What to do with leftovers from the New Year holidays? Do not reheat the pan more than 2 times

Be careful when reheating New Year's Eve meals as this may be a hidden killer of obesity! During the Chinese New Year, the table is filled with New Year's Eve dinner, and according to traditional customs, it cannot be finished. It must be "Spring" (Taiwanese), which symbolizes a good harvest in the coming year. Therefore, every household has some leftovers. However, if the New Year's dishes are reheated and cooked incorrectly, it will still cause weight gain, which should not be underestimated.

Liu Bo'en, executive director of the Taiwan Obesity Education and Prevention Association and a weight loss specialist, pointed out that during festivals, there will inevitably be a lot of fish and meat as offerings at home. Generally, people are afraid of wasting them if they cannot finish eating them, so mothers are accustomed to cooking these "leftovers" repeatedly. However, the nutrients are lost bit by bit, and the result of repeated heating is that the food becomes saltier and more oily.

New Year's Eve dishes are too salty and oily, beware of obesity

There is a Mrs. Song who is in her 40s. Because she loves beauty and pays great attention to her figure, she pays attention to her diet. She will download an APP to calculate and control her food intake, and she will not exceed the range every day and for every meal. Over the years, she has maintained a good figure.

However, whenever she went back to her husband's family's home in the south for the Chinese New Year, her weight would suddenly increase by 2 to 3 kilograms in just a few days. At the end of each New Year holiday, when she returned home and stood on the scale, she almost collapsed and kept shouting, "How could this happen?" After careful questioning, she found out that it was because she repeatedly heated up leftovers during the Chinese New Year holidays, which caused her weight to increase rapidly.

Repeated heating of leftovers and cooking errors can easily lead to obesity

Dr. Liu Bowen emphasized that the reason why Mrs. Song became obese was not the calories she ate, but the cooking method. Because food loses moisture and increases saltiness after multiple cooking, the GI value (glycemic index) also increases. Once the GI value increases and the density decreases, hunger will increase. Even if the amount and calories of the food eaten are not high, the risk of obesity will increase again due to changes in density and GI value.

It is also worth noting that repeated heating of leftovers will produce nitrates and nitrites after metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract, which will synthesize nitrosamines in the gastrointestinal tract. Nitrosamines can destroy the hemoglobin in the human body. If absorbed in large quantities, there may be a risk of poisoning. This situation means that the food is no longer fresh. It is recommended that mothers-in-law remove the floating oil on the top when taking the soup out of the refrigerator before heating it to avoid excessive oil.

Tips for cooking New Year's dishes

1. Cut the boiled chicken into pieces and season it, or cook it by blanching or stewing, such as white-cut chicken, three-cup chicken, four-ingredient chicken soup, bitter melon chicken soup, bamboo fungus chicken soup, etc., or tear it into shreds and make a cold dish, add cucumber, shredded carrots or white fungus. It is not only delicious but also can provide fiber and other nutrients.

2. Remove the fat and skin from the pork before cooking. It can be made into garlic pork slices, twice-cooked pork slices, or shredded for stir-frying or porridge. As for seasonal bacon, it is best to steam it and then slice it for consumption, or add it to vegetables and stir-fry.

3. To avoid excessive oil in fish, cut the fish meat into slices and cook it into soup.

4. Rice cake itself is high in calories, so it is best to avoid frying it. You can add wolfberry and white fungus, cook it into a health-preserving sweet soup or bake it, and then eat it with seasoning powder.

【Doctor's Tips】:

When handling New Year leftovers, do not reheat them. People with high uric acid levels should avoid drinking broth or stew to prevent severe gout attacks. Patients with chronic cardiovascular disease, diabetes or hypertension should be careful not to consume dishes that are too salty or too oily.