During the National Day long holiday, family meals, gatherings with friends, and outings to sample local flavors increase markedly, and the public’s daily dietary rhythm and food composition change accordingly. Against this backdrop, some people may, due to a “holiday-relaxation” mindset, consume excessive amounts of high-fat, high-salt, and high-sugar foods, or engage in binge eating and irregular meal times.

While everyone is “letting loose,” don’t forget to maintain a healthy diet. Here is a National Day holiday healthy eating guide—please take note!

Overeating and excessive drinking are inadvisable

Holidays are a good opportunity for gatherings with relatives and friends; dining out frequently over a few days can easily lead to overeating and harm the spleen and stomach. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the spleen governs transport and transformation, the stomach governs reception and containment; the spleen raises the clear, the stomach descends the turbid. When these functions are coordinated, food and drink are transformed into the body’s qi and blood. Irregular diet that injures the spleen and stomach can impair spleen’s transport and transformation, produce phlegm-dampness, and lead to symptoms such as indigestion, abdominal distension, and constipation.

Therefore, during the National Day holiday you still need to pay attention to balancing meat and vegetables and maintain dietary balance, such as increasing intake of vegetables, fruits, tubers, and fungi to alleviate the fatigue and lethargy caused by eating too much chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

Balanced diet, varied combinations

Cereals and coarse grains as the foundation

While enjoying festive meals, consider increasing the proportion of whole grains (such as brown rice, oats, corn) and tubers (such as sweet potatoes, Chinese yam); these foods are rich in dietary fiber and help promote intestinal peristalsis and prevent constipation.

Consume high-quality protein in appropriate amounts

Fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, and soy products are important sources of high-quality protein, but should be consumed in moderation to avoid excessive intake that increases digestive burden.

Vegetables and fruits are indispensable

During the National Day holiday, it is recommended to appropriately consume seasonal vegetables and fruits. The saying "eat autumn foods in autumn"—autumn lotus root nourishes the five viscera and generates body fluids—is especially healthful. Lotus root is rich in various nutrients; eaten raw it can clear heat, generate fluids, cool the blood, and disperse stasis; cooked it can strengthen the spleen, stimulate appetite, enrich the blood, promote tissue regeneration, and stop diarrhea. Fresh jujubes are sweet and palatable, rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber, and have effects of tonifying the center and qi, nourishing the blood, and calming the mind. Ripe persimmons have relatively low tannin content and are rich in vitamin C, the mineral potassium, beta-carotene, and dietary fiber, with effects of clearing heat and moistening the lungs, generating fluids and quenching thirst, and strengthening the spleen.

Reasonable combinations are very important

During the National Day holiday, pay attention to food combinations to avoid discomfort from inappropriate pairings. Persimmons contain tannins and can react with gastric acid when eaten on an empty stomach, so it is best to avoid consuming them fasting; also avoid eating them together with hairy crabs and high-protein foods (such as milk, eggs) to prevent indigestion. Although delicious, hairy crabs are cold in nature and high in cholesterol; avoid combining them with cold-natured foods (such as watermelon, winter melon, iced beer) and high-fat foods (such as peanuts, braised pork) to reduce gastrointestinal burden, and do not eat them together with foods high in tannins (such as persimmons, pears, pomelo). Women during menstruation, pregnant women, those with spleen deficiency and cold stomach, and people prone to allergies should also consume hairy crabs with caution.

Small tips to aid digestion

Malt and hawthorn drink

Stir-fry 10 g of malt and 10 g of charred hawthorn, put into a pot with an appropriate amount of water, and decoct for 20 minutes; it can aid digestion, harmonize the stomach, and resolve food accumulation.

White radish drink

An appropriate amount of white radish, crushed and strained into one cup of juice, taken in divided doses, can alleviate food stagnation caused by soy products and rice cakes.