TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr is around the corner, and people will soon start flooding the land, sea, and air traffics for a long journey home. Keeping our body fit is a must to go through the tiring, yet exciting journey. According to Dr Tirta Prawita Sari, MSc, SpGK, adjusting the dietary habits can be much help for safer trip home and return.

According to Dr Tirta, people tends to eat more carbohydrates and less protein for iftar during ramadhan, which is inappropriate for homecoming preparation.

Our body needs protein to keep blood sugar from drastically increase. The drastic increase of blood sugar affects hormones that will make us easily tired, sleepy, and emotionally unstable.

“Many thinks that they have to eat large amount of carbohydrate because they are driving a long way. But that is wrong, the carb do give us energy, but only for short time. On the rest of the day, it will get us tired and sleepy quicker,” Dr Tirta explained in a discussion held by Indonesian Doctor Association (IDI) on Saturday, July 4.

To avoid such condition, Dr. Tirta suggests eating more complex carbohydrate such as yam, wheat bread, and vegetables. These kind of diets, in addition to being low in sugar content, will give us energy for longer.

BINTORO AGUNG S.