On a cold winter street, eating a piping hot roasted sweet potato or some caramelized chestnuts is the most enjoyable thing. Just hearing their names, are your mouth watering already? In fact, did you know that these foods are not only excellent snacks but also have various health benefits?
Caramelized Chestnuts
A fragrant street snack: Roasted Chestnuts
Chestnuts, also known as Chinese chestnuts, big chestnuts, or栗果 (lì guǒ), are a sweet and delicious fruit. According to records, chestnut trees were widely cultivated in China as early as the pre-Qin period. Chestnuts have long been honored as the "king of dried fruits" and are also called "ginseng fruit" abroad.
Health Benefits of Chestnuts
1. The rich unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals in chestnuts can help prevent and treat diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and osteoporosis. It is an excellent health product for anti-aging and prolonging life.
2. Chestnuts contain riboflavin. Regular consumption of chestnuts is beneficial for persistent canker sores in children and oral ulcers in adults.
3. Tonify Qi and strengthen the spleen, and nourish the stomach and intestines. Chestnuts are a type of dried fruit with a high carbohydrate content, providing the body with more energy, helping with fat metabolism, and ensuring the supply of basic nutrients. They are known as the "iron crop" and "woody grain" for their function of tonifying Qi, strengthening the spleen, and deeply nourishing the stomach and intestines.
4. Prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. Chestnuts are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, various vitamins, and minerals, which can effectively prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, and arteriosclerosis, benefiting human health.
5. Strengthen muscles and bones, and delay aging. Chestnuts are rich in vitamin C, which can maintain the normal function of teeth, bones, blood vessels, and muscles. It can prevent and treat osteoporosis, soreness and weakness in the waist and legs, pain in the bones and muscles, and fatigue, delaying human aging. It is an ideal health fruit for the elderly.
6. Eating 2 raw chestnuts in the morning and evening is beneficial for elderly kidney deficiency, frequent urination, and blood in the stool. Cooking a porridge with 10 chestnuts, pig kidneys, coix seed, and rice can treat weakness in the waist and legs caused by general kidney deficiency.
How to eat? Common chestnut recipes include chestnut cakes, chestnut braised chicken, and chestnut yokan. Although the nutritional and health value of chestnuts is high, they need to be eaten correctly. It is best to eat chestnuts as a snack between meals or as part of a meal, rather than in large quantities after a meal. This is because chestnuts contain a lot of starch, and eating them after a meal can easily lead to excessive calorie intake, which is not conducive to maintaining body weight.
A fragrant street snack: Roasted Sweet Potato
Roasted Sweet Potato
Nutritional Value of Roasted Sweet Potato
1. Nourish blood and tonify the middle jiao: Sweet potatoes are very nutritious, containing large amounts of sugar, protein, fat, and various vitamins and minerals, which can be easily absorbed by the body to prevent malnutrition. They can also tonify Qi in the middle jiao, which is beneficial for deficiency of the spleen and stomach in the middle jiao and infantile malnutrition.
2. Promote bowel movements: After steaming or boiling, some starch in sweet potatoes changes, increasing dietary fiber by about 40% compared to raw consumption, which can effectively stimulate intestinal peristalsis and promote bowel movements. The white liquid that seeps from the skin of sweet potatoes when cut contains mirtilin, which can be used to treat habitual constipation.
3. Enhance immune function: Sweet potatoes contain a large amount of mucoprotein, which can prevent the atrophy of connective tissue in the liver and kidneys, improve the body's immunity, and prevent collagen diseases. The minerals in sweet potatoes play a very important role in maintaining and regulating the body's functions. The calcium and magnesium they contain can prevent osteoporosis.
4. Anti-cancer: Sweet potatoes contain an anti-cancer substance that can prevent and treat colon cancer and breast cancer. In addition, sweet potatoes can eliminate active oxygen, which is one of the causes of cancer, so their effect in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells is very significant.
5. Anti-aging and prevent arteriosclerosis: The anti-aging and anti-arteriosclerosis effects of sweet potatoes are mainly due to their ability to scavenge active oxygen. The mucoprotein in sweet potatoes can maintain the elasticity of blood vessel walls and prevent the occurrence of atherosclerosis. The chlorogenic acid in sweet potatoes can inhibit the production of melanin, preventing the appearance of freckles and age spots. Sweet potatoes can also inhibit skin aging, maintain skin elasticity, and slow down the body's aging process.
How to eat? There are also rules for eating sweet potatoes correctly. First, be sure to steam or cook them thoroughly. Because the cell membranes of starch in sweet potatoes are difficult to digest without being broken down by high temperatures. Furthermore, the gas-forming enzymes in sweet potatoes need to be destroyed by high temperatures; otherwise, they can cause discomfort after consumption. Second, be aware that excessive or improper consumption of sweet potatoes can cause bloating, heartburn, acid reflux, and stomach pain. Therefore, consumption should not be excessive. People diagnosed with dampness obstructing the spleen and stomach, or qi stagnation and food accumulation in traditional Chinese medicine should be cautious when eating them.
Roast potatoes
Chestnuts