Traditional Tet meals can be nutritious and beneficial for bones and joints with just a small change in food choices such as fish and olive oil.
Banh chung, banh tet, braised pork with eggs, gio cha, nem ran, jams, nuts... are indispensable dishes in Vietnamese families' Tet meals. However, according to Master, Doctor, Doctor Dinh Pham Thi Thuy Van, Orthopedic Trauma Center, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, these foods increase the risk of musculoskeletal diseases.
High starch content from rice and sticky rice dishes can easily cause excess energy while the need and frequency of movement during Tet is not high. Bad fats from fatty meat and hydrogenated vegetable oils destroy vitamin K, a vitamin necessary for strong bones.
The habit of cooking food with a lot of oil and fat increases cholesterol, making the ends of bones more susceptible to wear and tear, leading to arthritis. In addition, adding a lot of salt also increases the risk of losing calcium from the bones. This is one of the causes of reduced bone density, increasing the risk of osteoporosis, especially in the elderly.
Doctor Van consults on a patient's health condition. Photo : Provided by the hospital
Dr. Van said that a healthy diet helps build a strong musculoskeletal system. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on building a balanced diet of macronutrients including starch, protein, good fats, and supplementing foods rich in vitamin D, vitamin K, calcium and collagen.
Here are some simple tips to make your Tet meals good for your bones and joints.
Use lean meat, less fat : Fatty meat contains a lot of saturated fat - a bad type of fat that destroys vitamin K, reducing bone strength. Choosing lean meat not only helps reduce the absorption of bad fat but also increases the amount of protein in each meal. Providing adequate protein increases the effectiveness of calcium absorption, making bones stronger.
Choosing the right foods makes Tet meals more delicious and healthy. Photo: Freepik
Replace pork with fish in the stuffed bitter melon soup: Fish all provide more omega 3 than other animal meat sources. Omega 3 helps reduce the risk of common bone and joint diseases such as arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Using olive oil for cooking : Studies have shown that using olive oil in moderation has the effect of optimizing bone density and stimulating bone growth, effectively preventing osteoporosis.
Replace melon seeds and sunflower seeds with nuts that are good for bones and joints such as walnuts, flax seeds, almonds, and cashews. These are all nuts that contain many antioxidants and help reduce bone and joint pain. Walnuts contain a large amount of omega 3, which is recommended by health experts for daily use to improve health.
Hong Phuc
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