It’s December! For Filipinos, this month does not only mean the holiday season; it also means more visits to friends and relatives to dine and catch up. Though it may be a bit of a challenge now due to the pandemic, we know for sure that nothing can stop us from spending time with our friends and family while savoring our favorite meals for the holidays. But before loosening your belt, let’s quickly talk about these two usual guests in any feast, salt and sugar.
Filipinos just love to feast, so much so that it’s become one of our cultural trademarks. In case you haven’t noticed, most, if not all of the Filipino dishes are prepared in large servings, often for sharing. That is because we know that sharing what we have on the table is the best way to enjoy a meal. Because even when we serve our usual dishes for share, some of these food still pose some serious risks to our health. Now, we want you to enjoy your meal, but of course, we want you to be mindful of your health as well.
Many factors could trigger your blood pressure to rise. From the food we eat to the things we do and encounter, they could all contribute to a spike in our blood pressure. However, random or temporary spikes are not necessarily a problem; the constant increase in blood pressure is.
Salt and hypertension
One of the many culprits is salt. Salt is good, within the right margins. Too much of it is bad enough—so bad that it makes our body hold on to water which could stress our heart. When we eat something too salty, we can instantly feel its effects on our nape. Since many Filipino food is prepared with salt, going easy on these food would greatly benefit you in the long run.
Sugar and spice aren’t always nice
If you are thinking, since salt is kind of hard to avoid, you’d just go for sweets. Hold that thought for a moment because sugar is far more to blame than salt when it comes to raising our blood pressure. Like salt, Filipinos do have a knack for sweet stuff. This is one of the contributing factors to the increase in cases of Diabetes in the country. Just imagine, a bottle of soda could bump your systolic pressure (pressure during a heartbeat) to 15 points and 9 in diastolic (pressure between beats).
Salt and sugar both increase our blood pressure. As mentioned above, since these two are staples in almost every Filipino food, being diligent with our consumption could greatly make us enjoy the holiday season even more. We do not want to have a spinning head while everybody else is feasting, do we?