04 Feb 2021

Chinese New Year Cheat Sheet

LAC wishes you Gong Hei Fatt Choi! With our comprehensive Chinese New Year (CNY) Cheat Sheet, there’s no need to deprive yourself from CNY festive feasting and your favourite CNY goodies!

For those of us who are making preparations to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year next week, we’ve put together a “Healthy CNY Cheat Sheet” to help you successfully navigate and avoid the usual pitfalls that comes with festive over-indulgence, such as indigestion, bloating, “accidental” inches added to the waistline and feelings of anxiety and reluctance to get anywhere near a bathroom scale.

1. Prepare or opt to order healthier CNY dishes

Starting off with reunion dinner, here’s how you can make it healthier (but still delicious) for you and loved ones!

Cook your own umami soup broth

Use pork bones, soya beans and anchovies (ikan bilis) for the most delicious hotpot soup base! The best part is, there’s no need to add MSG or too much salt with all the natural ingredients used to boil the soup. Alternatively, add in a Japanese twist with Miso soup, together with tofu, green onions and seaweed for a Miso-licious family hotpot experience!

Include a variety of ingredients

Fill up with fresh greens, mushrooms, tofu and healthy proteins like fish and chicken. Where possible, choose lean meats and skinless poultry over fattier cuts of meat to make for a healthier meal palate. Seafood consumed in moderation also provides a good source of proteins and important minerals.

Go light on the oil and sweet sauce in “Yu Sheng”

Use just enough when adding the oil and sweetened plum sauce to your Yu Sheng; you’ll probably find that the Yu Sheng is actually tasty already using just half of the provided oil and sweet sauce! If you enjoy kitchen experiments, why not try your hands at making your own fresh Yu Sheng salad with lettuce and spinach which are packed with vitamins and other nutrients! Point to note though if adding fresh raw fish to your homemade Yu Sheng – use only sashimi grade fresh fish and take care when storing and handling to prevent raw foods contamination.

How about a fresh fruit platter for dessert?

A beautifully arranged platter of fresh assorted fruits is a treat for your eyes and your health! To make it fun and beautiful to eat, opt for a colourful and interesting array of fresh fruits for a rich intake of vitamins and boost of fibre to start the Lunar New Year hitting all the right healthy notes!

2. Look out for healthier options when shopping for CNY snacks

When shopping for snacks and beverages, do keep an eye out for healthier options. Choose baked snacks instead of fried, look for reduced sugar, lightly salted, no trans-fat options, and items with the Healthier Choice logo.

3. Snack in moderation

It’s never fun to be counting calories in our head while we’re indulging in yummy CNY treats. Rather than trying to completely abstain, go ahead and indulge in some of your favourite CNY snacks but be mindful to snack in moderation so we don’t go overboard with higher calories or higher sugar/salt content snacks.

Use this quick list to reference the calories in popular CNY snacks so you know how much to eat and when to stop. 🙂

Tip: Don’t hold on to the snack tin or bottle while snacking, leave it a comfortable distance away and only take the pieces you plan to eat. Having the snack placed a short distance away such that you’ll have to get up and walk over to pick up more pieces will help to reduce your tendencies to snack on more than you intended to.

4. Stay active

When you are not out doing home visits or receiving guests, why not use the time to go for a jog or embark on a quick home workout. You could also go for a stroll with the family after dinner, which is also great for bonding (plus it helps with after-meal digestion and mood relaxation)!

5. Stay hydrated

The saying goes “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, we say that 8 glasses/2-Litres of water a day keeps most ailments away! Plain water is truly the best thing that we can consume for our health and our body. At zero calories, plain water may not taste anywhere as fancy or as enjoyable as bubble tea, sweetened beverages and juices; IT IS what your body needs to stay healthy and hydrated. Other than keeping us hydrated (and dry skin at bay), water also helps to flush out and cleanse our body of accumulated toxins and waste¹.

Recognize the signals that your body sends when it is (too) full

You start to feel bloated during/after your meal
Burping and belching
Feeling of Heartburn
Feeling full and uncomfortable, stomach feels stretched and expanded
Feeling nauseous

Think of your tummy as a balloon. You certainly don’t want to be overeating such that your stomach is stretched to its limits. Overeating not only taxes your waistline. Overeating over an extended period of time greatly contributes to obesity and could lead to an onset of other obesity-related ailments. It also taxes our digestive system, making our digestive organs work overtime in a bid to digest the excess foods and clear out waste and toxins. This can also mean that foods you eat will remain in the stomach for a longer period of time², increasing the chances for them to be stored as body fat.

Top Picks To Help Alleviate Digestive Woes & A Creeping Waistline Post-CNY Feasting

Heartburn Relief

Made with a TCM formula to strengthen spleen and stomach which are important for gastric and digestive functions, LAC GastroRx Relief provides relief for heartburn and acid reflux.

Lose Belly Flab

Ever tried losing belly flab with the help of convenient & delicious melt-in-your-mouth powder? LAC Belli Lean enhances fat metabolism with a proprietary blend of ingredients such as Corn Silk Extract, Lemon Balm Extract, Red Vine Leaf Extract, Lotus Leaf Extract and Eucommia Leaf Extract and Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs).

Regulate Bowel Movement

LAC Colon Guard aids intestinal health as it contains the very best ingredients that help with regulating bowel movement, such as: Lactobacillus Complex, Fructo-oligosaccharide (F.O.S), Psyllium and Apple pectin.

Restore Optimal Vitality

Ideal for those who do not consume sufficient greens in their daily diet, LAC GREENS Vegishield™ is a powerful green supplement helps to restore optimal vitality with its wholesome premium blend of more than 26 nutrients-dense foods that includes greens, fruits, herbs, antioxidants & enzymes.

We hope this cheat sheet has been helpful for you! Here’s wishing you a healthy and still delicious Lunar New Year with plenty of quality bonding time with family and friends! Wishing you abundance, health, happiness and prosperity in the year of the Ox!

¹ Staying hydrated: https://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg/healthplus/article/7-tips-to-stay-slim-and-healthy-chinese-new-year
² Effects of overeating: https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/What-happens-when-you-overeat.h23Z1592202.html