Beware festive indulgences

EVERY year, the most obvious effect of Chinese New Year (CNY) festivities on patients is from the feasting. The impact affects mainly diabetic, hypertensive and hypercholesterolemia patients.

When it comes to diabetes, the load caused by traditional goodies involves the massive calorie intake, lots of refined carbohydrates and saturated fats. Traditional goodies such as bak kwa can contribute a thousand calories from a large uncut piece of the sweetmeat. This is detrimental because a woman needs about 2,000 calories daily and a man some 500 calories more on a daily basis.

The traditional delicacies are mainly refined carbohydrates that give sugar surges which trigger insulin peaks. You end up with lots of insulin resistance and the blood tests that we do for diabetics will show this up to some three months later. The haemoglobin A1c test is familiar to all diabetic patients, where we can measure the average blood sugar over the last three months. I usually tell my diabetic patients not to come see me immediately after the Chinese New Year but to come by some three months later!