Feasting advice this CNY

this festive season? Welcoming to the show, Doctor Carl Tan co-founder and consultant at Novi Health. This is Health matters, Doctor Tan. Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining me. I, I think it's our first time chatting, isn't it? Possibly? Yes, it is. I always pride myself on the fact that I think I've spoken to every doctor in Singapore and then I'm constantly reminded, there are always new young doctors coming out on the scene. That's fantastic. Thanks for being here. Hey,

so let's start talking about this period. Festive eating. It really is. It is a legitimate health issue sometimes, right? It can have knock on effects. Potentially, it's not just a, once a year, once a year, it's fine, that kind of thing. Definitely. Definitely. I think um, well, there are many festive periods during the year. Right. It's not, it's always Christmas, then there's New Year's, then there's Chinese New Year, then there's Harry. So it's always something happening every year, given

the multicultural society that we're in. So we still need to pay attention even though it's just a short period of time because there will be long term effects if we are not careful with what we do. You guys know we work a lot with patients with diabetes or chronic health issues with weight concerns as well. What are some of the top tips and medical advice that you all can hand out when it comes to exercising restraint during festive snacking periods in particular.

Yeah, this is a tough one during the festive period. What we're trying to do is really catch up with our friends, our loved ones, our family. It's a, it's a time of cheer and food is always a gel that brings all of us together, right? With Chinese New Year in particular, there are so many goodies. These snacks are usually high in calorie, high in sugar. So it's quite difficult. Good stuff. Always is damn it. I always is. I don't know why one day do make a healthy snack. That is good. I'm sure.

Yeah, that's well, I'm waiting for that as well too. Yeah. So um I think there are a few tips. I mean, here in no be health, we always like to give very practical tips that we can implement. Right. No point knowing what's the best thing to do, but you can't implement it so few things. So these snacks, they're definitely high in calories and sugar is not so good for health. So the challenge is how do you then still be able to

enjoy in moderation? So it's all about portion control and potentially switching, switching out some of them into healthier snacks. So I'll start with the healthier snacks. That's a little bit easier. There are some options during Chinese New Year that may be a little bit healthier compared to your pineapple tarts, your B one. So that will be things. Oranges and water. That's it. Yeah, you got, you got me there, Daniel, there's oranges,

there's water, perhaps, you know, watermelon seeds. Those are, you know, the ones, the little black things, those are pretty healthy. Surprisingly KB, it is maybe slightly low in calorie and sugar as well. So those are probably some of the healthier options that you can maybe, you know, gear towards if you're not feeling so sneakish at that point in time. But I think with everything else, it's about moderation and there are a few tips that I can give

maybe for all of us trying to resist. So first thing I think, plan ahead Right. You may know that you're doing maybe five house visits and you're going to be a five different places throughout the day. Plan ahead and think about what is it that I enjoy eating? Save your calories for the snacks that you truly enjoy so that you don't overeat if you're gonna make it worth it. Right. It better be something that,

yeah, exactly. You know, like not all b is the same also if you know that this friend has a really good b save that space for that so that you're still controlling your portions and not wasting your calories or your sugar on something that's maybe not so tasty. I think the second thing that you can do also planning ahead is try to have a little bit of snacks before a healthy snacks at home before you go out.

So for example, maybe have some food, have a yogurt that's low in sugar that keeps you like less hungry. So that when you go out visiting, you're still able to enjoy some of these snacks. But if you're ravishing, you're really hungry, you're going to end up eating a lot of snacks and that's not what we want. It's very easy to just pop one pineapple tart after pineapple tart and before you know it, you finished the whole

t that's all what you want. So really, I think keeping yourself some full before you even go out, that's gonna be helpful as well. And then lastly, I think making sure that you stay hydrated water actually has a good effect on keeping us full as well. If you're taking water constantly, that's actually going to help you also snack a little bit less when you're at someone's house, it reduces i having a lot of hydration. It can help a little bit if,

if you're having water. So, in between your snacks, if you're taking a little of that, that's actually going to help you to moderate how much snacks you're taking as well. So something you can consider asking your host for water and I'll bring a bottle of water with you if you're visiting. Yeah, definitely great idea there rather than reaching out for the, there will be multiple can does and everybody's house as well.

But as we know, you know, one diabetes, we're cutting down our sugary drinks intake, bring the water bottle with you. Sounds like a good idea. Having said that there's another war that's happening in Singapore and that's been announced how we really have to take a sense of urgency when it comes to our sodium intake and a lot of these snacks, baked goods and a

lot of the fried stuff that's gonna have sodium. So any top tips in terms of making sure that like you said, you know, pick your poison in a way, you know, make sure you know what you're reaching out for and some low hanging fruit that you can get rid of, maybe get rid of. So how can we reduce our salt intake sodium especially? Yeah. So that's a very, very good point. I think one thing that people don't realize like during Chinese New Year steamboat and hot pot is one of the key

things that people enjoy. And that has the potential to really drive out how much sodium you're taking in a few different ways. Right. So firstly, I think the soup itself, the soup base, if you're buying store, bought soup, you know, as a soup base that generally tends to be quite high in sodium. So one thing if you're doing that, if you're in charge of preparation, try to choose the low sodium options. Um better still try to boil the chicken for a few hours. Get that.

