3 yuanxiao = a bowl of rice! Nutritionists teach you to eat Lantern Festival skillfully.

Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, solve riddles on the lanterns … Lantern Festival is the last important festival in the Spring Festival custom in China. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Yuanxiao is eaten in the north and Tangyuan is eaten in the south, which symbolizes reunion. Yuanxiao and Tangyuan, as the protagonists of the festival, will inevitably eat more or less. Today, we will talk about the precautions for healthy eating during the Lantern Festival.
Although the making methods of Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are different, their raw materials are glutinous rice flour and all kinds of fillings with high sugar and oil, so there is generally a problem of high calorie and high fat. While enjoying delicious food, it is often accompanied by eating a lot of sugar and fat. Take a commercially available black sesame dumplings as an example. One dumpling is about 30g, and the heat is 89kcal. Eating three or four dumplings is equivalent to a bowl of rice. Therefore, after eating glutinous rice balls, we should pay attention to reducing the intake of staple food and oily food in the meal, so as to eat too much. Now that you have eaten more, why don’t you just increase your exercise and consume excess calories?
The Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (2022 Edition) points out that walking at a speed of 5.4-6.0km/h for about 42 minutes and 6,000 steps consumes 170kcal, which is not enough to consume the calories of two glutinous rice balls. Eating three or four glutinous rice balls requires longer exercise time and greater physical activity. Only by keeping a balanced diet can we maintain a healthy weight and avoid "gaining three pounds every holiday".
It is said that Yuanxiao is high in calories and contains sugar, so diabetics should pay attention to eating Yuanxiao. The glutinous rice flour wrapped in Yuanxiao is almost all amylopectin, which is soft and sticky, easy to be absorbed by the human body, and has a high glycemic index, which will lead to a rapid rise in blood sugar. People with blood sugar problems must pay attention to controlling the number when eating Yuanxiao, and never eat too much. Even if sugar-free Yuanxiao only replaces sucrose with xylitol, glutinous rice flour still has a high blood sugar response and should not be eaten more.
How to eat Yuanxiao healthily?
(1) control food intake. The energy density of Yuanxiao is high, and the average person can eat three or four Yuanxiao of medium size to avoid increasing the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. People who need to control blood sugar and indigestion should be more strictly limited, only one or two can be controlled, and they must not be greedy.
2 reduce staple food. After eating Yuanxiao, pay attention to reducing the staple food intake of the meal, and reduce half a bowl of rice for every two Yuanxiao. And pay attention to increase the proportion of coarse grains in the next meal to achieve the matching of coarse and fine grains.
③ Reasonable cooking. Yuanxiao contains high fat, so frying should be avoided. Frying Yuanxiao will lead to higher calorie intake. At the same time, we should reduce the amount of oil used in other dishes on the day of Yuanxiao, and choose less oil methods such as steaming and boiling to reduce the fat intake throughout the day. In addition, Yuanxiao should not be heated repeatedly. Repeated heating of glutinous rice flour containing amylopectin will improve the gelatinization degree and further increase the blood sugar reaction.
4 pay attention to collocation. The nutritional density of Yuanxiao is low, and it lacks vitamins, minerals, high-quality protein and other nutrients needed by human body. When eating Yuanxiao, vegetables, soybeans, milk, eggs, fish and shrimp should be matched to ensure food diversification, which not only makes the nutrition more balanced, but also delays the rise of blood sugar.
⑤ Old people and children should pay attention to prevent choking. The starch in Yuanxiao is easy to be absorbed after being gelatinized by heating, but it is not only difficult to digest, but also easy to choke after the temperature is lowered. In particular, children and the elderly have weak digestive ability and poor swallowing function. When eating Yuanxiao, family members must be around to avoid choking and causing danger. At the same time, the number of people eating Yuanxiao should be less.
Enjoy the full moon and lanterns with your family during the Lantern Festival.
While enjoying the beautiful holiday atmosphere
Eat yuanxiao healthily and celebrate the reunion festival.
Wish everyone a happy Lantern Festival.
Happy, healthy and safe.
References:
1. China Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (2022 Edition) [M]. People’s Health Publishing House, 2022.
2. Sun Changyao. Nutrition and Food Hygiene 8th Edition [M]. People’s Health Publishing House, 2017.
3. Pan Haikun, Wang Shuying, Fan Zhihong. Evaluation of postprandial blood sugar and satiety of waxy processed foods [J]. Food Science, 2016, 37(17): 225-229.
(Original title: 3 Yuanxiao = a bowl of rice! Nutritionists teach you to eat Lantern Festival skillfully)
Source: beijing jishuitan hospital.
Process editor: TF065
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