After the holiday binge eating, try fasting, says health official

Everything else served during all those holiday dinner parties (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – Time to put the brakes on eating.

After gorging on hamon, queso de bola, pasta, cakes and everything else served during all those holiday dinner parties, give your bodies some sort of a break by eating healthy and exercising.

“And going on a fast,” Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said in a chance interview with the media on Wednesday.

Through fasting, one gives his/her body’s digestive system some time to rest and recuperate from the massive intake of food that it experienced during the Yuletide season, Bayugo said.

Fasting once a week would be a good start, he said, adding that the advice stems from their observation of a rise in hypertension and heart attacks during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Bayugo said that while they do not have exact figures, “anecdotal statements” made by doctors and hospitals they have visited show that a lot of patients are being rushed to hospitals or are scheduling consultations – often due to excessive eating during the holidays.

“Many are saying, especially private practitioners, that there is a rise in the number of people who are making consultations, as well as cases of stroke, during the holiday season,” he said.

“Maghinay-hinay na tayo para di tayo masama sa mga statistics (Let’s slow down before we become part of the statistics),” Bayugo said. (PNA/ Photo courtesy of Benj Bondoc)