So based on your own, then you can control exactly what goes in. And if you know you someone's house, you don't know where that soup comes from. Try to have less of the soup, have more of the fresh ingredients in there that will help to moderate the amount of soup that you're consuming. The second thing is also what is it that you're taking in that steamboat? So there could be a variety of ingredients right? From your vegetables to your

fresh meat, to fish balls. So to your crap steaks, etc. So the ones that tend to be high sodium are really the processed food items. So anything that you bought in a store, be it a fish ball or like crab steak or even one time, etc those tend to be very high in sodium and the more of it that you put into the, so the ball is going to go into the soup as well. So it just

becomes really, really difficult to control. So try to make sure you get less of these sort of processed foods as well when you are, when you're having your steamboat. Next wise, the typical culprits will be things like your, you know, the p roll, the, the the little fried roll with the shrimp paste are those tend to be high in sodium. And I think anything generally that's more on the savory of fried side, that's also gonna be high sodium. So unfortunately, Chinese New

Year goodies, either high sugar or high salt. So really tough one there it is. So like you said, it's about moderation, not going to the meal fully starving because you've deprived yourself all day long, eat, enjoy, but it doesn't mean indulge and overdo it, right? Um Case in point, you guys work, like I said, a lot with people who have chronic health issues, diabetes in

particular as well. What if you are that person who is dealing with and living with the diabetes or is living with um high cholesterol I until today, there are still situations where I've even heard from. Some friends and family members were like, it's ok. I popped the pill already. So let it do its work. I will challenge it by eating a little bit more later. I'm like, no, no, no,

that's not how statins work. So, so any advice in terms of if you're living with a chronic health issue and there's an indulging period happening like Cny. Yeah. So Daniel, that's a really good point. I think to the point that you made earlier, um even this short period of time, if you just let yourself go, it can have long, longer term or knock on effects. So it's really important to still stay in control even

during this period of time. And the advice I would give is the same as any period of time throughout the year, whether or not it's Chinese New Year or not. Um, think first thing first do remember to take your medications because that's at least the minimum that you need to do. It's not going to be able to control everything that you eat. But yeah, if you forget to take a medication, that's going to

be a big problem. But if you have chronic illnesses, especially, it's going to be a little bit different with each chronic illness. But maybe specifically for diabetes, I'll just share some examples with diabetes. The most important thing that we need to

pay attention to is sugar and carbs, right? So try to make sure that if you are having carbs to limit the portion sizes to what you would normally take, you can spread it out throughout the day so that you have a little bit more opportunity to um process some of the food. So for example, right, do not take like five pineapple parts as a goal. If you wanted to take five pineapple parts, maybe take one just after your lunch, one after tea time or one after dinner. So I'm not saying that you should

take so many. But if you really have to try to make sure that you space it out. So that don't actually, yeah, don't, don't take too many, too many in one go because it's gonna make your sugar really increase quite quickly. And then the second thing is related to that, try to make sure that you sequence your food properly. What

do I mean by that? If your stomach is completely empty and you're taking something that is high in carbohydrate or sugar, what's gonna happen is that that's gonna break down really quickly and everything's gonna go into your bloodstream and cause a huge increase in sugar. If you're taking, if you line your stomach basically with some protein, some meat, some vegetables and fiber that's gonna slow down help then take your carbs. It's gonna slow down how quickly the cops actually break down.

So that's actually gonna make your increase in sugar a lot more gentle. So try to make sure that, yeah, so if you're gonna have a dessert, a PT try to have it after a proper lunch and that's actually going to make a difference in terms of how high the sugar goes. And then lastly, of course, try to portion control as always, if you overeat, there's really nothing else that we can do to control that

and that goes for any chronic condition. So, cholesterol with diabetes just make sure you're able to control the portions, you can go a little bit more. But yeah, try to make sure that I like the idea of sequencing your food as you phrased it. That's a very clever idea. But of course, if you're eating after a proper meal, but the proper meal was full of carbohydrate, then that's also a problem, right?

Of course. So what is the sequence that you should be going with that would slow down the, the, the spiking protein and then a little bit of carb like that. Is it protein, protein fiber and then carbohydrates? Ok. That's the sequence. Bear that in mind just before I let you go quick. No, I've got 30 seconds left. Alcohol. How could that be a problem during this period? Obviously, besides the health and safety issues, if you drink, don't

drive everybody. But what are we talking about in terms of its health impact? Yeah. Um You're not gonna like this, but um the number of drinks that are recommended even for a healthy person, for a woman, it's actually one standard drink. Um, once for men, it's two standard drinks at one sitting and during festive period, we drink a lot more. A standard drink just for contacts is one single shot, one can of beer or maybe a small glass of wine. So

it's actually not a lot. Um But if you happen to drink more, just try to make sure you stay dry uh for the next few days after that. Otherwise um that could, I mean, we know about the of the side effects that alcohol can have. So, yeah, absolutely. This has been really helpful. Thanks for putting us in the right frame of mind when it comes to our festive feasting. That's Doctor Kyle Tan co-founder and consultant at

Novi Health. It's spelled NOV, I, I'm Daniel Martin and this has been health matters before making any decisions based on the information in our program. Please consult a medical professional.