The Lunar New Year is coming. During the six-day holiday, people would get together as well as eat and drink naturally to their content. People are easily getting fat during this short holiday period. However, people only need a little be creative to get just the same delicious food without gaining weight at home by replacing the ordinary fry and dredge cooking methods during the New Year holiday.

According to the statistic of Health Promotion Administration: 45% of people would gain 1.7 kg in average after the New Year. It is mainly the result of eating too much “oil and salt” and few high-fiber diet during the holiday. Moreover, people would also stop doing exercise that taken in ordinary time and just sit or lie down, so the excess calorie cannot be consumed.

If people could change the way of cooking sumptuous food and dishes prepared for the Lunar New Year, such as using smaller hock with more dried bamboo shoots boiled before stew as alternative to the commonly seen dish “wealth and rank hock” with 300 kcal per hundred grams and people would gain 450 kcal as eating one serve of hock with skin around 150 g, then 70 kcal could be reduced for each serve.

In addition, the commonly seen fried sweet rice cake has 412 kcal per hundred grams. It is around 150 g for one serve, that is, almost 618 kcal ingested. If it is cooked via steam or microwave without dredge or fry, then 200 kcal could be reduced for each serve.

Director-general of Health Bureau, Taichung City Government Mei-Na Huang (黄美娜) stated: the way of cooking sumptuous food and dishes prepared for the Lunar New year should focus on steam, stew and boiling. Meanwhile, taking vegetables as main dishes with smaller tableware; watch for the selection of snack and better taking the seasonal vegetables and fruits instead.