Avoid the Christmas rush, prepare more salads and fruits for noche buena and resist the temptation of returning to the buffet table for seconds.
Concerned over the prevalence of heart attack cases during the holiday season, the Department of Health has issued a raft of tips to make Christmas and New Year celebrations among Filipinos safer and merrier.
Heart experts who spoke at a press briefing on Friday said the Christmas season—celebrated the longest in the Philippines—has over time proven to be “bad for the health” of Filipinos, particularly those with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and existing heart conditions.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona advised the public to watch out for their health during the protracted holiday festivities to prevent and control non-communicable diseases (NCDs), or what are referred to as lifestyle-related diseases.
Citing a study of the Philippine Health Statistics in 2006, Ona said NCDs are the top leading causes of death in the country. These include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic lower respiratory diseases and diabetes.
These diseases are linked to four “most common but preventable risk factors: smoking, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity and alcohol use,” said Ona.
Holiday overindulgence
People around this time of year tend to overindulge in food and alcohol and go through unnecessary stress because of heavy traffic and worries about Christmas shopping and their limited budget, according to Dr. Dante Morales, a cardiologist.
Usually, heart attack and stroke incidents peak from December to January, noted Morales, who is also president of the Philippine Society of Hypertension and senior vice president of Manila Doctors Hospital.
“The source of stress often comes from the rushed holiday preparations, from buying gifts and worrying about the lack of money,” said Morales.
“People around this time of year also neglect the observance of a healthy lifestyle by overindulging in food and alcohol during parties,” he added.
Merrymakers with heart conditions and diabetes, among other non-communicable diseases, also tend to neglect their maintenance medicines, he said.
Peak of heart diseases
Morales also cited studies in the United States showing that the peak of heart diseases occurs during the Christmas season, particularly four to five days after Christmas Day.
“While there are no similar studies yet in the Philippines, we have observed the same trend in our hospitals,” added the cardiologist.
Dr. Norbert Lingling-Uy, another cardiologist, said revelers must also be conscious about the food served in parties or during the noche buena and media noche, the large midnight family feasts to celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, respectively.
Healthy alternatives
While the usual Christmas staples like lechon (roast suckling pig), ham and fried chicken cannot be avoided, at least 30 percent of the food served must consist of fruits and vegetables, said Uy, president of the Philippine College of Physicians.
Some of the healthy dishes that can be served during the holiday festivities are steamed fish, baked instead of fried chicken, and a vegetable garden salad with vinaigrette, according to the health experts. An alternative to the calorific meat-filled pasta would be seafood pasta, they said.
And skip the mayonnaise please, they added.
The DOH has suggested 12 ways of ensuring a healthy and stress-free holiday season:
Prepare early, avoid the Christmas rush to prevent stress.
Give children toys that are safe and appropriate to their age and abilities.
Buy only legitimate and registered food and toy products to ensure safety.
Prepare healthy food, including vegetables and fruits, for noche buena and media noche.
Make sure that meals to be served are unspoiled and fresh to avoid food poisoning.
Be sure to eat moderately when attending parties.
Skip fatty and salty foods for a healthy heart.
Stay sober and drink moderately. Do not drink and drive.
Engage in regular exercise like jogging, walking and dancing to keep fit.
Get enough rest and sleep.
Avoid firecracker-related injuries.
Start a new culture of celebrating Christmas and greeting the New Year by mounting organized fireworks display in villages or town plazas.
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