"Moderation and variety in food": Russian endocrinologist - about the New Year's menu and proper nutrition on holidays

- Each house has its own New Year's preferences, traditions, but is it possible to give the most general, universal nutrition tips on these holidays ?

- New Year's holidays are always a feast. My advice to everyone: “Eat, but in moderation!” You should not give up your favorite foods because of their calorie content, it is enough to observe moderation in food, adhere to variety in food and properly distribute its receptions throughout the day so as not to harm health. The daily rate, of course, everyone has their own, and depends on gender, weight, age and physical activity. There are certain formulas for calculating the calorie intake. On average, this is not more than 30 kcal per 1 kg of body weight per day.

- What dishes and their combinations are the most harmful? Conversely, name the most wholesome food.

- New Year's diet can be varied. Let there be more vegetables, fruits, light salads on the table, and fatty, fried, smoked foods - in a minimal amount.

Try not to buy ready-made food in supermarkets - in most cases, it will not add health. It is not known what composition it really is, what freshness it is. Cooking is best at home using natural products. Moreover, the simpler the food, the better.

- You mentioned salads, and these are just complex, multi-component dishes. What then to do with the same popularly beloved Olivier salad?

- On New Year's Eve, Olivier salad in Russia is used to cooking in huge quantities: housewives expect to feed them at least three days. It’s better to cook it a little, which is called “two potatoes”, to eat at a time. So you save yourself from the extra "mayonnaise" calories. It will be even better if you yourself prepare salad dressing from low-fat yogurt, mustard and herbs. It will be tasty, airy, without stabilizers, thickeners and flavor enhancers. Light vegetable salads seasoned with such a sauce or olive oil are much healthier than with mayonnaise. They diversify the table and do not overload the body with excess fats.

- Recently, the media voiced the opinion that of all New Year’s dishes, the salad “Herring under a fur coat” is especially harmful ...

- “Herring under a fur coat” is a salad popularly beloved, and we don’t have to leave our eating habits and festive feast traditions at all.

However, it should be borne in mind that if a lot of mayonnaise is added to the salad, and the herring is too salty, then it really can cause exacerbation in people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or increase the level of blood pressure in hypertensive patients. But if a healthy person eats a small portion, then this delicious classic dish will not harm health. Measure is the key to food safety.

• Salad "Herring under a fur coat"
• globallookpress.com
• © Pravda Komsomolskaya / Russian Look

- On New Year's Eve, children are usually given a large number of sweets and other sweets. How do you feel about such gifts?

- Sweets and sweets are only part of the celebration, and obviously not the main one. Let's not remove gifts with sweets from the New Year’s ritual, but parents must control how many sweets the children eat. If a healthy child without excess weight will jump and dance under the Christmas tree, then these sweets "burn" in the child's body quickly enough.

But I recommend excluding sugary and carbonated drinks, and not only for children. There is no benefit from them, they do not quench thirst, but they contribute to an increase in body weight. It is much more pleasant and useful to drink freshly squeezed orange or, for example, grapefruit juice. You can make a mix - add carrot or celery juices to them. Such drinks, especially those with pulp, will be well perceived by the body and will not cause any harm to health. And, of course, I recommend drinking ordinary water at least two liters per day.

- What kind of diet do you recommend to observe during the celebration?

- Treat December 31 as a normal day. Do not give up breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps it is during the departing year that it is better to eat Olivier salad and other hearty dishes. But to celebrate the New Year is just with a glass of champagne, fruits, light salads. On New Year's Eve, it is advisable not to lean on high-calorie foods.

- Probably, people who do not follow these recommendations get to your center after the New Year ?

- As a rule, we are contacted by patients who have already repeatedly tried to lose weight on their own or have been “treated” by popular Instagram doctors. In most cases, these are patients with severe obesity and severe concomitant diseases - diabetes, heart problems and blood vessels.

A comprehensive program for the treatment of obesity is used in our center, a team of highly qualified specialists is working: nutritionists, psychologists, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, somnologists. After a thorough examination, we draw up an individual treatment program.

- Let's talk about alcoholic beverages. What is better to drink on New Year's Eve?

- Alcohol is a fairly high-calorie product. 1 g of pure alcohol contains 7 kcal, which is comparable to one 1 g of fat, which contains 9 kcal. One glass (50 g) of such spirits as vodka, cognac, whiskey, already contains about 180 kcal. Less caloric dry wine. For example, 100 g of dry white or red wine contains approximately 64 kcal. To celebrate the New Year, the best drink is brut champagne, since it is the least high-calorie one. You can afford to drink a few glasses.

Very high-calorie drinks are liqueurs and sweet cocktails, which today are often consumed by young people. They can not be abused, because they contain strong alcohol and sugar in the form of syrups, and this leads to weight gain.

• © Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA News

- On January 1, most Russians begin full-fledged New Year holidays. Need to move more or less during the holidays? How dangerous is it to give physical activity to the body immediately after eating?

- In the morning of January 1, I advise you to have breakfast easily and go out for a walk, move around, walk in the fresh air. At lunch, you can eat the remaining salads, and before dinner, go for a walk or visit again. For dinner, it is better not to overload the body, eat some kind of light food. If there are problems with the gastrointestinal tract, it is best to arrange an unloading of the body the next day. Drink kefir, cook porridge in skim milk or water, light chicken broth. The main thing is not to overload the body with excess calories and, of course, move more.

Walking in the fresh air is very useful - try to take 10-15 thousand steps daily. If possible, visit fitness clubs, ice rinks, think over cultural and sports programs, as they save you from physical inactivity, and compensate for the lack of movement on weekdays.