Chinese New Year is a festival of blessings and delicacies. Rice cakes, turnip cakes, melon seeds, confectionary...the very thought of these traditional festive food is delightful, but not so when you consider many are high-calorie food that you should avoid overeating. Imagine this, 2 pieces of turnip cakes are equivalent to a bowl of rice; 20 pieces of peanuts are nothing less than a teaspoon of oil! If you are one of the greedy-guts, you probably would find our below tips useful.

When you are having oily food, have some plum juice as well. This drink is rich in fiber and minerals that helps remove excess grease from your body. An alternative would be roasted barley tea, which is a lightly sweet Korean drink good to go with food that has strong flavor. This low sugar, high fiber drink contains unsaturated fatty acids. It helps promote digestion, remove grease, and warms your stomach at the same time. Fresh dragon fruit juice is also rich in soluble dietary fiber that helps lower blood sugar level and slim up your body.

Diets in Chinese New Year are usually high in meat and low in vegetables, resulting in a lack of fibers and vitamins. Do bear in mind the golden rule of 1:3 for meat-to-vegetable ratio, as a well-balanced diet could help excite intestinatal movement and remove excess grease from your body.

You can also prepare homemade new year snacks in a healthy style, such as substituting dried Chinese sausages and preserved pork with dried scallops, mushrooms and corn kernels, using less seasoning or artificial flavour in the process. You can either steam or bake the food instead of frying them. Maintain a healthy diet, just to enjoy the festival while stay fit!

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, we usually exchange presents with family and friends. While lavishing your close ones with nicely-wrapped gifts, give it a second thought. Have you ever considered how much damage these wrappers could do to our planet?

Lately, a survey reveals that households in Hong Kong are projected to consume more than 5 million pieces of wrapper during the Chinese New Year, equivalent to destroying 2,550 trees.

As people today are more alert to the importance of environmental protection, why not consider attaching a green message to your new year gift? Send a wrapperless gift! Make a difference today as a token of gratitude to Mother Nature.