Christmas and New Year holidays are friendly and family feasts. Visiting and entertaining guests, outdoor activities and hygge weekends with your loved ones – you need to cook a lot of delicious food and eat even more delicious food. And what you didn’t eat can be left “for later”. Unfortunately, the holiday week holds the record not only for smiles, wishes and gifts, but also for food poisoning.
How to avoid excessive load on the body? How to store ready meals? How to act in case of poisoning?
How to avoid overeating on holidays
Often after the holidays, we throw away half-eaten salads, spoiled side dishes, and windy snacks. After each festive feast, there are many unnecessary and unusable products. Eating up “so as not to be lost” is a bad decision; with this approach, you will have to deal with excess weight and health problems for a long time.
Ask your loved ones what dishes they want to see on the New Year’s table. Write down their wishes, and you will understand that many “traditional” dishes are either not on the menu, or they need to be prepared in a smaller volume. Cook and buy what will please you, and not what should be on the table “for show”.
We drink water
A glass of clean water before a feast will help dull the feeling of hunger and treat the choice of dishes and portion sizes more rationally. It is recommended to drink water and between servings of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol dehydrates the body, provokes the secretion of the digestive system and slows down the burning of fat, as a result, we do not feel full when in fact the body has received the right amount of food.
Starting dinner with vegetables
Before the main course, eat a serving of vegetable salad without mayonnaise or cut vegetables. Vegetables are high in water and fiber , which contribute to satiety and good digestion. Start eating more high-calorie meals after vegetables.
Follow the feelings
Usually the body gives us a clear signal “I’m full!”, But we miss this sign. It takes about 30 minutes from the moment of saturation to the signal about it. Therefore, you need to eat slowly, carefully chewing each piece of food. We decided to take a break and put away the appliances – this is the moment of satiety! The mistake is that after this signal, we continue to eat, and inevitably overeat. Wait 20 minutes before taking your supplement.
Small portions on small plates
It is better to take a small portion, feel good and try other dishes than to overeat and throw away the half-eaten. According to nutritionists, the optimal portion for an adult can be calculated as follows: meat – the size of an average smartphone, carbohydrate side dish – the size of a computer mouse, vegetables – the size of a smartphone and a mouse together. During a feast in the buffet format, take a small plate: visually, the portion will be larger, and there will be no feeling of malnutrition.
We don’t eat everything at once
From the culinary variety, your eyes widen and you want to try everything at once? Do not hurry. Any most delicious and refined product can be bought in a supermarket on any day of the year and week. The times when food was in short supply, and the holiday was the only opportunity to eat deliciously, are in the distant past.
How to store prepared meals and products
To keep the freshness of ready-made dishes and insure against health troubles, following simple rules will help:
Hot dishes
After cooking and before serving, the temperature of the hot dish should be maintained at 60°C or higher. Keeping such dishes warm at room temperature for a long time is not safe, the temperature window from 4 to 60 ° C is the best for the reproduction of harmful bacteria. You can keep the temperature high by placing the dish in a preheated oven.
We didn’t eat hot – we send it to the refrigerator at a temperature of 4 ° C and lower no later than two hours after cooking.
cold dishes
Cold dishes are stored at a temperature of 4 ° C and below. The two-hour rule also applies to them – we send the dish to the refrigerator no later than 2 hours after preparation or receipt from the courier.
Set the table in advance – put small portions. We decided to refresh the dish – replace the portion completely, and do not report fresh food to the one that is already on the table.
Shelf life of prepared food in the refrigerator:
- dishes from fresh ingredients that have not undergone heat treatment – 24 hours;
- salads with mayonnaise – 24 hours;
- fried – 2-3 days;
- boiled and stewed – 36 hours;
- meat dishes and cooked poultry 3-4 days;
- boiled eggs, cooked fish, soups – 3-5 days
Food packaging
When storing ready-made meals, it is important to observe not only the timing, but also the correct packaging. Proper utensils and packaging will help protect food from oxygen and odors, and you from poisoning.
Proper utensils should not oxidize and react with food, so we immediately refuse cast iron and aluminum utensils.
We use:
- Vacuum packaging – it helps to increase the shelf life, preserves the original appearance, taste and aroma of products.
- Stainless steel containers and enameled containers – steel does not oxidize with food, and is suitable for storing ready meals. Don’t forget the sealed lid.
- Plastic containers are convenient, but not always safe. Different types of plastic may not be suitable for storing salty or fatty foods. Please read the instructions carefully before purchasing this cookware.
- Glassware is ideal with a hermetically sealed lid.
Make sure the food is completely cold before putting it in the refrigerator. Otherwise, condensation will form on the walls of the dishes, which can lead to poisoning.
First aid for food poisoning
If it was not possible to avoid poisoning, and you feel familiar unpleasant symptoms, you need to act immediately.
Doing gastric lavage
In case of poisoning, it is necessary to remove the source of toxins from the body, in case of food poisoning, spoiled foods. 1.5 – 2 liters of cool (but not cold!) Water will help. Warm water is absorbed faster and more is needed for the desired effect. Do not add soda or manganese to the solution – it is dangerous!
References
- “psychologist online“. Cleveland Clinic. 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.^
