirit of celebration thereby making the festive part of the year most feverish when more people suffer from food poisoning at Christmas than any other time.
According to the Food Safety Information Council (FSIC), Christmas time presents a DEFCON 1 level of risk factors to get sick: there’s a large amount of food, a distinct lack of fridge space and entire generations of families to wipe out.
Report of stooling, stomach upsets and food poisoning are often heard during this season due to how people consume all manner of food including junks and alcohol that are not good for heathy living.
The Executive Secretary, Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Mrs Beatrice Eluaka said, nutrition entails what people need to eat for good health and the children who are still growing, for them to be able to grow well.
She said, during festive season, people are tempted to eat all kind of things including sweet cakes and others that are not recommended for the body. “That is not to say we should not treat ourselves to all those things but we should do it in moderation. There is no harm in taking a piece of cake but do make it a habit because too much sweet is not good for health.”
Mrs Eluaka said we need to be careful about drinks, whether they are alcoholic or soda explaining that they only give us calories and energy and no good nutrient, just sugar. “Too much of drink causes diabetic and other issues. Adopt eating more of vegetables and fruits and we must take it easy with starch and other food class.”
She advised further against carbonated drinks that we take adding though fruits juice are better but it must be taken in moderation because the body has a way of converting even the sugar into fat and store them in the body and we gain a lot of weight which is not good for our body. “For those that are prone to diabetes they must watch the kind of drink they take.”
The nutritionist also advised against skipping meals while saying that for instance, if you skip breakfast, there is the tendency to eat more at the next meal. “Taking time to plan our meal will help a lot. Start your day with breakfast and then you do every other thing in moderation.”
Mrs Eluaka advised that we should eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean poultry (chicken have removed the skin), plenty of grains especially whole grain, low fat or fat free dairy food, sea food, lean poultry, and others. Limit amount of fat and things that contain cholesterol, limit salt intake. Be mindful of how much sugar you take and limit alcohol. Exercise regularly to burn off calories.”
A nurse at Kuje General Hopsital, Mrs Remilekun Allison said, the Christmas season is a time when people eat anything and everything they see because we are in festive period but it is very important for us to take note of the kind of food we eat to avoid health issue.
She said unhealthy eating have negative effect on our health. “For instance, alcohol majorly have negative effect on our body system because it depress the central nervous system even for a very healthy person talk less of those with special health challenge. Consumption of alcohol does not give one good sense of judgment if it is consumed too much. For those that are sick like the hypertensive patients consumption of alcohol makes the drugs they are taking inactive, Therefore, it will not give them the optimal quality they need to live healthy.”
“Vegetables and fruits are very good for our health. Take a lot of water juice and carbonated drinks, they have negative effects on our kidney. If you must take juice, you can opt for home made ones instead of packaged ones we buy from the stores.”
Mrs Allison also said it is in our own interest to restrict our children from eating in unhealthy manner because they are prone to diseases just like adults. “Parents should be able to discuss with their children the side effects of carbonated drinks and unhealthy foods consumption. You can always prepare whatever you need to give the children from the house.”
According to her, people tend to have problem of stooling and constipation during this season due to consumption of some unwholesome foods. “For the stooling, there is something that is call ‘food poison’, it is not as if somebody put poison in the food but somehow, during the processing of the food there is contamination along the line and this can prone someone to react to the food.”
We must ensure that we separate raw from cooked food to avoid contamination that can lead to food poisoning and hospitalisation. Make certain that the food is clean when you are preparing it and have a separate cutting board for meats and vegetables. You also need to constantly wash your hands while cooking,” she said.
Mrs Allison advised that we should take a lot of water and make fruits and vegetable our number one friend while adding that there is a saying that consuming an apple a day makes you to stay away from the physician.