The main disadvantage of classic New Year’s dishes is their high calorie content. For example, 100 g of mayonnaise, without which, as a rule, no traditional New Year’s salad can do without, contains about 700 kcal. To understand how much this is, look at the calorie recommendations (from the same WHO) that women should eat around 1800 kcal per day and men around 2400 kcal. What should we do? Counting calories while sitting at the New Year’s table is a dubious pleasure, so nutritionists recommend enjoying the food, but at the same time reducing portion sizes and replacing “harmful” dishes with healthier and lighter ones.
As Anastasia Efimova, a nutritionist in the Atlas clinic network, explains, the results of the festive table directly depend on the frequency and quantity of intake of certain foods.
“Frequent consumption of very fatty, salty, smoked and fried foods can lead to negative health consequences. High blood pressure, heartburn, shortness of breath, and even newly diagnosed gallstone disease are common symptoms after a heavy New Year’s feast. That’s why it’s important to find a healthy balance in the holiday menu,” said the doctor.
But is the entire traditional New Year’s table so harmful? The nutritionist commented to socialbites.ca about the composition of the most popular dishes and said which one you should not get carried away with.
1. Cheese salad
The nutritionist gave the first place in the list of the most harmful New Year’s dishes to the salad made of cheese, garlic and mayonnaise. According to him, the cheese itself is not harmful and even contains useful nutrients – calcium, vitamin B12 and protein, but this product is 75% fat and therefore quite high in calories (100 g of ordinary 50% cheese contains about 365 kcal and exactly 16g of saturated fat).
“For people who are hypersensitive or lactose intolerant, eating too much cheese can cause bloating or abdominal pain,” the doctor warned.
In addition to cheese, this salad also adds a lot of garlic, which in itself increases appetite and can lead to overeating. It is not recommended to eat garlic if you have hypertension, as well as many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
“This salad, like many other New Year’s salads, is garnished with mayonnaise. Mayonnaise itself is not harmful, but it is quite high in calories and it is difficult to keep track of the amount of mayonnaise in salads. Therefore, you can replace mayonnaise with alternatives in some dishes,” Efimova advised.
2. Cold meats
The nutritionist ranked cold cuts in second place in terms of harmfulness. Primarily due to the link between processed meat consumption and heart disease, some types of cancer and diabetes.
“It is still unknown how much deli meat is safe for health and whether the type of meat processing (boiling, smoking, salting, drying) matters,” he explained.
However, sausages always contain nitrates and are rich in saturated fat and sodium; these can increase the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease when consumed excessively.
“The more processed meat you eat, the higher your risk of disease. “However, eating small amounts of processed meat from time to time (for example, once a month) is unlikely to cause serious harm to health,” he added.
3. Herring under a fur coat
If we had to list the top three “harmful” foods, it is herring under the fur coat. Herring under a fur coat contains useful vitamins and other microelements, but this salad is quite high in calories and “heavy” to digest.
“Also, mayonnaise made with salted fish produces high sodium content, which can affect blood pressure and you may wake up swollen in the morning,” the doctor warned.
4.Olivier
The main New Year’s salad took fourth place. Classic Olivier is not only high-calorie and difficult to digest, but also “rich” in sodium and preservatives, which are already abundant on the holiday table.
“And again, mayonnaise, 80% of all calories are from fat. Moreover, 100 g of mayonnaise contains approximately 700 kcal, which comes only from fat. “It is difficult to imagine another sauce with such high calories,” complained the nutritionist.
Efimova added that microorganisms also multiply quite quickly in Olivier, so it is better to prepare a small portion of the salad at once to minimize the risk of poisoning.
5. Fatty meat dishes
On the New Year’s table there are usually hot dishes no less fatty than everyone’s favorite mayonnaise salads: the nutritionist shared the fifth place between meat and poultry baked in the oven.
“The highest fat content is in the skin of pork and poultry. Of course, the golden crust and aroma of fried fatty meat are very appetizing. But remember that even a small piece of such meat will exceed the dietary recommendations for saturated fat intake,” said the doctor.
Efimova added that in addition to the negative effects on the digestive system and heart function, you may feel weak and sleepy after eating fatty meat, because it takes a lot of energy to digest such “heavy” food.
6. Jellied meat
There is a common belief that bone broth is healthy and jellied meat is an excellent source of collagen. This is partly a myth: “Popular claims about the benefits of jellied meat are exaggerated. “To date, there is no scientific evidence that jellied meat relieves joint pain, makes skin firmer, improves digestion or strengthens bones.”
Efimova advised to prepare jellied meat from lean beef and chicken – and in any case, do not indulge in it with other high-calorie New Year’s dishes.